Perfection On Demand

Did you know that Jennifer Hudson lip-synched the National Anthem at the Super Bowl the other night? She is an incredibly talented, dependable singer. But her passionate performance (she sure looked like she was belting it out) was pre-recorded. Faith Hill, too, was lip synching when she sang "America the Beautiful." Both did so at the request of the Super Bowl's producer. His reason: "There's too many variables to go live. I would never recommend any artist go live, because the slightest glitch would devastate the performance." (At least Bruce Springsteen was live. And up close and personal too, as he slid into the camera at the end of his walkway).

Have we reached a point of expecting perfection at all times? Just because we have the technology doesn't mean we have to use it. Just because the Internet allows us to know everything doesn't mean that we should insist that everything be perfect.

It's the day after the Daschle debacle, and I am horrified at the idea that we require all to be perfect. I am disgusted with the media's hysteria when something - anything - is askew. We have become a society without gradations. Daschle was not my favorite, but he has a "good guy" reputation. (I was more bothered by Tim Geithner, who knew about his tax problems for years but let them linger; at least Daschle's problems were new and he was in the midst of trying to resolve them.) Instead of letting there be gray areas, a tsunami of indignation swept Daschle away. Hysteria overwhelmed reason, and he withdrew his name from consideration. Had reason prevailed, he may have withdrawn his name anyway. But we will never know. We were too busy standing in absolutes to let the process unfold naturally.

Likewise, we will never know how Jennifer Hudson would have sounded live, at the Super Bowl, in her first performance after her family's deaths, with the world encircling her, supporting her, wanting her to succeed. The need for perfection trumped the beauty of reality (with all its ups and downs). We just will never know.

UPDATE: Here's a series of short op-ed articles in the Washington Post, written by numerous people with a variety of perspectives, commenting on Tom Daschle's decision to withdraw his name from consideration as HHS Secretary.