Opinion: Hey, it’s show biz! GOP music to welcome Democratic First Lady Michelle Obama

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Mixing politics and music can produce some odd results.

As 3,500 Marines and their family members at Camp Pendleton waited up to two hours Sunday afternoon for the arrival of First Lady Michelle Obama -- and San Diego’s Democratic Rep. Susan Davis and, oh, don’t forget Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who’s up for reelection this year -- they were entertained with recorded music. Mostly country-Western.

The selection was, as more than one Marine noted, rather odd given the fact that C-W artists, as a group, are largely associated with the Republican Party. Several of the songs were from GOP stalwarts Lee Greenwood (“God Bless the USA”) and the duo Montgomery Gentry. The latter was big at the St. Paul GOP convention in 2008, which nominated Navy veteran and longtime POW John McCain.

The music notwithstanding, the first lady got a warm reception in the hot sun. She navigated the sometimes tricky world of Marine nomenclature, including pronouncing the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force as “one mef.”

Davis, alas, was not as lucky. While praising the Marines for their service, she enthused that many had received their “globe, eagle and anchor” emblem at the boot camp in nearby San Diego. The correct listing, which every Marine knows, is “eagle, globe and anchor.”

Then again, she earned points by being introduced by Lt. Gen. Joseph Dunford as a “military spouse.” Her husband Steve, a doctor, served a hitch in the Air Force early in their marriage.

Here, as previously published by The Ticket, is the full text what Obama told the crowd.

-- Tony Perry

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