My boy and I got into an argument about this. You guys know the story: Kanye pulls a dick move and steals singer, Taylor Swift’s moment, by making an ass of himself at the VMAs. If you haven’t heard it, check it here.

So, at some kind of press interview, President Obama is having a casual pre/post meeting off-the-record conversation with some journos. Fine. The journalist asks if Obama’s kids were as annoyed as his own by Kanye’s antics on stage. The President concludes his thoughts with, “…Kayne’s a Jackass”.

This, folks, has become a big deal.

The concern, however, isn’t about the President’s opinion of Kanye West. Let’s be honest, Kanye West is full of jackassery at times, and this was a shining moment. It is inevitable that he’ll do something extraordinary in either direction.

My concern -and this is deeply troubling-is the outright violation of that unspoken agreement that off-the-record remarks remain off the record. Please don’t get this confused with “the bane of senators”, ie, the dreaded “Hot Mic”. In Hot Mic situations, a person is speaking around a live mic, unaware that it’s on, but waiting for his moment to speak. There are a lot of technical reasons this happens. Usually this has something to do with preparation and satellite feeds, but it is generally accepted that what’s said in these instances is considered public domain.

In an off-the-record scenario, there is an agreement between interviewer and interviewee that comments made in this forum are relaxed and will not be accountable. The point, obviously, is to allow a level of comfort between participants. It’s really an age-old rule that has been practiced between Press and interview subjects for decades. Certainly before Barack Obama became POTUS. Most importantly, folks, it has been a tradition honored.

Chuck that shit out the window.

President Obama’s comments have become a media circus. Commentary from political voices to citizens alike range from attacks that his response wasn’t ‘presidential’ and that ‘he should have better things to do than comment on Kanye West’, to, agreement that, yes, Kanye is an ass.

Nevermind that the comments shouldn’t have been ‘leaked’ in the first place. ABC news has apparently blamed the twitter culture and a lack of real regulation. That’s of course, where the audio was leaked. The rationale seems to go that although the comments were off the record, ABC had to share their feed with someone and someone else leaked the audio. Never mind that the comments were made from an ABC reporter’s twitter page. Also, the newly leaked video of the debacle has been leaked, too, Courtesy of POLITICO, aired on CNN.

In my mind, this is an outright strike in a series of disrespectful assaults on the President (See Joe Wilson’s ‘Liar’ roar during Obama’s televised Healthcare reform speech). It could be a lack of respect for the title, now that George Bush, Jr. has cheapened it. That’s one angle, and probably one too easy to assume. It could be that President Barack Obama’s attempts to be so transparent with the press (elevating his superstar status), has given him a diminished respect as ‘just another celebrity’, and not one of the most powerful leaders of the free world. Perhaps President Obama dug his own grave in attempting to be everyone’s pal? Pleasing everyone and apologizing for every infraction might be the respectable thing to do, but history has shown that people don’t love the respected. They honor whom they fear.

My buddy thinks that that Barack is digging his own grave. “He wanted to be the first black president, and those white people ain’t playing”, he said. “They’re playing chess, and he’s trying to be their friend. That’s what he gets and maybe this will make him realize they’re NOT his friends. They don’t like him.”

I scoffed at this. My reaction was that he was too militant, and that Barack had fostered too much goodwill, had been liked by too many to fall this kind of okeydoke. I certainly didn’t see it coming, and, apparently, neither did the president.

I sat here for a long while considering what to say about video games and the nature of pop culture things, when spinning, spinning in my mind were the words that have been haunting me since I opened my eyes this morning. I fear that they’ll stay with me until the day where they will no longer be a question.

“Has it come to this?”