Metra—the Chicago area’s commuter rail line—will wrap one of their coach cars with an ad for the Illinois tourism bureau:
“Metra trains have always been an advertising-free zone, where riders have been spared the signs plastered on CTA buses and “L” trains. But that may soon end if an ad featuring four U.S. presidents with Illinois roots proves a success.
On Monday, the commuter rail agency rolled out a coach “wrapped” in an ad for the Illinois Bureau of Tourism. Made of vinyl plastic stuck to the outside of the car, it features the likenesses of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald Reagan and that new guy in the White House, Barack Obama.
The come-on is, “Follow their path. The presidential trails of Illinois.” Over the next four weeks, Metra will test the car on several lines, a trial run to gauge reaction and see how the vinyl stands up to the weather.”
Incidentally: to follow the paths of Grant and Reagan, you can forget Metra or Amtrak. Neither have trains that go to Grant’s home, in Galena, or Reagan’s, in Dixon.
Yeah, he’s our first black president, and it’s a big day, blah blah. But only I—John Kass—Barack Obama, and a couple other guys are clear-headed. All you happy, hopeful folks –and the liberal, biased media– are naive and delusional and need to get lives.
Apropos on this day to honor the dreams of Martin Luther King, Jr., and on the eve of our first African-American president, the Tribune —on the front page its new, free-at-last tabloid edition— reminds readers that “Anything is possible”…
At least one segment of the economy is booming: the market in Obama kitsch [...] There is no recent analogue to the madness–er, hopefulness–that has seized Obama’s fans.
“Rep. Careen Gordon (D-Morris) said Blagojevich can attempt to repair his image, but shouldn’t be allowed to do so ‘on state time.’”
Speaking of “on state time”: I suppose it would be too much to ask the Senate for an amendment to the letters of impeachment that would forever ban governors’ (and mayors’) shameless self-promotions (at taxpayer expense)—like these:
In the meantime, start passing the collection plate—for those buckets of blue paint.
“Did you notice how they all leaned away from Jimmy Carter, the official Cootieman of former presidents? It was like high-school students to the new girl: ‘You can’t sit here, we’re the Most Popular table.’”
President Carter—the most highly admired of the living ex-chief executives and a Nobel Peace Prize winner—had an approval rating upon leaving office in 1980 of 34%. George W. Bush—until next Jan. 20th the “newest girl” in Noonan’s “high school”, and carrying so many cooties that, during the 2008 campaign, Republican candidates (including McCain and Palin) took pains to avoid being seen in the same lunchroom—has a current approval rating of 32%. (George H.W.’s was 55%; Clinton’s, 65%.)
Apparently it doesn’t fit Noonan’s thesis to mention Jimmy might be the one leaning away.
