Fellow New Yorkers, we’ve been through a lot. Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Joe Biden explaining to Car and Driver that he has never actually washed a 1981 Trans Am shirtless in the White House driveway. And that’s just in the last two weeks.
The last ten years? We barely know where to start.
Tuesday of course marks a momentous occasion—namely, the Jets are playing the Cowboys. “I feel more pressure on this game for whatever reason than any game I’ve ever coached, seems like,” Jets coach Rex Ryan told the New York Post. “I don’t know, it just feels different to me. . . . The significance of it. . . . I think it’s stronger than any game I’ve ever felt.” We naturally assume he’s referring to the anniversary of 9/11. That, or he’s still trying to process the return of Plaxico Burress. The significance of it.
And Mr. Ryan isn’t the only person feeling the pressure this week. After a few days of silence, Mayor Bloomberg was unapologetic about failing to disclose the reasons behind now former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith’s resignation. The official line was that Mr. Goldsmith was leaving his position “to pursue private-sector opportunities in infrastructure finance.” (In this case, perhaps dispensing with the usual “to spend more time with his family” euphemism was actually a good idea—particularly since the Mayor’s so worried about causing them further suffering. )
And President Obama hasn’t fared much better in the court of public opinion. On Tuesday, a Wall Street Journal NBC News poll found that President’s approval ratings are the lowest they’ve been since his inauguration. It’s a little scary to think that unemployment percentages are increasingly converging with the percentage of people who actually think the President is doing a good job. Like, 5.8 on the Richter scale and technically-speaking-tropical-storm scary, at least.
But not as scary as the U.S. Postal Service shutting down, which it may well do if Congress doesn’t intervene to remedy a $9 billion deficit. (No postal service? How will we get our Joe Biden-filled issue Car and Driver delivered?) At the very least, the service may end Saturday delivery, which means we won’t get our mail until… Monday.
It’ll be difficult, but we’ll survive it. We’ve certainly been through worse.
