“Like A Boss.” Huh? [Updated] [Further Update: Problem Solved?]

Today I got an email from the Democratic Party, inviting me to vote on an official bumper sticker for the 2014 election. They are mostly what you would expect. This one is sneaky; the Democrats don’t want to admit that they run the Senate. I don’t blame them:

20140521 Sticker 5

But this one stumped me. “Like a boss”? What does that mean? Are they saying that Obama is like a boss, i.e., your supervisor at work? That is not exactly how the Founders conceived of the presidency, to put it mildly. If not that, then what? On Twitter, I can see that that others are just as puzzled as I am.

20140521 Sticker 1

If you have any theory as to what it means, you can leave it in the comments. In the meantime, I think we should all follow the link and vote for “Like a Boss” as the Democrats’ official bumper sticker. It is not exactly a ringing slogan to lift the Dems to a come-from-behind victory in November.

UPDATE: A reader suggests that “Like a Boss” may have something to do with Hillary:

I think this is code for Hillary and bossy women. Boss is good, for BHO and even more for HRC.

Hmm. I’m not convinced. Given the longstanding animosity between Obama and the Clintons, I can’t believe his team would promote a bumper sticker that implies Barry is like Hillary, only not as much so. But who knows? Let’s keep the suggestions coming.

MORE: I think reader Mark McManus has solved the puzzle:

It’s an internet meme.

Like A Boss is a catchphrase often used in image macros or GIFs that feature a person completing an action with authority and finesse. Similar to Haters Going to Hate, the characters in the macros have an air of superiority and do not care how others perceive them.

I remain unconvinced.

Well, I’m convinced. Mark’s link goes to Know Your Meme, the source of the indented quote. More, from the same site:

The phrase stems from The Lonely Island‘s single “Like A Boss,” a parody of the Slim Thug song of the same name. Featuring Andy Samberg and Seth Rogen, the video premiered on Saturday Night Live as a digital short on April 4th, 2009. In the video, the Boss (Samberg) is asked to go over his daily activities during a performance review by Rogen’s character. While it starts out with daily office tasks, the lyrics evolve into impossible activities.

Sample lyrics from The Lonely Island’s Like a Boss:

* Crash my car (like a boss)
* Chop my balls off (like a boss)
* Turn into a jet (like a boss)
* Bomb the Russians (like a boss)
* Crash into the sun (like a boss)
* Now I’m dead (like a boss)

“Like A Boss” as a catchphrase has been popular on Twitter and Tumblr[9], as a hashtag for posts about successful actions or things they are proud of doing.

Here is an example of the meme. It will be perfect, as soon as the nose starts to grow:

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And here is the clincher: according to Google, “Like a Boss” peaked in early 2009, just like Barack Obama. The bumper sticker harkens back to the good old days, before anyone expected Obama to actually do anything.

This looks like another attempt by the Obama gang to be cool and with it. That’s great for us Republicans; I still say: let’s make it the official Democratic Party bumper sticker of 2014!

ONE MORE: Multiple photoshops ridiculing the Dems’ bumper sticker here and here. This one is good:

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