#TheBearIsLoose

When I first heard multiple White House staffers saying "The bear is loose" when Obama left the White House to get Starbucks, I had a sneaking suspicion this was a contrived, coordinated effort to give Obama some kind of cute nickname, like Clinton's nickname "The Big Dog," and to get people to play a stupid Twitter hashtag game where, whenever Obama is out and about, his devoted fans can squee "The bear is loose!"

I became more certain of this when Obama himself began calling himself the "bear" and saying, when he was outdoors, that he felt "loose."

Now they've confirmed: This is officially a contrived, obvious PR branding operation designed to give Obama's lowest-watt partisans something "fun" and that looks like good news or something.

Incidentally, if Bush attempted this sort of thing after Katrina -- trying to get his partisans on board with a cutesy, Bush-flattering meme -- do you think that perhaps the media would have skewered it for its obviousness and its obtuseness?

Heckuva shot, Brownine.

It is not overlooked by many that while #TheBearIsLoose in Denver, the Bear definitely won't be loose at the Texas border.

Even the hacks in the sack like Dave Weigel and even Michael "I'll say anything because I'm dumb" Tomasky (!!!) notice.

Allah has a good explanation for why Obama won't go: Because his leftist base, which he will not cross under any circumstances, wants him to go to the border to welcome the children as New Democratic-Americans. They want him to make the case that they're here, they're peers, get used to it.

On the other hand, the rest of the country wants him to close the ****ing border. They want to see him do some nice conscience-salving gestures, but otherwise get on the stick as far as sending these kids back to their parents.

So he's voting present.

I know, you're all like shocked or somethin'.

There once was a man named Nero who was widely legended to have played the fiddle while Rome burned.

No one ever really believed that -- it sounded too ridiculous.

But I'm kind of understanding that now.

The country is in multiple crises, and all the president can do is tweet #TheBearIsLoose.

posted by Ace at 11:56 AM

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