Here is an excerpt from today's Washington Post:

Obama Has Jay-Z on His IPod and The Moves To Prove It
Video
Obama Brushes Off Debate Jabs
"CBS News RAW": Campaigning in Raleigh, N.C., Barack Obama speaks about the ABC debate, saying Hillary Clinton "looked in her element. She was taking every opportunity to get a dig in there."
» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER
        
TOOLBOX
Resize Text

Save/Share +
Digg
Newsvine
del.icio.us
Stumble It!
Reddit
Facebook
myspace
Yahoo! Buzz
Print This
E-mail This
COMMENT
washingtonpost.com readers have posted 150 comments about this item.
View All Comments »

POST A COMMENT
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
Why Do I Have to Log In Again?
Log In Again?
CLOSE
We've made some updates to washingtonpost.com's Groups, MyPost and comment pages. We need you to verify your MyPost ID by logging in before you can post to the new pages. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Discussion Policy
Discussion Policy
CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging
» Links to this article
By Teresa Wiltz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page C01

Perhaps this is what the Funkmeister -- that other Clinton -- meant when he sang about painting the White House black: There's Barack Obama, fresh from Wednesday's debate dust-up, beleaguered but still standing, acknowledging that he's taken some hits from his opponent, some mighty hits, but you know, it's okay, because that's politics. Ultimately, you've got to . . .

And then he -- pay attention now -- brushes the dirt off his shoulders. Repeatedly.

The crowd leaps to its feet, applauding and laughing.

Talk about a major Jay-Z move. People, we're talking about a seminal moment in the campaign, the merging of politics and pop culture: in which 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." (In one mash-up, the heads of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos roll off the Illinois senator's broad shoulders.)