Imogen Lloyd Webber & Bernard Talk Budget Battles, Trump, and--What Else?--the Royal Wedding

Imogen Lloyd Webber and Bernard (Lloyd?) McGuirk took predictably disparate positions this morning on the looming shutdown of the federal government, with Imogen blaming both parties and Bernard faulting the Democrats.
 
“This is a budget that should have been passed last year, that they punted on,” he said, then accused Obama of knowingly proposing a budget bereft of the cuts voters wanted, so that the Republicans would be made to “do the tough stuff.” Bernard added, “It’s a failure of leadership on Obama’s part.”
 
Whether Donald Trump could do any better remains a mystery, though Imogen suspects his hair is “too much of a joke” for anybody to take him seriously as a candidate for president. Not that having funny hair has prevented other people from succeeding in different fields (see: Imus, radio, television).
 
“Anything can happen,” Bernard said. “People are sick and tired. The Republican field is really quite paltry at this point. He’s saying the right things on nation-building, Iraq, Afghanistan.”
 
He thinks Trump is the breath of fresh air people are looking for, but Imogen called Trump nothing more than “a showman.” Kind of like Glenn Beck, who will leave Fox later this year when his contract expires.
 
“We were hoping for a handgun incident in which he would take somebody hostage,” Imus admitted. Luckily, there’s still time for that.
 
Despite his shortcomings, indications are that Obama will be a formidable opponent in 2012. “He leads in the polls 47-37 against any Republican candidate,” Imogen said. “I would have said landslide before Libya. If he doesn’t get out of Libya soon, I’d be worried about him, because it’s fundamentally against his brand of ‘no drama Obama.’”
 
Bernard observed that while Obama seems like a good family man and a nice guy, “I don’t think his heart is in it.” Not like Imogen, whose heart is all over the upcoming royal wedding nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton.
 
“I’m up for it!” she cried. “It’s lovely to be talking about something fun, and good news. I think the world needs it at the moment.”
 
By now, Bernard has more than made clear his position on the royals, whether they’re getting married or not: the concept is “anachronistic” and “Marie Antoinette-ish.” To go along with tradition, Prince William will not wear a wedding ring, so Bernard suggested he wear a nose ring instead "so that she can put a leash on it, and lead him around.”
 
He added, “Nice guy, though.”
 
-Julie Kanfer