Allow me to re-introduce myself...
We should be worrying about whether we're going to get universal health care, but instead we're worried about a photo that (seems to) show President Obama and French Prime Minister Sarkozy, checking out a 17 year old delegate like they were standing outside a corner liquor store. Were they looking? The short answer: yes. The picture captures a moment in time where two men were (sexually?) gratified by the presence of a (young!) woman. However it's worth noting a few things:
1. The picture makes things look worse than they appear. In it, Obama seems to be trailing the sway of the women's booty, stepping up with one leg, bout to holler out "Damn, girl!", but the video tells another story.
In the video you see Obama is already looking in that direction when the young lady walks by and she passes through his line of sight. To be fair, this is actually one of the oldest tricks in the book, when it comes to scoping booty and shows the markings of a true player. (Guys, if you need to deny you know this, please feel free). If you see the booty approaching, you have to plot its trajectory and figure out where it's going to be. Wherever that is, you find something meaningful in that location. Ahh, look at that, I have a piece of fuzz on my shirt... The only thing that gives Obama away is the little pause he gives as she passes. You can see him enjoying the breath he's drawing in a little too much.
In the video you see Obama is already looking in that direction when the young lady walks by and she passes through his line of sight. To be fair, this is actually one of the oldest tricks in the book, when it comes to scoping booty and shows the markings of a true player. (Guys, if you need to deny you know this, please feel free). If you see the booty approaching, you have to plot its trajectory and figure out where it's going to be. Wherever that is, you find something meaningful in that location. Ahh, look at that, I have a piece of fuzz on my shirt... The only thing that gives Obama away is the little pause he gives as she passes. You can see him enjoying the breath he's drawing in a little too much.
I think it's worth mentioning that the picture portrays Sarkozy in a more restrained pose, almost like he finds Obama's enoyment amusing, but the video makes him look much worse. He almost trips over himself trying to look at the young lady. Clearly been hanging out with Weezy and Drake too much. Word to Carla Bruni!
Got to stop hanging with this dude. He bout to get me kilt.
2. But, it's still not a good look for the President. One of his greatest strengths is his wife and this puts her on front street. He can try and plead his case and play the innocent role, but she's still going to go upside his head.3. Let me just take a moment to thank God that she was not White. Can you imagine what that would have looked like in the news? And ain't it kind of messed up that it would be different?
4. Is this the kind of equality that Sarkozy was suggesting French muslim women are being denied by wearing a burka? And further, what kind of moral argument can Western governments make to the rest of the world when you have so many of our male leaders in emotionally abusive relationships with their wives (I love how South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford told everybody that he had found his soulmate in Argentina, but now he was going to try to "fall back in love" with his wife.) Word to Berlusconi!
5. Barack really has to watch this because there are already so many negative narratives about Black men, especially surrounding sexuality, and I would hate to see him portrayed like that.
What you trying to say?
6. Which leads me to my next point: You got to handle this NeObama. You have helped Black men considerably in the public opinion polls (we haven't seen these kinds of numbers since the Gary Coleman era), but we've noticed an unsettling dip lately. Our agreement was that we wouldn't do anything too stupid in your first three months of office that would make White folks try and impeach you (we even delayed the release of that new Souljahboy album), but you got to keep lifting us up by our bootstraps. White people don't smile as much as they used to when I wear my "Barack the Vote" t-shirt. That's not a good sign.
C'mon, now. Will Smith can't do this alone.
4 comments:
Several times a day, I walk past the head honcho of the mail room at the library. Four of five days, he's wearing an Obama shirt. I smile every time. (And I'm a little jealous because he has the light brown shirt with Obama's head in darker brown in the center, that I think could be bought from the campaign's website. I wanted that shirt but never bought it. So I'm a little jealous when I see him wearing it.)
I was passing by a television tuned to a 24 hour news network, and the story was about the greeting Obama received in Ghana. One million people expected to line the streets to try to see him. Damn!
I still get excited when I see him shaking hands with dignitaries or signing a document. This is our president, I think. Hells yeah. Ours.
And if the man wants to glimpse a fine ass, the man can glimpse a fine ass. At least he doesn't look like he's about to have a heart attack over it like the guy standing next to Sarkozy in the second picture.
...just sayin'...
you got to keep lifting us up by our bootstraps
lol
White people don't smile as much as they used to when I wear my "Barack the Vote" t-shirt. That's not a good sign.
double lol
...
Yeah, Mark Sanford cheating on his wife is pretty inexcusable in my book, but it takes a special kind to restrain oneself from looking, especially when it appears that one can get away with it.
Still though, considering Obama is a family man and in the spotlight on the world stage, I would have thought he'd have known better and checked himself.
But whatever. Any guy who outright criticizes this incident is being outright hypocritical. :-)
@Lydia:
Thanks for writing about your t-shirt experience. That just made me smile. I'm with you on how proud I am to have Barack as President, especially with the chucklehead we had before. Despite finicky poll numbers (which were going up and down during the campaign as well) people get that this is a guy who is trying his best to get America back on his feet. They might not agree with his tactics, but it's a small minority that think he is not trying his best (which is much more than most mortal men or women). I'm with you: Hells yeah!
@ Jackson
Yeah, I don't think you can really get on him for looking, especially when it's debatable (you know what side I'm on) whether or not he did look.
The only reason this is an issue is the way that we think about looking. Looking is simply a method by which your brain uses it's ocular senses to observe the world around it. It's also an expression of interest in the subject that is being observed, and I guess that's where people try to make all kinds of assumptions. If you show interest in something than it's assumed that you are contemplating some kind of action as a result of this interest (read: you're looking at the booty because you want to touch the booty), but that's a slippery slope. With the way technology is advancing to the point where they can use a computer to "read" your thoughts, the question becomes how much should we be accountable for our thoughts? Google searches have been used in court cases to establish intent to commit a crime, so you can see the problems this might cause.
Besides, like you said, if you can get in trouble just for looking, we all (females included) are going down.
wow. this really made me laugh.
human is human, though, and humans look toward the aesthetically pleasing. i would have looked, too. i might even have been jealous. :)
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