That's right: a disappointment, the typical regretful liberal concession that Barack has turned out to be a very good man, but a very bad wizard. Moore's been doing his best to give Obama the benefit of the doubt all along, so I suppose I must recognize just how disillusioned he must be, to make a disapproving face and give vent to that epithet. A disappointment.
As I wrote about this before: If your favored football or basketball team loses a game or even a championship, that is a disappointment. If George Lucas sells his production company and its prime properties to Disney, that is a disappointment. If the President of the United States prosecutes whistleblowers to an unprecedented extent, kills American citizens without due process, demands the power of indefinite detainment, prolongs the wars he inherited and starts several more, and gives priority to the interests of the top one-tenth of one percent of the citizenry over the interests of the other ninety and nine, he's a murderous thug and a corporate enforcer.
Of course, Moore's very cautious criticism is thoughtcrime, and Obama fans responded in comments at the Hollywood Reporter site: Oh yeah? Well, Moore is fat. And not only that, he's fat. Did I mention that he's fat? And besides, he's fat. And Obama killed Osama, you fat f*ck! Elsewhere, Moore is a lard ass. And a communist. But mostly fat.
I don't take Moore's prediction very seriously, any more than I take the true believers' predictions about Obama's legacy. Neither they nor I will be around in a century to see how they pan out. But Moore's verdict was so very predictable.
In other news, this quotation from John Waters (via):
My idea of rich is that you can buy every book you ever want without looking at the price and you're never around assholes. That's the two things to really fight for in life.I'm certainly in sympathy with that first clause, though I don't think it really describes being rich. I'm not rich, but I am a compulsive book buyer and I'm able to buy more books than I can read; that seems like satiation to me. If I had more money, I'd probably buy more books, but then I'd get even farther behind in my reading. I remember Gore Vidal once saying something similar, to the effect that he felt comfortable financially because he could buy new books in hardcover. But that too is a different kettle of fish. When I think about it, I'd say that for me, being rich would mean I could afford the space to have all my books on shelves where I live, not packed in storage -- but I think I could do that without enough money to put me in the One Percent.
As for the second clause, I don't see how being rich would keep assholes away. Maybe Waters meant "rich" metaphorically, like your life is rich, spiritually speaking, if you're never around assholes? The only difference I can imagine that would come from having lots of money is that the assholes around you would predominantly be rich assholes, and I'm not sure how much different that would be.
