Obama Shakes Finger at PM Harper

After the carefully crafted optics of Obama bowing to certain foreign leaders, I can't believe that this was an accident:

The Anchoress notes:

I get the impression that Obama and his crew think these sorts of pictures make him look good. He’s sticking it to the man, or something.

The look on Harper’s face, I can’t read. He’s either cowed or repressing his own anger. He appears to be looking directly at Obama’s finger. He is making a fist. Anyone want to supply a caption?

I miss the swaggering cowboy. He may have been tongue-tied; he may have screwed up with an errant backrub, but he didn’t bow to royalty, he didn’t give embarrassing gifts to allies, he didn’t show the Dalai Lama the back door. He never said to a visiting ally (paraphrased) “I’m gonna go have dinner with Laura, and if you decide to obey me, I’ll be around.”

He didn’t shove his finger in the face of another country’s prime minister.

Yup.

I don't think President Obama set out to be rude to Prime Minister Harper. It's just that he couldn't be bothered to be polite and it didn't occur to him that Harper, the leader of a close U.S. ally, is someone he should be polite to.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:57 AM

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