Is the President Channeling Mos Def?

Is the President a freestyle rapper?  LOL, you might respond by text.  But seriously, check out Mos Def's rendition of "What's Beef?" Originally done by the Notorious B.I.G., I first heard it on The Dave Chappelle Show.  It is sardonic and didactic, in full "Let me learn ya" mode.  The President was recently in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, riffing on "What is Government" and the parallels between his "flow" and Mos' were, at least for me, striking.  First, check out Mos Def's: 



Mos Def is essentially exhorting denizens of the Hip Hop Nation (and black America, to not conflate the two): “Wake up, open your eyes, avoid distraction and get real about what should really be occupying your attention."     Here's my favorite line, which is, sadly, too damn topical: “Beef is high blood pressure and bad credit/Need a loan for your home and you're too broke to get it."

Now, like I said, maybe President Obama has begun listening to Mos Def spit fiyah, because that's what he did recently.  Here's the President, in Minnesota this Monday, August 15, vigorously defending government -- not just his administration, but the very concept of government itself.  He enumerates (many) of its functions that are simultaneously viewed as indisputably necessary by most Americans (all but the far right*) but that, ipso facto, to their purported consternation, also make government BIG:

You’ll hear a lot of folks, by the way, say that government is broken. Well, government and politics are two different things. Government is our troops who are fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s government. Government are also those FEMA folks when there’s a flood or a drought or some emergency who come out and are helping people out. That’s government. Government is Social Security. Government are teachers in the classroom. Government are our firefighters and our police officers, and the folks who keep our water clean and our air clean to breathe, and our agricultural workers. And when you go to a national park, and those folks in the hats -- that’s government.

The President's exhortation here is “Wake up, here’s what government actually does for you.  Are you not in favor of that?”   We know President Obama could benefit from a little more fire, and I think this is the type of fire many Americans want to more consistently see.  It is argument by distinction, and his oratorical, repetitive motif here does hearken back to his campaign trail.

In light of what seems to be the recent national-scale intervention for President Obama, performed in Op-ed pages, blogs and on cable television, much in the vein of, "What's eating Barack "Gilbert Grape" Obama?" or, more seriously, “What does Barack Obama really stand for? Like, um, really?” it may just be that the President has finally gotten off the couch. 

So, if President Obama is still shaking off a certain malaise brought on by the debt ceiling fight, for a more speedy recovery I would recommend a daily morning dose of Mos Def’s gem. I reckon it could only further channel the focus and indignant attitude so on display by the President in Minnesota.

* The people seem to wish the government crash, that allow natural disasters and such take their natural courses, and, finally, to hasten Armageddon.