A Week of American Ingenuity

If there’s anything that defines Americans, we’d like to say “ingenuity”, and this first week of 2012 was a showcase of just that.

The week started with nearly a billion people around the world watching New Year’s Eve coverage of Times Square.  The anticipation was palpable.  Not if the ball will drop or if an unusually tan Dick Clark would awkwardly banter with Seacrest, but how exactly they’ll make novelty glasses out of that year’s digits.  From 2000-2009, the glasses designers frankly got lazy, but from 2010 until now, we’re making them work for their money.  And, this year, the designers again showed that a 1 can be just as oval as a 0.

Then on Tuesday, as a quaint American custom we like to pretend that the Iowa caucus means something.  In reality, it’s a giant, state-wide PTA meeting gone wrong.  The nation was amazed that there was only eight votes between first and second place.  Then again, only 12 people voted so it really was a landslide victory.  But since the state has a remarkable track record of choosing who won’t eventually win the party’s nomination, both Romney and Santorum’s campaigns argued vehemently that the other candidate won. 

Finally, on Friday, in the ongoing war of words between the United States and Iran, the State Department figuratively shouted “Boo-ya!” to Iran.  In fact, Hillary Clinton and Leon Pannetta are working on a YouTube rap video for the Iranian leader called “How you like me now, Mahmoud?!?”  If you haven’t heard, a U.S. Navy destroyer in the gulf discovered an Iranian fishing boat acting, well fishy.  The boat had been hijacked by pirates for weeks.  Although the captain of the boat in English said via radio everything was OK, he then said in his native language which the pirates didn’t speak that he needed help.

Then right out of a Steven Seagal movie, U.S. Forces via helicopter boarded the fishing ship and freed the Iranians.  I’m sure they had some really cool Seagal-esque one-liners too which will be seen on the TV movie.  It’s been called the worst public relations fiasco for Iran since – well, the last time Iranian leader Ahmadinejad said something.

So, a week of American ingenuity.  From designing impossible 2012 novelty glasses, to choosing the eventual loser of the Republican Nomination to embarrassing Iran.  Good week, America.  Now just 51 to go before we see the 2013 glasses.