Will the Real Jackass Please Stand up

In the news tonight, President Barack Obama called someone out today in a major way. No, it wasn't Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the talking heads that have been criticizing his every move. It wasn't the radio show hosts who have been taking turns dissin' the First Family since they stepped into the White House. It wasn't even Rep. Joe Wilson, the dude who yelled out "You Lie!" during Obama's health care speech. No, the target of the president's sharp silver tongue was the real major threat to his health care agenda; Kanye West.

The Hip Hop world is buzzin' about President Obama dissin' West by calling him a jackass via an "off the record remark."

(Word of advice Mr. President, in the cut throat world of journalism, there are no "off the record remarks.")

Now I don't think what Kanye did to Little Taylor Swift was cool at all. Seems that every since West made his infamous "George Bush Doesn't like black people" remark a few years back there has been an attempt to dumb him down. I bet one of the industry big wigs and his goons pulled him into a back room and "strongly" suggested that he kill the political commentary and stick to rapping about money and hos.

So, no excuses for Kanye's behavior.

But that's beside the point.

If the president can brush off talking heads calling the mother of his children a female dog and a preacher saying that he hopes that he dies, why did he feel compelled to call out a rapper?

Well, rappers are easy targets. For most white folks a rapper is synonymous with a young black male who needs to be disciplined. Remember, after the Don Imus "nappy headed ho" scandal, the conversation switched from white male bigotry to a conversation about Hip Hop lyrics almost overnight.

Also, the picture of Kanye West on the cover of today's USA Today over the caption 'What Happened to Civility" could easily be seen as a not -so- veiled attempt to portray young black men as "uncivilized.

Perhaps the worst thing that will come out of the whole West/Swift ordeal is the next time some right wing kook decides to yell "you suck!" at an Obama press conference the good ol' boys will brush away all criticisms with "well, what about when Kanye West...."

I just think that if President Obama wanted to call someone a jackass, he had a whole staff of commentators at Fox News that would have fit the description better than a confused rapper....

Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com