There’s a video floating around of Margaret Thatcher unabashedly refusing to comply with a talk show host’s gimmick, which is to have guests jump in place.
It occurred to me how different this is from the cloying eagerness of modern American politicians to leap through any degrading hoop as ordered to reassure the American public that they are just like them. Have a look at how dignified she was compared to our current president and many of his contemporaries.
Note the contrast to candidate in Obama in 2007, who hopped right in with both feet in order to fulfill a similar gimmick demanded by Ellen DeGeneres, who makes her guests look foolish dancing with her.
Here’s your president:
The dignity of the presidency surely was abandoned when Bill Clinton showed up in the Oval Office and not only – contrary to Ronald Reagan’s habit – removed his jacket, but his pants too. Obama, of course, has lovingly maintained a low level of respectfulness for the Office, happily being photographed with his feet up on any piece of furniture he can find and appearing on any moronic popular TV show that will have him.
There is a strain in American politics that asks politicians to show they are regular people, born, say, in log cabins. But to be a regular guy is not to be a buffoon pleading for acceptance. Obama is not alone in this. I’m sure Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal and any number of the potential GOP candidates would not hesitate to dance with Ellen and punch her speed bag.
Maybe there’s still some a candidate out there somewhere who’d rather work for votes than sing for their supper. Such a person might also be relied upon not to ask “How high?” when Kim Jong-Un says “Jump!” These little things do matter, you know.
27 thoughts on “The Lady’s Not for Jumping; But the President is”
Keith, The current President is a perfect example to the way we view fame and celebrity.
Nowadays you do not have to have any talent, skill, relevance or resume to become famous.
Just being on the internet or television and striking some emotion in people is enough. The less inventive the better.
Therefore, being a celebrity is enough to be a politician.
Being a celebrity is enough to be a leader.
Of course, being a politician is enough to be leader.
None of those is true.
The dignity of the presidency surely was abandoned when Bill Clinton showed up in the Oval Office and not only – contrary to Ronald Reagan’s habit – removed his jacket, but his pants too.
SNIP
*****
Remember when he played the sex on Arsenio? Answered the question about boxers or briefs on MTV?
Have you ever watched the manner in which Obama descends the steps of AF1? Not a dignified departure, at all!
One does not have to watch either video to know that there has been a degradation of the office of POTUS.
Perhaps the subtle irony is lost to most of the masses of the US electorate, but Obama, as with Clinton, never served in the military, or even in any type of para-military organization (ie law enforcement, fire fighter, etc). These two men have shown a disdain for the highest office in this land, turning their position into some sort of “Everyman” clown act.
From dancing with the fools, to blowing a sax for the likes of Lorne Michaels, each has shown that they do not understand what the definition of a leader is. They cloy for adulation from the masses, and seek to be seen as “one of us.”
I, for one, do not want a “royal president”, although we are getting that with Obama, nor do I want a president that is like my neighbor. Rather, I seek a president that, while having a “common touch” and an ability to communicate to the majority, exudes confidence and dignity.
The office of POTUS is perhaps the most difficult, challenging, and terrifying position on the face of the earth. Do we want someone that continues to be the class clown or down with the homies? I say no. Do we want someone that regards the electorate as an adoring mass? No again.
This country, our country, deserves a person, man or woman, who has a respect for their office and themselves. One that does not need to be reaffirmed by throngs of screaming, fainting girls. One that does not engage his own vices under the Resolute.
Say what you will about the Presidents we have had over the past 50 years. Some have been sterling examples of leadership, elegance, and decorum, while others have been paranoid to the nth degree. The one thing that all of our leaders who have shown an outward respect for the office have in common is that all served this country with some form of military service. Some made movies for the Army (Reagan), others piloted boats, and saved their own crew (Kennedy), one had his plane blown out from under him (Bush 41) and one served in the Reserves (Bush 43).
The two who avoided any military service, Clinton and Obama, have used their position to decimate the military, both financially and in morale. They have no respect for the trust that was given to them by virtue of their office. Instead of electing a President, we elected the class clowns.
God save the Republic!
I’m pretty sure Bill Clinton is a narcissist.
The expression is “to be the adult in the room”, but in these Orwellian times I don’t know how oftenI have heard Obama refer to himself as the adult. Obama is literally turning everything this country stands for upside down.
Nicely stated !!!!!
Two thumbs up.
A brilliant observation and post. Even though he left amidst controversy, Obama would not make a wart on Petreus’ rear end.
When the electorate expects little from their elected officials – it’s exactly what they get.
The electorate expects a lot. Free stuff. Health insurance, food stamps, handouts, Obama phones. What the electorate does not want are jobs and responsibility. Have kids, lots of them. More money from the 47% that pay taxes.
There’s also what the candidate expects from the electorate, and how to get it. A couple of million votes for a dance, a couple of million votes for the tunes on an IPad, a couple of million votes for pictures of you drinking beer, a couple of million votes for chillin’ with “Pimp with a Limp”, a couple of million votes for having people of dubious civility in the Situation Room, a couple of million votes for “punish your enemies”, a couple of million votes for your wife on a magazine cover….Pretty soon, it all adds up.
The Lady didn’t jump….and her husband didn’t drag the TV cameras into 10 Downing Street for sack races and Big Loser contestants. The Chicago transplants have ghettoized the People’s House! It’s beyond unsettling!
After viewing the Obama video, another You Tube video caught my eye/: Michelle Obama co-hosting The View before the ’08 election. All I can think of is “The Pugilist”. There are no words….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59twO1fJwtQ&feature=player_embedded#!
And yet today, April 12, 2013, there are pop-ups on this video asking people to contribute to the 2012 Obama campaign.
Huh????
Interesting video (for those willing to sit through 25 minutes of it):
Before Michelle Obama advocated for shunning panty hose, claimed racism affected the 2008 campaign, and admitted “I thought politics was a mean business”, Whoopi came up with the following gem in praising Michelle for changing the perception of black women:
“Anytime you see black folks on the news, particularly women, they have no teeth, and the teeth that they have, have gold
around them and they can’t put a sentence together…..and women not very very fair skinned women, I’m talking about dark black women…”
Now that’s playing the $&#% race card that would have gotten a white “host” immediately canned from the show. I don’t recall anyone challenging Goldberg over this tasteless comment.
Oh dear, this is so embarrassing. This is an old Swedish TVshow from the eighties with this embarrassing leftist journalist traveling around making silly interviews with people combined with a stupid gimmick jump. Actually, she managed with many , many famous people but of course not with this lady. I can understand why Mrs Thatcher turned away in horror. And as always, she was absolutely right. Leading politicians should not behave like trained bears. Most people prefer dignified politicians.
Juvenal wrote about this sort of thing. He was chronicling the last days of Rome.
Remember when Michelle hugged Queen Elizabeth?
Thanks, Keith. This really puts our current situation in true perspective.
MOOch would jump, shake, and thrust her crotch at the camera,
Low class hog.
Well done, Keith. Excellent comparison of the two leaders. Mrs Thatcher was a woman of stature who accurately described herself as making “great leaps forward, not little jumps in studios”. We all know Preezy will do anything to prove he’s one of the cool guys, from jamming with criminal rapsters to jumping through hoops like a trained seal.
Mrs Thatcher used the word ‘puerile’ to describe the act of jumping for the cameras. Went right to my dictionary, and sure enough it accurately describes the kind of guy who would sing and dance for a few laughs and grant interviews to the likes of the ‘Pimp with the Limp’.
PUERILE – Boyish; childish; trifling; as a puerile amusement.
Just one more reason to like Maggie Thatcher – “no, I’m not going to comply with your stupid request.” Where have all the people with actual class gone?
That is why we loved Maggie Thacker. She was really special.
Oops! I am sorry I misspelled Maggie Thatcher’s last name .
Obama does what is necessary to attract the vote of the sit at home, trendy takers. Margaret Thatcher was right when she said “Socialism is great until you run out of other peoples’ money”.
I think the expression “Trained Bear” is going to stick! Thanks Keith and Swedishlady
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