I love that a non-serious gimmick is used for non-serious subjects. I'm sure President Obama hoped it would just be another way for activists to ask the president to do things he wanted to do, clothing his ambitions in the cloak of popular will.
But he got this:
The White House is gearing up its diplomatic machinery to respond to the latest international issue - a petition to deport bad boy pop star Justin Bieber.
"That response will come I'm sure relatively soon," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today. "I don't have one now."
Oh, please, God! I ask so little. Please let Secretary of State Kerry issue the response!
I can dream:
Well, for the last several days President Obama and his entire national security team have been reviewing the situation about Justin Bieber. And today I want to provide an update on our efforts as we consider our response to his alleged DUI and drag racing.
What we saw in Miami Beach last month should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear. The indiscriminate law-breaking, the defiance of authority, and the substance abuse is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable. And despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable.
The meaning of this singer's career goes beyond the incident in Miami Beach itself. And that career has already brought so much terrible suffering. This is about the large-scale indiscriminate use of simplistic songs and inane lyrics that the civilized world long ago decided must never be used at all, a conviction shared even by countries that agree on little else. ...
Last night, after speaking with foreign ministers from around the world about the gravity of this situation, I went back and I watched the videos -- the videos that anybody can watch in the social media, and I watched them one more gut-wrenching time. It is really hard to express in words the the human suffering that they lay out before us.
As a father, I can’t get the image out of my head of Bieber's music videos, the images of entire stadiums filled with tweens, bodies contorting in spasms, human suffering that we can never ignore or forget. Anyone who could claim that a singer of this staggering idiocy could be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass.
What is before us today is real, and it is compelling.
So I also want to underscore that while investigators are gathering additional evidence on the ground, our understanding of what has already happened in Miami Beach is grounded in facts, informed by conscience and guided by common sense. ...
We have additional information about Justin Bieber's career, and that information is being compiled and reviewed together with our partners, and we will provide that information in the days ahead.
Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime but also by the cynical attempt to bridge a child singing career into the adult world. ...
I spoke on Thursday with Canadian Foreign Minister Baird, and I made it very clear to him that if the singer, as he argued, had nothing to hide, then their response should be immediate: immediate transparency, immediate repatriation, not Junos. Their response needed to be unrestricted and immediate recall of Justin Bieber. Failure to permit that, I told him, would tell its own story. ...
Today’s reports of twerking at a Bieber concert, together with the continued playing of his music on radio stations, only further weakens Bieber’s credibility. At President Obama’s direction, I’ve spent many hours over the last few days on the phone with foreign ministers and other leaders. The administration is actively consulting with members of Congress, and we will continue to have these conversations in the days ahead. President Obama has also been in close touch with the leaders of our key allies, and the president will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of celebrity status to shield Bieber from the consequences of his actions.
But make no mistake: President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous songs against the world’s most vulnerable children. Nothing today is more serious, and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny.
Thank you.
In no time at all, Justin Bieber would be our music partner, and he and John Kerry would be nominated for a joint Grammy Award. Or maybe a Juno.
