Warren & Becky Sittin' In A Tree…

It’s springtime, so that can only mean one thing…yes, Becky Quick is in position for another Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha.

Let the lovefest begin.

As sure as the Swallows return to Capistrano each year, Becky and her camera crew will show up for their standing hotel reservation deep in the heart of Buffett Country to hang on the Oracle of Omaha’s every folksy utterance.  And it really doesn’t matter what he says, as each comment is sure to elicit a breaking news graphic and 7 minute segment, regardless of how insignificant.

It’s not that I don’t like Warren Buffett, in fact, I think the man is extraordinary.  I suppose that what puts me off about Buffett lately is his newly-claimed role as America’s Stock Market Cheerleader.  His New York Times op-ed piece, “Buy American, I Am” was not only ill-timed (October 16th, 2008) , it seemed to have been almost coaxed out of him by the Obama campaign team. 

On top of that, yes, it bugs me that CNBC’s parent company General Electric (GE) was rescued by Buffett and now this televised slobbering by the network will likely take on an air of bootlicking.

I’m glad that Warren Buffett is still around and doing his thing.  He is as much the living embodiment of American capitalism and common sense as anyone else I can think of.  What I can do without, however, are the marathon furniture store-set interviews and the relentless clips of Warren and Becky sucking down a big Cherry Coke with two straws in it.

The man is a legend, but overexposure is a cruel mistress and with all of the “real” news out there affecting our daily lives and careers, I think we can do without the 24 hour Buffett-Vision this year.

Full Disclosure: I currently manage accounts that are long GE.