Obama compares Michael Jackson to Elvis, Sinatra, John Lennon
By: BEN FELLER
Associated Press
July 7, 2009
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| In this handout photo provided by AEG via Getty Images, pop star Michael Jackson rehearses for his planned shows in London at the Staples Center on June 23, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Jackson died two days later at the age of 50 in a hospital after going into cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009 in his Los Angeles home. (Getty Images) |
MOSCOW — Even in Moscow, the president couldn't get away from the intense interest in anything related to the death of pop star Michael Jackson. It came up repeatedly in a round of interviews with U.S. television networks.
He joked with ABC that "at some point, people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons."
"You know, this is part of American culture," he told the network.
Asked about the emotional outpouring over Jackson's death, Obama harked back to the deaths of other famous musicians.
"I think we saw it when Elvis died; in a different way you saw it when Frank Sinatra died; you saw it when John Lennon died," Obama told CBS. "There are certain figures in our popular culture that just capture our people's imaginations and in death they become even larger."
Obama added, though, that the interest this time also is being fed by "a 24/7 media that is insatiable."
Which early Jackson song still runs through the president's mind?
"I remember listening to 'A-B-C' when I was 8 or 9 or 10," Obama told CNN. "He kept on producing extraordinary music for years after that."
