Dear Mr. President by Pink

these are the lyrics to pink's song: "Dear Mr. President":

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me (come take a walk with me)
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy (were you a lonely boy)
Are you a lonely boy (are you a lonely boy)
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind (we're not blind)
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you 

So, Janelle came home today for lunch, she brought pizza and we had Bacon-feta-hot pepper pizza for lunch with a toblerone for dessert. yummy. I drove Janelle back to work, and went to Little Caesar's to get my schedule because I'm off today. So I was listening to the radio.

The first song that came on was this one. I don't know if it's hugely popular or not, and I don't really know much about it but I object to it.

Right from the start, I'll say this: I'm as anti-american as the next guy, I don't particularly like or dislike George Bush--I'm ambivalent. I make no commentary on him as a person or a president. That's it.

About the song... well:

She starts out promisingly enough, and I like this start: "Let's pretend we're just two people and / you're not better than me / I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly." I like it because it promises simplicity and asks for honesty. I think it's important and necessary to ask for honesty and to be simple and transparent, and that's what these three lines kind of make me feel for.

But then the rest of the song just kind of degenerates into a self-righteous, anti-George Bush preach that tries to blame him personally for homelessness, poor education, war casualties, and high-crime and overcrowded prisons.

I agree that government has to be held responsible for certain things but if I had written this song I'd be embarrassed if anyone heard it. The president becomes a convenient scapegoat when we see things we dislike, like homelessness. But we have to remember that homelessness isn't going to go away if a different president (or prime-minister, seeing as there's homelessness in Canada too) is elected. The same can be said about poor education, war casualties, and high crime.

We can't afford to be self-righteous about these things or try to blame someone else: it's you and me who's responsible. Did you know that for us to enjoy the luxury we enjoy the majority of the world's population HAS to be poor and starving? That means that for me to be able to afford to buy one of Pink's CDs and a stereo to play it on, dozens of kids in Africa have to go without food. And not just in Africa, I'm sure there are kids within walking distance of my apartment who aren't very well fed, while here I am listening to music on my computer and snacking on some junk food. There are kids out there who don't have any clean and whole clothes to wear while we complain that we don't have any 'fashionable' clothes. Half my wardrobe could probably clothe a whole Zambian village for a couple years. What I mean to say is, we're living in luxury at the expense of most of the world's population.

Anyways, what I object to about this song is its self-righteousness. Maybe Pink has gone through a rough time, had to make a bed out of a cardboard box, had to work really hard to get where she is. Maybe, I don't know, I don't know much about Pink. But nothing Pink may have gone through can justify the line, "You don't know nothing 'bout hard work."

The tone of the song totally undoes the beginning: "Let's pretend we're just two people and / you're not better than me," because for the rest of the song what she's saying is: "I'm better than you, Mr. President."

Anyways... I'm just ranting. Don't think I'm saying that you need to send all your food and clothes to Calcutta because I'm not. I'm not living any poorer to help poor starving street kids and I don't really feel all that guilty about it.