A day before I saw that awful ad where a bunch of celebs berate people for being too stupid to register and vote (if anybody can verify whether these punks actually get around to voting, please do so), there was another video that made me a little queasy.
It was a video of a choir of children signing and signing an inspirational song in a manner familiar to anybody who has tuned into the Super Bowl celebrations too early. But these kids aren't singing about America and how wonderful it is, they are singing about who should lead it. Lined up in front of smiling parents, backed by piano, woodwinds and hippy drums, decked out in Obama campaign merch, they sing "Obama's gonna lead 'em."
It's enough that the song is saccharine, sort of a shopping list of chichés and threadbare songwriting tropes, but you can't help but wonder how these kids became fervent Obama supporters.
Take a look:
The answer to that is, "Of course not." The idea that teaching some kids a song somehow constitutes brainwashing or indoctrination is offensive, at least. In fact, I would guess that these kids admire Barack Obama, and looked forward to him hearing ther song.
The problem with the video is that it plays into the cynical and meritless narrative that Obama has some kind of Messiah complex. As sweet as Obama probably thought that video was, someone had to take that music teacher aside and say, "Sorry. Not helpful."
