J.O.K.E. (A Different Opinion – 9.17.09)
Tactful wasn't exactly the word used to describe the President's words about the VMAs...
(Sidenote: THE REPORTER SHOULD BE FIRED. Point-blank. I am an amateur journalist, but one of the things I know is that the off-the-record portion of interviews is just for building comfort between the journalist and the person being interviewed. It builds a sense of credibility and HONESTY between the two. It also makes the “real” questions that much more potent. You do NOT publish off the record comments. For that reporter to even think about doing that about something that’s not a life-threatening issue is UNETHICAL. I’m extremely upset, because if she would’ve not been so quick to leak information, we wouldn’t be discussing this right now. I place 96 percent of the blame from this situation on that reporter. I hope ABC handles this. Now on to the note)
So here’s the situation: Obama was being interviewed by ABC News and an off-the-record portion of the interview suddenly surfaced as tweeted by Terry Moran:
“”Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.”
A few minutes later, it’s deleted, but that doesn’t change exactly what has happened. As usual, just like everything that Obama does, it sparks a debate and a bunch of controversy over his opinion. Most people don’t care that he said it because it was true. Kanye lived up to that nickname at that moment in time.
Other people feel like Obama should focus on more important things like reforming healthcare, war, blah blah. I disagree with that. I agree he should focus on that, but you can’t focus on your job at all times. The man can’t breathe and sleep politics. He has a family, and he cares about his family. That, by default, means that he’s going to be aware of things socially. That’s just common sense. So it seems like I agree with the consensus that he had the right to call Kanye West a “jack*ss.”
Yes, but no.
Sidenote: I think it's about time for us to let the VMA situation die. Seriously. It's done with, let's move on...
I strongly believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. I strongly believe everyone should be able to express their opinion. If you haven’t noticed, I also strongly believe the way you present those opinions have just as much of a positive/negative impact as the opinion itself, which is why you won’t find unedited profanity on my site (K1ngEljay.com) unless it’s in an attached YouTube video, or something of that nature. It would be different if it was anyone else in the United States in front of the camera…but it wasn’t. It was the President.
This is the same President that’s still having a hard time being accepted because of his ideas. The same President that gets a bad rap because supposedly he’s “a people-pleaser”, as one of my ex-friends put it. This is the same President that gets a bad rap because of his somewhat unclear stance on Religion. This is the same President that will probably never get the whole country behind him because of his RACE.
Sad, but true. (Just because you don’t feel that way doesn’t mean it’s true. Don’t be ignorant to the obstacles he’s dealing with, even if you don’t care for the guy)
So when you’re being scrutinized from every possible angle seemingly at all times, you have to be ready at all times. It comes with the job of being President; you have to be ready to deal with people who don’t have your best interest at heart…like Terry Moran.
I know the man is human. Everyone is human except Ben Roethlisberger (because when you take on a car with your head and WIN, you’re no longer a man. You’re something more than a man), but the difference between other people that would’ve responded and Obama is that Obama is a master of crafting words.
In his speeches and in other times on and off camera he’s always aware of his words, and he can easily phrase things in a more intelligent way. It’s easy for him. He can literally do this without trying. He’s one of the few Presidents that legitimately understand the power of words, and how they can affect people’s mindsets when presented correctly or incorrectly.
For him to make a mistake as to call someone a “jack*ss” for their actions, it just rubs me the wrong way (pause) because I know he could’ve said it a different way and had the same effect. I know a lot of people still think that nothing is wrong with calling him that, and that’s fine. To each his own.
When you have status, you have to watch what you say. That's in any situation actually. The way you say things are just as important as what you're saying.
I just feel like when you’re in a position of power, then you have to carry yourself with intelligence and you have to watch the things that you say. The higher position you’re in, the more power your words carry, and I think our President might’ve made a minor mistake in his vocabulary choice… especially since we ALL KNOW he could’ve phrased it better and still had the same impact.
But as I’ve said, it’s just my opinion, and if you disagree, then… Cool. It’s just a difference of opinion. No hard feelings.
Later.
K1ng Eljay
P.S: Just heard the audio from the situation, and the manner in which he said it wasn’t even in a mean-spirited way. He was laughing and joking, he didn’t blatantly just say “Kanye’s an jack*ss.” And I was right…he was watching the VMAs with his family. I think we need to focus more on the reporter leaking this and blowing it out of proportion than the comment itself.
