Backlash begins after Obama slow jams the news
President Obama got a lot of attention for slow jamming the news on 鈥�Late Night With Jimmy Fallon鈥� Tuesday night. About 2 million people watched the show, during which Mr. Obama talked about the need to keep student-loan rates low over a beat laid down by house band The Roots.
That鈥檚 what slow jamming the news is: It鈥檚 kind of a combination of a Barry White song and a "PBS NewsHour" report. Mr. Fallon does this from time to time, though he鈥檚 never had the chance to do it with Obama, whom he referred to as 鈥渢he Preezi of the United Steezi,鈥� the Barack Ness Monster,鈥� and 鈥渢he POTUS with the mostest."
Well, not everyone enjoyed the bit. Two days on, the backlash is in full swing, with many Republicans grousing about the Fallon episode and complaining that Obama is just trying to distract Americans from his policy failures.
Rush Limbaugh, for one, said the whole thing wasn鈥檛 humorous.
Slow jamming the news 鈥渋s supposed to be wildly funny if you have a low threshold for humor," on his show. "It鈥檚 also funny if you smoke certain controlled substances."
Conservative talk-show host Ann Coulter seconded Limbaugh during a Wednesday-night appearance on Sean Hannity鈥檚 Fox News show, saying Obama鈥檚 performance was 鈥減retty pathetic鈥� and an attempt to overshadow news coverage of scandals at the General Services Administration and the Secret Service.
鈥淭his whole week has been a government employee failure,鈥� said Ms. Coulter.
Other right-leaning commentators noted that the subtext of Obama's appearance seemed to be an attempt to portray him as cool and hip, as opposed to Mitt Romney鈥檚 more stiff personality. The best way for the GOP to counteract this, they said, might be to embrace it and flip it around: Do you want a president who is hip or a president who is effective?
鈥淭he coolness issue is a trap for Obama, I鈥檇 suggest.... Not even actually cool people want a cool incompetent as president,鈥� on her Right Turn blog in The Washington Post.
The Republican National Committee, for its part, has already produced a two-minute Web ad titled 鈥淎 Tale of Two Leaders.鈥� It jumps from clips of presumptive nominee Mitt Romney making a speech to clips of Obama slow jamming, in an attempt to portray the former as more serious than the latter.
The ad ends by inviting viewers to tweet anti-Obama thoughts using the hashtag #NotFunny.
While Obama鈥檚 political opponents criticized the slow jam, so did one of Fallon鈥檚 ratings opponents. Funnyman on "The Daily Show鈥� that Obama at this point does not have to lower himself to connect with voters.
鈥淢r. President, you鈥檙e the president! You don鈥檛 have to do this [bleeped expletive] anymore. Although we鈥檇 love to have you back on the show,鈥� said Mr. Stewart.
