O Tannenbaum, electric Tannenbaum

They did the Lighting Of The Whitehouse Christmas Tree today.

What in the world is the big deal with this? When I was small and I heard about the "lighting of the tree", I thought they were lighting it on fire. Imagine my disappointment when I found out it's just some dweeb (ie, the president) flipping a switch. He flips a stupid switch! I do that every day in my house!

And then all the lights go on on the tree. Hurrah! The crowd cheers wildly, as if someone had just invented penicillin.

There's gotta be something I'm missing here. Is the audience made up exclusively of Kalahari Bushmen, getting their first glimpse of electricity? Do all the people there get a complimentary bag of crack? What's up?