Obama’s “Stairway to Heaven”

Think back to your first record player (come to think of it, I guess you must be at least forty if you even know what a record player is). Your parents probably bought it for you and, if you’re like me, you got one record to play on it – at least at first. You were in hog heaven; you could play your favorite song over and over again. But do you remember what happened after a while? Even though you loved the song, you soon grew tired of hearing only it.

In the late 1980s, a radio station in Tampa, FL switched from an easy-listening format to hard rock. They announced the format change with a great deal of fanfare. Their main gimmick was this: They marketed themselves as the world’s first all-Stairway to Heaven station. For those of you not familiar with Stairway to Heaven, it is arguably the most famous song by the renowned rock band, Led Zeppelin. Stairway to Heaven was released in 1971 and, throughout the rest of the 70s and, right up through today, was – and is – a staple of hard-rock radio. Well, the radio station in Tampa flipped the switch on their new format and began playing Stairway to Heaven endlessly. As soon as the song ended, it started again. For three days, the station played the song without interruption – no DJ’s speaking and no commercials. After about the third time hearing it, it was time to change stations. Within a week, the new station had incorporated a variety of bands and songs. Even though it was only a marketing gimmick, any radio executive in his or her right mind knows that a station simply cannot win listeners by playing one song and one song only.

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Fast forward to 2012 and what do we have? We have President Obama, running for re-election, traipsing around the country and appearing on television daily. Without exception, the president’s “tune” is exactly the same at every one of his “concerts”. That tune is the now-familiar hit, “Wealth Envy”. If you are conservative, you probably hated Wealth Envy the very first time that you heard it. It, no doubt, grated on your nerves, not unlike fingernails on a chalkboard. After about the third time you heard it, you were able to recognize it by the first couple of notes and you began changing the station as soon as you heard it begin to play. Aside from the fact that Wealth Envy is, to many Americans (at least the ones that actually WORK), a repulsive tune in and of itself, it is the only song Obama knows. The now-familiar lyrics include the famous chorus, “Millionaires and Billionaires” as well as the background vocals of, “Make everyone pay their fair share”. Personally, I have been a Led Zeppelin fan for forty years. I have all of their albums and still like to carry one or two Zeppelin CD’s in the car. I never really grow tired of their music. Even though I have heard Stairway to Heaven probably a thousand times over the last forty years, I still like to listen to it every so often. But I like to listen to other Zeppelin tunes, too. But I can imagine making my 83-year-old mother listen to endless repetitions of Stairway to Heaven. So it is, I believe, with President Obama: The non-Obama fans grew tired of Wealth Envy the very first time that they heard it. After more than three years, it has become an old and tired tune indeed. But I believe that many of the Obama faithful are growing tired of hearing the same song at every Obama appearance. You would think that his producers would catch a clue and tell the president to learn some new songs. Hopefully, the American people will have the good sense to change the station this coming November.