I Tivoed “American Idol,” as is my wont, watching it about an hour late. I sat through the most tedious, hype-filled TWO hours, consisting of shameless plugs and product placements, embarrassing song and dance numbers, and a host of pop stars who could never have won “American Idol.” Finally, the moment came. . .Ryan Seacrest announced that the winner was “David ___” THEN MY TIVO CUT OUT! RIGHT AT THE VERY VERGE, WITH ONLY THE LAST NAME TO BE UTTERED!
I thought that I may have heard the beginning articulation of an unvoiced velar stop just before the “save or delete” message came on, and, sure enough, the web revealed that the winner was David Cook.
America got it right after all! He has the stage presence, the artistry, the originality, the voice to deserve it. Voters didn’t just vote for the cutest, as I assumed they would; rather, they went for substance.
This encourages me to think that the American people may also vote in larger numbers for the best presidential candidate. Maybe what we should do is let people vote as many times as they want to.