Barack Obama Supportive of Michael Vick's Second Chance: Are We Surprised in the Land of "The Beaver" and "Deuces"?

Barack Obama was supportive of Michael Vick's second chance, a stance that many Americans will undoubtedly disagree with. However, should we really be surprised that Barack Obama supports Michael Vick in the land of "The Beaver" and "Deuces"?

According to ABC News, Barack Obama contacted Eagles owner Jeffrey Laurie to congratulate him for giving Michael Vick a second chance. Barack Obama pointed out that there's never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail, so it was great to see Michael Vick come back from such a major downfall (of course most prisoners looking for a second chance aren't NFL stars like Michael Vick when they enter the prison system, so I doubt Barack Obama's happiness that Vick was given a second chance does them any good).

But why is it okay for Barack Obama to say he supports Michael Vick's second chance? Well, it's probably because he's living in the land of a thousand second chances, especially when it comes to those in the spotlight. Michael Vick isn't the first star to be given a second chance, and he certainly won't be the last.

Take Mel Gibson, for example. He had already gotten bad press before for spouting off anti-Semitic and sexist remarks after a drunk driving arrest when recordings surfaced of him spewing all kinds of nastiness at the mother of one of his children, Oksana Grigorieva. Everyone had a grand ol' time ridiculing him then and it seemed like his career could have been over for good. However, he's got two movies in the works, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" and "The Beaver". Perhaps playing a man that talks to a beaver puppet is nothing to be proud of, but Mel Gibson is still raking in the dough despite his bad behavior. And if you need any more evidence that Mel Gibson isn't going anywhere any time soon, a poll conducted by 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair actually found that 76 percent of respondents would be just as likely to see a Mel Gibson movie now as before the scandal.

Chris Brown is another example of a scandalous star that looked like they would never be given a second chance. Early last year he was arrested following an altercation with ex-girlfriend Rihanna, and when a photo of the songstress with bruises all over her face leaked onto the web, he definitely became one of the most hated men in America. However, Chris Brown currently has two songs in the top ten on the R&B Billboard charts ("Deuces" was actually number one for awhile).

Politicians are also often given second chances to revamp their images. Just look at Bill Clinton, who was involved in one of the biggest sex scandals in history. Cheating on his wife certainly could have ended the impeached president's political career for good, but he's managed to stay active in politics through the wife that stuck by him, and he even became a bit of a hero last year when he went to North Korea on a humanitarian mission to get two imprisoned American journalists released by agreeing to speak to dictator Kim Jong Il.

And even George W. Bush, one of only two presidents in a Gallup poll to be "more disliked than liked" (the other being Nixon) has been given a sort of second chance at revamping his image through the soaring sales of his book "Decision Points", which is a #1 New York Times best seller.

So since these represent just a tiny portion of the many second chances that high-profile Americans are blessed with, it's no wonder Barack Obama doesn't have a problem supporting Michael Vick being given one (and when you might need one yourself someday, it's always a good idea to support them).

SOURCES:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-praises-chances-michael-vick-eagles-owner/story?id=12487824&tqkw=&tqshow=GMA
http://www.billboard.com/charts/r-b-hip-hop-songs#/charts/r-b-hip-hop-songs
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/7867009/Mel-Gibson-in-foul-mouthed-tirade-at-ex-girlfriend.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/02/19/2009-02-19_tmz_posts_rihanna_photo_showing_stars_br.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/04/AR2009080400684.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/06/news/la-pn-presidential-rankings-120610
http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2010-12-26/hardcover-nonfiction/list.html