Wasn’t there a time when a visit to the White House was pretty much reserved for a special class of honorees? Those of accomplishment – from the heroic to the scientific to the artistic. Think: John Glenn or Jonas Salk or Norman Rockwell. And to be sure, there have been luminaries from show business and the world of sports granted audiences as well. Think Bob Hope or Mark Spitz.
The sports theme, however, is now overdone and far transcends Olympians and Tour de France winners. Professional teams of every stripe now regularly parade their squads of millionaires – the ones who don’t have a conflict — through the White House.
And now it’s come to this.
The president of the United States recently agreed to meet with the latest (10) finalists of the “American Idol” competition.
It’s either a new low in the trivialization of a White House invitation or an acknowledgment that Taylor Hicks received more votes than George Bush, and the president could use the photo op.
Or both.