WASHINGTON — There’s Barack Obama, fresh from Wednesday’s debate, beleaguered but still standing, acknowledging that he has taken some hits from his opponent, but it’s OK because that’s politics. Ultimately, you’ve got to . . .
And then he — pay attention now — brushes the dirt off his shoulders.
People, we’re talking about a seminal moment in the campaign, the merging of politics and pop culture: A presidential candidate — a self- confessed hip-hop head and Jay-Z fan — references a rap hit and a dance move. Within hours, there were video mash-ups on the Web depicting Obama dusting himself off as Jay-Z urges, “If you feelin’ like a pimp . . . go and brush your shoulders off. . . . Get that dirt off your shoulder.”
To brush one’s shoulders off, according to the Urban Dictionary, “means to brush off negative energy of statements made about you.”
So was Obama’s action a deliberate Jay-Z reference? Friday, Obama’s campaign spokesman, Tommy Vietor, would say only this: “He has some Jay-Z on his iPod.” The Washington Post
