TheAgitator.com
Obama Eats Ice Cream
Sunday, June 21st, 2009I’m with James Joyner. The right-wing blogs’ drummed-up outrage over Obama going to get some ice cream with his kids as the Iranian government cracked down on protesters yesterday has to be about the dumbest thing since . . . well, since the last time the right-wing blogs drummed up some silly outrage.
There’s violence and suffering going on all over the world, all of the time. Is the guy never supposed to take his kids for ice cream, lest he appear indifferent to it all? And where were the howls of right-wing outrage when Bush was clearing brush in Crawford during various world crises? Also, isn’t taking some time off the job to spend time with your kids something right-wingers generally celebrate?
I do agree that the media fawns over Obama. And while I admire the guy for being normal enough to make the occasional burger or ice cream run, the press doesn’t need to cover it every time he does. But juxtaposing Obama’s ice cream cone next to the woman shot by the Basiji is quite a bit worse than ignoring the protests to go get ice cream, it’s exploiting the deaths of the protesters to score cheap, partisan political points.
There are legitimate reasons to be outraged about Obama’s first several months. This is just foolish.
It’s ridiculous of both sides to consider the presidents’ personal lives newsworthy. Not that the presidents aren’t above inviting the press along to give the impression that they are more down to earth.
Most normal jobs have clear delineations between work hours and personal hours, but that doesn’t seem to apply to politicians. When someone wields such enormous power, there’s never really a point where they can say, “Well, I’ve put my forty hours in for the week, time to relax. I’ll take care of this Iran thing next week.”
There may be people who view the presidents’ personal ventures as callous indifference to world crises, but they were probably predisposed to hate the guy anyway.
Both sides do this….I remember Bush getting blasted for playing golf.
You just noticed that Michelle Malkin is batshit? That’s uncommonly and uncharacteristically slow on the uptake for you!
How about the PETA Fly Flap? I’d say that edges this fuss in absurdity.
Where do you get the curious notion Obama goes for burgers and ice cream because he’s a normal guy – rather than because, say, his handlers want to portray him as exactly that?
I don’t know, I think that even not normal guys like burgers and ice cream. Who doesn’t?
Remember when Condi Rice got blasted by some left-wing nutters for allegedly buying shoes shortly after Hurricane Katrina? This has the same feel. Except that some of the people who (reasonably) defended Rice then are using the same sort of fatuous nonsense to attack Obama now.
There are serious attacks to be made on the administration’s Iran policy. This is not one of them.
There are legitimate reasons to be outraged about Obama’s first several months. This is just foolish.
This what happens when a party has no agenda, making itself irrelevant. Do these people even have a clue to how juvenile this makes them seem?
I seem remember president Bush reading a grade school book while I was standing in Liberty park watching the World Trade Center burn.
“There are legitimate reasons to be outraged about Obama’s first several months. This is just foolish”
Agreed. But this is the best that right-wing populists can do these days. They lack the intellectual rigor to deeply examine policy issues. GRRRRRRRR….go for that red meat!!!!
I remember the Bush / Golf thing (which was about Palestinian terrorists even though it was spun as being about AQ) and the Condi / shoes thing.
The fact of the matter is that Iran doesn’t matter to Obama because is completely indifferent to the idea of liberty, much less its practice. You don’t need to see him getting ice cream to know that; you just have to look at the last week and the last six months.
It’s not the ice cream that bothers me.
It’s Teleprompter Jesus’s weak-sister reprimands while Iranians die for something they believe in.
Remember that media coverage of offloading of caskets at Dover AFB was curtailed after the MSM juxtaposed images of caskets next to a laughing President George H. W. Bush. It’s not something that just Republicans engage in.
Toastrider, what else is the President of the U.S. supposed to do when other governments kill their citizens?
It all depends.
Did he have chocolate or vanilla?
“There are legitimate reasons to be outraged about Obama’s first several months. This is just foolish.”
Soooooo …. when are you going to do it?
James D…you must be new here.
James, you typed before you searched. Tsk-tsk.
I disapprove of the way Mr. Obama spends my money: any of it, on anything.
I hope he spends ALL his time eating ice cream. I think that was the Harding/Coolidge strategy, and they were our two best Presidents.
Uh, the whole Bush/Golf thing was started by Bush himself in an interview with Politco. Which doesn’t make it any less ridiculous, but it’s hard to blame the left for Bush shooting himself in the foot.
Not new here … I keep seeing stupid minor/non-issues Obama stories .. no stories about all the socialist/creepy stuff …. Bush got 10x more negative coverage yet Obama is costing this country 10x as much. Where’s the balance?
I think the bigger problem this represents is that the president embodies too much power. Centralization of power and the imperial presidency have made him so important that ice cream and brush clearing are taken as dereliction of duty.
The solution is for the president to be less important.
#21:
First, your description of how I’ve “covered” Bush and Obama is incorrect.
Second, when did I ever claim this site was balanced?
I write what I want to write about, when I want to write about it.
No one is forcing you to read.
James, why do you ignore all of Radley’s criticisms of Obama? Then again, if you actually think that Obama is 10 times as bad as Bush, maybe you’ve already answered that question. It’s the same kind of partisan loyalty which makes some people think that Obama is 10 times better than Bush.
#11 “It’s Teleprompter Jesus’s weak-sister reprimands while Iranians die for something they believe in.”
I think you meant to say, they die for something YOU believe in… if they were die-ing for Allah I doubt you’d be concerned that your president wasn’t showing them moral support.
Also, I’m guessing that you wouldn’t mind if a few of them WERE die-ing for something YOU believed in… say a few civillians were killed whilst we bombed Iranian nuclear facilities?
It’s like when the right came over all misty eyed about the personal freedoms of Iraqis… rings a bit hollow
I think some of the similar criticisms of Bush were actually well-founded because the circumstances were different. I don’t think it’s correct to say that a President should never be criticised for displays of “leisure time” no matter what the political climate. Certainly, if Bush was seen golfing in March of ‘03 while troops were rolling to Baghdad, this would show pretty bad judgment and warrant criticism. I think the pictures of Bush playing the guitar at a fundraiser while Katrina was slamming into New Orleans were legit.
I think there is some calculus where a President should not be seen chillaxin when some major political issue is unfolding, and it involves how pressing the matter is, whether it involves americans, life and death, how long it might last and whether the president should or can actively be directly involved in helping.
Clearly, this doesn’t rise to the level.
Toadies or go home!
For a guy who celebrates dissent, Radley, you take criticism rather poorly and defensively. Every time I see you respond to some correct, incorrect, explicit, or implied criticism, you insist that you can write whatever you want, which sounds bizarrely like public officials claiming that criticism is tantamount to depriving them of their freedom of speech. In short, chill out. Write whatever the hell you want. And learn to take a lump.
How did I know it would be Malkin?
#27
Not defensive at all. James continues to make the same criticism over and over — that I’m a shill for Obama because I don’t criticize him enough. I’m just pointing out that if he doesn’t like what I cover on this site, he should find one with content more to his liking.
I wonder if Radley could ever critisize Obama enough to make some people happy. ‘Cause if his previous posts haven’t been enough to prove that doesn’t play favorites, then I don’t think you’ll ever be convinced. Ya’ll make it sound like he has to give Bush a free pass on everything to be balanced and fair.
I laughed and gave you a thumbs up. I’ve tried real hard not to make the iran response debacle about Obama personally, but he hasn’t made it easy. I’ll say it again, we’ve elected a man who is in way over his head.
I think some of the similar criticisms of Bush were actually well-founded because the circumstances were different.
Agreed. Didn’t Bush set a record for the amount of vacation he took in office? And that during 9/11, Katrina, two wars, etc. Obama took an afternoon to go get ice cream w/ his kids in the middle of a situation overseas that he can’t realistically do anything about anyway. The situations are only comparable in the vaguest “they both got criticized for their leisure time” sort of way.
I’ll say it again, we’ve elected a man who is in way over his head.
Yes, well, I’m sure you’ve a much wiser strategy to suggest. Perhaps we should invade Iran, eh? Or just represent that we’re willing to when we’re really not? Or maybe we could make a public endorsement of Moussavi–I’m sure that would clear this situation right up, what with how much affection and respect Iranians hold for America.
I can’t stand Obama, but I am willing to agree that this is just BS from both sides. BS from the people getting riled up over his taking his kids for ice cream and BS for the media covering it. Without the media there to tell everybody when Obama changes his shorts this wouldn’t even be an issue.
#33
yeah matt, that’s exactly what I meant, invade. I’ve had to make that stupid disclaimer “i’m not calling for an invasion” with almost every post I’ve made about the Iran situation because somehow people get confused between “say something in defense of individual freedoms and civil liberties” and “invade”. I blame the public schools.
Btw, Obama finally DID say something positive, it just took him a week to do it. Should I apologize if some understood the situation a lot quicker than he did? You can go ahead and buy into the sullivan spin that he thinks on so many different levels at once that it’s hard for mere mortals to comprehend, but I’m leaning towards “he’s in over his head”.
Matt D # 33
I agree with your snark, except that I think it is the American government, not the American people that arouses Iranian anger and suspicion.
My evidence is minimal and anecdotal, but I have yet to meet an Iranian who hates “America” or the American people. But they all deeply resent past US interference in Iranian affairs and feel that the American government is attempting to bully Iran.
What is ridiculous is the fact that the media makes this event reportable and gives attention to irrelevant issues when the president and congress are destroying our economy, our liberties are taken away, Chrysler and GM have been stolen from the stockholders and bondholders and given to the UAW, the deficit is a generational theft, Iran and Al Qaeda threatens the U.S. with nukes and on and on and on.
The MSM outlest are all a bunch of sycophants.
Please check out my take on all the photo ops, and stick around for more good content.
http://libertarianhumor.com/2009/06/22/idol-worship-president/
I think if trips to the ice cream store take up the majority of Obama’s time in office, THEN we can criticize that. But he isn’t anywhere close to Dubya’s vacation standard.
Wait so when do rightwingers care about muslims? And muslims in a “terrorist state” at that?
Keep up the good work GOP.
I think we can all agree that Obama has bungled this critical opportunity to give Iran a very stern finger wagging.
Guido # 48
For all that I despised Bush, I do have to give him credit for offering humanitarian aid when an earthquake struck southern Iran several years back.
Aresen.
I think you missed my point. I said rightwingers not Bush. The two are not one and the same. Bush was whatever he needed to be to gain power. I think we could all agree that the vast majority of rightwingers do not really care what happens to the less than human muslims (i.e. people who aren’t christian). This whole thing is nothing but bad partisan politics.
Remember the chants in November “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”? I do.
radley doesn’t need a monday thread, we’ll just all argue in the ice cream room
No big fan of Bush’s, just pointing out the hippocrisy of pointing out the ‘big evil government’ of Bush, but no major stories about what Obama is doing in the same regard. This IS a libertarian site, right?
And 10x worse is in relation to what he’s spending … not that he’s 10x worse than Bush. Criticize all you want, but don’t put words in my mouth or give me any of that partisan BS.
James, there are many stories on the site criticizing Obama for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to: decreased transparency, the stimulus package, takeover of private companies, increasing state secrets, dismissing the public’s interest in decriminalizing pot, fighting for limiting availibility of DNA evidence, limiting due process, and the list goes on.
So, what the hell are you going on about?
@ Les # 46
I dunno what James wants.
Maybe Radley has to call for Obama’s impeachment? Or become a Birth Certificate Truther?
Birth Certificate Truther
Would make a great band name!
Any of the socialist stuff … and I haven’t seen much in the way of: “the stimulus package, takeover of private companies” … as a regular reader, not sure how I would have missed those.
James, do a search for “General Motors” or “stimulus.” There’s plenty of stuff there.
James,
I’m not sure what it is you want to hear in the way of takeovers of private companies, but that’s not what Radley tends to cover. He writes about police misconduct and militarization, the drug war, and various civil liberties issues.
Try reading Megan McArdle or Mish Shedlock or Karl Denninger for more in depth coverage in the way of the GM takeover. I particularly recommend Denninger’s Market Ticker. Here are a few to get you started:
Obama-Chrysler Stupidity
Government Motors is Born
Holding GM Debt? Gubbermint is Robbing You!
It was fucking Father’s Day fer chrissakes.
The right is mad that Obama is not taking the time to support the same people the right wanted to murder with nuclear weapons six months ago.
so quickly everyone forgets “Bomb bomb bomb Iran” as soon as it’s convenient.
thomasblair, I’ve been reading here since 2001 so I know what Radley writes about. He’s written some great stuff about the evils of socialism and it just seemed strange to me that someone who ‘gets it’ was not really railing against what could be our most socialist president ever. During the campaign, even the Republicans ‘meanest’ ads never painted a picture this bleak.
And paranoiastrksdp, technically that was to bomb nuclear production/military sites … not ‘bomb the whole country’.