On its face…nothing (though I’d argue with “VERY popular song”, despite it being my absolutely favorite song on the soundtrack). But Pelosi sounded like she forgot LMM’s name, and had little idea what it was about. It reminded me a lot of Hillary Clinton’s “Pokémon Go to the polls” disaster. In other words, it was cringey.
Like a good individual I’m not in lock-step with anyone, however I guess we’re looking at this in different ways. Remember, I didn’t originally post this in the pit because I knew it was a minor rant.
I don’t think people are looking at it the ways people you’d commonly find on this message board. Very few people are going to look into the deeper meaning of the song. Very few people, if they did, would care. I think it’s silly, and it’s upsetting to see her disengaged with more people than I think the people on this board realize.
I’ve never been a registered member of any political party; the idea that I’m in lockstep with anyone or anything is laughable.
Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there!
See?
Exercising good judgement isn’t being in lockstep.
That sounds an awful lot like you “believe” 
You’re right that most people won’t think that much about it. But that’s exactly why your rant doesn’t make much sense. You’re very much overthinking it in order to have something to be angry about. You’re acting like this is some significant action that harms the cause for Democrats.
Your arguments are (1) that she looks disconnected and tone deaf. No, she looks like someone who participated in a memorial of a horrible event, and had a song. That happens all the time. (2) It makes the US look weak. Singing doesn’t do that. The only people who think singing makes you weak are toxic men who think it is girly. It’s not like this singing is the entire response to the Sixth, either.
The things you are upset about are so insignificant and shoehorned that it reads more like a story from a conservative “news” outlet than a legitimate criticism. It comes off like someone who just doesn’t like Pelosi and is looking for something to gripe at her about.
You might as well have complained she was wearing a brown suit.
ISTM the OP did not listen to a single word either Pelosi or Miranda said in that video. But, hey, keep up the façade, OP.
This is, to me, a little like the movie ‘Don’t Look Up’. I just don’t see the utility and think it’s a silly response to a serious situation. I think they’re missing the fact that a song from a musical may not play well with people, (like working class people that aren’t down with what’s on Broadway,) who are genuinely concerned about our future. Maybe it’s me.
My frustrations with Pelosi extends further than this, obviously, but I’m to the left and don’t want Republicans in power. I see stunts like this, and it only increases my anxiety.
As mentioned, it’s “Pokémon Go To The Polls” embarrassing. If you don’t think this stuff matters, fine. It gives off elitist vibes to me and I just don’t understand why people here can’t see it how I do.
Ah. Broadway is elitist. I see. Performing artists aren’t “working man” enough to be seen in public with Democratic leaders in these precarious times? Come back when you’ve got some good callouses and dirt under your nails?
Play some country music instead of this artsy-fartsy high-brow Broadway shit that no one has even heard of!
Good grief. It’s streaming through Disney. You can get the CD at Target for $18.93.
Look. You may all be right, and maybe this isn’t cringey, or elitist, or silly, but…
I honestly believe that there are plenty of people out there that are rolling their eyes at this type of thing, despite whether or not you think they have they have a good enough reason to. I’m not trying to target Pelosi exclusively, I’m sure there’s a lot of people who believe most of the party is out of touch with them. Maybe I’m wrong.
I’m know a good amount of people who believe Democrats aren’t speaking to their needs and/or showing enough strength. I just warn that there are other people out there as ‘ridiculous’ as I am.
I have to say… I thought more people would understand the optics that I personally got from it. I didn’t think this would be so universally dismissed on here. I didn’t come here to start a fight. Like I said, I didn’t mean for this to be in The Pit, even though I understand why it was brought here.
The people I know, even some Pelosi fans, have had nothing but bad things to say about it. It appears to me, like I said, out of ‘Don’t Look Up’. It’s just a weird reaction to have in my eyes.
But perhaps I’m wrong, or projecting, or my sample size is too small. If you think Democrats don’t have an issue this type of thing, that’s great. Seriously, it makes me less anxious about future elections.
If this helps relieve your anxiety in any way, @MyFootsZZZ : as to this specific bit of event programming, the vast majority of Americans did not watch it and do not care.
After-the-fact, yeah I think I do understand the optics that you personally got from it… but I was among the millions who did not watch it as it happened. Heck, except for this thread I may have never found out about it. So, ISTM the only people who are going “wait, what?” are people who were going to vote Dem anyway.
IMO nobody sensible is going to say “well, I’m (staying home/voting Green Party) for all the good it’ll do” nor “now I’m energized to send money and get out the vote for the Democrats” over this. I expect the leadership is not going to be relying just on “uplifitng” passages from middlebrow entertainment for motivation.
That’s fair.
Dear Theodosia is a song about building a strong democracy for our children. What’s the problem with it?
Nothing. I though Lin-Manuel was quite eloquent. Pelosi stumbled a bit, so I guess I see why you find that a bit cringe-y. It’s a beautiful song well sung. You don’t need to be an elitist theater goer to see that. This wasn’t a bunch of actors singing Imagine. Bizarre rant. But I guess you’re an individual, unlike the rest of us.
Speaking of, I don’t get all the backlash that Gal Gadot got for singing “Imagine” with other celebs. She even came out and apologized for it. But I never heard exactly why it was so reviled.
Can anyone explain it to me, please?
And meanwhile, the perfect song for reaching across the aisle was sitting right there the whole time.
Well, besides that a large portion of the participants made it clear why they are not in musical theatre (goodness gracious, Pedro…), let’s say the mood among many quarters in May 2020 was that what was needed then and there was not a bunch of celebs “isolating” in their comfortable homes offering us a half-arsed rendition of a song of wishing for a better world. (The cast of Hamilton at least had something somewhat topical and did it well.) I can’t really hate the concept itself, if this were a bunch of remote-schooling kids or frontline workers, people may have said “how moving”. But Sarah Silverman and Will Ferrell… yeah, not so much.
Never mind that OTOH lots of people liked it as it was. Again many of us first heard of it from other media people decrying how cringe it was.
Bringing it back to where we were…
Basically there’s a large segment of people out there who in the face of existential crisis do not want to be offered a performance of a work, or piece of a work, that the culture has adopted as a sort of standard for “beautifully uplifting”.
Not that I agree with it, but it looks like a lot of people thought it was a bit … useless and self-centered when not accompanied by some of the tons of money the celebrities involved possess. And it’s exactly the kind of “Boo Hiss” campaign that can gain a lot of traction on social media and have an oversized impact on performers’ self-perception.
And the musicians made fun of it for everyone being in a different key.
More seriously, some people thought it was very low effort for what celebs should be able to do.