With the Presidential election and the release of the film Lincoln both happening this week, many people are trying to draw parallels between America’s 16th President and today’s candidates. With that in mind, I have something to say to our next President. In fact, this advice is not only for Obama or Romney, but for all of the public servants out there, especially the aspiring politicians and the young up-and-comers.
Instead of taking advice from Lincoln, Washington, FDR or any other President, you should instead heed the wise words of ODB. That would be Old Dirty Bastard of the Wu Tang Clan, for those who don't know. (Rest in peace, my brother.)
The year was 1998. ODB was appearing on the popular MTV show "Total Request Live" when he was asked what he would do to give back and help his community. Without missing a beat, he made a disgusted face and responded, "Nothin!"
Needless to say, TRL hosts and the studio audience were flabbergasted.
Well, Ol' Dirty proved to be a visionary. Right now, in Connecticut, there's a prominent anti-Obama ad in which a concerned mother asks Obama what he'll do for her family. You may have noticed during the second debate at Hofstra that nearly every audience question ended with some version of the phrase, "What are you going to do for me?" Politicians, the next time someone asks you this, I want you to make your best Old Dirty Bastard face and yell out, "Nothin!" Politicians and Old Dirty Bastard are responsible for performing a public service. In the case of ODB, that service was dropping hot tracks for teenagers to bump in their Honda Civics, and saying ridiculous things to make us laugh. For politicians, it's crafting public policy and responding to disasters. Politicians aren't responsible for one individual's success any more than Old Dirty was responsible for cleaning up the ghettos of Brooklyn. Politicians can try to spur economic growth or invest in new industries, but they're not responsible for ensuring that every single person in the country can find work. Is Obama supposed to show up and proofread little Jimmy's cover letter?
In 50 years we've gone from an era of "Ask not what your country can do for you" to "Mr. President, what are you going to do for me?" In the aforementioned ad, the non-offensive white middle-American mom asks Obama what she should tell her kids about the economy. I suggest she tell her kids that they can't find a job because their lazy mother raised them to believe that a job would one day be handed to them. We need to get people to change their me-first attitude, and the only way to do that is with a good old-fashioned verbal beat down. So who better for politicians to channel than the Big Baby Jesus, the dirty old man, the Osirus of this shit, the one and only ODB. This is our only chance to save our future generations. It’s true what they say… Wu Tang is for the children!
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