Obama: not superhuman?
Beth Clothier
Issue date: 9/21/09 Section: Opinion
Oh, that Kanye West. Always getting up in other people's faces to give his opinion, whether it be a not-so-humble outburst during the MTV Europe Music Awards because he lost a best video award to someone else or a half-demented love ode to Beyonce in the middle of someone else's acceptance speech.
You'd think that after the "Fishsticks" episode of "South Park" he'd have learned his lesson, but not our boy. It's been a little over a week since "Kanyegate" first broke and the nation is still reeling. At least that's what you would think based on the amount of news coverage the story has gotten.
Now even President Obama has been dragged into the kerfuffle, and all for giving voice to the same sentiments about the disruption that launched a thousand Tweets. People are calling his "jackass" comment, which was intended to be off the record, but was leaked by ABC reporter Terry Moran, rude and unprofessional. However, these same people are the ones who vote people into office because they are "down to earth" and "just like the common man." Why should he then pad his comments with polite and practical words when the meaning will be the same between the lines?
People are always so surprised when their leaders turn out to be human, as if they sprang into existence as perfect beings. To me it's reassuring that the president is a "real" person. Certainly I want him to be professional when the time calls for it, such as deciding whether or not to push the big red button that releases all the nuclear missiles, the newest trends in tie color or the hottest breed of dog, but this tendency toward idolization and putting leaders on pedestals is ridiculous.
I understand that we want those in charge of representing us and making our policies to be of a certain caliber of person (though with that in mind I still don't see how George W. Bush was elected twice). However, we also need to realize that getting into a lather over our leader saying the same things we've been saying (and especially repeating it and letting the media frenzy snowball) just because he's in a fancy office is kind of letting down our end of the bargain.
But hey, at least it got Michael Jackson out of the news for a while.
You'd think that after the "Fishsticks" episode of "South Park" he'd have learned his lesson, but not our boy. It's been a little over a week since "Kanyegate" first broke and the nation is still reeling. At least that's what you would think based on the amount of news coverage the story has gotten.
Now even President Obama has been dragged into the kerfuffle, and all for giving voice to the same sentiments about the disruption that launched a thousand Tweets. People are calling his "jackass" comment, which was intended to be off the record, but was leaked by ABC reporter Terry Moran, rude and unprofessional. However, these same people are the ones who vote people into office because they are "down to earth" and "just like the common man." Why should he then pad his comments with polite and practical words when the meaning will be the same between the lines?
People are always so surprised when their leaders turn out to be human, as if they sprang into existence as perfect beings. To me it's reassuring that the president is a "real" person. Certainly I want him to be professional when the time calls for it, such as deciding whether or not to push the big red button that releases all the nuclear missiles, the newest trends in tie color or the hottest breed of dog, but this tendency toward idolization and putting leaders on pedestals is ridiculous.
I understand that we want those in charge of representing us and making our policies to be of a certain caliber of person (though with that in mind I still don't see how George W. Bush was elected twice). However, we also need to realize that getting into a lather over our leader saying the same things we've been saying (and especially repeating it and letting the media frenzy snowball) just because he's in a fancy office is kind of letting down our end of the bargain.
But hey, at least it got Michael Jackson out of the news for a while.
Be the first to comment on this story