Just the other day Lady Gaga took another tumble, which indicates once again that the woman formerly known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, and Barack Obama, formerly known as Barry Soetoro, have a lot in common.
Lady Gaga and Barack Obama are overnight sensations, have huge cult-like followings, know how to pack a stadium, and do their best work communicating over a microphone. Lady Gaga can play piano, drums, and the keytar, and Obama can play an audience. Stefani talks to God and Obama is convinced he is God. One loves to sing about Judas, the other loves himself and labels his detractors Judas.
Ms. Germanotta does a blasphemous impression of Madonna and, try as he might, when it comes to channeling Ronald Reagan, Mr. Obama falls short.
Lady Gaga and Barack Obama both spoke insensitively about Special Olympiads and later were constrained to publicly apologize. The only difference between the two is that to date, Obama has yet to show up behind the podium shod in a pair of Alexander McQueen Armadillo shoes.
Attention junkie Lady Gaga and imperious amateur Barack Obama are bound to fizzle out. The past tells us that media creations launch into the stratosphere and then, lacking endurance, swiftly sputter and fall. Yet despite recent Easter and Passover hubbubs and various and sundry ongoing controversies, meteoric icons Gaga and Barack continue to press on.
Barack is a politician and Lady Gaga a pop star, both notorious for unstable footing — Gaga literally, Obama politically.
With nary a shred of embarrassment, Gaga fell while making her way through Heathrow Airport, got up and kept going. Recently, “while trying to straddle” her flaming piano bench, she slid off, hit the floor, and then bounced right back up, never missing a beat. Then, weeks later, Miss Germanotta danced up a storm, threw off her jacket, swung her bleached blond hair around, stomped sexily in the direction of her dance troupe, and again hit the floor — hard.
According to TMZ, “Just like the last fall … Gaga got right up and trucked on like nothing ever happened.” Effie Orfanides at the Gather Entertainment Channel made the following observation about Lady Gaga’s resiliency:
The great thing about it is that she just falls over and doesn’t miss a beat. In fact … Gaga tried to incorporate the fall in to her routine, which is very hard to do … especially when everyone knows that you’re prone to toppling over during your shows. Anyway, no one seems bothered by her constant dropping. … It’s actually less funny to watch now that it has happened a bunch of times!
Which brings the conversation back around to Barack Obama — both Barry and Steffi fall over, struggle to stand, and subject the world to a never-ending show that’s downright painful to watch.
Barack is the Lady Gaga of politics, all glitz and hype and totally overexposed. The president may not be dancing around in a meat suit, but politically, the man slips and slides all over the place. Much like Lady Gaga, Obama benefits from the affection of a youthful audience. These days, his approval rating continues to drop and flop, like Lady Gaga attempting to simultaneously stand erect and maintain coolness.
Afghanistan; Libya; tax cuts then tax hikes; raise the debt ceiling, then regret being against raising the debt ceiling; offshore drilling on again, then off again; Defense of Marriage Act then no Defense of Marriage Act; against lifting Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, then time to lift DADT. Is Guantanamo prison open or closed? On all these issues and many more, Obama straddles a blazing political piano seat and the public is noticing that the guy who often mentions “God and gays” keeps hitting the floor with a crash.
Barry’s slide in the polls is so embarrassingly dramatic that in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, instead of filling out basketball brackets the president might fare better if, in the future, he takes to the stage and purposely topples over à la Gaga.
Unfortunately for America, much like Lady Gaga, Obama “falls over” yet “doesn’t miss a beat,” and of late, based on the content of his oblivious speeches, is clearly attempting “to incorporate the fall into [his] routine,” but the audience, filled to the rafters with formerly ardent fans, are wising up to the con.
In 2008, voters sang along with Lady Gaga: “I want your everything as long as it’s free/I want your love, love, love, love.” After enduring the president’s klutzy governing style and witnessing his inability to keep from stumbling on the world stage, the nation is finally starting to comprehend that they’ve been involved in a “Bad Romance” with someone who is dangerously out-of-sync with the rhythm of the nation.
So in the end the Gaga/Obama duo remains alike in a lot of ways, except for one huge difference: as clumsy Lady Gaga continues stumbling about in packed arenas, Barack’s audience is slowly drifting out of his amphitheater.
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