Obama Once Again Rags on Kanye

It's the day of bros bashing bros: President Obama has had a somewhat tortured relationship with Kanye West, at least as reported in the media. He memorably called the rapper a "jackass" in 2009, then later explained that he "liked" the "smart" and "talented" Kanye ... though adding "he is a jackass." Now Kanye's name has popped up once again, in a Kindle Singles Interview about "the economy and the increasing need for government programs that [Obama] believes can make a difference." Wait, wha? Yes.

The Huffington Post picks up the exchange between David Blum and the prez, in which Blum asks him about the American dream. Specifically, "Were there things, when you were growing up, that you yearned for that you couldn't afford?" Obama's reply touched on the sea change in how we define the American dream, which he says formerly referred to a good house, job, and education. Now, all kids see is celeb excess. When he was a boy, "Kids weren't monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing, or where Kanye West was going on vacation, and thinking that somehow that was the mark of success." (More Barack Obama stories.)