The only thing more analyzed than quarterback play after the Super Bowl is the commercials: Were they funny, offensive, pointless? Money well spent, or 30 seconds of confusion? How does the MTV set view the last 25 years of politics?
Okay, that last question is rarely asked; Super Bowl spots aren't exactly political science tracts. But will.i.am, the brains behind the Black Eyed Peas, made an effort to change that this Sunday with his spot for FLO TV. Remixing the halftime act's "My Generation" and splicing micro clips of news events from the last half-century or so, will.i.am provided a neat little window into the worldview of he and his fellow left-liberals.
According to will.i.am, politics since the election of Ronald Reagan has involved the following memorable events: The attempted assassination of President Reagan by John Hinckley Jr., Clinton forging peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, "Winner Al Gore" in Florida, President George W. Bush standing under the "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003, and Obama's celebration in Hyde Park underneath an undulating American flag.
Leaving aside will.i.am's summarizing the Reagan legacy with his attempted murder and the Clinton legacy with a nonexistent peace deal, the clips chosen to show our last president reveal that Bush Derangement Syndrome remains alive and well more than a year after his exit from the Oval Office. There is still a small but vocal segment of the far left that contends that Bush's presidency was totally illegitimate, an invention of a bare majority of the Supreme Court. And the "Mission Accomplished" banner has become a subject of fun to all manner of liberal comedians; it was a running joke for an entire season of Fox's Arrested Development. Summarizing the Bush presidency thusly seems at least a little unfair.
But hey, don't trust me. Watch the video for yourself:
