This week’s New York Times Magazine prominently features an article on Barack Obama and the supposed “End of Black Politics,” but before I could starting reading it, I couldn’t help noticing something familiar about the picture that accompanied the article.
Did I go on to read it? Heck no! Instead, true to the way of the internets, I added my own captions, did some Wikipedia research, and created a graphic for your enjoyment — after the jump.
Mac: Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia. Not to be confused with the previous mayor of Philadelphia who waited in line for an iPhone last year, but close enough.
PC: Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina. Considered to be the most influential African American politician in his state, much like how PC/Windows is the market leader in its field.
Linux: Representative John Lewis of Georgia. One of only 31 members of the House of Representatives to vote to not count Ohio’s electoral votes in the 2004 election. Very indie, and very much in the minority, like Linux.
Hope OS: Representative Artur Davis of Alabama. What the heck, he was the guy standing to the far right with his arms folded across his chest. It just worked. That and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s helping the Obama campaign create its custom Linux distro (the aforementioned Hope OS) as we speak.
Got any better politician – > OS comparisons? Show me in the comments!
Time to put my ultra-nerdiness to use. Yay for watching CSpan.
The Mac guy could also be Charles Rengel from New York- he ran into a little trouble a few weeks ago (a resolution to sort of admonish him put out by the Republicans to try to draw attention away from the scandals going on with Ted Stevens was tabled), but he’s still loved, anyway, and while he may run on his own system, he’s highly efficient but still subject to overheating (I’ve seen him sweat and take his coat off, not to mention he actually yells sometimes).
PC: John Conyers of Michigan. He’s chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary. He’s kind of old and familiar, easy to feel comfrotable with (and heck, he founded the Black Congress), but he’s not really doing an efficient job (watering down the impeachment charges!) and can get kind of slow (he sometimes sounds like he’s talking in his sleep).
The Linux guy could be Keith Ellison of Minnesota- he swore himself on on the Qur’an, so he’s snazzy and different and most people don’t know what the eff to do with him- and his followers are crazy-loyal.
If it didn’t have to be a man, I’d say Eddie Bernice Johnson from Texas. Woman. Black. Texas. Need I say more? But if it must be a man, then Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. He sort of popped up out of nowhere and swept his first election in 1992 (55% of the vote in his district, but with four other opponents), and he doesn’t have much of a record even now, but he’s the third-ranked Democrat in the House (as in majority whip) and pretty likable.
Charles Rangel is a Mac? Given the recent trouble he got into with holding multiple rent stabilized apartments acquired by questionable means, I would compare him to Windows Vista…which…also… takes up a lot of space.
Vista Home Premium and Ultimate take ~15 GB by themselves.
And also take much needed housing options away from low income renters.
lee: The resolution I mentioned is exactly what you are talking about with the “recent trouble” there, but I suppose it’s one of those things that can be applied to anything. And really, if argued properly, pretty much anyone could apply to any of the categories with the same piece of comparison. So along those lines and going by your standards, *everybody* in the House and Senate should be compared to Vista (which, if you look, isn’t the actual comparison- it’s PC, so technically, while it could include Vista, it doesn’t necessarily mean JUST Vista). They ALL take up a bunch of space and do a whole lot of nothing- they’re on vacation right now, for example. And like I’ve said on other comments, very rarely does it look like there are more than, say, fifteen or so present in either House if you tune into CSpan on a regular day. The Democrats have conducted approximately zero percent of the oversight they swore they would in the 2006 election, and the Republicans, in spite of claiming to be freaked out about our dependency on foreign oil, do nothing to change it and instead do everything they can to help oil companies.
I picked Rengel because of what I said: he has done some kind of odd/messed up things, but a lot of people still like him (I hear lots of frustration from my Mac user friends about how they don’t like the operating system much, but they still use it anyway); and he sweats and has a hot temper sometimes (Macs overheat).
And I happen to run on Vista Home Basic and think it’s just fine, so neenerneenerneener!!!!!
;p