Obama Replaces "Hail to the Chief" with Crappy Muslimish Song by Sting

This is really unbelievable when you think about it.

Veteran CBS Radio White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports that President Obama is relaxing more than the dress code at the presidential mansion. Pomp is giving way to piano-bar pop:

On Day One of his presidency, everywhere Mr. Obama went they played "Hail to the Chief" for him – but not since. In fact the U.S. Marine Band's duties at the White House over the last 10 days appear to have been dramatically downsized.

Instead of the usual contingent of trumpets, tubas and drums, a single piano player now provides musical interludes before and after the president's appearance.

And the tunes have little connection to the military marching music of John Phillips Souza [sic] that is the usual accompaniment to presidential appearances. These days the pianist's repertoire includes Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and Sting’s "Desert Rose."

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the song "Desert Rose":

The song is noted for Sting's duet performance with Algerian raï singer Cheb Mami, creating a distinct world music feel to the song.

The lyrics of the song are inspired by the Frank Herbert novel, Dune,possibly because Sting played the villainous Feyd Rautha in the 1984 film adaptation. Both film and book feature the Arabic language.

I especially like some of the pop culture appearances this song has made:

The song is played on XM Satellite Radio during technical difficulties. (Just like America's technical difficulties)

In the 2001 Hindi movie Dil Chahta Hai, the character Akash, played by Aamir Khan can be seen listening to the song on the music system of his room.

In Family Guy, Peter buys a "Sounds of the Rainforest" CD. A worker can be heard saying "That song (Desert Rose) sucks!"

The 2000 Iranian Film "Party" prominently features the song in an underground club scene.

President Obama switched out "Hail to the Chief" for a version of "Desert Rose" that is played by a pianist (among other songs).

Here's a video clip of this crap.