Too Cool for School?

When does too hip become too hip?  First Obama “brushed the dirt off his shoulders.”  Younger voters knew what that meant and from where it came.  It’s a great song.  It’s not a song that should be included in a presidential campaign speech though.  I highly doubt that the man in the blue shirt behind and screen right of Obama knew what it meant.  Who knows, maybe he listens to Jay-Z on his iPod too.  Or maybe he just followed the crowd’s cheering and was swept up in the moment even though he didn’t know what it meant.  My guess is for the latter, in which case that man looks like an idiot.  Dozens of videos showing this Obama moment are available on YouTube as well as on other interactive, opinion, etc. sites online.  YouTube alone has recorded several hundred thousand views, and that tally doesn’t include any other campaign highlights.

 

 

And then came the Michelle/Barack fist bump (which I had always mistakenly referred to as a “hand pound,” so thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Obama for clearing that up).  Even the older generations cannot mistake this for something else.  This video has also received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and has provided fodder for newscasts and pundits across the country.  In my humble opinion, pop culture has infiltrated nearly every corner of our existence.  As a former employee of the Washington Post, I used to get a kick out of telling people that the most viewed page on the newspaper’s Web site was the entertainment page.

 

 

 

It’s refreshing to see politicians not taking themselves so seriously all the time.  And it’s nice to see Obama have a moment with his wife, even if it appears to have been scripted. Obama is pulling out all the stops.  To the younger generation, he is just cool.  Kind of like in the way that, back in the day, Clint Eastwood was just cool.  No need for explanation – one look and you can just tell, this guy is cool.  The older generation may not get the Jay-Z “feeling like a pimp” tie in, in which case, no harm is done.  And maybe Obama was feeling like a pimp that day, but I doubt it.