Presidents Day
Cidu Bill on Feb 19th 2009
Because of Obama-induced irrational exuberance? If so, has anybody ever thought of Presidents Day as referring to a current president?
Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Hi and Lois, comic strips, comics, humor | 27 responses so far
Brent Feb 19th 2009 at 08:44 pm 1
Then maybe it’s because W is an ex-president, so he qualifies for the day now?
Lihtox Feb 19th 2009 at 09:09 pm 2
I think it is about W, or at least the fact that the word “President” doesn’t make a lot of us wince anymore.
MellowCake Feb 19th 2009 at 09:46 pm 3
Nobody can afford to buy anything, so everyone’s just enjoying a pleasant (and sparsely populated) walk at the mall…?
Peter Feb 19th 2009 at 10:20 pm 4
I interpreted it basically as Lihtox does. Notice the bald, sinister, glowering presumptive Republican in the Mafioso-wear black button-down shirt. I wonder if he is supposed to evoke Cheney?
It all seemed really cheesy to me. I guess there are lamer bits than happy sunbeams and 50s-era garage-band rock.
Rick Feb 19th 2009 at 10:42 pm 5
Rainbows and unicorns! Change has come, and even a minor mid winter holiday somehow now seems even better!
Elliott Feb 19th 2009 at 11:01 pm 6
Don’t look at me, I got a discount on paint at the big box store on MLK day!
Matthew Feb 20th 2009 at 12:00 am 7
Presidents Day (which really should be Washington-Lincoln Day) seems more of a retail holiday this year, because all retail stores are trying to cut costs & entice shoppers. This is HI & LOIS’s comment on the economy.
I can’t abide calling the day “Presidents Day”. We’ve had WAY too many duds in that office.
David N Feb 20th 2009 at 12:56 am 8
I just hope they’re careful walking on that ice there. The bald guy is the only one not smiling for some reason - maybe he owns the mall.
Nicole Feb 20th 2009 at 10:20 am 9
Yep — it feels more like a holiday because the president is someone she is hopeful about.
sekirt Feb 20th 2009 at 10:28 am 10
He does say “CHANGE” to reflect the Obama influence.
Dane Bramage Feb 20th 2009 at 11:59 am 11
There is no President’s day (and there is certainly no Washington-Lincoln Day.) The holiday as it is currently in the books is Washington’s Birthday. The CHANGE noticed in the strip is the coins left from Hi’s paycheck after paying the bills. Obviously they are at the mall to throw CHANGE into the fountain and HOPE for some stimulus payout.
Matthew Feb 20th 2009 at 12:03 pm 12
What books are those, Dane? Such assertions, even on as casual a place as COMICS I DON’T UNDERSTAND, need citations.
If you’re right, then isn’t it interesting that our government has made it impossible for Washington’s Birthday to fall on Washington’s birthday?
Mark in Boston Feb 20th 2009 at 12:18 pm 13
Everything gets commercialized. If Jesus Christ came back to earth this Sunday, by Monday there’s be a big ad in the paper: “JESUS SAVES at Wal-Mart and so do you!”
Mark in Boston Feb 20th 2009 at 12:23 pm 14
By the way, I see the timestamp on my comment is an hour later than Eastern Standard time. Where is the server located? New Brunswick?
The Ploughman Feb 20th 2009 at 12:38 pm 15
Since the gist of the joke seems to be “there are a lot of sales on President’s Day” (is this a new thing?) having only two generic “SALE” signs to signify the gag is exceptionally lazy. You can’t look anywhere in a Kohl’s on any given day without seeing at least a dozen “sale” signs.
Matthew Feb 20th 2009 at 01:00 pm 16
Very funny, Mark, and true, too. Your Jesus remark reminds me of what an old anarchist said forty years ago: “We don’t need to worry about a communist invasion. If they landed in California, by the time they got to Arizona, they’d be opening McDonald’s franchises.”
Moreover, I asked about the timestamp last week. As I recall, CIDU Bill said that Wordpress hasn’t left daylight saving time all year ’round. (I still like thinking of Bill in Halifax, though, gazing over the north Atlantic as he censors our remarks.)
Scott Feb 20th 2009 at 02:00 pm 17
Most Presidents’ Days in the past were just an excuse to take a break and go shopping, unless you were in school and did Washington/Lincoln reports. This is the first where a lot of people care about who is in the White House - look at all the Inauguration stuff on sale. So there is a change, and Presidents Day is more about the president this year.
No one being able to afford to buy anything at the mall (it looks pretty empty) might have something to do with it also.
Todd Feb 20th 2009 at 05:48 pm 18
I’m curious. From what I can tell, our local schools, in Fresno, CA, had two sequential Mondays off. I don’t know if the ninth was for Lincoln, or if it was a professional development day.
Do other parts of the country not get President’s/Washington’s Birthday off? Is this in areas where snow may cause school to be canceled on other days?
Charles Feb 20th 2009 at 09:45 pm 19
Mathew: It’s Washington’s Birthday:
http://www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/fedhol/2009.asp
“This holiday is designated as “Washington’s Birthday” in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code …”
It’s the Monday holiday thing - third Monday in February.
“President’s day” is the commercialized term …
Powers Feb 21st 2009 at 11:30 am 20
Federally, the holiday is “Washington’s Birthday”. Some states designate the same day as a holiday, and some of those some states call it something different, such as “Presidents Day”.
The only employer required to give the day off is the federal government. Some schools give the day as a holiday, some have the whole week off as February break, and some don’t do either.
Mark in Boston Feb 21st 2009 at 01:27 pm 21
Trivia quiz: George Washington was born on February 11, 1732. So why did he celebrate his birthday on February 22? (Hint: He would have agreed with me that 2001, not 2000, was the first year of the new millennium.) (Second, even more obvious hint: He was born on February 11, 1731/2.)
Matthew Feb 21st 2009 at 01:33 pm 22
Quick answer, Mark (you pedant): He was born before England & the colonies had converted from the old calendar to the updated Gregorian calendar, which necessitated (in September 1752? I’m doing this out o’ my head) subtracting eleven days from the calendar, moving his birthday eleven days. He could’ve left his birthday on Feb. 11th. It’s just a day, after all.
We gotta get rid of this “Presidents Day” moniker & change it to Washington-Lincoln Day, celebrating our first & our greatest presidents, both of whom were born in Feb.
“Presidents Day”–ugh. Yay for Fillmore, Buchanan, & Harding!!–double ugh.
Andrea Feb 21st 2009 at 11:16 pm 23
Out of left field, here, and I’m not even sure that I buy this… But here in Illinois, Presidents’ Day was huge this year, because it was Lincoln’s 200th birthday.
I think it’s more likely the comic was referring to Obama (which is weird, as I agree that most people associate only Lincoln and Washington with Presidents’ Day), but around here, the LincolnFest was/is pretty out of the ordinary.
todd Feb 22nd 2009 at 01:49 am 24
Ironicly (if this is about Obama), not a single person in that mall is anything other than white.
Mitch4 Feb 22nd 2009 at 10:45 am 25
Hiya, Andrea — I don’t know where in Illinois you’re writing from, but here in Chicago we have for several years had Lincoln’s Birthday as an official holiday alongside and slightly before Presidents’ Day. And I always heard it was an Illinois state holiday, not just Chicago — it’s the state as a whole that’s “The Land of Lincoln” after all, and if any locality can claim him it’s more likely Springfield than anywhere else. (When they aren’t busy with Homer Simpson celebrations.)
But yes, there was indeed a bigger deal than most years on Lincoln’s Birthday this year, because of it being the 200th. It happens the same day was also Darwin’s 200th. (This was Thursday, Feb. 12.)
==Mitch4
P.S. I wasn’t kidding about the possibility of there being city holidays. But my example was going to be Pulaski Day (for his March 4 birthday, but standardized to a Monday and thus upcoming on March 2 this year), and it turns out,at least according to Wikipedia, that it’s apparently a state holiday after all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_Pulaski_Day .
Elyrest Feb 22nd 2009 at 12:12 pm 26
Heavenly days! How many state holidays does Illinois have?
Cidu Bill Feb 22nd 2009 at 03:59 pm 27
Todd, didn’t we already determine that in Hi and Lois’s universe there really aren’t any black people to speak of?