Halloween is the gift that keeps on giving.
First, Saturday Night Live celebrated the holiday by gifting us David S. Pumpkins. Then, celebrities tried to out do each other with their balls-to-the-walls costumes – personally I think Jenna Fischer’s baby won “Best Costume of the Year” but some Cavs fans might disagree. Sadly, Halloween is all but over but before it makes way for Thanksgiving, the holiday is leaving behind a little something special.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated Halloween at the White House again this year, this time inviting students and children of military veterans to trick-or-treat in the nation’s capitol. Of course, it’s not a true Hallows Eve gathering without a bit of Michael Jackson thrown in. The Obamas decided to entertain the kiddos with a possibly planned dance number to Jackson’s “Thriller.”
Obama prefaced his performance with this disclaimer: “We’ve been working on a little dance. We don’t know how it’s going to go, but we think we should all just try it anyway.” Then he and Michelle broke it down with the children while the cameras rolled.
A couple of takeaways from this: one, it’s clear who has rhythm in this family. Besides busting out the ultimate dad dance moves, President Obama also sported some seriously funny facial expressions but it’s Michelle who obviously rules the dance floor. (It’s nice to know that even though he’s the leader of the free world, there are things even Obama can’t do well.)
Second, watching this video is oddly bittersweet.
Currently, we’re in the middle of a hotly contested presidential election with two candidates that inspire extreme devotion and hatred in many of this nation’s citizens. Whoever is elected president won’t be coming into the White House as Obama did – with hope and a call for change – but with a country divided, frightened and probably more than a bit bitter that their nominee wasn’t chosen. There’s obviously a better candidate amongst the two nominees – one with experience, resolve, actual policies and who doesn’t joke about sexually assaulting women – and while we should be excited for the next step in our country’s future, this election has also served to remind us just how incredibly lucky we were to have Barack and Michelle Obama inhabit that house for so long.
So watch this video again, joke about Obama’s truly terrible dance moves if you want and savor just how cool it is to have a President and First Lady that don’t mind embarrassing themselves to a Michael Jackson song in order to make some kids smile.