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Talking to the President

2013-02-12 · John · watch on YouTube · Everyday life · reflection essay

Anxious about a cold sore before his Google+ Hangout with President Obama, John argues that meeting people you admire can never feel normal, and holds up Sarah's teenage insight that everyone is too busy thinking about themselves to think about you.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; no Dublin Thoughts from Places because Hank used all John's footage

00:00:14 — Plug: the Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers near the end of their FIFA 11 history, on the cusp of the Premier League title

  • ★★ John says his FIFA 11 Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers have three games left in their entire FIFA 11 history and are on the cusp of winning the Premier League; link in the description. (playful) — 00:00:16 · Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers

00:00:24 — A cold sore coming on before Thursday's Google+ Hangout with President Obama; Abreva; Google's invitation; 'the president of what?'

  • ★★★ John says that on Thursday he will be in a Google+ Hangout with President Barack Obama, and will probably have a cold sore, which he has begun to develop. (hedged) — 00:00:37 · Barack Obama
  • ★ John says Abreva is the only FDA-approved medication for cold sores (adding, playfully, that it costs more than gold). — 00:00:45
  • ★★ Someone at Google called John a couple of days earlier asking whether he wanted to be in a Google Hangout with President Obama and ask him a few questions. — 00:01:04 · Google, Barack Obama

00:01:30 — John's prepared joke questions for the President: what is air, duck-sized horses, pennies, who the eff is Hank

  • ★★ John lists joke questions he has prepared for the President: 'what is air?', ten duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck, pennies, and who the eff is Hank. (joke) — 00:01:30 · Who the Eff Is Hank
  • ★★ John's penny question: Canada got rid of its one-cent coin and nothing bad happened, so how do we still live in a world with pennies? (playful) — 00:01:39 · Canada

00:01:47 — Anyone can submit questions to the President and RSVP; live on YouTube at 4:50 PM Eastern on Thursday

  • ★★ John tells Hank and viewers that anyone can submit questions to the President and RSVP to the Hangout via links in the description. — 00:01:47 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ The Hangout will be live on YouTube at 4:50 PM Eastern on Thursday. — 00:01:58 · YouTube

00:02:03 — Anxiety about meeting people you admire: fans on tour, the President's every interaction, three reasons John would never be president, and Sarah's eighth-grade epiphany that everyone is thinking about themselves

  • ★★ John knows the President won't care about his cold sore and will forget him seconds after the Hangout, but he is still extremely anxious about every facet of the interaction. — 00:02:03 · Barack Obama
  • ★★★ On tour the brothers met more than 6,000 Nerdfighters in ten days; many were nervous and embarrassed though, John says with authority, none had any reason to be, and John felt embarrassed too. — 00:02:20 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John: meeting people you admire, or whose work you like, will never feel normal, because you are hyper-conscious of everything that could go wrong. — 00:02:38
  • ★★ John's number one reason never to want to be president: nearly everyone you deal with, even staff, is nervous around you every single day. — 00:02:48 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ John's second reason: however sensible a president's policy ideas, people only want to talk about ideology. — 00:03:01
  • ★★★ Sarah realized in eighth grade that everyone else thinks about themselves as much as she does about herself, so no one has time to think about her; it helped make her a well-adjusted teen, and John is still trying to internalize it. — 00:03:11 · Sarah Urist Green

Humor (significant)

  • John imitates a siren after repeating to himself that he will be in a Google+ Hangout with the President. — 00:01:02 > «Is the sound that my anxiety makes.»
  • Asked by Google whether he wants to hang out with the president, John asks 'the president of what?', having just spent a week and a half with the president of DFTBA Records, Hank. — 00:01:16 > «I wouldn't do it again.»
  • John's first prepared question for the President, after nervously introducing himself. — 00:01:30 > «OH MY GOD WHAT IS AIR?!»
  • The last of John's prepared questions for the President. — 00:01:45 > «And of course, I have to ask him who the eff is Hank.»

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