You never know what's going to get the right-wing loonies upset. Well, OK, anything about Barack Obama or the Democrats will set them off, I guess. But sometimes, it's so bizarre that I have to wonder if these people are just putting us on.
Is this whole Tea Party thing just a parody? Is the Republican Party just a big inside joke? Is Larry Kudlow merely poking fun at himself? Or is he really upset about a hug?
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is leaving the White House, and at the departure ceremony, he and Barack Obama exchanged a hug. Kudlow is aghast. OMG, it's a sign of weakness! Manly men would just shake hands, you know.
Remember, this is on global television. And it has to do with the very top of the United States government. Our friends and enemies were all watching.
I think the hug lacked dignity. It did not send a message of American power and forcefulness. So I fret about the reaction around the world to this kind of fraternity-like emotionalism in full public view.
Why not just a dignified, stand-up, serious handshake? That’s what Reagan would have done.
Heh, heh. This is a joke, right? I mean, come on, no one could be this idiotic, could they? As the loonies get weirder and weirder, it gets harder to tell who's serious and who's just trying to be another Stephen Colbert. In situations like this, I can't help but think it's all just a big put-on. Kudlow can't be serious, surely.
I can just see Osama bin Laden sitting in his cave, watching cable TV, then jumping up in joy. "They hugged! They hugged! We've got the Great Satan now! Thank Allah they didn't shake hands, or we'd be doomed."
I suppose, to make up for this, we'll have to invade Grenada or something. Hmm,... what would the Gipper do? Send bin Laden illegal weapons? Something manly like that, no doubt.
Kudlow is a Catholic who's been married three times (but I'm sure they only shook hands). As far as I can tell, he's never been right about anything:
On June 26, 2002, in a commentary by Kudlow in NRO titled "Taking Back the Market — By Force", Kudlow called for the US to attack Iraq because "a lack of decisive follow-through in the global war on terrorism is the single biggest problem facing the stock market and the nation today." Kudlow was one of 250 economic experts to sign an open letter dated February 12, 2003 endorsing George W. Bush's policies on economic growth and jobs.[11]
Kudlow firmly denied that U.S. would enter a recession (in 2007) or that the U.S. was in recession (in early and mid 2008). In December, 2007 he wrote: "The recession debate is over. It's not gonna happen. Time to move on. At a bare minimum, we are looking at Goldilocks 2.0. (And that's a minimum). The Bush boom is alive and well. It's finishing up its sixth splendid year with many more years to come".[12] In May, 2008 he wrote:"President George W. Bush may turn out to be the top economic forecaster in the country" in his "R" is for "Right".[13]
Somehow, being that wrong - all the time - doesn't seem to make the slightest difference to the career of a political pundit and television personality. Maybe the idea is that he's bound to be right some time, just through the law of averages.
No, if I had to guess, I'd say the guy is working on a comedy routine here. Yeah, he still has a ways to go, don't you think? This is weird funny, rather than ha-ha funny.
What was it a couple of months ago, that Obama bowed too low when greeting the Chinese leaders, or something like that? No matter what people like this find something to gripe about.
ReplyDeleteBut there are some underlining issues in this case. It's like this guy is so homophobic he acts like a kindergardener and says "other men have cooties."
Obama and Rahm are friends. It would be weird if they didn't hug.
Yes, I think you're right, John. I wonder if this is another case of a right-wing Republican with urges of his own that he can't - or won't - acknowledge. These days, I almost expect that from them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a hugger myself. Even when my Dad was dying of heart disease, we shook hands to say goodbye. It wasn't due to a lack of feeling. We both knew that. It was just a matter of family custom. I always hugged my Mom and shook hands with my Dad.
But some people hug. So what? It wouldn't even occur to me to criticize something like this? Why would I? Why would it be any of my business, in fact? But these people want to tell everyone else what to do, even when it comes to something as petty as this.
I hear you Bill, it's the same in my family, I hug my mom and shake hands with my dad, but I hug my friends male or female all the time. It's just not a big deal.
ReplyDeleteBill, a general comment from a distant viewpoint across the Pond.
ReplyDeleteThe kind of political developments you describe in your blog are deeply depressing to anyone who cares about the traditional values of western civilisation. Up to now we seem to have avoided such excesses in the UK. Following an indecisive election a few months ago, we now have two very different political parties cooperating quite harmoniously to sort out our financial mess. However, what happens in the USA is often reflected in some way in the UK, maybe a decade later, so I'm not complacent.
A thought has struck me which may be entirely inappropriate, and even offensive, to some in the USA: that faced with unpalatable international political and economic developments, many people in your country are increasingly looking inwards and retreating to the psychological comfort of old beliefs (I still find it very hard to understand how only 40% of the US population believes that humans evolved from earlier animals). At the extreme, this includes those who are not just religious fundamentalists but who look forward to the "Rapture" in their lifetime anyway; a serious case of denial of reality.
I can't help observing that something very similar started to happen in the Muslim world just over half a century ago. A combination of events - focused on the creation of the western-backed Israel in Palestine, reinforced by the failure of the Muslim world to keep up with western economic and techological developments -began to make Muslims increasingly inward-looking and fundamentalist, and more inclined to believe frankly lunatic things (e.g. that Israel was responsible for 9/11). Countries like Egypt and (most obviously) Iran are far less westernised than they used to be. And we all know what the reaction of the extremist and violent Muslim fringe has been, and continues to be.
I do hope that the current lunacies of the Tea Party movement turn out to be a temporary aberration, for all of our sakes.
That's a very perceptive comment, Tony. The right-wing in America has that same sense of persecution and victimization that's apparently widespread in the Islamic world.
ReplyDeleteAnd did you see my post about Cowardice? Retreating inward fits with that, too. Hmm,... I may have to give this idea its own post...