Maybe it is just me, or maybe not, but I think there are more important things to be doing than playing basketball. An article titled Flying elbow leaves president in stitches after basketball game talked about how President Obama was playing basketball with White House aide Reggie Love and others at the Fort McNair military base in Washington. During the game, Obama was elbowed in the mouth by Rey Decerega, “who works for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute” (Henry, cnn.com). One quote that kind of annoyed me was said by Decerega. Rey said, “I enjoyed playing basketball with him (President Obama) this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.” That bothers me because there are more important things going on in the United States and other parts of the world that should be at the top of the ‘to do list’. I understand that Barack deserves some down time, but he took the most prestigious, most important, and busiest position in the entire United States. I just wish he would act like it more often. I have heard more about him playing basketball than I have about most NBA players. For some unknown reason, that is a big topic with Obama. I wish people/the media would prioritize what they do and the stories that they run. Not only are we in a war that started many years ago, but we are now faced with the North Korean and South Korean confrontation. We have big problems in the United States, and I just think it was a poor choice for Obama to take time out of his busy schedule to play basketball with other White House officials. I also think it was a dumb story to run on CNN.com. Please give me something a little more serious and meaningful next time. I could care less if Obama got hurt playing basketball. I guess this is yet another example of agenda setting, framing, and priming. CNN definitely let us know what to think about by running this story, they covered it humorously, and they decided this story was more important than many other things simultaneously happening around the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/26/obama.stitches/index.html
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This post made me laugh, I totally agree that President Obama should have better things to do than to be playing basketball, I chuckled to myself when I myself was introduced to this story. Not even in my own schedule can I find the time to play basketball and I would love to, I don't see how the President of the United States can. I was upset that this was news worthy, and had a feeling of who cares? This supports the idea that the President is nothing more than figure head celebrity, and just like any other celebrity icon, news and tabloids want the inside scoop.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this should not have been news worthy but I’m not going to lie I find it funny that it is. While I do think that President Obama has more important things to do than play basketball I don’t agree that he shouldn’t be allowed to spend time doing it to relieve stress. I mean he’s got to work on relieving his stress level or else he wont be a particularly effective leader when it comes to the important things that are on his “to do list”. It was over Thanksgiving a time that is to be spent enjoying yourself and if he chooses to do that by playing basketball with White House officials I think he has that right, but I definitely agree this is not nor should it ever have been news worthy.
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