RSS
Home
The Political Legacy of Michael Jackson
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Barack Obama’s presidency was partially built by the moonwalk of Michael Jackson. The Political Pop Star owes a debt of gratitude to The King of Pop. How so? Take a few minutes and let’s rewind the clock 25 years before President Obama announced his candidacy.
1982 - Ronald Reagan was entering his first full year in office, “Hill Street Blues” was a top rated TV hit, and MTV was segregated in their programming. Michael Jackson released “Thriller” and the world would never be the same. Not only did Jackson break MTV’s color barrier; he did something far more important - his celebrity opened the doors for other people of color to enter the mainstream of American society.
Michael Jackson’s crowds of fans in Germany would be the predecessor of Obama’s a quarter century later. Just as Jackie Robinson’s celebrity opened the eyes of white America to the equality that would be personified by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr two decades later; Michael Jackson’s celebrity (along with Bill Cosby - TV; Magic Johnson - Sports; and Billy Dee Williams - Movies) would plant the seed for the political careers of Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, and finally President Obama.
“Moving On Up” in American society has always been an uphill climb. The strands between celebrity and politics are sometimes hard to cleanly separate. For a time, Michael Jackson transcended those boundaries and was as influential as any head of state while making more money than all of their salaries combined. Sadly, Michael Jackson went as far as he was fated to go. Even if he had completed his 50 concert tour schedule, he would have never regained former place in the social fabric of America.
We all stand on the shoulders of people who came before us. Barack Obama is no different. While I don’t expect the President to moonwalk anytime soon, I think that he should acknowledge that Michael Jackson changed America for the better and that he is a direct beneficiary of that change.
