Opinion: Presidential inauguration forces terrible inconvenience on Academy Awards

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It just goes to show how ridiculous this U.S. presidential selection process has become when simply because the world’s sole superpower -- for a while longer anyway -- is choosing a new leader, something as globally important as the announcement of the next Academy Awards nominees must be postponed.

It isn’t enough that the country must endure about 24 months of political blather and rhetorical positioning to choose the next leader of the free world from among a trio of surviving senators, of all things.

It’s insufficient that this election process will likely cost on the order of $2 billion, which could finance four, maybe five, solid Hollywood blockbusters about more interesting things with much higher entertainment value, not to mention special effects.

But now the world must wait an extra 48 hours -- 48! -- to learn who’s been nominated to receive an Oscar. The outrage. Just because the new president must take something called an oath and give a high-falutin’ speech and then pretend to watch every high school marching band in the entire country parade by in the traditional freezing drizzle.

The Academy was prepared to announce its 2009 Oscar nominees on Jan. 20 as usual. But, oh no, there’s a presidential and vice-presidential swearing in to swear to. So now we must all wait until Jan. 22 to learn who might get the famous statuettes at the 81st Academy Awards. And this’ll only be, what, the 44th president?

And the pressures this cramped schedule adds to the people that produce the Feb. 22 show that always goes on way too long but they have to get all those shampoo ads in.

Where has our country’s sense of values gone?

--Andrew Malcolm