England for Obama

Not only is Barack Obama getting all 21st-century new-fangled on our ass by appointing the first Chief Technology Officer in American history* - he’s getting so 21st-century new-fangled on our ass that we, the American people - sorry, you, the American people - can suggest, and vote online for, the policies that said Chief Technology Officer should implement.

The screenshot below is taken from obamacto.org, where voting on the new CTO’s priorities, as you can see, has already commenced:

See: not just new-fangled, but transparent and a presidency of the people, too. As promised. Although it could be argued that, by definition, the site appeals to the already technologically savvy. Meaning that either a) those voting really know what they’re talking about - hurrah! or b) those voting aren’t exactly the right target audience for a new CTO - boo! *Cut to a child somewhere, handwriting and posting a letter which reads ‘I’d like a computer please’.*

These voting sites seems to be all the rage, in fact - as I also recently stumbled across an identical one set up for Republicans, whereby they can suggest and vote on what they need to do to turn their party around (*insert gag here*).

Speaking of Republicans and technology - Monday night’s Daily Show included footage of George Bush at the G20 summit, giving a speech about the free market and its great technological advances. Like, y’know, the aeroplane… and the CAT scan… and, well, watch for yourself (from around 3:05):

Equating the iPod with the steam boat? I mean, I’m a big fan of the Shuffle function, but really…
*Can you just do that? Invent any post you like? Apparently so.

Jon Stewart interviewed Bill O’Reilly on last night’s Daily Show - and tried to calm his Baracknophobia:

Interview part one -

Interview part two -

This segment from last night’s Daily Show shows how Jon Stewart and his writers may be dealing with a Barack Obama presidency. See, there’s still stuff to find funny! Only now, it’s no longer tragic, also:

Great point about OJ, btw. Indeed, I wonder whether the MSM (that’s ‘mainstream media’, kids!) will be The Daily Show’s main target from now on:

(Thanks to Daily Kos for the round-up)

“Attention passengers: The Straight Talk Express is no longer in service. … Barack Obama is our new president. I think I speak for everybody when I say, ‘Anybody mind if he starts a little early?’ … At the end of the night, the electoral vote count was 349 for Obama, 148 for McCain. Or as Fox News says: ‘too close to call.’”
—David Letterman

“People were worried about the Bradley effect. Apparently, it was not nearly as strong as the Bush effect.”
—Jay Leno

“You know who I blame? The Large Hadron Collider. It is the world’s largest and highest particle accelerator. You may remember we were warned that it could create a black hole and destroy the Earth. Consider this: it launched in mid-September, when John McCain was leading in the polls. I believe it jolted us into a parallel universe that was exactly like our own, only Barack Obama is president and the Phillies are world champions.”
—Stephen Colbert

“Yesterday, first lady Laura Bush called Michelle Obama and invited her and her young daughters to the White House. Laura Bush told Mrs. Obama, ‘While I give you a tour, the girls can watch SpongeBob with the president.’”
—Conan O’Brien

“We’re all very happy except Sean Hannity, who is too busy in the bathroom crying.”
—Fox News’s Chris Wallace on The Daily Show

“People all over the world are celebrating Obama’s victory. Sarah Palin watched the Russians celebrating from her house. … Sen. John McCain’s concession speech was beautiful. It was dignified, and it was classy. And I think the reason for that is he didn’t let Palin say anything.”
—Craig Ferguson

“President Bush called Barack Obama to congratulate him. … Obama thanked Bush for his call and for all he did to help Obama get elected.”
—Jimmy Kimmel

“But right about now Joe the plumber is meeting with his transition team. They’re going to help ease him from obscurity back to oblivion.”
—David Letterman

And I’d like to add these from Stephen Colbert:

“Last night we elected a man called Barack Hussein Obama. What part of that doesn’t scare you?”

“It’s no secret that I have been upset since the election. I’ve tried taking my aggression out on a punching bag - but all the stuffing fell out after the first shotgun blast.”

“Obama’s victory: the international community weighs in. But it’s in metric, so who cares.”

“Obviously, American voters must not watch TV or movies - or they would know that every time a black man is President, something terrible happens. Either terrorists set off a nuclear bomb or an asteroid strikes the Earth… If these movies are any indication, it is only a matter of time before a terrorist teams up with an asteroid to invade the US. Though I am sure President Obama would be willing to sit down with the asteroid without pre-conditions.”

An aside: it appears that UK viewers can no longer watch video clips from The Colbert Report on its site. Which is, of course, gutting. You can still watch Daily Show clips, though - so I have no idea what, as they say, gives.

The Gordon Brown part is genius:

Two brilliant segments from last night’s show (includes inevitable mocking of CNN’s holograms):

Most specifically, I heart him around 4:13:

Just so appropriate that Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann were two of the men who got to announce that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Take a look below - and spot how Stephen Colbert seems to be trying to stop his tears when he takes off his glasses and puts his finger to his eyes.

I just love all these men. They have been beacons of light, sanity and truth (as well as brilliant entertainment and great journalism) during the Bush years and this election:

Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman look at what happened in the campaigns yesterday (clue: John McCain and Sarah Palin talked a lot about coal), and what the McCain camp have to do to win:

And here was the end of Obama’s final speech yesterday, in Virginia, where he spoke to a crowd of 90,000. Fired up, and ready to go:

And here was Jon Stewart’s take on the final days of campaigning:

Staying in on November 4th? You eminently sensible people. Here’s who’s covering it when on British TV (or a combination of British TV and American TV being beamed into British homes):

Sky News: 11pm - 6am

BBC1: 11.45pm - 6am

ITV1: 11.45pm -6am

CNN: 12am - 6am

Fox News (if you must - well, it might be fun to watch Hannity and O’Reilly spitting blood): 10pm - uncertain. As in I’m uncertain, not them. According to Sky TV’s official listings, they’re showing Bill O’Reilly and Hannity & Colmes throughout the night - but clearly that can’t be right. Can it?

The wonderful Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are also doing a Daily Show election night special together - which I’m imagining will show as usual on More4, ie the day after it’s broadcast in the States. ie. The election night show will actually be shown in the UK on Wednesday night.

Oh, and here’s the lovely Carly on The Today Show with some “very fun” food, drink and games ideas for your election night party (doesn’t include ‘McCain Hard Cheese With Sour Grapes’ or ‘Pin the smear on the Democratic candidate’):