“Mandela forgave but I’m not, Barack.” – Michelle Obama pic.twitter.com/DBPk8yFtFk
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) December 10, 2013
Michelle Obama is not happy. And really, who can blame her; when the president is acting like a teenager at a state event? And the truly depressing thought: John Kerry or Joe Biden would have brought more gravitas to the event, had they gone in his stead.
And then there’s this dreadful moment, complete with quasi-presidential bow:
As Otto Reich writes at the Corner:
American presidents should avoid shaking the hand of dictators, especially those that have American blood on theirs. One example of many: Raul Castro was Minister of Defense in 1996 when Cuban Air Force Mig’s, cold-bloodedly and over international airspace destroyed two civilian U.S. airplanes with four American rescue workers on board. President Clinton rightly condemned the attack as cowardly, while Raul Castro decorated his pilots for bravery. That incident alone illustrates the difference between the two systems that are embodied in the two leaders. President Obama seems unaware of the importance of his office or of the mantle of honor he wears as the leader of the world’s oldest democracy and the liberator of nations. There is no moral equivalence between the leader of the free world and the leader of a morally bankrupt military dictatorship that holds power only by force.
Reich adds that the Castro brothers have been looking forward to being photographed shaking hands with an American president for 50 years. It just took time for all of the details to sort themselves out. As Allahpundit quips, it’s “kismet at today’s memorial service for Mandela. One’s a communist who’s reduced his country to ruins, the other’s Raul Castro.”
But then, not all of the train wrecks of today’s event are Mr. Obama’s fault: “George W. Bush represents US with class, gets booed at #MandelaMemorial.”
You stay classy, South Africa.
And finally, two Politicos in one!
“Congrats to new media,” [Dylan Byers of the Politico] scolded via Twitter. “You’ve taken Mandela’s funeral and whittled it down to some baseless assumptions about selfies, side-eyes & handshakes.”
Byers immediately followed up that finger-wag with another, “The White House would be laughing, if it gave a rip[.]”
Except it is not just New Media reporting on the fact that Obama took a selfie at Mandela’s memorial service and shook dictator Raul Castro’s hand. Both stories currently enjoy prominent placement at the top of Politico’s own home page.’
To paraphrase the Gipper, sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the far left hand is doing at the Politico.
Update: The same could very likely be said about the Obama White House. While Mr. Obama shakes hands with Raul Castro, “Alan Gross has been rotting in a Cuban prison for going on five years for the offense of distributing computers and cell phones to Cuba’s tiny Jewish community,” Mona Charen adds. “Not only is Gross an American citizen, he was an employee of the U.S. State Department’s Agency for International Development when he was unlawfully arrested.”
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