I figured that should Obama win the Presidency, everyday black stuff would suddenly become the topic of public scrutiny. Let's face it, all 5 of the Obamas (Grandma too) will be poked and prodded by the media everytime they do (fistbump), say ("Where the food at?"), eat (arugula, which is admittedly strange), or wear (any of Michelle's outfits) anything deemed unusual over the next 4 years. Much of this is simply because black people who don't fit a convenient stereotype (ie: 97% of us) are hard to categorize, and thus much of what they do is going to be overanalyzed.
Now, watch what happens when a biased and out of touch "news organization" like Fox News discovers that some black folks tend to have a different internal clock. I don't know whether to be offended at this stoopid news story, or somewhat embarrassed that Obama is routinely showing up an hour late to errythang.
There's a new time zone in the nation's capital: Obama Time.Anyone in the know is well aware that Obama Time is nothing new. It doesn't surprise me that the folks at Fox News don't understand the concept of CPT. And if you're clueless about CPT, don't ask me what it means. Go down to the mailroom and ask that guy GeVaughnDray.
Barely two weeks into his presidency, Barack Obama has made a clean break from George W. Bush in several high-profile moves, including reversing a number of the 43rd president's policies.
He's also reversed an unwritten but much-noticed Bush policy: Be on time, all the time.
Obama has been routinely late to events and news conferences, including the ones at which he reversed Bush's orders. This has led to an already familiar refrain from the Obama camp: "He's running late."
The president was 45 minutes late Friday for a ceremony in which he introduced a team of outside economic advisers. He was 10 minutes late Thursday to a memo signing at the Energy Department. He was nearly 30 minutes late Wednesday for the ceremony at which he signed a bill to expand children's health care.
Even before the inauguration, Obama wasn't a punctual sort; he arrived late to a Jan. 8 news conference on the economy that was aired live by broadcast and cable networks.
Obama was habitually late to events on the campaign trail and to meetings as a U.S. senator. In fact, there's a montage on YouTube of him offering apologies for missing testimony and presentations because of his late arrivals to meetings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He even apologized in advance for asking questions that might be repetitive.
The president's tardiness already appears to have spread to others in his administration. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has been routinely late for daily news briefings, sometimes by more than an hour.
Someone pulled together a montage of Obama's infamous CPT episodes while in Congress. I'll admit, this makes me wince.
I guess this all begs the question: does it really matter whose time you're on when you're the HNIC? Let's face it, when you're the President, everything is on your time. This is sorta a perk of the job, no?
Question: Is Obama wrong for being perpetually late, or can the President show up anytime he darn well pleases? Is being on CPT a uniquely Black thang? Are we genetically predisposed to being late, and if not, does this also mean The Itis' is little more than a culturally acceptable excuse for overstuffing yourself with carbs so you can take a mid-day nap?
Obama's Tardiness Sets Him Apart From Bush [FoxNews]
