Monday, May 12, 2008

Up, Up And Away...

"The president of today is just the postage stamp of tomorrow."

-Gracie Allen



Do you think Gracie is right? Do you think one day we might be licking the back of George Bush's head? Well, I mean to ask, do you think one day George Bush will be on a postage stamp? I wonder. If you ask Bush, he will tell you that despite his ever sagging approval ratings, history will one day show him in a positive light. I suppose that's possible, I mean even Nixon has seemed to improve his own presidential rating, years after his death. I don't dislike Nixon as much as I once did. Comparatively speaking... ahem... we have had to endure much worse in the form of a president, but would that fact alone, make Nixon a candidate for having his likeness on a future stamp?

As far as the current field of candidates goes, I certainly see any one of them on a postage stamp. First we have McCain, he is to date, the oldest person to make a serious run for the White House. On the democratic side, we have Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Clinton, the first female to make it this far, and Obama the first person of color to make a serious bid for the office of president. I wonder if these distinctions make them stamp worthy alone, of if they have to have a certain approval rating while in office. Who knows?

Today, the price of a First-Class stamp goes up to .42 cents. Like everything else, it now costs more to mail a letter. I wonder. As opposed to gas, which goes up in price as demand increases, do you suppose if everyone suddenly began writing snail mail, rather then email, the cost of a stamp would come down? You know, because more people would be using the service? Nah, probably not. Once up, it's a rarity that prices actually come down, which disproves the old adage that "what goes up, must come down." LOL. Nope, sometimes it might hang in midair, or move ever higher, but prices for goods and services, once inflated, almost never touch earth again.

Ok, so tell me, do you ever save commemorative stamps? Is there a past design you have enjoyed in particular? How do you feel about the new price hike? Have you ever used one of the online services which allows you to put your own photo on a stamp? If you could choose the next noteworthy person to grace a stamp, who would it be? Do you think George W. Bush will ever be on a U.S. postage stamp?

Opinions, opinions please :)

History of Postage Stamps

-OndineMonet

2 comments:

Suzanne R said...

Oh Carly, I think that's the most comical picture of George W. Bush that I've ever seen! LOL! I nominate it to be on a postage stamp. Hee hee!

Actually, now that you mention it, I do have a couple of favorite stamps, and one was made old today and the other is quite new, I believe. The older one is a 41-cent stamp commemorating the Chinese Year of the Rat, which rolls around ever 12 years, I understand, and was the year I was born and also this year. The stamp is red and gold and I love it, and -- best of all -- there are no rats on it at all! (I hate rats! LOL!) I wanted to use more of those stamps and at the USPS.com site, I found beautiful 1-cent stamps with Tiffany lamps on them, so I ordered some of those to go with the Year of the Rat stamps. My return envelopes are going to be so stunning! LOL!

I would never use my photo on a postage stamp. As for who is deserving, I think Christopher Reeves is one such person, right off the top of my head. That's my opinion. :-)

HUGS!

Anonymous said...

I think both Bushes will be on stamps eventually because they were presidents, not because they were necessarily good presidents. Or even half-decent presidents. The office itself, I think, would warrant their inclusion in a grouping.

I can't imagine either Bush being featured in a sole release. But maybe in a Presidents of 20th Century series, certainly.

There is a rule that you can only be featured on a stamp posthumously, so it should be some time before it would happen in any case.

I've never really been much of a stamp collector, though. These days, they're entirely too expensive not to use.