Obama & Beyonce. Ryan VS Rage
Apparently humbled and sobered by the sheer gravity of the epic political fight facing him over the coming weeks and months, Barack Obama has been concentrating on the important stuff. He took to the airwaves in New Mexico to reveal details of his passion for a bit of Beyonce on the I-pod when he needs to get his heart rate going.
It turns out she’s the president’s number one gym buddy and – he continued - he doesn’t hesitate punching up a few tunes from her hubby Jay Z as well.
For a minute he was in danger of... well sounding quite cool again. But then the hosts asked him what superpower he would choose if he could have just one, and the epic geek hiding inside the president came rushing right back:
“This sounds, it’s kind of a weird superpower, but if I had something that I could immediately wish for, I would love to be able to speak any language.”
Ahh there’s the Obama we know and love. Let’s face it, he has the US secret service and Air Force One at his immediate and everyday disposal, so invincibility and teleportation were never going to be that high on his list of priorities.
Before his hard hitting interview with radio station KOB FM came to an end, Obama also managed to chip in that he hadn’t actually heard the Carly Rae Jepsen song ‘Call me Maybe,’ until he became central to its most famous parody
The entire interview sounds like it carried the pitfalls associated with a politician trying to look like a real person, but all considered this high risk dipping of his political toe into the waters of popular culture didn’t go that badly. Eight out of ten.
Over on the Republican side of the race things have NOT been going quite so smoothly for Tea Party poster boy and new VP pick Paul Ryan – at least not in the ‘I like music’ sense.
He professed his love for Rage Against the Machine – remember them? It seemed a weird choice; he’s JUST about the right age, he could have gotten away with it, if ‘Rage’ Guitarist Tom Morello hadn’t found out about it and promptly hit back: "I wonder what Ryan's favourite Rage song is?” he pondered in Rolling Stone: “Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of F--- the Police? … So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!"
Nice work Ryan. Two out of ten.
Consider this: Romney should have received a poll boost as a result of Ryan dominating the news cycle over the past week, those new numbers are now trickling through.
Classic swing states like Ohio and Florida are as usual undecided – but another – Pennsylvania has drifted into the Obama column. If they held the election right now (late August) The President would have much less of a mountain to climb than Romney.
He looks secure but there’s a long way to go.
