Because Big Bird Can't

Apparently, the folks at Sesame Workshop have asked the Obama campaign to take down the hilarious ad featuring Big Bird.  But it needs to be seen, so here it is:




It needs to be seen because it's a rare funny moment in a really grim political season.

Of course, we all know that neither Big Bird nor Jim Lehrer are allowed to defend their jobs from the likes of Mitt Romney, because they are funded by the government.  And the minute either of them indicated that they even had an opinion, the Republicans in Congress would descend on them, well, like a flock of angry birds.  There goes your funding, Big Bird.  There goes your job, Jim.

Because it is not about the funding of public broadcasting and the national debt.  It is about the funding of any public program, no matter how much it has already been depleted and how miniscule it's budget, and especially no matter how much it contributes to the public good.  And it is certainly not about the debt, not when billionaires are clutching every penny they ever earned, or hiding it in offshore accounts.

It is about the mythical 47%.  The actually 99%.  Those are the ones that are driving the one percent up the wall.  The nerve, expecting millionaires who have come up the hard way, or whose parents have come up the hard way, or, uh, whose grandparents have come up the hard way, whatever, to pay for something someone else is enjoying for free.

It's truly about the unconscionable greed we are seeing in 21st century America.  The folk who count the pennies that are spent on food stamps, and defend the oil barons and their government handouts.  Those who see a way to profit from a woman's cancer, her children's schooling and her father's retirement years.  They fight to privatize the roads we drive on and the water we drink.

There is no safe hiding place for people like Jim Lehrer and big yellow birds.  Because it's hunting season, folks.  And these guys aren't allowed to defend themselves against the predators.

So at least we all can take a moment to laugh at the absurdity before we must reflect on the cruelty.