What is this unfamiliar and unpleasant sensation I'm experiencing? Why, it's...no, this can't be!...alas and alack, I fear it IS...President Obama setting off my bullshit detector?!
My dear man, you are the POTUS. You do not need to wait to be ASKED to make a statement on anything. People are eager to hear your opinion; you can say whatever you like, at any time you like, and know that people will listen. And frankly, it did bug me that you didn't make a statement after MJ's death: it implied either that YOU thought the possibility of his being a pedophile outweighed his achievements, or that you thought too many of your constituents thought this to make it worth the risk of offending them, even if you didn't agree.
Either way, it was kind of a lousy sendoff to a guy who is your predecessor and peer in a rarefied historical company: that of black American men who captured the global imagination in a deep and enduring way and shifted everyone's perception of what is possible. Looked at in that light, MJ quite possibly helped pave the way for you to be where you now. And for the record, it didn't even take membership in the black community for me to feel you'd rather slighted one of the more important cultural figures of your lifetime and mine by saying nothing on the record about his passing. Imagine that!
You know, Mr. President, if you're having second thoughts, his funeral next week might be a good time to put in a nice word or two for the guy. I'm just sayin'.
@MockMyWorld: wait really? The President needs to release an official statement when a celebrity dies? Don't get me wrong, I understand your point about MJ being a ground breaker in a lot of ways but I really have to take issue with the assumption that President Obama "owed" it to...the nation? the Jackson family? to make a public statement. He's sort of busy at the moment, what with the worst economy in three decades, and the war on two fronts, and the potential Iranian uprising. etc?
@bluebears: busy at the moment? too busy to speak for 10 seconds?
I don't think he owed anyone a statement, but I don't buy the "too busy" argument.
Also, it annoys me when people of color are referred to as a community, as "the black community" was in that article. We don't have meetings or even clearly defined memberships, so it's just a weird thing to say.
@bluebears: I think he could've probably spared the five minutes that it would have taken to make a statement, yeah. And while I don't think presidents are obligated to take note of celebrity passings per se, they often do recognize significant ones, which MJ's certainly is. If Aretha Franklin or Stevie Wonder had died, for instance, I'm pretty sure Obama wouldn't have thought twice about issuing a statement. MJ comes with more controversy attached than either of those two, of course - but then, Obama said something publicly when George Tiller died a couple of months ago, in spite of the fact that the attendant controversy there could have had actual political consequences for him.
I don't think Obama "owes" MJ or the Jackson family anything - I don't think he even knows them. Nor is he required by some racial bond or debt to acknowledge MJ. All the same, this death has been significant to a lot of people not only culturally but emotionally, and it would be nice for the president to say as much in a public way.
@cwisto moweina has got yer goat: actually I do buy the too busy argument. I've read accounts of the Clinton presidency and they were working like 15 hour days, and that was during a relatively placid time in our nations history. Honestly I can't think of a more demanding job.
@MockMyWorld: I'm sorry but I simply don't equate the assasination of George Tiller with the death of Micael Jackson. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree because I couldn't feel stronger that that was an act of terrorism and therefore deserved a presidential response.
@bluebears: @sewradical: I don't mean to suggest that Tiller's and MJ's deaths are completely analogous, only that in each case there was potential risk for Obama in associating his name with theirs and that the contrast between the two situations is interesting and (for me, at least) surprising. I would have thought the association with Tiller carried greater potential for political damage, both because Tiller and Obama's somewhat overlapping views on abortion make it possible for Obama to be tarred with Tiller's brush and because there's no doubt that Tiller performed the acts that made him controversial. Whereas MJ's crimes, real or perceived, took place in an entirely different sphere from Obama's and clearly have nothing to do with him, so to honor MJ's contributions while distancing himself from his ambiguous private life should not have been politically impossible. So I thought, anyway; it seems not to be the case.
I fully agree that Tiller's killing was a terrorist act, am very glad Obama made the statement he did following Tiller's death, and do not mean to trivialize Tiller by mentioning him in the same breath as Jackson, because I consider them both important. And I hope I don't come across as so completely mindless as to need to have it explained to me that responding to celebrity deaths is not one of Obama's primary functions as president. Of course it isn't. But even small symbolic acts like making or not making statements have meaning, and given how good Obama is at balancing himself between opposing viewpoints and acknowledging complexities, the fact that he didn't do so in this case constituted a snub, if you ask me. I guess the real question, and maybe the subtext of this whole exchange in fact, is whether the snub was deserved. As an ex-MJ fan, but one who still roots for his overall legacy to come out positive, I don't even know the answer to that one myself.
Obama's statement on Michael Jackson was a really nice, nuanced thing to say, but I'm waiting for Rush Limbaugh to shit all over it 'cause for him, an Obama comment about MJ is just like Christmas morning. Watch him twist it around and extrapolate evidence that Obama is a child molester himself, or that he isn't black or some such nonsense.
@willwriteforfood: Maybe he'll mention 'darrferr'. Cause that's how he pronounces Darfur, and according to him the only reason Obama wants to pull out of Iraq is because he wants to save all the black people in 'darrferr'.
I'm not sure why exactly, but this made me laugh: "Tom Cruise took Suri to the zoo yesterday in Australia to see a kangaroo."
I guess it's just funny to see the stuff that passes as news when celebrities are involved. (Not snarking on Jezebel here, but celebrity news in general.)
@Plate2.18: Plus when you're in Oz, if you just drive around the right place you can see tons, right? Or is that just for koalas? Cause I know that koalas are like squirrels over there.
@apocalypse-nowish: koalas not like squirrels, they're actually a threatened species. Kangaroos everywhere - especially about a couple of hundred metres from my house.
@Sorcha: Wasn't he awesome? I went online and watched "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog" right after the Tonys. He would really wake up that snoozefest that is the Emmys these days.
Jesus, I was hoping MJ's kids wouldn't have to be pulled in every direction. WTF is wrong with people? And Debbie Rowe is fighting for custody of the oldest two? Blanket will be separated from the rest? I feel terrible for them.
Given that Quincy Jones ONLY ever dated or married white women*, I am not sure if he is in a position to condemning MJ's inability to embrace his birth color.
I am biracial married to my husband who happens to be white. But the list of people of I have dated or slept with can be mistaken for the roll call at the UN Assembly. I have never exclusively dated ONE type of person.
As for MJ, you have to admit it begs the question why he didn't use his sperm.
"Senator Al Franken said that when people call his office and get put on call, they'll hear the Grateful Dead. Franken said: 'Yeah, it's going to be my hold music ... in the Senate, which I've noticed is all classical music. I'm going to try and choose American music, Minnesota music.'"
@TheLittlestChicken: it would be very interesting to know whether the adoption agreements for Conor and Bella had been amended. They live with Tom and she says they're never in Nashville. I wonder...
@chancentrate: Currently Nicole has three kids: Bella and Conor, adopted while she was with Tom Cruise, and Sunday Rose, whom she gave birth to with Keith. Bella and Conor are the 2 step-kids (Keith's step-kids), and Sunday is the 1 kid between them. That's still only three, and one more between them would be four. Get it? I could draw you a Venn diagram, if you like.
Michael Bay said, "Well, that's Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she's 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do."
Well, you're 44 yrs old Michael Bay. What's your excuse? I am referring both to your public statements and your body of work, which basically amounts to one very large, loud "ridiculous thing".
@Your Screenplay Sucks: I would usually say that despite being an overpaid hack, Michael Bay made movie stars out of a lot of working folk but I am going to shut up because this may be the only time someone will put Megan Fox in her place.
@The Hand-Walking Queer (texascrude): Yeah, I don't know how I feel about this little exchange b/c I don't like either one of them...and yet they're both right.
07/02/09
07/02/09
My dear man, you are the POTUS. You do not need to wait to be ASKED to make a statement on anything. People are eager to hear your opinion; you can say whatever you like, at any time you like, and know that people will listen. And frankly, it did bug me that you didn't make a statement after MJ's death: it implied either that YOU thought the possibility of his being a pedophile outweighed his achievements, or that you thought too many of your constituents thought this to make it worth the risk of offending them, even if you didn't agree.
Either way, it was kind of a lousy sendoff to a guy who is your predecessor and peer in a rarefied historical company: that of black American men who captured the global imagination in a deep and enduring way and shifted everyone's perception of what is possible. Looked at in that light, MJ quite possibly helped pave the way for you to be where you now. And for the record, it didn't even take membership in the black community for me to feel you'd rather slighted one of the more important cultural figures of your lifetime and mine by saying nothing on the record about his passing. Imagine that!
You know, Mr. President, if you're having second thoughts, his funeral next week might be a good time to put in a nice word or two for the guy. I'm just sayin'.
07/02/09
07/02/09
I don't think he owed anyone a statement, but I don't buy the "too busy" argument.
Also, it annoys me when people of color are referred to as a community, as "the black community" was in that article. We don't have meetings or even clearly defined memberships, so it's just a weird thing to say.
07/02/09
I don't think Obama "owes" MJ or the Jackson family anything - I don't think he even knows them. Nor is he required by some racial bond or debt to acknowledge MJ. All the same, this death has been significant to a lot of people not only culturally but emotionally, and it would be nice for the president to say as much in a public way.
07/02/09
@MockMyWorld: I'm sorry but I simply don't equate the assasination of George Tiller with the death of Micael Jackson. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree because I couldn't feel stronger that that was an act of terrorism and therefore deserved a presidential response.
07/03/09
I fully agree that Tiller's killing was a terrorist act, am very glad Obama made the statement he did following Tiller's death, and do not mean to trivialize Tiller by mentioning him in the same breath as Jackson, because I consider them both important. And I hope I don't come across as so completely mindless as to need to have it explained to me that responding to celebrity deaths is not one of Obama's primary functions as president. Of course it isn't. But even small symbolic acts like making or not making statements have meaning, and given how good Obama is at balancing himself between opposing viewpoints and acknowledging complexities, the fact that he didn't do so in this case constituted a snub, if you ask me. I guess the real question, and maybe the subtext of this whole exchange in fact, is whether the snub was deserved. As an ex-MJ fan, but one who still roots for his overall legacy to come out positive, I don't even know the answer to that one myself.
07/02/09
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07/02/09
@SisterFrost: ha!
07/02/09
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07/02/09
I guess it's just funny to see the stuff that passes as news when celebrities are involved. (Not snarking on Jezebel here, but celebrity news in general.)
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07/02/09
"Soooo, you're a perfectionist? Flashes of Quincy..."
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07/02/09
I am biracial married to my husband who happens to be white. But the list of people of I have dated or slept with can be mistaken for the roll call at the UN Assembly. I have never exclusively dated ONE type of person.
As for MJ, you have to admit it begs the question why he didn't use his sperm.
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
Totally worth the wait!
07/02/09
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07/02/09
07/02/09
Nicole has three children and you have two step-children. so if Nicole were pregnant that would make it four children.
Thanks,
TheLittlestChicken Advocacy Center for Children from Previous Marriages
07/02/09
07/03/09
07/03/09
07/02/09
Well, you're 44 yrs old Michael Bay. What's your excuse? I am referring both to your public statements and your body of work, which basically amounts to one very large, loud "ridiculous thing".
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
I feel badly for those children.
07/02/09
04/06/09
Nobody wanted a Wet Seal.
04/06/09
04/06/09
Miley, please, for the love of god, shut up. I can't take it ANYMORE.