On the Obama’s dog

Today I would like to discuss a somewhat innocuous issue that has been all over the news lately: the Obama family’s new dog, Bo. The American media has eaten this story up, providing in-depth discussion of the dog’s breed and how it is being cared for. I would like to discuss the implications of the massive amount of media coverage for such a small, unimportant event.

At first, I was dismayed by the media’s treatment of this issue. With so many serious issues ahead of us, I looked with scorn upon the media’s focus on pointless stories such as this one. I feared the lasting effect that treating Obama like a celebrity could have. If the media continues to portray Obama as a celebrity figure, in the minds of many Americans he may become one, with disastrous results. Like other American celebrities, Americans might pay close attention to Obama’s personal like without caring about the important things he does. After all, he is the President of the United States, and we must not allow ourselves to get distracted from his policies by trivial details about he personal life. This concern is not entirely unfounded—former President Bill Clinton suffered from this celebrity syndrome, and by the end of his administration people no longer cared about his policies, only about his sex scandals. In fact, I recently saw a program on the History Channel that summarized the events during the term of each President. In Clinton’s segment, none of his polices or decisions were discussed, bu the Monica Lewinsky affair was talked about at length. To be fair, Clinton brought this upon himself—during his Presidential campaign Clinton tried to appear “cool” to appeal to younger voters, even going so far as to appear on MTV playing the saxophone on election night. 

However, I now believe that giving this story so much attention may be for the better. Though it distracts from the more serious issues, this is not as unfortunate as I originally thought. In times as grim as these, people need something trivial to take their minds off of their concerns, and the Obama family’s dog does just that. People can follow the plight of Barack’s Portuguese water dog instead of worrying about their own trouble, and escape (if only for a minute) from the harsh realities they must face. Indeed, this same concept of escapism is what makes the Hollywood culture so appealing to many Americans. Americans often nitpick over their heroes, as we saw with the unending praise for pilot Chelsea B. Sullenburger, who landed a plane in the Hudson River. Thus, as long as we avoid treating our President as a superficial celebrity, I see no problem with caring about what brand of dog food Bo is going to get. In this respect, too, I am more confident: if the issue is put in perspective, it is obvious that the President’s family getting a dog is far less celebrity-like than the President cheating on his wife.