in 2008, barrack obama arrived at the white house with a major security issue in his pants.
get your mind out of the gutter.
a potus first, #44 came with a blackberry.
and if that wasn't enough he brought along his facebook wall.
the kicker? he twits, he tweets, he twats and blogs.
after much negotiating, president obama's blackberry was granted a security clearance affording another potus first - president barrack obama has more social networking apps than mark zuckerberg and more 'followers' than god.
given president obama's numerous television appearances, because yes barrack obama has a page at imdb.com, i am baffled that smerc drew his line in the sand when president obama slow jammed the news with jimmy fallon and house band, the roots, featuring the fabulous quest love.
and this was just too much for smerc!
but was it a surprise? um, no.
according to:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/obama-overtakes-reagan-as-most-televised-president-in-history/
Barack and Michelle Obama have made a combined 195 television and movie appearances since entering the national spotlight in 2004, according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). That is 20 more appearances than the Reagans’ 175 self-credited media appearances over an 85-year span.and if that isn't enough of a kick in smerc's pants, president obama is gonna yuk it up with jimmy kimmel sometime next week.
Ronald and Nancy Reagan were both Hollywood stars, amassing 99 movie and television roles from 1937 to 1996. Reagan continued to frequent the late night circuit during his political career, sitting down with Johnny Carson and roasting A-listers with Dean Martin.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/president-obama-to-appear-on-late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-this-week/
the president's appearance on kimmel will complete the entire late night comedy circuit.
it would be quite the coup if kimmel can get our president to rap the news, fo' shizzle.
one appearance; however, is glaringly absent.
and by one, i mean literally 1(one).
president barrack obama, the first black president of the united states, despite his many comedy central and then some gigs, has made one appearance on bet, the black entertainment network.
seriously?
i am still researching the obama's many television cameos, so straight up, i am still trying to find additional sources; however, at this moment this is what i got:
according to-
http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=194708&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=9703403
the following is tvguide.com's (link above) programming list for obama content on bet-
Episodes: BET News - 40 total Episodes
| 9/26/2011: BET News: The President Answers Black America - this is the 1(one) appearance http://www.s2smagazine.com/stories/2011/09/president-obama-chat-bet | |
| 4/29/2010: BET News: Dr. Dorothy Height Funeral Service | |
| 1/27/2010: BET News: State of the Union Coverage | |
| 7/7/2009: BET News: Forever the King | |
| 6/27/2009: Michael Jackson | |
| 1/20/2009: BET News: Barack Obama Victory Speech | |
| 1/20/2009: BET News: Inauguration Coverage | |
| 1/19/2009: BET News: King & Obama | |
| 1/19/2009: BET News: The Obama Effect | |
| 12/7/2008: BET News: Heart of the City: Chicago's War on Violence | |
| 12/1/2008: BET News: Are You Positive? | |
| 11/4/2008: BET News: The First Black President | |
| 11/4/2008: BET News Special: Election '08 Coverage | |
| 11/3/2008: BET News: Barack Obama Speech | |
| 10/3/2008: BET News: Crank That Vote | |
| 9/16/2008: BET News: R. Kelly Speaks | |
| 8/27/2008: BET News: The Dream: 45 Years Later | |
| 8/26/2008: BET News: What's at Stake | |
| 8/25/2008: Locked Out: Ex-con and the Vote | |
| 6/3/2008: BET News: Obama's Journey to the White House | |
| 5/29/2008: Fashion Blackout: Models of Color Out of Style? | |
| 4/13/2008: Spring Break Diaries | |
| 2/7/2008: Stigma: The Silent Killer | |
| 1/15/2008: Brown on Black | |
| 1/15/2008: What's in It for Us?: Hillary Clinton & the Black Vote | |
| 1/8/2008: What's In It for Us?: Barack Obama and the Black Vote |
michelle obama appeared on the 2011 bet honors show with mariah carey and a child of destiny or someone, i forget. it was not beyonce' or sasha fierce, that i know.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/bet-honors-michelle-obama_n_1207366.html
the first lady's resume' also includes:
http://www.bet.com/news/features/vote-2012/news/politics/2012/04/24/michelle-obama-to-set-record-for-first-lady-television-appearances.html
http://wonkette.com/470612/michelle-obama-spends-more-time-on-television-than-actual-actors-according-to-vague-statement
i am left with a couple of thoughts, and i will address my smerc thought first.
smerc, how can slow jamming the news put you over the top? as outlined in my first paragraph, the man tweets. now, i know full well our president isn't actually the one doing the tweeting.
in the good old days, that would be pre-tweet, my mother would arrive at the white house and answer letters from little children, pretending to be the president. on it's face, this seems cute.
however, let me tell you from personal experience, when say, some "random" pie-eyed little girl finds out the letter she received from richard m. nixon was a complete forgery, leading aforementioned child to realize that sob nixon probably didn't even read my damned letter, i mean her letter, isn't cute one little bit.
my mother- a dasher of dreams.
but, president obama gives his tweetblessings and allows others to twit on his behalf so that americans everywhere can flutter in our president's twatting universe.
good times.
just don't slow jam the news!
the more serious thought i am left with is, am i the only person who finds it odd that the first black president of the united states appears less than interested in participating with the only major blackcentric television network outside the wb?
i am an older white woman, and i would absolutely expect this man to be interacting with black people everywhere; shouting from the rooftops, oh hell no- shouting from the oval office, "represent!"
and in the words of our always articulate vice president joe biden, albeit on the down-low, "this is a big fuckin' deal".
it is.
yet seems to me, the obama's side-step every opportunity to shine a national spotlight on what a big deal his history-making presidency truly is. ignoring it, avoiding it, (which reminds me of romney and his little mormon problem) sweeping it under the rug even, is another missed opportunity for some much needed in-your-face unifying.
but much like the recent trayvon martin case in sanford, florida, any opportunity for some productive, honest, necessary dialogue has been missed.
 |
| al is on the case |
kudos to those who brought trayvon martin's death to national attention and all that was done on behalf of this young man and his family. me? i hadn't heard a thing about the case until sharpton got involved and made mention of it on his msnbc show, how the hell did i get this gig on politics nation? starring al sharpton. so he served a wonderful purpose.
served.
but al sharpton always stays too long at the party. he is the dude who sits at the bar and drinks allllll night long; thinks he's just fine until he stands up and then all sorta drunk shit hits the rev's fan.
he's that guy.
not satisfied to simply get the judicial ball rolling, al is going to relive (again) his glory days as a civil rights icon and purposely or not, fan racial flames pitting broken-hearted white mom against broken- hearted black mom and i'm noticing the mom part is always arriving at the end .
i read a piece by d.l. hughely@
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dl-hugley/trayvon-martin-zimmerman_b_1445575.html
it is the last paragraph that i wish to draw attention to; however, please read his entire piece.
"If this trial bears any resemblance to a rally, I fear that the jury will lose a great deal of sympathy. Everyone relates to parents mourning the loss of their child. The only way to win this trial is to make it about people and families, not about civil rights and politics. I can guarantee that there will be people of all ideological stripes on that jury, and they will need to persuaded just as much as everyone else. How? By calling to their decency and humanity, as opposed to whatever their voting biases may be. People generally want to do the ethical thing, but they have to be listening to what you're saying first. But if it becomes a "black thing," they simply grow disinterested. A disinterested jury will not send a man to jail. If one, just one, juror sees a bunch of upset black people and thinks "there goes the neighborhood," this case is lost."
well said.
as for president obama, i totally don't mind if you appear on bet and address bet issues. i don't mind if you or michelle choose to be the cover story for essence magazine. it is alright to hear you say, "if i had a son, he would look like trayvon." on the flipside, it would be okay for me to say, "if i had a son taken from me, so young so dear, my heart would break as sabryna fultons must be breaking."
it is not what compels empathy, it is the spirit of empathy in common that is unifying.
it matters not that you empathize with the way he looks anymore than i empathize with his mother's heart.
i believe to ignore a person's race is to ignore their history.
i believe i cannot look at a black person and not notice they are black, anymore than an asian appears asian, white appears white, and so on.
i believe most people honor and value their ethnicity and to pretend we are all one color is to reject one's dna pool all the way back to jesus.
i also believe there is no better person in the united states of america to- at the very least, assist us in commencing this dialogue, than our president, barrack obama.
enough with the self- promoting, "i'm the cool president" tv appearances.
make better use of your free air time, mr. president.
call bet.
cmk
