Thursday, January 22, 2009

Obamamania

I received an anonymous call at 6:40 a.m. on Wednesday about "‘Obamabilia’ may save the U.S. economy."

Here's a partial transcript:

"You should seriously be ashamed of yourself for printing such junk. If this is the best that you can come up with for our new president, you do not deserve to be a writer — at all."

I remember a journalism teacher who once said that readers who write angry letters to the editor or make unflattering calls have been made really, really angry by whatever was published.

(Think about it. how many times have you read something that angered you so bad you decided you were going to write something to the paper or call — and then didn't?)

But the thing is, the column wasn't about Obama. And because the call was anonymous, I couldn't call the lady to tell her to relax — with an Obama scented candle ($19.99) and Obama tea. ($15.50)!

...

I also received an e-mail from a person who did identify himself, thanking me for the column. Then he proceeded to plug the Obama watch.

Figures.