Kaback: West a waste of presidents’ time

Dang Kanye West! While Kim Jong Il was busy making platform shoes so he could ride the big boy… Dang Kanye West! While Kim Jong Il was busy making platform shoes so he could ride the big boy rollercoaster, Kanye was busy being Kanye. As the media has been in an uproar over the feel and photo airline policy, Kanye was busy snapping his own, well, intimate pictures. Taylor, I’m going to let you finish, but Kanye West had one of the snarkiest “Today” show interviews ever! Yes, other things have happened in the world, but nothing compares to Kanye being Kanye.

Now if Kanye has taught us anything about himself, it is that he has a big … haha … ego. When he and Mike Myers were soliciting the good American people for a little bit of help for victims of Katrina, he called out George W. Bush as someone who doesn’t care about black people.

I imagine that Bush was pissed to find out that his super secretive plan of bringing on Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice didn’t pan out. I mean, that plan seemed foolproof to me.

I don’t know if you’ve already heard through the wire, but Bush has recently said that Kanye West’s accusation of racism was the lowest point of his presidency. Uh, 9/11?  Producing grammatically correct sentences? Two wars? A failing economy? Did I mention 9/11? I guess we’re all self-conscious, Bush is just the first to admit it. Come on Bush. If Taylor Swift, 50 Cent or other people Kanye insulted didn’t take it personally, you shouldn’t either.

Kanye has certainly been living the good life. He has recently released a new album and has made more headlines than old age. He is entertaining and doesn’t hesitate to give his opinion on anything. From the law to how to treat women, Kanye thinks he is an expert on almost everything.

As somebody who actually cares about world events, I’m not sure if I should be outraged by Kanye’s attitude and publicity or not. How should we feel when CNN is plastered with news about Lil Wayne’s jail sentence and when it treats Kanye’s opinion as actual news? I love Kanye but does that mean that I think it’s acceptable for him to be the cover story on a national news network?

Honestly, it’s kind of pathetic.

I’ll leave it to Perez Hilton and E! to tell me what Kanye thinks. We live in a world where WikiLeaks is exposing government secrets. Is Kanye’s exposing himself equally important? Sadly, I have to say no. Even considering how much I love Kanye West, I’m still going to have to ask our politicians to grow up.

Between Obama calling him a jackass and now Bush viewing him as the lowest point of his presidency, it seems like Kanye’s not too good with the politicians. As I read all the backlash against Kanye, I find myself wondering why people seem to care so much about him.

It’s not breaking news that MSNBC and Fox News cover stories that don’t really matter. It’s not the news networks’ fault that they give so much airtime to dumb stories. It’s not their fault that people would rather watch stories about Kanye West. I’m not saying that they’re all gold diggers, but they aren’t messing with any broke stories.

But clearly it’s time that our presidents refrain from getting involved.

I hold the office of the president to the highest standards. I expect it to represent my country and its ideals. I expect it to defend my rights and to respond to the threats posed to the country. I expect it to not give a damn what Kanye West says. It’s despicable for Obama to be caught using obscenities in describing an entertainer.

It’s a complete disgrace to every soldier who has given their blood and tears in the Middle East, to every person who watched their house flood and the federal government do absolutely nothing to help in the Gulf, to the millions of Americans that had their homes foreclosed and lifelong retirement dreams dashed, to the men and women who were ruthlessly killed on Sept. 11 in attacks against our country and to the minorities who truly did suffer as a result of misguided policy that George Bush gives one damn about what Kanye West says.

E-mail Andrew at aak47@pitt.edu.