Political Theater

This week is the beginning of an extended run of political theater.  The President makes his farewell address.  The incoming President meets with the media, but most of all, the Senate takes up a pile of confirmation hearings for Trump’s cabinet.  The predictable will happen.  Republicans will praise the nominees and Democrats will throw stones, ask hard questions and otherwise try to derail picks they don’t like.  The media, attuned to good theater, will run stories about the controversial picks and barely mention those that skate through the process.  If the incoming President were a Democrat, reverse the roles and play the script exactly the same way again.  One wonders why both the politicians and the media don’t get tired of the theater, but they don’t.  Since the cast of characters are new, each occasion is presented as a different play, one never seen before in Washington and not to be seen again.  But, voters are suffused with boredom.  They’ve seen the drama too many times.