Why Not Address President Obama?

I’m with Chris Bodenner that Brandon Victor Dixon’s remarks to Vice President-elect Mike Pence after a performance of Hamilton was not all that disrespectful or edgy. Here’s part of the speech:

We have a message for you, sir. We hope that you will hear us out. And I encourage everybody to pull out your phones and tweet and post because this message needs to be spread far and wide, OK?

Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical, we really do. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us — our planet, our children, our parents — or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. All of us.

What does President Obama not need to hear in this advice? Should he have been governing in a way to keep BLM protests from happening, opponents of gay marriage from feeling marginalized, and Americans with pre-Affordable Care Act health insurance from having to lose benefits in their existing their plans? Of course, a president has to make choices and not all of the electorate will be happy. But why do the elites in the U.S. — Democrats in D.C., Hollywood, university faculty, and mainstream journalists — think that partisanship in politics only happens when Republicans get elected?

And I wonder what Dixon makes of President Obama acting in a statesmanlike manner in meeting and greeting President-elect Trump? Was the President properly empathizing with those Americans who not only refused to vote for Trump but view his supporters as deplorable?

4 thoughts on “Why Not Address President Obama?

  1. What did Lin-Manuel Miranda think when President Obama said this?

    It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. But remember, eight years ago, President Bush and I had some pretty significant differences. But President Bush’s team could not have been more professional, or more gracious… One thing you realize quickly in this job is that the presidency and the vice presidency is bigger than any of us. So I have instructed my team to follow the example that President Bush’s team followed eight years ago, and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the president-elect—because we are now all rooting for his success, and united in leading the country.

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  2. we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us — our planet, our children, our parents —

    Not comfortable with these sentiments. May be no worse than conservatives whining and anticipating apocalyptic scenarios if their guy doesn’t win but it’s way too victim oriented. Toughen up.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Tempest in a teapot. Entirely. What someone should say is that ‘Hamilton’ ticket prices sound as arrogant and immoral as any yet-announced Trump policy.

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