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A
Kiss
Is
Just
a
Kiss
December 9, 2008
By now, you've probably seen the brief video of President Bush kissing
Barbra Streisand at a White House ceremony honoring the Kennedy Center
winners on Sunday. The way the nation's media outlets jumped all over
the story, you would have thought the war in Iraq, or at least the
nation's economic crisis had come to an end. I guess the media saw fit
to take a momentary breather from the harrowing problems facing the
world to report on something as insignificant as Barbra and the
President being cordial towards each other.
Did they
really expect Barbra to launch into a political debate with President
Bush when she met him for the first time on Sunday? It became such a
big deal in the media, you would have expected exactly that. NBC
referred to the Streisand-Bush kiss as "a true sign of the
apocalypse." Fox News actually said that "they hate each other." As it
turned out, Barbra and the president were equally gracious with each
other. Barbra remarked earlier in the weekend that art transcends
politics, at least for the moment. President Bush, for his part,
obviously felt the same way when he invited one of his most outspoken
critics to a White House event that celebrated her professional
achievements.
So,
Streisand and Bush played nice in the sandbox. Nothing less was to be
expected from these two veteran professionals. We're proud that Barbra
was honored by President Bush. We're equally delighted at the level of
respect each accorded the other. And I'll bet you that somewhere among
the Bush's music collection, there exists at least one Barbra
Streisand album.
It's probably "Guilty Pleasures." |
