President Obama has been all over the map during the last couple of days.
He’s been traveling to prepare for his second debate against Mitt Romney, after a poor showing in the first. But he’s also been all over in his topic of conversation.
Yesterday, on The Yo! Show in Florida, Obama weighed in on the Nicki Minaj vs. Mariah Carey feud that may or may not be actually occurring on American Idol.
"I think they are going to be able to sort it out, I am confident," Obama said. "I'm all about bringing people together, working for the same cause. I think both outstanding artists are going to be able to make sure that they're moving forward and not going backwards."
Politico is reporting that Obama also discussed RGIII’s sensational performance on Sunday.
According to the story, Obama "did comment on the restoration of faith in Washington sports teams created by RGIII’s remarkable performance in the Redskins game," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Monday.
Obama was in a bit of hot water a few weeks ago for appearing on The View instead of meeting with world leaders at the United Nations, and now talks about pop culture and sports ahead of a debate in which he needs a strong performance.
It’s probably unfair to criticize the President for discussing topics he was undoubtedly asked about, rather than him broach the subject himself, especially because his responses about both were pretty good all things considered. But it is the kind of risk that comes with positioning yourself as a popular President, and talking about these kinds of things during the most heated and microscopic point of the election seems like a poor decision.
We’ll see how it translates in the end; we will all forget about Obama commenting on the feud – or hopefully that there was ever a feud – if he gets reelected in November. Maybe talking about pop culture helps him relax before the debate, or maybe he’s just practicing taking off the wall questions to prepare for Romney switching positions on another issue.
Now, we know Obama and Jay-Z are tight, so maybe he’s just practicing “Stayin’ on our minds” with all the media attention, but the bottom line is that Obama needs a strong performance in the debate tonight, so he’ll need a little less D4 on his iPod, and a little more criticism of Romney’s policies.
