Karl Rove’s piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, “Obama has a Listening Problem,” swipes some insightful lyrics from Sara Bareilles’s pop hit “King of Anything”. They aptly describe Obama’s one-way communication style and knack for saying what sounds like the right thing, even though he is in no way receptive to thoughts outside his given political agenda box.
Sara’s “You’ve got the talking down/just not the listening” nails it for Obama,it’s true. As a Bareilles fan I thought that Rove citing those lyrics was pretty cool. But just as I was getting a bit giddy about it, I was reminded that Bareilles herself performed recently in a benefit concert for Obama and Harry Reid. It took the lustre off of the story for me. Bareilles is singing the right words about someone else mouthing the right words for the sake of popularity and personal appeal. I guess it’s a malady that afflicts self-satisfied stars in every walk of life. Should thank the Karl Rove piece for deflating my SB enthusiasm? No, but I might not have thought about the weird double-irony here otherwise. Thanks for the good tunes in any case, Sara.
