Two different Americas, the Welch's say. Uh huh. Because one candidate sang America the Beautiful, badly, and one sang Let's stay Together well….I don't even know what to say anymore. Big sigh…Yea. We're not even talking about policy here…
This is from Paul Krugmans NY Times column. Let's Stay Together, the hit so prevalent it is played on every radio station and is sung at EVERY SINGLE WEDDING RECEPTION regardless of race, class or ethnicity, is so foreign and other… When Obama sings it, he's "different"… not like us rich (I'm not even going to put another adjective here) folk. Well, needless to say, as I tweet about the Olympic horse dressage competition, I know which America I'm a part of…the American part.
Gary Silverman makes a remarkable catch. He asks why the Romney counter-attack on the “America the Beautiful” ad featured Obama singing Al Green, and pretty well too. Well, it turns out that this is how the other .01% think:
One of the better answers I have found comes from a well-known supporter of Mr Romney – Suzy Welch, former editor in chief of the Harvard Business Review, and wife of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. In an appearance on CNN with her husband, Mrs Welch suggested that Mr Obama’s personal style and choice of musical material define him as a member of a “different America”. I would imagine this is why Mr Romney’s campaign included the snippet of Mr Obama singing “Let’s Stay Together” at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They hoped it would convey his otherness.
“It’s the difference between the songs that they’re singing,” Mrs Welch said. “Mitt Romney didn’t exactly do a beautiful job on that song, but think about what he’s singing, OK? I mean it’s that patriotic song and he goes all the way through it. Then you’ve got the very cool Barack Obama singing Al Green. That is the two different Americas. Isn’t it?”
How “other” is Al Green? So other, so alien, that, well, he’s included on the Muzak they play in Red Lobster restaurants.
It's unfortunate that Suzy Welch can't conceive of any Americans loving listening to America The Beautiful and Al Green.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate but not surprising.
Agreement. Why one has to make one "different" than the other is what messes with my head.
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