The politics of personal destruction
By now you’ve probably heard the allegation that Barack Obama looked upon a 16-year-old woman with lust in his heart.
I’m no Obama fan. I don’t think the voters have made as dismal a choice of President since Carter. Though, Heaven knows, they’ve tried.
But I don’t think you can determine what was going through BO’s mind from the video in question. And I predict BO will be able to shrug this incident off.
No, the personal destruction taking place here is that of the 16-year-old woman. For the rest of her life, she will be known as the chick whose fundaments were publicly ogled by the President of the United States. Even though BO may well have done no such thing, and even though, even if BO did, it’s not the girl’s fault. That’s not a particularly immodest dress. It just happens to look good on her.
This is an awful burden for any 16-year-old to have to carry for the rest of her life.
Which is why I decline to give her name or an image here. I’m not going to participate in committing the primal sin of converting flesh to money.
Ben Pratt
July 10, 2009
A wise choice.
Bookslinger
July 11, 2009
If W had been made to look bad by an unfortunate camera angle, would the major media anchors have gone to such great lengths to scrutinize the footage and exculpate him as they did with BO ?
Adam Greenwood
July 12, 2009
Forget W. This shouldn’t have even been a story in the first place. Grow up, America.
MadChemist
July 12, 2009
No.
If it had been George W, they would have made it into Tshirts, Calendars, and MSNBC all week long.
I agree this stuff is crap, but I think there shouldn’t be crap on either side. We’ve endured 8 years of crappy reporting, only to get another year of even crappier reporting.
Bookslinger
July 12, 2009
BO has less gravitas than Bush. What happened to the need for gravitas?
Vader
July 12, 2009
I have to disagree, Bookslinger. I think BO does have more gravitas than W.
I think the correct conclusion from this is that gravitas is badly overvalued.
Bookslinger
July 13, 2009
I guess it depends on how you define gravitas. Obama is trying to act dignified, but he doesn’t wear it well yet. His underlying Carter-esque wimpiness shows through.