POETRY SLAM

Michelle Obama Invites Rapper to White House

But conservative site bashes Common’s lyrics.

Calling him “quite controversial,” the conservative website The Daily Caller is questioning first lady Michelle Obama’s decision to invite the rapper Common to a poetry evening at the White House Wednesday. “His poetry includes threats to shoot police and at least one passage calling for the ‘burn[ing]’ of then-President George W. Bush,” Neil Munro writes. Obama’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but Munro invites readers to compare a sample of the Chicago MC’s “A Letter to the Law” with Emily Dickinson’s “I'm nobody! Who are you?” (Dickinson was recited at Laura Bush’s poetry night when she was first lady.) Actually, given the choice, we’ll take Common.