Big Bird breathes easier with Obama win

By Doug Most, Globe Staff

You know who else besides President Obama breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday night? Big Bird, that’s who. Because now instead of one giant yellow bird looking for work, it’s the former Massachusetts governor in need of a job. Well, sort of.

It was just one month ago when Mitt Romney told Jim Lehrer in the first presidential debate, “I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I love Big Bird . . . I’m going to stop borrowing money from China to pay for things we don’t need.”

And a movement was born. Twitter lit up with Save Big Bird campaigns. Obama took to the campaign trail to mock Romney for suggesting that cutting PBS funding would somehow help the staggering economy. And PBS spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins said the the allocation for PBS is 1/100th of 1 percent of the federal budget. And moms across the country cried out, noooooo! (Okay, that’s a stretch.)

After that debate, the Globe reached out to Caroll Spinney, the Waltham native who has voiced the beloved Sesame Street character for more than forty years. We didn’t reach Spinney in New York, but his wife told us they were oblivious to the whole mess because they don’t have the Internet.

Well, after last night, Big Bird can breathe easy. Your funding is safe for now, our fine feathered friend.