Friday, March 20, 2009

The fierce urgency of being a Medici pope...

Obama Leo.jpg


"Let us enjoy the papacy since God has given it to us." Like many pithy quotes attributed to historical figures, Leo X didn't actually say this. Don't let the fact that he didn't say it suggest he didn't enjoy being the Pope. He blew an impressively large papal treasury in only two years, largely on entertainment.

Young Giovanni de Medici, better known to history as Pope Leo X, was one of those failures that did some commendable things during his reign as Pope. He was a great patron of the arts. He gave lavishly to charity and the money was put to effective use. He reformed Roman institutions such as the Roman University that had been neglected by his predecessor.

While doing these commendable things, he completely ignored the issues that faced the Catholic church at that time, namely, how the church would exist in a post-Protestant Reformation world. The abuses and failures of the Catholic church at that time were left to fester until future Popes would come to address them.

I find the parallel striking. The money is being spent lavishly (whether its effective or not remains to be seen). There's much fun being had filling out brackets. And let's face it, getting to sit in that chair next to Leno is highly coveted. Being the sitting President makes getting the seat a lot easier.

If anybody read this blog, they might ask, "What's wrong the President having a little fun? And by the way, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a cameo appearance on your beloved Corner Gas."

I'll respond although I think anybody who needs to ask that question isn't intelligent enough to understand the answer.

President Obama is a young man, especially by presidential standards. He hasn't had the job 100 days yet and he needs time off? We have an economy that will get much worse before it begins to get better. He has more important things to which to pay attention. Stephen Harper, when he did the Corner Gas cameo, was in charge of a Canada whose economy was NOT doing an imitation of the Hindenburg.

I confess that I am concerned that we have a President that giggles as freely as President Obama does.




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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Happy Emergency Christmas to you tomorrow.

Did you see the giggling school boy being interview by Kroft. Even before Kroft asked him if he was punch drunk I had commented to my hubby that he was smiling and laughing too much.

Smiles everyone!

We are a country that worships entertainment and entertainers. Therefore, it isn't enough just to be president. Narcissists needs to grab the limelight any where they can.

I also find the parallels striking between Nero and Obama. LOL on the pic.