POP GOES THE PRESIDENT: POLITICS AND POP CULTURE

// November 18th, 2008 // Hott Articles

chief-and-commander of cool

President Obama has “an effect on culture in a major way”

By John Charles Reedburg

No one has swagger like barack

Obama’s influence extends further than polictics

By John Charles Reedburg

I’ve never seen a President with this much shine.

He has more star status than Lil’ Wayne.

Yet he should.

After comedian Jon Stewart announced on election night that BARACK OBAMA was indeed the next president, the “Daily Show” host was joined by confused and sad correspondents, including John Oliver, Rob Riggle and Samantha Bee. They whined about what they were going to do now that this two-year trial had passed. They didn’t know how to cover anything else, they sobbed to their leader.

To soothe his troubled team, Stewart launched into a calming rendition of the “The Morning After.”

But what exactly will that morning look like in terms of comedy, music and books?

“Presidents do have an effect on culture in a major way,” says Maer Roshan, editor in chief of the recently defunct politics and pop culture magazine Radar. “They set the tone from the top.”

President Bush and his administration begat a bumper crop of pop culture -movies like Oliver Stone’s “W.,” novels like Curtis Sittenfeld’s “American Wife,” protest albums from generations of rockers from Neil Young to R.E.M. and Bright Eyes. There were ready-made punch lines for the late-night comics about Vice President Dick Cheney shooting people. And can you imagine “The Colbert Report” without the Bush years?

So, what may be created now that we have a new national ‘tude and an intellectually complex president who encourages honesty and openness?

We asked a cast of pop-culture pros for their predictions.

Obama, a best-selling author, impressive orator and man of well-chosen words, could have a positive effect on the nation’s literacy -judging by the level of excitement among heavyweight American writers.

Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Jane Smiley and Toni Morrison also praised Obama’s literary acumen to the AP. “I had read his first book (‘Dreams From My Father’). I was astonished by his ability to write, to think, to reflect, to learn and turn a good phrase,” Morrison said. “I was very impressed. This was not a normal political biography.”

Southern Indiana-born author John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of “Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter’s Son,” points out that we may not see many non-fiction screeds railing against the system for a little while -from either the Michael Moores or Ann Coulters of the world.

“Something changes when your country moves in an obviously positive direction. It’s harder to establish a contrarian space for yourself, and that’s been such a big part of the identity of writers in my generation and the ones that came before it,” he says. “They saw themselves as just fundamentally in opposition in every way to the mainstream culture.”

Farai Chideya, host of National Public Radio’s “News & Notes” and a walking encyclopedia of politics and pop culture, sees a window of opportunity opening for black writers.

“You’ll see a lot of shattering of what people consider black literature,” she says. “Popular black literature, like popular anything, tends to be very traditional. … There are people working more in the avant-garde.”

She points to black author Paul Beatty, author of the ambitious and absurd “Slumberland,” as a prime example of the type of African-American authors who may break out.

Laura Shine, a DJ in Louisville has been inundated with Obama-themed music -none of which she’s chosen to play on the air – since he became the Democratic nominee.

“Lots of independent artists have been sending their songs about change and Obama. Some of them are not that good, and a lot of them come from sort of questionable sources,” Shine says.

“Some, I believe, are about real change, and people are very excited about it, and some of it seems to be capitalizing on a trend.”

Musicians are singing Obama’s praises worldwide, according to Chideya. “There are a bunch of Kenyan songs, a bunch of reggae songs” about him, she says. She also predicts a new awakening for hip-hop. “There is going to be a post-hip-hop music form that emerges within the first Obama term, if there is more than one,” she says. “Hip-hop has run a certain course, generationally.

“There is going to be a return to music that has, if not a straight-ahead social conscience like protest music, more narrative,” she says.

America’s major purveyors of funny have bemoaned the lack of laughable material the composed and classy Obama offers, especially in comparison to his comedy-gold predecessor. And Bill Maher, of HBO’s “Real Time,” has mused on whether comedians will be afraid to poke fun at a black president -and whether audiences will laugh.

Former “Saturday Night Live” “Weekend Update” anchor Norm, MacDonald, said on a local radio station last Friday that he had to change his entire act now that Obama has been elected.

Well, we have some good news. Chideya says Larry Wilmore, “The Daily Show’s” “senior black correspondent,” is on the case. He’s producing and starring in a Comedy Central series “where he will portray an Obama-like character,” Chideya says. That’s all she’ll say for now about the project.

She also notes that ground has already been laid for more fresh political satire.

“Now you have ‘Chocolate News,’ on Comedy Central with David Alan Grier, and ‘D.L. Hughley Breaks the News’ on CNN. You’re seeing a spectrum,” she says. “You’re going to see a lot of people try to hit that sweet spot with blackness-humor in the news, and it’ll be interesting to see who actually hits it and what combination works.”

“I’ve got to admit, as a comedian, I’m going to miss President Bush because Barack Obama is not easy to do jokes about,” Jay Leno said last week. “See, this is why God gave us Joe Biden.”