Inaugural Bliss Is Over: Time For A Reality Check

It's only three weeks ago that the nation was basking in a poetically calming lovefest. What a difference a day --  or a few -- makes.

via NY Daily NewsNot only are Beyonce and Etta James duking it out, even if Etta James is now a turncoat on her own self, claiming that her corrosive comments about the President and Beyonce were only a joke. Fat chance, Etta. At least stand up and take responsibility for your own diatribe.

I guess no one told Etta about the power of the Internet. Hasn't she learned that there's no such thing as making a few intimate, off-the-record comments anymore?

We all know that the President is sweeping up the remaining crumbs of a nonbipartisan Congress from the White House floor. Perhaps he feels like he was at a wedding reception where everyone is smiling and drinking champagne, while secretly counting the days until divorce papers sever "till death do us part".

Reality always arrives, right? No one deserves to be that happy.

Now I read that Shepard Fairey was arrested Friday night in Boston. The famous creator of the President Obama "Hope" posters is alleged to have tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street art campaign from his early career.

His Obama image has been sold on hundreds of thousands of stickers and posters, and was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington before Obama's inauguration.

Etta James and the President may think they have problems, but Fairey finds himself in a major copyright dispute with The Associate Press, over the use of the original AP photo that was used as the "inspiration" for the Hope posters.

Fairey argues his use of the AP photo is protected by "fair use," which allows exceptions to copyright laws based on certain factors.

I've long argued that everyday living is about slogging our way through a lot of "grey matter", in a world that wants to define issues in terms of black and white.

Call me a pragmatist, too . . . the woman who wonders why we can't all just get along, in the interests of moving civilization and the quality of everyday life forward.

It's not for me to minimize the idea that artist Shepard Fairey be brought to justice for his graffiti infractions from his "youth".  Society has laws for a reason.

Yet the reality-check side of my personality knows exactly why President Obama and Michelle packed up the First Girls and left town for Camp David this weekend. I'm sure it's time for a long walk in the Presidential woods. A