Wiretap
Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas has been inspired by president-elect Barack Obama of as late, leading him to get a tattoo in tribute of America's 44th president.
Arenas has "Change We Believe In" spread across the fingers of his left hand, and the number "44" as well to commemorate Obama's recent victory.
"He united people," Arenas said. "By him winning, it showed the world that we're not as racist as people think we are. I think that's the beauty of it. Not just because he's the first African-American president. It showed America is not as bad as people think we are."
Remember all of those mixed signals we were getting from Gilbert about his political beliefs? Well, maybe this clears it up some:
Arenas has decided to show his permanent support of President-elect Barack Obama with a tattoo. Arenas had the words “Change We Believe In” tattooed onto the fingers of his left hand in cursive writing. Then, Gilbert showed the outside of his pinky finger, which had “44″ inked on it.
Granted, that’s kind of weaksauce compared to this, but obviously anytime that you’re getting a tattoo, you’re making a permanent statement about whatever you’re getting inked. So does that mean Gilbert’s had a change of heart? Kind of, but not exactly:
For a player who said he wasn’t even going to vote just three weeks ago, Arenas changed his apolitical stance quickly — and dramatically. Arenas said on Saturday that his previous comments about not voting because he was afraid of having higher taxes were “a joke that nobody got.” He added that he always planned on voting for Obama but was waiting to find the right reasons.
“I wasn’t going to sit there and wing it for no reason,” Arenas said, “Like oh yeah, he’s black so I’m voting [for him]. I could’ve said I was voting for [John] McCain because he’s from Arizona and went to all the games.”
This could be a case of Gilbert’s revisionist history, but at this point I can’t even really speculate. I think the best thing that we can all do at this point is nod and smile and pretend to understand what’s going on.
Since Barack Obama was elected president on Tuesday night, Gilbert has been trying to collect copies of different newspapers from the historic night. Here’s what he had to say:
“It was a real special night and something you want to be able to look back on forever, I wish I could’ve been in DC to see the that celebration. The shots of the people in the streets and at the White House were amazing. We witnessed history.”
Now, this might surprise you a little bit if you been keeping up with Gilbert’s political musings over the last few months. Back in August, he had this to say about the election:
I’m not into politics, but I see what’s going on in the presidential race and I’m seeing rappers make songs for Obama and Mr. McCain doing all his stuff and I’m thinking, this is getting out of control, people. Whatever happened to Democrats and Republicans? You vote for who’s who.
It’s hard for me to vote, because since I’ve been in the NBA I’ve been in the upper class so I’ve been a Republican. If you have any type of money, you’re a Republican, period. So, it’s hard because you see a better looking president in Obama – I don’t even want to say because he’s black, but he just looks the part – and then you have McCain who is Republican and I’m like, man. I know Obama is going to raise taxes on the upper class from 20-60 percent, that’s what I’m looking at.
http://www.gilbertology.net/
For a minute, I'd thought I was reading quotes by Barkley.