I recall a comment on the late '50s-early '60s, specifically a sardonic take on the Eisenhower administration, in the form of a black plastic cube with a trap door on one side. Press a button and the box would make sounds and lurch around, then an arm would emerge from the trap door, turn off a switch, and the box would reassume its original static demeanor. I think it was called something like a "do-nothing" box, in reference to how Ike's term in office had the trappings and motions of action, but nothing really happened. Well, at least that administration didn't lead us into an endless, pointless, and costly war. And, hey, Ike did initiate the Interstate Highway System, for better or worse.