Posted 11:36 pm Saturday, October 06, 2012
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Wrong guy wins, leave the country?
It’s just a promotion — and kind of a witty one, at that. JetBlue says it will give some seats away to all those folk who, in every election, pledge to leave the country if the wrong candidate wins.
What makes it genius is that the tickets will be round-trip.
Would Sean Penn really find life better in his beloved Venezuela? Not if he got on the wrong side of strongman Hugo Chavez. And where will Cher flee to, should Romney win? In what other nation could Cher — a high school dropout, who came from a background of poverty — find the success she now enjoys?
That’s what makes the JetBlue promotion genius. It recognizes that for all the dire warnings about “the other guy” winning, we will remain the most exceptional nation in the world.
Would Sean Penn really find life better in his beloved Venezuela? Not if he got on the wrong side of strongman Hugo Chavez. And where will Cher flee to, should Romney win? In what other nation could Cher — a high school dropout, who came from a background of poverty — find the success she now enjoys?
That’s what makes the JetBlue promotion genius. It recognizes that for all the dire warnings about “the other guy” winning, we will remain the most exceptional nation in the world.
“JetBlue Airways’ new ‘Election Protection’ promotion allows voters the chance to win a free round-trip ticket to one of the airline’s 21 international destinations if the election doesn’t go their way,” the Washington Times reports. “Contestants first must preregister at jetblue.com/electionprotection. After the Nov. 6 results are in, the airline will give away 1,006 roundtrip certificates — that’s 2012 seats — to participants whose candidate lost.”
A senior vice president for the firm said, “We’ve all heard it said before: if my candidate does not win, I’m leaving the country. Fun is one of our five founding values, and in this spirit, we decided to give people a chance to recover from the political noise and follow through on their claim to skip town if their candidate comes up short.”
There’s value in that, of course. Some conservative organizations regularly plan a Caribbean cruise in the weeks following the election. Presumably, passengers can rub shoulders with pundits who all have detailed explanations for why events occurred as they did. The rum drinks probably help, too.
But it’s not uncommon to hear celebrities (who can afford it) talk about leaving the country if (usually) the conservative wins.
A partial list includes Barbara Streisand, Seal, Tina Fey, Michael Stipe, Susan Sarandon, and even a couple of Baldwin brothers (Alec, if Bush was to win in 2008, and Stephen, if Obama was to win).
Evidently, they changed their minds. We bet we know why; little else changed.
A senior vice president for the firm said, “We’ve all heard it said before: if my candidate does not win, I’m leaving the country. Fun is one of our five founding values, and in this spirit, we decided to give people a chance to recover from the political noise and follow through on their claim to skip town if their candidate comes up short.”
There’s value in that, of course. Some conservative organizations regularly plan a Caribbean cruise in the weeks following the election. Presumably, passengers can rub shoulders with pundits who all have detailed explanations for why events occurred as they did. The rum drinks probably help, too.
But it’s not uncommon to hear celebrities (who can afford it) talk about leaving the country if (usually) the conservative wins.
A partial list includes Barbara Streisand, Seal, Tina Fey, Michael Stipe, Susan Sarandon, and even a couple of Baldwin brothers (Alec, if Bush was to win in 2008, and Stephen, if Obama was to win).
Evidently, they changed their minds. We bet we know why; little else changed.
That’s right; those “most important election in our lifetimes,” which come around every four years, only ever result in — at most — a peaceful exchange of power between two fairly similar political parties.
Sure, the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans are being emphasized and magnified now; that’s what a campaign is all about. But think about it; how much did your own personal life change, as a direct result of the election of either George W. Bush (in 2000 and 2004) or Barack Obama (in 2008)?
Wars occurred; but those were launched with bipartisan support. The economy plummeted; but the fundamental problem was a mortgage financing and guarantee system that removed “moral hazard.” That system was a bipartisan creation.
But for the most part, we all just kept living our lives — in the most powerful, secure, prosperous and hopeful country in the world.
Sure, the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans are being emphasized and magnified now; that’s what a campaign is all about. But think about it; how much did your own personal life change, as a direct result of the election of either George W. Bush (in 2000 and 2004) or Barack Obama (in 2008)?
Wars occurred; but those were launched with bipartisan support. The economy plummeted; but the fundamental problem was a mortgage financing and guarantee system that removed “moral hazard.” That system was a bipartisan creation.
But for the most part, we all just kept living our lives — in the most powerful, secure, prosperous and hopeful country in the world.
