Oscars can't compete with real-life dramas
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood briefing reporters regarding the sequester, at the White House in Washington. (Feb. 22, 2013) Credit: AP
And the winner is . . . hmmm.
Maybe there isn't a winner this time.
If you went by the calendar, this should be a weekend of great excitement. Speed-demon stock cars are zooming dangerously around the high banks at Daytona. Designer-outfitted stars are stomping up the red carpet for Oscar night. But there is so much blah in the air -- not just this stubbornly persistent winter -- it's a little hard to relax and enjoy it all.
The absurd expansion of the Academy Awards is part of the problem. The list of best picture nominees goes on so long now, it basically includes every movie anyone ever saw. But the odd stuff is popping up everywhere.
But this weekend, it's Washington that's the real buzzkill.
A major budget whack, designed to be so awful no one would let it happen, is suddenly on the verge of taking effect. It's a symbol of D.C. dysfunction. It's embarrassing to all concerned. It has real consequences on real people's lives. And it's coming this way.
"Sequester." No Oscar for that show.
1. Best Impossible Compromise
2. Best Really Bad Idea
3. Best Unintended Consequence
4. Best Ideological Rigidity
5. Best Reason to Shut Down the Place and Start Over Again
Email ellis@henican.com
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