Coming out of yesterday's Fort Hood attack is the bizzare story of President Monkey's response to the crisis.
Take it away, NBC News:
After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for not only his trademark eloquence, but also grace and perspective.
But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a "shout-out" to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow -- that Congressional Medal of Honor winner." Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?
Here you can watch the video yourself:
What is with all the shoutouts? Almost as soon as I heard this story, it immediately reminded me of something odd. Rap artists these days are always "shouting out" to either the fellow collaborators on the album, and/or the name of their label at the beginning (and occasionally the middle) of the song.
I have a minor example here:
Before the song even starts, you're given the names of the performing rappers, told that them combining forces "is history", and for added benefit told which album you can buy the song on.
You can find the same thing on 50 Cent and Marques Houston remixing "Candy Shop", or Missy Elliott unable to stop declaring that Nelly Furtado is helping her with the remix.
What does Obama have in common with these artists? C'mon now, you know it, you can think of it... hmmmm....
Barack Obama...
Nelly...
50 Cent...
Missy Elliott...
...what do they have in common? Oh yeah, they're all talentless hacks.
