{"id":5203,"date":"2013-08-13T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/?p=5203"},"modified":"2013-08-13T08:14:55","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T12:14:55","slug":"the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html","title":{"rendered":"The Throw Down: Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and President Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

After reading a story in the Telegraph<\/em> about the President’s dog, Bo, being helicoptered to Martha’s Vineyard on\u00a0one of two MV-22 Ospreys (a hybrid aircraft which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane,) for yet another family vacation, I just sighed and thought, really? \u00a0Who flies their dog on a separate airplane? Can’t the dog travel with its owners on the same aircraft?<\/p>\n

Obviously, only people above my pay grade send their dogs on separate planes. However, this behavior speaks to the opulent lifestyle the Obamas have led since making the White House their home. I’m not begrudging them. It’s part of the presidency and I am OK with that. \u00a0But the President’s criticism of others who are wealthy seems hypocritical and selective.<\/p>\n

Move over chef, Bobbly Flay. It’s a new kind of throw down. Forget about \u00a0Benghazi, Health Care reform or IRS scandals. Our President is taking on the Kardashians!<\/p>\n

In an interview with David Blum for Kindle Singles<\/a>, Blum asked the President to comment on the American Dream. The President responded, in part, by criticizing the lives of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. \u00a0Specifically, the President noted that in the past,”Kids weren’t monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing, or where Kanye West was going on vacation, and thinking that somehow that was the mark of success.” \u00a0According to the\u00a0Huffington Post,<\/a>\u00a0matriarch Kris Jenner didn’t like the President’s remarks and took him to task on\u00a0The Kris Jenner Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n

While \u00a0all this seems very high school to me, there are some disturbing issues here.<\/p>\n

1) The President has bigger fish to fry than pop culture and needs to focus on the serious problems our country faces.<\/p>\n

2) The President and Michelle are friends with Jay-Z and Beyonce. Both hold Beyonce as one of the role models for their daughters. Read more about this in my blog, Mr. President, Can We Talk?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

I really think we can find better role models than a barely dressed singer who teaches our daughters to be bootylicious! \u00a0And Jay-Z, the husband of Beyonce, also friend of the President, has some of the most profane language in his song with Kanye West, yet Jay-Z is a good guy, Kanye, the bad guy? \u00a0Beyonce a role model? This is all very confusing and again, inconsistent!<\/p>\n

3) The President vilifies the success of Kardashian\/West, yet uses people like them to fundraise, go on vacations, and socialize.<\/p>\n

4) The President and his family will never want for anything once he leaves the White House. So what is the point of putting down people with wealth? \u00a0He will be one of them. It’s not the role of government to decide who is worthy of wealth or material success. In the business world, the market usually makes those decisions. And the market is influenced by supply and demand. Apparently, whether you agree or not, there is a lot of demand for wanting to know what Kim Kardashian wears.<\/p>\n

5) Since the President rightfully notes our over-the-top fascination with celebrities, maybe he could do his part by inviting fewer of them to the White House. The “People’s House” sure has a lot of celebrity visitors.<\/p>\n

So while I am not Bobby Flay, I’m challenging you to a throw down, Mr.President (I know, I’m using a celebrity chef to make a point!).<\/p>\n

Focus on \u00a0serious issues, not pop culture.<\/p>\n

Take your vacation if you need it, but model a little restraint by taking your dog with you, or even consider leaving Bo with a sitter at the White House. Just because you can spend money, doesn’t mean you should. The money you spend is often tax payers dollars, not money you have personally earned.<\/p>\n

Don’t pick on certain celebrities unless you are going to be consistent with the problems. You could use your office to talk about the offensive language and objectification of women in media. You could speak to the vile lyrics in a segment of hip hop that encourages rage and violence. You could work with the entertainment industry to take more responsibility for programming that uplifts, maybe even gives people hope.<\/p>\n

Hope and change were great ideas. Now we just need to put them into practice in a few tangible ways.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After reading a story in the Telegraph about the President’s dog, Bo, being helicoptered to Martha’s Vineyard on\u00a0one of two MV-22 Ospreys (a hybrid aircraft which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane,) for yet another family vacation, I just sighed and thought, really? \u00a0Who flies their dog on a separate airplane?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[2465,46,1929,551,2466,2001,2467],"class_list":["post-5203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mintle-mentions","tag-american-dream","tag-celebrity","tag-kanye-west","tag-kim-kardashian","tag-kris-jenner","tag-president-obama","tag-wealthy"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Throw Down: Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and President Obama<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Throw Down: Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and President Obama\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After reading a story in the Telegraph about the President’s dog, Bo, being helicoptered to Martha’s Vineyard on\u00a0one of two MV-22 Ospreys (a hybrid aircraft which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane,) for yet another family vacation, I just sighed and thought, really? \u00a0Who flies their dog on a separate airplane?…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-13T12:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-08-13T12:14:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Throw Down: Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and President Obama","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Throw Down: Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and President Obama","og_description":"After reading a story in the Telegraph about the President’s dog, Bo, being helicoptered to Martha’s Vineyard on\u00a0one of two MV-22 Ospreys (a hybrid aircraft which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane,) for yet another family vacation, I just sighed and thought, really? \u00a0Who flies their dog on a separate airplane?…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2013-08-13T12:00:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-08-13T12:14:55+00:00","author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html","name":"The Throw Down: Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and President Obama","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-13T12:00:32+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-13T12:14:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/08\/the-throw-down-kim-kardashian-kanye-west-and-president-obama.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Throw Down: Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and President Obama"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice & Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5203"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5213,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203\/revisions\/5213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}