Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Joss Stone campaign hymnal

Almost nobody outside of the British press seems to be taking the Stone/Obama story seriously - and even then, the "doing the campaign theme song for" has been nervously marked down to "writing a song for".

Well, we say "almost nobody". Some right-wing bloggers are treating it like it's real.

CrushLiberalism is angry:

Obama hires young white woman singer to do his campaign song

Presumably a black presidential candidate should restrict himself to wizened, black, male singers. Some sort of blues, perhaps.

The American Pundit is angry:
Obama’s Young, White Female Songwriter

Not only is she white, but she's also not black. Thank heavens there are sharp eyed bloggers who spot these details.

But it's not just that she's white - she's not even a native American. Well, not not a Native American... oh, you know what they mean:
could Obama not find an American singer? I’ve got nothing against our British friends, but he’s exporting his theme song development while complaining about the exporting of other jobs? Not the greatest photo op there.

Yes. Writing a theme song - that's a good thirty-five quid Obama has outsourced there. Would have outsourced there.

Hilariously, the Pundit even notices that it should treat a Gordon Smart story with caution:
I was surprised to learn that Stone is a “huge star in the USA”, but maybe that’s just me.

... however, having spotted one major flaw in the story, they still take the rest of it completely at face value.

Surely by now someone should be saying that Ronson/Winehouse have been approached instead?


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm loth to agree with the rabid right on anything, but I do think that Obama has dropped the ball in hiring a British songwriter. If anything, this will give the Republicans ammunition to tar him as some kind of elitist Europhile whose loyalties lie abroad. And given that he has to win over American swinging voters, that could do damage, especially combined with his sympathy for foreign ideas such as socialised healthcare, public transport and multilateral foreign policy.

If Obama is going to import "un-American" policy directions, it may be wiser for him to make the stylistic aspects of his campaign as American as apple pie. It's the Nixon-in-China phenomenon.

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

@Andrew:
Lest we forget, George W Bush used to turn up at campaign events to the sounds of Gary Glitter.

More to the point: Joss Stone? Campaign song? It's not really that likely, is it?

Post a Comment

As a general rule, posts will only be deleted if they reek of spam.