About once a day I think about the wetness of Ellen’s eyes as Obama placed the Presidential Medal of Freedom around her neck. The other day on Ellen the entertainment guests were hip-hop dancers who busk on the subway. After their routine she calls out to her assistant Andy. ‘Andy, bring in the hat’, a giant baseball cap into which she hurls bricks of money. ‘I think we need more, Andy. Another 10,000’. The men dance on the furniture, Tom-Cruise style, like each 10k is a Presidential Medal of Freedom. ‘Another 10,000, Andy.’ She stops, even though the hat isn’t a quarter full. She wants to take a minute to thank the sponsor, but it only takes two seconds.