Kanye West for president? Obama has some words of advice

The president offered some tongue-in-cheek advice to the rapper on how to achieve a successful political career.

President Barack Obama poked a little fun at rapper Kanye West on Saturday for saying he planned to run for the White House and offered some tongue-in-cheek advice on how to achieve a successful political career.

“In case he’s serious about this whole POTUS thing, or as he calls it, ‘Peezy,’, I do have advice for him,” said the US president.

The president’s first piece of advice concerned West’s wife, Kim Kardashian. ”First of all, you’ve got to spend a lot of time dealing with some strange characters who behave like they’re on a reality TV show. So you’ve just to be cool with that,” Obama said to laughter from a crowded theater where he was headlining a fundraiser.

“Second important tip: saying that you have a Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – that’s what’s known as ‘off-message’ in politics. You can’t say something like that,” Obama riffed, making reference to a popular West album.

“And number three: do you really think that this country is going to elect a black guy from the South Side of Chicago with a funny name to be president of the United States? That is crazy. That’s cray!” Obama, who lived on the South Side of Chicago before he was elected president, concluded, to applause.

In August, West had announced that he wanted to run for president in 2020. The rapper has claimed to be a supporter of the president and has performed at several Democratic events. The two have been known to trade jokes about each other for years, with West claiming Obama rings him at home “all the time”.

Obama opened his remarks at the fundraiser, at which West was scheduled to perform, by joking that the entertainer was going to jump into the increasingly complicated race to replace Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner.

“A little bit later, you’re going to hear from a guy who I hear has been talking about launching a potential political career,” Obama told the crowd. “Kanye is thinking about running — for Speaker of the House. Couldn’t get any stranger.”