America has never had royalty. There may have been one brief, shining moment when the media tried to create the aura of American royal family in the persons of the Kennedys but that all faded with the passing of Camelot and the Liberal Lion with no Kennedys waiting in the wings. We dont have royalty but we dont need or desire all the trappings of that folderol seen in Great Britain last month. The only thing that extravaganza had going for it was commoner, Kate.
In lieu of real royalty, whatever that is, America has substituted celebrity and celebrities, many of whom bring as much attention and baggage to their thrones as Prince Charles and his randy relatives and yet are adored by their mindless fans.
Our brand of royalty runs the gamut from honest-to-goodness celebs to sports heroes and heroines to political celebrities, all of whom have one thing in common with the dysfunctional House of Windsor: Most are tainted to one degree or another, which makes it easier to lump them together with a common, pun intended, thread.
One entertainment celeb recently in the newsnot for his proclivity to exalt racial and misogynistic violence, his prolific use the of N-word, his endorsement of cop-killers, or the killing of a president since those elements of his rap poetry get little publicitywas one of Wednesday nights honored guests at Michelle Obamas soiree at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The latest news on Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr,, aka Common, and his hostess is that Lady Obama chose to ignore the quality of the trash he offers as poetry and the indignation of the public over his selection as representative of the best America had to offer at her shindig.
That controversy has been more than adequately covered in two articles in this space, Lady Michelle Obama Uplifts Black Souls and Aspirations, http://bit.ly/irCeMB, and In Yer Face Update on Common Rap Crap, http://bit.ly/iSCjTu, which include samples of his excursions into lyrical magnificence.
It only remains at this point to summarize how Commons gig went on the White House stage.
Mr. Obamas people must have spoken in advance to Mrs. Obamas people and had them remind her that there was an election in less than 18 months and that the president had to bamboozle whites once again. Michelle therefore avoided mention of Common at an afternoon preview of the event and, for the same reason, the poet was on his best behavior. He also sucked up more than sufficiently and endeared himself to the president by stroking his ego and repeating the line, One Kings Dream, He was able to Barack us and uttered nary a nigger, an obscenity, nor a word about cop or president-killing: http://yhoo.it/loHf0L
Mission accomplished: Common got his night in the presidential sun, Michelles soiree went off without a racist hitch, and Barack can now bamboozle with impunity.
A sports celebrity who lately may wish he could be as successful is Eldrick Tont Tiger Woods, who doesnt much use the Eldrick or the Tont for reasons of his own.
The winner of 14 major golf championships, 71 PGA tour events, exaggerated accolades from some as the greatest golfer who ever golfed, and winner of the heart of gorgeous Swedish model, Elin Nordegren, Woods life and career began to unravel after the much-maligned supermarket tabloid, the National Enquirer, caught him with his pants down in the presence of Rachel Uchitel in November, 2007.
The rest, as they say, is history . . .