You kind of have to give it to MSNBC.com for publishing this article, if only because it shows the folly that inevitably comes with demeaning the office of the president with cheap pop-culture stunts.
In light of President Obama filming a segment for an upcoming episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls, some wise guy apparently decided to gin up a petition at the White House's official website calling on the Leader of the Free World to drink his own urine during the episode. MSNBC.com's Tony Dokoupil explains:
Bug-eating and urine-drinking don’t usually feature in the public appearances of today’s world leaders. But on Tuesday, President Barack Obama—fresh from issuing a doomsday call for action on climate change—will receive “a crash course in survival techniques” from a man practiced at both skills, according to the White House.
The course will be taught by Bear Grylls, real name Edward Michael, a former special operator in the British military and host of the NBC reality show “Running Wild with Bear Grylls.” The meeting of these two men—one skilled at squeezing policy from Congress, the other known for squeezing water from dung—will be taped and aired on NBC later this year.
The network, which is part of MSNBC parent company NBCUniversal, offered no details on the nature of Obama’s course. But it will happen as Obama hikes Exit Glacier in the Kenai Mountains of southern Alaska on Tuesday, the White House confirmed.
[...]
It’s a vision of an overheated apocalypse that makes one wonder whether Obama’s “Running Wild” appearance holds some subconscious significance. If all the politics and the promises fail, at least the president will still know how to scratch out a life for himself. In the same spirit, some concerned citizen has put up a petition on the White House’s website, demanding that the commander-in-chief drink his own urine.
“If there’s one thing we all know about Bear Grylls’ techniques, it’s that they mostly involve drinking his own urine,” the petition reads. “And so: We ask that Obama do the right thing and drink his own urine during a taping of Running Wild with Bear Grylls. For science. The people demand it.”
If the petition receives 100,000 signatures by September 30, the White House will be obliged to respond. As of Tuesday morning, it had a scant 300.
