Artists Choice: Obama/NEA Or The Pope -UPDATED

Sorry, I know I’m supposed to be actually working on the paying stuff, but this just struck me as funny.

Barack Obama’s White House has apparently been reaching out to artists with a mind toward funding the promulgation of Obamian propaganda with taxpayer dollars, via the National Endowment for the Arts.

The NEA and the White House did encourage a handpicked, pro-Obama arts group to address politically controversial issues under contentious national debate. That fact is irrefutable.

Meanwhile, over at that Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI -who is gifted pianist- is inviting artists to meet with him:

Bono has been invited to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, along with more than 500 other artists and performers. This group will include members of the theater, art, literature and music communities and they will meet with the Pope at the Sistine Chapel on November 21.

The meeting is part of a concerted effort by the Roman Catholic Church to reestablish the relationship between the Church and art. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said in a news conference at the Vatican that the meeting is intended to build on the “special historical relationship between faith and art.”

Well the Sistine Chapel will certainly give silent witness to the point, and it may reinforce for artists the longterm impact their work can have on the world. As if artists need any convincing on that score.

I know it’s irreverent to both the presidency and the papacy, but come on – it’s too funny. Read these stories back to back, and it’s Stephen King’s The Stand; people are being called, by both Abigail Freemantle -the old lady who plays the guitar and brags that she still makes her own biscuits- or by Randall Flagg, the walkin’ dude, who hands out all-seeing-eye amulets to his ~~czars~~ assistants.

All we need is some kind of Captain Trips.

Amusing, no? Are you not entertained?

UPDATE: More breaking on the WH/NEA story, or as Ace says: proof of the lie on the tape via Patterico.