Tuesday, January 27, 2015

SELF-AWARENESS DROUGHT CONTINUES.

Obama was in India and chewed gum during a parade. The Times of India had some fun with it:
NEW DELHI: In an ungainly sight, cameras caught US President Brack Obama chewing gum during the Republic Day parade on Monday. 
In the picture captured by cameras and posted on Twitter by some users, Obama was spotted removing his chewing gum while PM Modi was seen trying to explain something to the US president... 
Comments on Twitter included remarks by author Shobhaa De, who said, "Barack bhai working his jaws overtime and chewing gum! At least it isn't gutka. But seriously - gum during a formal parade?".

"Glad to see @BarackObama is so human. Like most Americans, he chews gum. Anyone know what brand?," was how noted film-maker Shekhar Kapur reacted.
I suppose you can say Allahpundit of Hot Air also had "fun" with the incident, though it's more the kind of fun that lonely and unliked children have with razor blades:
Video: Semi-retired president gonna enjoy his gum during major photo op with important ally
Not sure what the dialect-humor provenance is of "gonna enjoy his gum." Maybe it's a blah thing, I wouldn't understand?
To cleanse the palate, I believe formal diplomatic protocol in this situation requires him to offer Narendra Modi a piece of his Bubblicious. Two points. One: Is it Nicorette he’s chewing? That would explain, at least, why he couldn’t refrain from smacking away despite knowing he’d be on camera for hours with India’s PM during a formal state parade. How bad is this guy’s smoking habit, though, if he couldn’t make it through an afternoon without a hit of nicotine?
Wait, was it Bubblicious, or Nicorette? I don't know why Allahpundit missed the equally plausible options of ghat or black tar heroin.
Remember, this isn’t the first time recently that he’s been criticized overseas for chewing gum at an international summit. Indian media obviously noticed his “ungainly” display, as you’ll see below. Either he was jonesing awfully hard for a smoke or today’s the day he moved officially from the YOLO phase of his presidency to the WGAF phase.
This, I remind you, is about the guy chewing gum. Allahpundit goes on quite a while like this ("Does O chew gum during formal events here at home too? He’s done it a few times, if memory serves...") Here is the best line:
Two: This is the sort of trivial faux pas that the media would have hyperventilated over had it come from Bush...
Leaving aside the propriety of complaining about hypothetical offenses that you're in the very midst of committing in real life, I'd say if Bush had been seen chewing gum at a foreign event, it would have been portrayed as a bold example of American exceptionalism, like not dipping our flag at the Olympics.

Hey, anyone remember when the knock on Obama was that he showed too much respect for our foreign allies?

UPDATE. In comments, Jay B: "[Obama's] such an egghead, he was probably also walking at the same time."

113 comments:

  1. DN Nation12:34 PM

    "I'd say if Bush had been seen chewing gum at a foreign event, it would have been portrayed as a bold example of American exceptionalism, like not dipping our flag at the Olympics."

    The man spent the last summer of his presidency getting hammered at the Beijing games and flirting with the women's volleyball team.

    http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/08/11/0811_beachbush_460x276.jpg



    Always, always, always projection.

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  2. Brother Yam12:34 PM

    I remember the press hyperventilating over Bush, all right; something about a flight suit and a "Mission Accomplished."

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  3. Imagine the squawking in Wingnuttia and BS Mountain if Obama had, you know, lit up a cigarette!

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  4. Jay B.12:37 PM

    He's so devious, he was probably also walking at the same time.

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  5. Cato the Censor12:41 PM

    Two: This is the sort of trivial faux pas that the media would have hyperventilated over had it come from Bush...
    Bush was the guy caught on camera at an international conference chewing with his mouth wide open and talking at the same time, spewing half-eaten food and spittle everywhere. I don't recall the courtier press having much of a reaction at all. If Obama should so much as loosen his tie during a speech, these people freak on out.

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  6. Maybe what Obama should have done was give everyone an unsolicited shoulder rubs.

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  7. Chairman Pao12:44 PM

    I'll just leave this here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso

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  8. Chairman Pao12:46 PM

    Heretic! That was a stress-relieving Freedom Massage!

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  9. Ellis_Weiner12:55 PM

    "And what does it say about Obama, that his trivial behavior forces us into writing ludicrous swill, concern-troll bullshit, and self-embarrassing nonsense?"

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  10. If I remember, Bush's rank uncouth behavior, complete lack of polish and dignity, and utter ignorance of how to behave around adults was touted as making him "real" and "someone you could have a beer with."

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  11. Steve-O1:20 PM

    pro·jec·tion
    (prə-jĕk′shən)
    ...
    8. Psychology
    a. The attribution of one's own attitudes, feelings, or suppositions to others: "Even trained anthropologists have been guilty of unconscious projection—of clothing the subjects of their research in theories brought with theminto the field" (Alex Shoumatoff).
    b. The attribution of one's own attitudes, feelings, or desires to someone or something as a naive or unconscious defense against anxiety or guilt.

    "NTV, the once-independent Russian television station now controlled by a state-dominated firm, kept replaying footage of Bush entering his meeting with Putin while chewing gum and then spitting it into his hand."

    http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Nuclear-accord-slashes-U-S-Russian-stockpiles-2833226.php

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  12. BigHank531:22 PM

    I myself wondered why nobody had bought Barack an e-cig yet, and then I imagined the wingnut reaction if there was a photo of the President holding a purple anodized vaporizer.

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  13. DocAmazing1:23 PM

    This might explain the relative lack of sightings of Bush the Lesser chewing gum.

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  14. BigHank531:25 PM

    There you go, bring up the actual real-world Bush instead of the right's platonic ideal of Bush, the man who killed Saddam Hussein and bin Laden and saved America and tore down the Berlin Wall and fired the striking air traffic controllers.

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  15. Steve-O1:26 PM

    You forgot that he beat the Russians to the moon. And invented chocolate.

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  16. Yes, but the really important question is this: Does his chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?


    If the Republicans say "don't chew it," will he swallow it in spite?

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  17. They'll just demand proof it's not a crack pipe.

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  18. Or Bush shouting across the room at a G-8 Summit "Yo, Blair!"


    I can't even imagine the current president doing such a thing.

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  19. I made the New York Times yesterday, Woot! Seven of my fifteen minutes of fame our now wasted on a snarky comment about a David Brooks column about dating. (See last sentence)

    http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/readers-respond-on-taking-dating-advice-from-david-brooks/

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  20. beejeez1:35 PM

    What I wouldn't give to watch the wingnut head explosions if Obama ever pulled something like this.

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  21. LookWhosInTheFreezer1:43 PM

    Or was it ARUGULICIOUS? And how come Sweets Unterfurhleine Michelle doesn't throw him into a Fema Camp like she does to the rest of us when we drink a Big Gulp? Huh? HUH???!!!

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  22. LookWhosInTheFreezer1:45 PM

    He just thought she was Amanda Merkel.

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  23. Gromet1:50 PM

    I do enjoy that Allahpundit called India an "important ally." Watch this space, because as soon as it is convenient I suspect he will deride India as a backward, corrupt nation whose interests must not be taken into account.

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  24. Hot Air: In an ungainly site, Allahpundit writes ungainly shite.

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  25. No, but if the chew were on the other foot...

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  26. John Wesley Hardin2:05 PM

    Well, newly-elected prime minister Narendra Modi is a far-right nationalist accused of having ties to fascist organizations, so I imagine it will be a looong time before Allahpundit finds something bad to say about him, personally.

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  27. John Wesley Hardin2:08 PM

    'Invented chocolate?' Pfft, that was Abner Doubleday, you dope.

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  28. Steve-O2:11 PM

    fifth columnist!

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  29. John Wesley Hardin2:16 PM

    Yes, exactly. That massage liberated the German Chancellor's muscles from the prison camp of stress.

    Wait. Let me come in again.

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  30. John Wesley Hardin2:18 PM

    You will recall the man was felled by a mere pretzel; the repetitive chewing required of gum would have paralyzed him.

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  31. J Neo Marvin2:26 PM

    If it was good enough for John Lennon while singing "All You Need Is Love" during a worldwide satellite broadcast, it's good enough for Obama.

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  32. John Wesley Hardin2:29 PM

    Tangentially, I would like the President to jokingly declare that he's bigger than Jesus, if only to support the 'splodey-head cleanup industry.

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  33. John Wesley Hardin2:33 PM

    My favorite thing about the whole non-issue is the "ungainly" adjective. As a synonym for "inelegant" it is completely apt but at the same time completely non-standard for American values of "standard."

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  34. Ellis_Weiner2:37 PM

    I've said this before, but it bears repeating: the brethren are and will always be hypocritical. It's their default state, the microwave background radiation they always broadcast.

    Why? Because conservatives only ever (and probably only ever can) assert their case via moralizing. In practical terms, the facts are against them. E.g., if unions lead to higher wages, they must be opposed by invoking the "rights" of employers, of workers not to pay dues, etc. If the health insurance industry is a blood-sucking, death-paneling scam, it must be defend by appeals to "choice."

    They fall back on and resort to "values" (freedom, opportunity, exceptionalism, etc.), religious strictures, and demagogic cliches. Then real life asserts itself--real people do actual things, conservatives are called upon to defend nation-building or war-on-a-credit-card, and the hypocrisy again reveals itself. At BEST, when they're not being stupid or literally evil, they're hypocrites. And, since that subverts the legitimacy of their arguments and positions, they're intellectually and philosophically bankrupt.

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  35. Chairman Pao2:39 PM

    HO-GAN!

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  36. And why not?


    Like he said, he doesn't have to run in any more elections.

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  37. edroso2:44 PM

    I don't see gocart mozart in the credits.

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  38. J Neo Marvin2:44 PM

    Even "more popular than Bush" would produce some entertaining reactions.

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  39. I want to buy this comment a bag of fireballs down at the malt shop.

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  40. I only wish I could see nuh-sing in order to get that image out of my mind's eye.

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  41. This comment can tune my banjo any time.

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  42. bekabot2:54 PM

    Blue state President = chews gum
    Red state President = chews 'baccy

    — no secret which one the dudes at Hot Air are going to cheer for.

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  43. Freedumb's just another word for nothing left but chews.

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  44. bekabot2:57 PM

    Chews or booze, in that order.

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  45. I'll drink to that!

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  46. Obama should be suave and respectful like Dick Cheney.

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  47. That's the beauty of dialect. One of my college roommates moved off campus and shared an apartment with an Indian grad student. They went to a telephone company office to shop for a plan, and Ramvir asked the sales rep: "What kind of schemes do you have?" The results were predictably hilarious, especially since my old roommate was a complete smartass.

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  48. Yeah, that "windbreaker at a memorial service" comes to mind.

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  49. Crap, I tried to post the picture. It is particularly appropriate, given the day it is.

    http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/S/F/b/cheney_duck_hunt.jpg

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  50. Why once having tobacco and chewing gum on your person was a sign of greatness!

    BuzzFlash: Again, neither you nor I have the ability to be Freudian about this, but when I reread Rove’s comments about meeting George W. Bush,I thought it bordered on the homoerotic. He described that he was in a leather jacket. He even got down to the level of detail that he had this crease in the back of his pocket that came from carrying chewing tobacco in that spot.

    James Moore: Right.

    BuzzFlash: It’s the kind of physical detail that you just don’t normally see if a person doesn’t have an emotional attraction to somebody.

    James Moore: Right. He said, I saw him walking up, and he was wearing boots and blue jeans, and a brown leather bomber jacket, and he had these steely blue eyes, and he was smacking gum. He had this thick curly hair, and you could see the tobacco circle pouch in his back pocket. And Rove said, I thought he was just the coolest guy in the world. I wanted to be like him. The context, of course, is that George Bush was sort of the antithesis of what Karl was at that -- the glasses-wearing guy, a geek, and W. is cool. That’s why I’ve said their political union is also sort of a physical and spiritual union as well, because they’re two different kinds of characters.

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  51. M. Krebs4:18 PM

    "More popular than Reagan" would be even better.

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  52. Are we still talking about Jonah? Was he at that funeral?

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  53. One more from their greatest hits album of how to diss foreign governments. Like running down France for refusing to get on board the Iraq train, or calling all of western Europe "old Europe" in a dismissive way because of their skepticism about Iraq.

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  54. I remember Chris Matthews gushing over the man.

    He said "Here's a president who's really nonverbal. He's like Eisenhower.
    He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy
    costume he wears when he goes West."

    and "We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy..."
    http://mediamatters.org/research/2006/04/27/mission-accomplished-a-look-back-at-the-medias/135513

    I remember think, "Sheesh, get a room already."

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  55. Real name "Edwin Mix'

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  56. Howlin Wolfe5:16 PM

    That's probably what Bush called her.

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  57. It was obviously Wrigley's.

    In the future, the President's staff will have someone in charge of proper product placement.

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  58. JennOfArk6:03 PM

    Ok, no one tell Allahpundit that PBO was chewing a fetus.

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  59. J Neo Marvin6:05 PM

    True, he is the Republican Jesus.

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  60. Megalon6:29 PM

    See, they aren't quite an outright ally yet. This trip was to advance the relationship and bring the two nations closer to that point. And it was a huge success, both on substance and appearance (Xi Jinping certainly didn't get any adoring crowds or bear hugs from Mr. Modi when he visited). This gum thing is just a pathetic attempt to distract from that. Obama can never be right, even when he accomplishes something they themselves would agree is a good thing.

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  61. smut clyde6:36 PM

    footage of Bush entering his meeting with Putin while chewing gum and then spitting it into his hand
    It seems to be a general rule: if a rightwing commentatoriser declares "Only liberals do [bad thing X]; the Liberal Media would make a huge fuss if any republican did X" then you can safely infer that there is footage of a republican doing X.

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  62. Now THAT is a fine example of a mullet in its natural habitat.

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  63. Maybe it was Dijon gum!

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  64. Hey, anyone remember when the knock on Obama was that he showed too much respect for our foreign allies?

    He's a dessert wax AND a floor topping!

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  65. That's Andrew Sullivan who was the fifth columnist for the Atlantic in the run up to the Iraq War.

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  66. billcinsd7:38 PM

    He was known for giving funny nicknames

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  67. billcinsd7:40 PM

    Sully would never condescend to 5th -- number one or done

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  68. billcinsd7:50 PM

    That seems highly unlikely. and from Naugatuck? Is that where Tom Brady learned how to not fumble when fumbling?

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  69. JennOfArk7:54 PM

    Rove meets W for the first time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zU-e_wyR1s

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  70. Smarter than Your Average Bear8:15 PM

    Oh that windbreaker - I read that first as break wind - which he probably never did as he's so full o shit it couldn't get out that way, just through his mouth.

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  71. Smarter than Your Average Bear8:18 PM

    Walking, talking, chewing gum, and carrying on diplomatic negotiations at the same time - is there nothing this president can't destroy while there's time left. Why I was just reading the other day in the National Enquirer, or one of those fine informative newspapers at the grocery checkout that he's ruined his marriage too.

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  72. redoubtagain8:25 PM

    What is this man doing here???

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  73. redoubtagain8:36 PM

    (Said state that was run, once upon a time, by a megalomaniac chain-smoker.)

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  74. I used to work at a law office which represented a number of foreign companies. My favorite letters always came from Hong Kong. So formal!

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  75. AGoodQuestion9:22 PM

    You can see the smoke come out of Allahpundit's ears as he tries to decide if this is a major breach because O did it or a "trivial faux pas" because Dubya might have been caught doing something like it.

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  76. AGoodQuestion9:25 PM

    Are we sure that's not Jimmy Buffett in one of his duller shirts?

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  77. AGoodQuestion9:28 PM

    We still had boots on the ground in Iraq, so he couldn't call it a "French massage".

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  78. AGoodQuestion9:29 PM

    Wait. Let me come in again.
    That's what he said.

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  79. ckc_not_kc9:48 PM

    Naugatuck - when your Naugahyde's a bit loose

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  80. mortimer200010:07 PM

    Didn't you read Master Flatule's The Perils of Hypocrophobia? You're just being a typical liberal hypocrophobe, which has something to do with hypocrisy spelled wrong.

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  81. Meanie-meanie, tickle a person10:09 PM

    The younger generation. Why, W's old man could spew fully eaten food, and invariably hit the highest-ranking person at the table...

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  82. montag210:12 PM

    My favorite letters were from American companies to our business in New Mexico saying they could not ship such-and-such to a foreign country.

    We got them with frightening regularity.

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  83. Meanie-meanie, tickle a person10:13 PM

    Which they would of course accept...

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  84. Meanie-meanie, tickle a person10:15 PM

    Also no secret which one I'd rather not step on out on the sidewalk...

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  85. AGoodQuestion10:20 PM

    With this press, I'd save it for my Farewell Address.

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  86. Chairman Pao10:24 PM

    The Pride of Saskatoon.

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  87. Americans ignorant about America:

    The two ladies sitting next to me on a flight to Chicago, remarking about Lake Michigan: "I didn't know Chicago was on the coast! Which ocean is that down there?"

    Man walks up to my booth at a fly-fishing show. "I see you're from Vermont. I've always liked the seacoast up there."

    America: Fuck, yeah!

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  88. montag210:40 PM

    Just ponder that one for a minute: The two ladies sitting next to me on a flight to Chicago, remarking
    about Lake Michigan: "I didn't know Chicago was on the coast! Which
    ocean is that down there?"

    "Which ocean is that down there?"

    That's not just geographical ignorance. That's metastupidity.

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  89. jcricket11:19 PM

    At least Obama waited this long for the WGAF phase... GWB spent 8 years in his WGAF phase

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  90. It's the key to my brand new roller skates.

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  91. satch9:00 AM

    "If Obama should so much as loosen his tie during a speech, these people freak on out."


    And don't get me started on that tan suit!

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  92. satch9:26 AM

    Oh, I completely understand. Being from the East, I still have trouble telling one big, square Midwest state from another, and I'll probably never learn the difference between Idaho and Montana.

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  93. satch9:26 AM

    "Imagine the squawking in Wingnuttia and BS Mountain if Obama had, you know, lit up a cigarette!"


    Entire Right Wing:


    "You see... he's just like that commie Roosevelt!!!"

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  94. montag29:27 AM

    Well, most of those square states are in the intermountain West. As for Idaho and Montana, that's easy--Idaho has the potatoes and an extraordinarily high rate of incest.

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  95. satch9:27 AM

    India is valuable to the Right as an excuse for the U.S. to not get more serious about climate change, as is: "How can we POSSIBLY deny India the right to improve its standard of living by burning fossil fuels like we did in the 19th century?"

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  96. montag29:36 AM

    The Indian government is full of bad habits that way--Obama is actually there to negotiate follow-on rules to Bush's nuclear technology transfer agreement, some of which are to relieve American companies of all liability if things go boom when they aren't supposed to.

    Go figure--this was described as a major breakthrough in the American press....

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  97. satch9:53 AM

    While they're at it, maybe they could re-negotiate the Nukes For Mangoes Agreement.
    http://www.pensitoreview.com/2006/03/04/bush-trades-nuclear-technology-for-indian-mangoes/

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  98. Now incest on a pile of potatoes that's some kind of east coast perversity. In Idaho, they like to keep things separate.

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  99. Can I just say that I love "Barack Bhai?" Brother Barack indeed.

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  100. Halloween_Jack10:37 AM

    Every time I see one of these pecksniffs second-guessing Brocko's behavior, I'm reminded of this:

    Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
    Like a Colossus, and we petty men
    Walk under his huge legs and peep about
    To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

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  101. Halloween_Jack10:40 AM

    Good for you! I sometimes comment in the NYT myself, under my real name, Paul Krugman.


    j/k


    as if

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  102. Halloween_Jack10:42 AM

    Let's not forget The Creepy Neck Rub Of Angela Merkel. I doubt she has.

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  103. Naugahyde was invented in Naugatuck. It used to be the fake leather capital of the world!.

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  104. "IOKIYAR" should be included in the next edition of the OED.

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  105. J Neo Marvin12:16 PM

    My old band played a gig in Naugatuck in 1990. The entire audience consisted of the other band and the bartender.

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  106. BG, professional humbug12:37 PM

    Explains his Segway accident ---

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  107. ... and so they turn to intellectual brainiacs such as Goldberg and Arglebargle and Shapiro and...

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  108. cleter6:37 PM

    "How bad is this guy’s smoking habit, though, if he couldn’t make it through an afternoon without a hit of nicotine?"



    I wonder if this guy thinks Chris Christie's uncontrollable compulsive over-eating disqualifies him from the presidency.

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  109. cleter7:14 PM

    "Why should President Walker care what a bunch of cow-worshippers have to say?"

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  110. cleter7:26 PM

    His approval ratings now are higher than Reagan's were three months after Reagan's last midterm.

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  111. Suttree11:26 PM

    Aroostoock libelz!

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  112. Suttree11:27 PM

    At least two humans are involved. It could always be worse in a Tennessee watermelon patch.
    "He knelt in the rich and steaming earth, his nostrils filled with the winey smell of ruptured melons. To steal upon them where they lay, his hand on their warm ripe shapes, his pocketknife open. He lifted one, a pale jade underbelly turning up. He pulled it between his knees and sank the blade of his knife into its nether end. He shucked off the straps of his overalls. His pale shanks kneeling in a pool of denim."

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