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There's a reason to be cynical, Coco.

By Todd Seabrook

Conan O'Brien's departing words from the Tonight Show were:

"Please, do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. [...] Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, it's just true."

While Coco could tell us, and tell us again, all the philosophy of success he could fit into five minutes, the real evidence of his "just" truth is the $32 million in his pocket from the non-disparagement clause he signed.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm with Coco. But it is easy to say that cynicism doesn't get you anywhere if you quit your own television show and NBC still pays you $32 million. A similar situation was drowning the auto-industry before the bailout. The program "Jobs Bank" paid workers who were laid off because of modernization between 90-95 percent of their salary. Hell, if I got paid $31 an hour for not working, I wouldn't be too down on the management either, whether it's NBC, Chrysler or a Madoff Ponzi scheme.

Countering Conan's elegant and poignant speech was President Obama's equally elegant but not-so poignant State of the Union Address. In the last minutes, Obama listed people who are not helping the cause, calling out CEOs, bankers, lobbyists, politicians, pundits, the media, as well as the government en mass. With a look of "I'm trying, Goddamnit" Obama said, "No wonder there's so much cynicism out there. No wonder there's so much disappointment."

Obama elucidates a lot of reasons why the American public should be cynical. The speech itself, although unintentional, was a resurrection of our inborn cynicism concerning our government - we all know the promises being laid down and the alleged new, wondrous threshold on which America now stands is mostly bullsh-t. Of the grand promises made in the campaign, Obama has done very little, and what he has done, he has done only halfway. Troops are still in Iraq, Guantanamo isn't closing anytime soon, and the healthcare bill has been bowdlerized so much it will provide the equivalent coverage of a WWII medic at Omaha beach.

So who should we listen to now? Conan or Obama?

Yes, there are times to be cynical, as Obama pointed out. But by departing from NBC so gracefully, Conan demonstrated that you don't have to be cynical even if you have been screwed - you can just take the hit and move on. The problem is that when the American public takes the hit on health care, or wasted spending, we do not walk away with money in our pockets and our health in our hearts. Cynicism is our political sense of pain. When cynicism takes over our thoughts, it means something needs to change in our world. It should not be covered up with a misplaced sense of optimism, or an assumption that things will get better.

And for some reason it seems that the only response to our cynicism is to tell us not to be cynical. Conan told us, and told us, that "amazing things will happen" as if he was tucking a nation of third-graders into bed. Obama spoke to us like we were fourth-graders, maybe fifth-graders, telling us to move toward a "more hopeful future."

Great.

How?

They can tell us not to be cynical, they can tell us things will be alright, they can tell us anything they want, but just telling us isn't enough.

Amazing things don't just happen. Bankers will take their bonuses based off bailout earnings, corporations won't just give away their profits, and Republicans won't magically agree with the Democrats.

Action is the only thing that will prove whether our cynicism is warranted or not.

And right now, I see very little action.

Originally Published: February 3, 2010

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