I was 33 years old, and attending a dinner in Boston hosted by the Bush campaign for the American political media on the eve of the Democratic convention in 2004. It was then that I realized how completely out of touch most national political reporters are with actual Americans.
The New York Yankees were in town playing the Boston Red Sox and Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, was to throw out the first pitch. I didn’t believe it because there was 0% chance that he wasn’t going to be booed loudly. Fenway Park was overflowing, thousands of Yankees fans wearing pinstripes were looking for confrontation, and John Kerry was caught in the middle. In fact, he could have pitched a no hitter that day, and he still would have gotten booed.
The gathered reporters seemed astonished that I thought John Kerry would be booed. He was. Loudly.
Similarly, their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales were mildly booed amidst a warm welcome when they attended a Celtics game on Wednesday. Go figure. Who could have possibly imagined a crowd made in part of Irish American Catholics from Boston might boo the future king of England at a Celtics game?
The British and American press have commented on this, and predictably, have made a mountain out of a mole hill trying to find meaning in the booing. There wasn’t any, except for evidence that the Cambridges might consider upgrading their PR team to include people who can predict the obvious. The reason they were booed wasn’t because they were disliked by the crowd, but rather because they were announced. If they hadn’t have been announced, they wouldn’t have been booed.