DBWI: Michael Jackson retired from show business on July 4, 1981

28 years ago today, Michael Jackson shocked the world when he announced his retirement from show business at the age of 22 and that his album Off The Wall was his last. He decided to enter a career in politics.

In 1982, Jackson was elected to the California State Assembly from a district in suburban Los Angeles.

In 1992, Jackson upset Congressman Barbara Boxer in the Democratic primary and was elected to the US Senate. He became the first Jehovah's Witness to serve in the Senate.

In 2000, he became the first African-American nominated on a major party ticket when Al Gore picked him as his running mate. But George W. Bush would be elected President.

Senator Jackson was the leading voice against Bush's invasion of Iran. In 2004, he won most of the primaries and won the Democratic nomination for President. His selection of Richard Gephardt as his running mate helped cement labor union support was well as winning the states of Missouri and Ohio. It wasn't until 1AM that Jackson was declared the winner of the Presidential race and became the first African-American President of the United States.

If Jackson decided to stick with his music career, would he still have made more successful records? Jackson and his brothers had their biggest success in the 1970s and his solo album coincided with the end of the disco era, and I think he would have struggled to adapt to the public's ever changing tastes in music.
 
Consider that for many Americans, Michael Jackson was a complete failure. You don't have to have seen MJ (2008) by Oliver Stone, to agree that Michael Jackson was a self-destructive personality. In one term, Jackson proceeded to leave the country $1.5 trillion dollars further in debt.

Just remember that here is a Congressman who stormed off the set of 60 Minutes (CBS-TV) in 1991, when he was asked, "How do you respond to critics who call you "too white"?..."

In 1993, he nearly lost his Senate seat after the "Jordan Chandler Scandal", wherein his predilection for children placed him in a glaring light...

In 1996, during his re-election campaign for the Senate, he alienated the Jewish-American community with his infamous "Jew me, sue me... Kick me, kike me" rant. Why do you think Joseph Liebermann (CT) joined the Republican Party in 1998?

Now we are being asked to swallow the fact that a President who dragged us into two wars was addicted to Demerol, and that his children may not be his biological offspring? That is why I voted for President Mitt Romney and V.P. Sarah Palin... We need some common sense brought back into the White House....
 
OOC: If you want to do a DBWI properly, you should phrase the topic title as if viewing the POD from the ATL. For instance, this thread should be titled "What if President Jackson didn't quit the music business in 1981?" or something similar.
 
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