A sulfur-free Obama with his BFF, Chavez
A lot of tittering amongst the right wing bloggers (all 3 of them) and right wing pundits (too many to count) lately about this photo. How dare Obama cozy up to such a left wing nutjob! How dare Obama validate Chavez as a legitimate world leader by shaking his hands and (gasp!) laughing! Doesn’t Obama know that shaking hands and smiling means that America just bent over, spread their cheeks and is readying itself for worst Latin American assramming since the Ricky Martin invasion of the late 1990s? Doesn’t Obama think about Joe Six-Pack’s anus when he does these things?
Presidential 2012 wannabe Newt Gingrinch didn’t miss the opportunity to wax philiosophical and claim that Obama showed weakness yet again when dealing with foreign leaders—oh, and linked his foreign policy to that of Jimmy Carter. Bowing to the Saudi King + ignoring the North Korean missle test launch + Venezuelan handshake = Jimmy Carter diplomacy. Smart math there, Newt. Ouchie.
But there’s another side to this story: Obama had a later interchange with Chavez, with the help of an interpreter. Here, the exchange had no smiles, even appears O-forceful at times and definitely the body language reads stern. Check it yourself (click on the image for the full video).
Finger pointing is way stronger than shaking hands.
All this nonsense over how Obama greets foreign leaders is really ridiculous. Here’s a list of other ‘weakening US standing’ greetings from our past Republican Presidents to Saudi leaders (i.e. Al Qaeda money tree) and/or other communist countries that spread anti-US sentiment:
Bush 43: King Abdullah & cheek rubbing ain’t just for sissies.
Bush 43: King Abdullah & hand holding Part 1.
Bush 43: King Abdullah & hand holding Part 2.
Bush 43: King Abdullah & Bush are K.I.S.S.I.N.G (but not sitting in a tree)?
Bush 41: Hand holding with Saudi Arabia is all the rage in foreign policy.
Reagan: Handshake with Soviet Secretary Public Enemy Number 1 – Russian leader Gorbachev pre-Geneva, pre-INF treaty ( this is 1985…two years later the two countries ended the cold war)
Reagan: Laughs with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in 1985. Mmm. Everyone loves to kiss Saudi Arabian ass! Mmm mmm…so tasty!
Reagan: More laughs and touching Saudi Arabian Kings!
And my favorite, popular and ever so ironic Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein handshake.
I’m surprised how little conversation there has been about this article, which is related:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/americas/18diplo.html
It shows that the most basic gestures of humility and good will, with few if any promises of substantive change, are already having profound effects on America’s ability to be a leader in the world. Even to the point where a throw away line by Clinton admitting past mistakes generated a very important gesture from Raul Castro of willingness to reform Cuba’s human rights and make other concessions to open up positive relations with the U.S..
Being polite is already yielding results. And Hillary is doing some pretty important and unheralded work right now while the media at home and abroad focus mainly on Obama’s cult of personality. Maybe this is good, because it takes a lot of right wing hate off of Hillary’s shoulders, and frees her to do her job.
I’m with Trevor. The Right’s heaving and wallow over Obama’s world stature belies their own fear that he will be successful in demonstrating that participating in the world is beneficial while purporting to lord over it is not.
I hope you guys are right. It is a tricky slope. Hopefully, it doesn’t become Carter all over again.
It certainly doesn’t hurt to talk, but you also have to carry a big stick. Unfortunately, in this day and age you may have to wield it.