GREEN: Jay Z in the (White) House

OPINION:

Ah, how far President Obama has come in just a little over a year.

While it’s glorious that we finally delivered justice to Bin Laden, cowboy-style, it has been a little odd to see how eager President Obama is to take credit for it.  Apart from the method of the military operation—who knew he had it in him?—his speech  announcing the demise of the world’s greatest villain was short on key details and sounded more like an extended pat on the back. 

While the world continues to wait to see proof of the death—photos of Bin Laden’s body and burial—the White House has released pictures of Mr. Obama in meetings in the Situation Room on the mission against Osama Bin Laden.  Again, Mr. Obama wants us to know that he was the one sitting in the President’s chair for this historic event, not his predecessor or Jay Z.

As these photos of the rapper’s March 2010 visit can attest, Mr. Obama has had to grow into his role as the head of state and occupant of the nation’s most revered residence.  While it may be wildly inappropriate for celebrities to be playing president in the room that required a clearance for entry under the Bush administration, Mr. Obama must not have known that. Just as he apparently didn’t know in the spring of 2009 that British dvd players won’t play American dvds—and that a box set of movies really isn’t the best gift for a prime minister (particularly if his country has a record of giving your country nice stuff, like the desk at which you sit in the Oval office, made from the timbers of an old ship).  

Let’s not go into his repeatedly bowing to other foreign leaders; he still hasn’t gotten that lesson down.  

There’s still time left in his presidency, however.  Shall we check in again a year from now?  The best sign of progress, of course, would be Mr. Obama learning to act presidential in time for his exit ceremonies from the White House in 2013.

 

Anneke E. Green is Assistant Editorial Page Editor for The Washington Times.