Presidential Taste

Buried in a BBC article about Obamamania sweeping British newspapers several days ago was the “news” that conservative leader David Cameron gave the Illinois Senator a handful of CD’s including The Smiths, Radiohead and Gorillaz during his U.K. visit. Given how little I care about Obama’s music taste and how much it really matters, I was elated. Obama is already on the record as being a huge fan of Stevie Wonder, as well as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Earth Wind & Fire, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and last, but not least, Jay-Z and Ludacris. If he manages to work in some indie rock after his trip to Europe, then my god, that’s starting to resemble my iPod.

Meanwhile, all we know about John McCain’s musical taste is his strange obsession with ABBA. So far, I’ve yet to figure out a way that that’s not completely terrifying.

But alas, Obama’s critically sanctioned, middle of the road tastes have not come without controversy. It turns out that not only does he like good music, but good musicians like him too, and Ludacris, already on Obama’s approval list, recently released “Obama is Here.” Needless to say, the song has incensed Bill O’Reilly by referring to Hillary as a bitch, calling out Jesse Jackson, saying Bush is retarded and suggesting the only chair McCain is qualified for is a wheelchair. For a Ludacris song, it’s remarkably tame, and really the song is more about him than Obama anyway, so why such a big fuss?

Obama shouldn’t have to answer to this, but instead he has to go through the motions and say that oh, Ludacris is talented, but I don’t agree with the message. Of course he doesn’t agree with the message! Newsflash to conservatives: not only can Obama enjoy hip hop without condoning the lyrics, but I can listen to hip hop without wanting to be a drug dealer or a murderer.

But instead of heeding common sense we have Big Boi on CNN defending his own song about Obama to a woman that wouldn’t know what hip-hop was if an 808 smacked her in the face. This whole ordeal might actually help Obama in the long run with the demographic I like to call the “secret racists.” For these people, it has to be comforting to see Obama up there echoing the sentiment that hip-hop is too materialistic, vulgar and misogynistic. Because, hey, that’s how they feel too, or at least that’s what Rush Limbaugh says. In fact, I’m proud that Obama feels the need to defend hip hop at all, and I’d love to see him try and spit a verse.

Since that’s probably not going to happen, he ought to bring Talib Kweli and Mos Def to a couple of his huge rallies. It’d be a risky proposition image-wise to knee jerk reactionaries, but it would reinforce his message, and maybe even gain the former Black Star MCs some much-needed publicity.

Not that there aren’t enough positive musical tributes to Obama already out there. Surfing YouTube for Obama songs can suck hours from your life, trust me, and end with dozens of videos of small children struggling to pronounce his name in the cutest way possible—while searching for songs about McCain is like fishing in the Hudson River. The closest thing to an earnest McCain anthem was “McCain” set to the music of Eric Clapton’s hit “Cocaine” (which was written by J.J. Cale). Who is the ad wizard that came up with that one?

It’s no secret that celebrities and musicians and pretty much anyone involved with art of any kind are infatuated with Obama to a startling degree. This has already been used against the Senator, like pointing out that this famous dude is going to sway the heartland. Aren’t these the same people that buy those supermarket tabloids? Is associating Obama with Paris Hilton and Ludacris really going to hurt him?

I think I know the answer to that, or at least I hope I do, but I’ll get back to my area of expertise and ask you a simple question: If all you knew about the two candidates was that one had impeccable taste in jazz, liked Bob Dylan and Jay-Z and the other one was obsessed with ABBA, who would you vote for?