The World According to Chuck

It’s comedian/actress Brett Butler’s 50th birthday today. Ms. Butler had a spectacular flame-out in the early 1990s, getting attention for her comedy and then a temporarily successful sitcom (”Grace Under Fire”) until she imploded in a burst of booze and pills and some nasty work habits. She made an appearance on “My Name Is Earl” a while back but her resume remains awfully thin. But she’s 50, and I’m not.

I realized last night that I’m old enough to remember when people first started making fun of the way Tom Brokaw talked (back in the 1980s, as I recall; probably Harry Shearer). They drag him out on MSNBC from time to time, and it’s painful to watch; it’s like he’s got a fair-sized squirrel in his mouth. I imagine at his age he must go through life as a marked man, knowing somewhere there’s a syllable with his name on it.

I also realized that what I long considered just being a good citizen, doing my civic duty and staying informed, has become a niche hobby. Aside from like-minded people who wander in my particular orbit (and maybe read this blog; hi), most people I meet have only a vague sense that there is something political going on in this country. Some of them have heard of Iraq, but that’s about it.

So the hours I spend reading and watching, debating policy points and subtle demographic markers with my wife, must just seem bizarre to everybody else. This is how obsession starts: You think everybody else collects vintage ashtrays, too, until suddenly you’re talking about it at a party and people are backing away.

So, just to fill you in: Rudy Giuliani and John Edwards have both dropped out, so we’re essentially down to four candidates, two in each party (there are some Republicans hanging around, like Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee, but that’s really not going to happen). And it’s certainly not over; this thing could go to the conventions in either party, or both, and there might be lots of wheeling-dealing and maybe some surprises left. I’m just giddy.

Also? The economy really, really sucks.

There. My public service for the day is done. Now I can go to eBay and find ashtrays like everybody else.