07/31/2008
Obama Responds to Divisive Track by Ludacris
The Obama campaign responded yesterday to a new track by Ludacris called "Politics: Obama is Here" which calls Hillary Clinton a bitch and says John McCain is better off paralyzed in a wheelchair. It also takes cracks at Bush and Jesse Jackson.
Said Obama spokesman Bill Burton: "As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to. This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics."
The song suggests the coming of Barack will "paint the White House black and I'm sure that's got 'em terrified..." Well, we already know it has certain Texas Republicans terrified.
Listen to it, AFTER THE JUMP...
(lyricse)
Posted 11:30 AM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Music, News | Permalink
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Big deal. Any fool can say something ignorant. It's sad that politicians have to defend themselves like this. Unfortunately, Obama, Ludacris has fame (and is still probably still smarting for Oprah ripping him a new one on her show a few years ago) and is already hated by Bill O'Reilly.
Watch the bloviators spew crap.
Posted by: noah | Jul 31, 2008 11:52:02 AM
hmm..I usually like Ludacris..i think this may be a feeble attmept to get some press considering he hasn't had a hit in a while, I remember the whole Pepsi fiasco a while back..listening to the track and it's subpar beat it's gonna need a lot more press to sell an album..
$10 bucks says this song will be in the backround of McCain's next ad.
Posted by: daveynyc | Jul 31, 2008 11:53:15 AM
Holy crap, could Ludacris BE any more stupid???
Ludacris needs to apologize or go into retirement.
Posted by: Hephaestion | Jul 31, 2008 11:57:27 AM
The Obama campaign is going to have to stop commenting on everyone and everything. It always sounds defensive.
Posted by: anon | Jul 31, 2008 12:00:32 PM
BTW, why did no one go apesh@t over Jon Voight's recent essay wherein he calls Obama a socialist? Did McCain issue a denunciation?
Of course not. Saint McCain may not
P.S.
Why is Ludacris' song "divisive"? What makes it divisive versus some other less stereotype infused descriptor?
When Ann Coulter or another conservative says something that is blatantly despicable, I don't recall seeing their statements headlined as "divisive." Aren't conservatives given a blank check on their ability to say or do things that far more repugnant? (Elliot Spitzer lost his job but David Vitter is still a legislator although both hired prostitutes.)
Pat Buchanan released a new book that blamed World War II on Churchill. To promote his book, he appeared recently on a Neo-Nazi radio program. But there was no widespread media outrage. Buchanan has a long history of anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. Buchanan still appears on MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080416/
When conservatives say or do homophobic or racist things, like Ann Coulter calling John Edwards "faggy," there are no repercussions. Yeah, Don Imus lost his job and was out of work for a couple of months. So, what. He got another radio gig and is making millions.
This is the game that we play in U.S. Conservatives can do anything, except have a gay affair--unless they're a prostitute like "Jeff Gannon," and walk away unscathed.
Yeah, the media are so "liberal" that they embrace Buchanan and don't bother to grill the GOP on its decades' long program of voter suppression.
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/09/pat-buchanan-advertises-his-book-on-neo-nazi-radio-show.aspx
Posted by: noah | Jul 31, 2008 12:23:58 PM
I have to say bad taste is bad taste...some of the things that Ludicris is saying is just downright mean. I don't particuarly care for John McCain, but he isn't a bad man and he doesn't deserve to attacked.
I think Obama is sort of silly too because if he dissed someone like Ludicris then he is saying that he is better than him...that is going to piss off a lot of people who feel Obama represents a change.
Posted by: Paul | Jul 31, 2008 12:24:20 PM
I'm not going to listen to this shit, it's playing into what he wants us to do: getting attention. Don't reward it.
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | Jul 31, 2008 12:31:31 PM
Nice smokescreen. Whitey still pulls the purse strings since the 80's when huge labels gobbled up the smaller rap/hip hop lables. It boils down to perpetuation of the dangerous black man a la W E Dubois' Birth of a Nation.
Posted by: Toro | Jul 31, 2008 12:46:29 PM
I agree with Anon. His campaign shouldn't have to respond to everything everyone says or does unless Ludacris works for his campaign. Same goes for McCain. I certainly don't expect John to have to answer for right wing blowards like Hannity.
Plus, as soon as politicians start harping on lyrics or pop culture, they just seem out of touch and silly.
Posted by: Marco | Jul 31, 2008 1:04:35 PM
Of course Obama should not be held responsible for Ludacris' ludacris song, nor should he have apologize for it. Ludacris, however, can go to hell. Hillary Clinton is an irrelevant bitch? She's not irrelevant when it comes to convincing her fundraisers and supporters to back Obama. It seems to me that Ludacris thinks he's inherently superior to white people and disparages them by virtue of their race. That to me is the very definition of racist.
Posted by: valentino | Jul 31, 2008 1:23:09 PM
Sadly, Noah, for the obvious reasons, people are going to hold Obama accountable for the things that other people say, especially if those other people have the same skin color as Obama, and even if the other people are not associated with the campaign or the democratic party. McCain won't have to deal with the same problem, and there's really nothing that Obama can do about it, so he has to issue statements.
The sad part is that Obama has stances on important issues, but all this talk about him being a celebrity, Ludacris, Jesse Jackson, etc. take the focus off his policies and supports the idea that he really doesn't have any plans.
Posted by: Cadence | Jul 31, 2008 1:27:59 PM
Valentino, how does Ludacris insulting Hillary Clinton and John McCain, mean he is putting down all White people, or saying that he is better than them? Calm down. It is a stupid song, and a stupid decision to put it out, but you are going overboard with the talk of racism. Seriouly, the majority of the people who buy rap music are White, the vast majority of people funding and greenlighting it are White. Listen to the music, they rappers will disparage Black men and women and dehumanzie them, but they won't do the same to White men and women. The reason is because they know doing so would hurt them in their pockets.
Posted by: Cadence | Jul 31, 2008 1:36:58 PM
Hate, in any shape or form, should never be tolerated. I love Ludacris but this isn't something I'd ever want to listen to, regardless of my political stance..definitly makes me think differently of him.
Posted by: missy | Jul 31, 2008 2:12:25 PM
Yeah, whatever. Publicly, the campaign denounces it; privately, it's probably on Obama's Ipod by now and is his favorite workout song. And, can someone please explain, if it's okay for a black man to refer to a white woman as a bitch and get away with it, what kind of negative racial term can a white person use to refer to a black person and get away with it. I'm just curious.
Posted by: sillyme | Jul 31, 2008 2:18:43 PM
Did you even listen to the lyrics? There's nothing divisive about this song...
"Hillary hated on you so that B*tch is irrelevant..."
"Jesse talking slick and apologizing for what?
if you said it then you meant it how you want it have a gut."
There's nothing divisive, or even untrue, about these songs. He just used the word bitch. This might be new favorite song.
Posted by: Cameron | Jul 31, 2008 2:18:47 PM
Bravo for Obama! And those who think that anyone who actually cares about Ludacris's feelings would have voted at all in any case needs THEIR reality checked.
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Jul 31, 2008 2:18:56 PM
Sillyyou? You're not just curious—you're stupid [Obama denounced misogyny again] and sure smell racist.
Cameron? You're just plain retarded. Kill yourself, please.
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Jul 31, 2008 2:23:25 PM
I agree w. above commenter(s), this is such a desperate attempt to get some publicity.
I've enjoyed his previous songs and actually, the words in this one aren't as bad as the author indicated, so oh well. Life goes on.
Posted by: Drew | Jul 31, 2008 3:04:28 PM
Why the hell does he feel the need to comment on everything? It's just a song, not like he wrote it. It seems whenever a celebrity tries to endorse him, whether in a positive or negative way, he has to make some statement about it. I think he has more important issues to talk about than a dumb Ludacris song.
Posted by: MarMar | Jul 31, 2008 3:30:24 PM
This, from the guy who thought that "Crash" and his role in it was a profound statement on race relations in America. Consider the source.
Posted by: Dback | Jul 31, 2008 4:17:14 PM
"Yeah, whatever. Publicly, the campaign denounces it; privately, it's probably on Obama's Ipod by now and is his favorite workout song. And, can someone please explain, if it's okay for a black man to refer to a white woman as a bitch and get away with it, what kind of negative racial term can a white person use to refer to a black person and get away with it. I'm just curious."
I'm not defending Ludacris at all, but you act as if this is the first rap song that has ever mentioned the word bitch. You need to get out more.
Posted by: sugarrhill | Jul 31, 2008 7:15:45 PM
Has Ludacris forgotten that Obama is only half black? I don't want to put race into this, but I feel like the more rap songs I listen to they're making Obama seem like the God for blacks in America, they are just seeing color on skin rather than an individual who is attempting to provide change in America.
Posted by: nia | Jul 31, 2008 9:52:53 PM
Michael Bedwell,
would you mind if I asked you
to please no longer call people retarded,
or tell them to kill themselves...
especially over a topic as unimportant as Ludacris' lyrics...
Posted by: Jesse | Jul 31, 2008 11:24:19 PM
I like Ludacris and a lot of this stuff. I don't particularly find this song offensive, and god knows that Ludacris is NOT the first person to call Hillary a bitch. Personally, the song just sounds a little, well, lazy. It's not well thought out, the lyrics aren't spectacular, in all honesty,it just sounds like Ludacris was bored and decided to write in his journal. I've heard worse and better.
Posted by: PeKeMo | Aug 2, 2008 2:07:23 AM
Lud also raps about women and turns around and takes it up the rear from men. We need to write a rap about Lud and his ex lover Gordon.... whom is now a gay porn star. If your gonna be proud Lud be PROUD.
Posted by: Britt | Jan 15, 2009 11:07:16 AM