Okay, so WWE sounded delusional when they initially announced that Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama would be settling their differences in "that very ring" on Monday night Raw.
Old timers speculated that it would probably be a battle of look-alike midgets. Maybe even "Big Dick" Johnson made up to look like Bill Clinton. Certainly not the candidates themselves.
But who would have thought the real candidates would actually show up? Obviously WWE did, since the candidates' prepared remarks contained every tag line in the book. While Obama and McCain at least made their political messages sound natural, Hillary Clinton spoke entirely in tag lines. I doubt very much that she had a clue what she was saying. "People's Elbow" my foot!
What surprised me was that after the candidates were gracious enough to appear on Raw, WWE still lampooned the Democrats. By the end of the silly Bill-ary vs. Barrack match, I was positive that John McCain was Mister McMahon's candidate of choice.
Whatever it cost WWE to get Big Politics on their show, they got their money's worth. In the minutes before Raw was due to begin, word of the candidates' appearance on the show was being reported on Fox News, both as a crawl across the bottom of the screen and in video clips.
I'm sure there were those who scoffed at the high-minded candidates appearing on a wrestling show, of all things. Those would be the same people who scoffed at the significance of NASCAR Dads (and Moms) a few years back until someone noticed that NASCAR fans aren't a bunch of goobers; they are actually intelligent and, more importantly, they vote.
The candidates have appeared in many forums during this overly long campaign season (which still has another six months to run *sigh*), so why not do something to appeal to the pro wrestling fan demographic? Contrary to the opinion of those who like to stereotype, wrestling fans are, indeed, intelligent and they also vote. Plus there were some $5 million of them watching Monday night.
At this point, the campaign has become an uncivil war. I, for one, am tired of the continuous sniping and prevaricating (Bosnia, anyone?) and brow-beating. So why not a good, old-fashioned brawl to settle it all?
Frankly, I wasn't expecting much from WWE's version of Hillary vs. Obama. But I
do expect a lot more from the candidates themselves than childish bickering. Is it too much to ask for a Presidential candidate to act Presidential? Out of the ring, of course.
Just a thought.
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Thanks for reading and see ya next week.