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Barack Obama in the US midterm elections: Cool under pressure – or is that a dad dance?

President caught on video ‘busting a move’ to an a capella quintet

Adam Withnall
Wednesday 05 November 2014 08:07 EST
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President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama (Getty)

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Under pressure ahead of what proved to be a disastrous set of results in the US midterm elections, is this the moment Barack Obama lost his cool?

Opinions are divided on whether the President maintained his poise and dignity when he was ambushed by an a capella band backstage in Philadelphia – and broke out some moves of his own.

Unlike first lady Michelle Obama, who last month filmed herself dancing with a turnip, the President has rarely shown what he can do on the dance floor in public.

And there were those who suggested he would have been better off keeping it that way, after he met Brotherly Love’s backstage performance with a brief bout of “embarrassing” dad-dancing.

Others more kindly said he “grooved” with the quintet, while it was even suggested that the President had performed quite a convincing two-step.

Brotherly Love had been at the rally in support of Democrat candidate Tom Wolf to perform a five-piece set including the national anthem. They later posted the footage of Obama dancing to their YouTube page – and have since reportedly been offered a chance to sing for basketball team the Philadelphia 76ers.

On YouTube, while one comment said the footage was “AWESOME”, another suggested Obama’s actions were not very “presidential”.

Twitter users responded in a similarly mixed fashion. “Very cool” was one reaction – “Just threw up after rolling my eyes” another.

Many suggested Obama’s mood would have changed significantly now that sweeping Republican victories in the elections have been confirmed – prompting the above scathing front page from the New York Daily News.

The performance is far removed from that of the President at the start of 2012 when he was roundly cheered for singing a few bars of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” – while the soul legend himself sat in the audience.

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