Wondered how long it would take the bigwigs to pick up on this:
Yesterday, Obama's campaign spokesman, Tommy Vietor, would say only this: "He has some Jay-Z on his iPod."
The rest are as souless as they are clueless:
The move illustrated both a generational and a cultural gap: On MSNBC host Joe Scarborough's show yesterday, The Washington Post's Richard Cohen said the shoulder shaking was "contemptuous and aloof" and "not smart." Scarborough on Obama's move: "We looked at each other and said, 'What's he doing ?' "
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Does anyone really believe that Obama *really* listens to Jay-Z? Seriously does he really 'tune in to the mawfuckin' greatest?' Even as an Obama fan and someone who thought the whole 'dirt off your shoulder bit' was cute - I want someone to really press him on this. It's like when Oprah said she has some In the Club on her iPod. Yeah, right.
Also, did any one notice Obama very quietly give the finger when he mentions Clinton's name during that same speech? Maybe it's a whole new Gangsta Obama ...
"that's what u gotta do... that's what u gotta do." Ha!
ashleigh, According to Obama, he really liked Jay's last album. see the footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSVG7jRp_g
these guys are clearly out of touch with what the general american populace sees when they see obama channeling jay-z; everything i've heard about this moment has been people thinking it's funny and a general sign of his coolness.
i did worry that brushing the dirt off his shoulder was almost too cool, that barack was too in touch with pop culture which i'm not sure that a president has to be, but it seems that the motion resonated not only with young people who get the reference as a jay-z lyric but also with older people who acknowledeged it as literally brushing dirt off the shoulders.
i watched the morning joe clip and if anything obama signalling that he has an inkling of what's going on can and should be used to his disadvantage, he's in touch with things in a way that clinton and mccain are not.
the funny thing is that the obama that channels jay-z is in someways in opposition to the idea of obama the elitist that the mainstream media is pushing on us now- who knows many black elitists that can reference a jay-z lyric?
I'm still not buying it Faragut. His answer seems a bit studied. The American Gangster Album is probably the safest answer he could give. Who can really attack him for expressing admiration for a parallel soundtrack to a Denzel Washington/Russel Crowe film? I'd like him to express thoughts that are less trite about jay-z before I'll accept that the sentiments he's expressing weren't put in his mouth by those whipper snapper speech writers. I'll bet, let to his own devices, Obama would have tried to claim Will Smith. At least he surrounds himself with smart people.
I know Obama's position on Jay-z is not as significant as his positions on the war in Iraq or health care, but still ...
Barack said last year that he had both Jay-Z and Beyonce on his iPod.
I don't listen to Jay-Z. I'm 25. I thought he looked like a jerk - arrogant, entitled and self-absorbed.
I'm also black - so don't lecture me about what "we're" supposed to know and what the in-crowd takes as a social que.
Sounds a lot like Saved by the Bell - the cool-set has their code and their secret handshakes and their decoder rings and the rest of us just need to accept that we aren't apart of the in-crowd.