April 30, 2011

A Drudge photo juxtaposition, presented for your intepretation.

You've got Obama, turning to his right, gleefully chomping a chocolate-dipped strawberry, with the heading "Obama Ready to Eat the Press." (The linked article is about the White House Correspondents' Dinner tonight.) The photo underneath Obama is his father, turning in the opposite direction, a pipe clenched in his teeth. (The heading beneath that pic is "Obama's father forced out at Harvard...," linking to an article referring to Harvard's "difficulty... figur[ing] out how many wives he had.") The third picture freezes Mitch Daniels in a gesture that gives the impression — to my eye — of being quite rude.



Come on, Matt. What's this supposed to mean? A wider view may flesh out the meaning:

62 comments:

Mikey said...

What appears rude about the Mitch Daniels pic?

Franklin said...

What Miley said.

Franklin said...

Mikey. Freaking autocorrect.

Chuck66 said...

What about MSM actually printing the Obama's father was married to at least 2 women at the same time?

Jason (the commenter) said...

I thought it was neat how much Obama looked like his father. It's also interesting how the two had such different outcomes at the same university. If anything, it sounds like Obama's father was discriminated agaianst by Harvard.

And Mitch Daniels, he's making an "O" with his hand.

chickelit said...

And Mitch Daniels, he's making an "O" with his hand.

At least it's not a goatse-O.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Althouse, being a liberal, is probably just disconcerted by seeing a picture of someone who's so very black.

Don'y worry Althouse, it's just a picture, he can't hurt you.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Every time I see William's uniform I wonder where the rest of the Lonely Hearts Club band is.

xnar said...

I don't get it Ann. Please give us your take on what the deeper meaning is.

1775OGG said...

Another question relates to asking what Althouse meant by her two photo arrangements in this article? Of course, that question might conflict, in a sense, with her question!

chickelit said...

xnar said...
I don't get it Ann. Please give us your take on what the deeper meaning is.

It's as if Althouse got the same memo that garage mahal got. The search is on to accuse and condemn someone of racism, no matter how subtle.

MamaM said...

What to I see? I see Obama poised on the edge of hope and change, confidently enjoying some of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, just prior to finding out he is more naked than he currently believes himself to be.

Ann Althouse said...

"If anything, it sounds like Obama's father was discriminated agaianst by Harvard."

Bigamy is a crime. A foreign citizen comes to America and marries an American woman when he is already married. It sounds to me as though they favored him with a graceful exit. If the allegation is true, he could have been prosecuted.

Ann Althouse said...

"Althouse, being a liberal, is probably just disconcerted by seeing a picture of someone who's so very black."

Um. You brought up race. Your thoughts are in *your* head, not mine. The illusion you're experiencing is called "projection."

If you want to know what I thought... it wasn't about race.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Ann Althouse: Bigamy is a crime. A foreign citizen comes to America and marries an American woman when he is already married.

I can see how this would be important if he were getting a degree in law, but economics? And Obama's mom had filed for divorce in January, so the bigamy issue wasn't exacttly pressing.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Althouse: The illusion you're experiencing is called "projection."

Does anyone "project" anymore, now that everyone knows about projection?

MamaM said...

Hubris and deceit, with some subliminal stroking. The Drudge version of The Fall, complete with Adam and Eve in the left corner and the Pope and the dove at the bottom.

Hubris...extreme haughtiness, pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.

ampersand said...

I don't think Obama looks anything like Obama senior. There are some photos of Grandpa Stanley Dunham that look strikingly like Obama

This one in particular
Link

ampersand said...

Maybe it's just the pipe, but Obama senior resembles Iowahawk in that photo.

edutcher said...

It looks like Daniels is giving a one-handed version of that O high sign all the "cool" people were going to give each other at Little Zero's acceptance speech at the end of the Demo convention.

Is it some kind of RINO acknowledgement?

WV "presto" (no kidding) How much Zero's incompetence and arrogance has changed his re-election chances in a couple of years.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Drudge tweets:

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT: WH press corps finally gets to relax, have fun with Obama, after a year of aggressive questioning and investigations ;)

Get the juxtaposition now?

Almost Ali said...

I suspect Ann's interpretation is that the photographic connotation is sexual.

Via Drudge; a shared hubris between father and son. And both think nothing of shitting where they eat.

I'm Full of Soup said...

WH Press corps should be turned into the WH press corpse because the whole idea is such an anachronism.

They could do all their work online and never even set foot in the white house. Just email or IM questions and get their answers in writing.

It's the biggest dog & pony show and it should be put to sleep.

Ralph L said...

after a year of aggressive questioning and investigations
Can't the WH leave the press corpse alone?

I think it means: No wanking, no pole smoking, no cherry picking--Marriage.

Remember the strawberry scene in Tess of the d'Ubervilles?

Ralph L said...

Hang it, Lynch, you beat me to the cute misspelling.

Ann Althouse said...

"I suspect Ann's interpretation is that the photographic connotation is sexual."

Yeah, and very mouth-oriented (as underscored by the royal kiss).

I genuinely appreciate the comic artistry of Drudge. The photos relate to each other in interesting ways.

Michael K said...

I have to agree that Obama looks like his grandfather.

DaveO said...

I'm thinking the juxtaposition would work better if it was a cherry that Obama was popping in his mouth...

Mikey said...

Well, that Mitch pic is one of the oddest choices of the many images returned by Google, so I guess it's interesting that Drudge chose that one. His hand-sign just looked like a "zero" to me at first but upon further examination, I'm thinking: "Invisible Karaoke Machine".

Known Unknown said...

Daniels is clearly cleaning his fingernails.

He's a fastidious son of a bitch who can't be trusted!

Skyler said...

It had to be sexual because the professor is stuck in the 1930's in her belief in Freudianism.

And just like with racism, seeing sexual connotation everywhere seems to say more about the interpreter than the portrayer.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Skyler: It had to be sexual because the professor is stuck in the 1930's in her belief in Freudianism.

I think the cult of Freud, and psychiatry in general, lasted into the 70's. Still, reading Althouse sometimes you do get an old-timey vibe.

And just like with racism, seeing sexual connotation everywhere seems to say more about the interpreter than the portrayer.

You're talking "projection", just like Althouse, which is a Freudian concept!

[If "projection" is valid, shouldn't we lock up all the psychiatrists?]

Mikey said...

Ha ha - Drudge must read Althouse - check out the Sarah Palin pic added today.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Mikey: Ha ha - Drudge must read Althouse - check out the Sarah Palin pic added today.

Check out the picture of the Pope with a dove, which gives you the father, the son, and the holy ghost.

Mikey said...

Jason draws an inside straight, but I'll see your father, son, and holy ghost, and raise you mary magdalene, christ's wedding to the church ... and Invisible Karaoke Machine :>)

Meade said...

"It had to be sexual because the professor is stuck in the 1930's in her belief in Freudianism.
And just like with racism, seeing sexual connotation everywhere seems to say more about the interpreter than the portrayer."

Be glad, for your own sake, she's never been stuck in 1929 with a belief in Paul Popenoeism.

Mikey said...

Yeah, or stuck in 1928 with a belief in Al Jolsonism. Wait, what?

Rob said...

What I see is Obama having a "let them eat cake" moment; he simply oozes arrogance.

The royals are kissing.

Mitch Daniels' hand is in the shape of an anus.

Obama senior is looking approvingly at Mitch.

SO, we have Mitch telling Obama to "KMA." Obama senior approves.

Mikey said...

Stop over-thinking it. Sometimes a cigar really is just an ... Invisible Karaoke Machine!

xnar said...

Hey Ann... Drudge replaced the Royal Couple with a picture of Pope JP2 holding a dove and looking up at Obama. Now what is the bigger picture being conveyed?

Perhaps this all all a digital Rorschach test.

Unknown said...

Ceci n'est pas une fraise.

Charlie Martin said...

Yeah, and very mouth-oriented (as underscored by the royal kiss).

I rather pride myself in my ability to find subtle double entendre in everything, but you've got me beat.

JimmyNashville said...

Obama's father is really Roger from "What's Happening"...

Heather said...

Yikes, I thought Daniels was Putin.

Rob said...

xnr said, "Hey Ann... Drudge replaced the Royal Couple with a picture of Pope JP2 holding a dove and looking up at Obama. Now what is the bigger picture being conveyed?"

The dove is in front of the Pope. It symbolizes peace. The Pope is looking, questioningly, at the large photo of the arrogant, indifferent Obama, the man who got us into Libya for reasons even he cannot articulate with any degree of conviction.

Mitch Daniels' hand is in the shape of an anus.

Obama senior is looking approvingly at Mitch. He is agreeing, "Yes, he's an a$$hole."

Sarah is also looking approvingly at Mitch. She is saying, "You betcha."

Anonymous said...

To determine the meaning of Daniel's gesture one must see the motion associated with it. A still picture won't do.

Duane said...

I like today's juxtaposition even better with Pope John Paul and a dove in the left column

The Crack Emcee said...

Oh, Ann, why don't you just cut to the chase.

I swear, some women won't just spit it out. [giggle].

snopercod said...

Hey, this is getting kinky. Now Drudge has a photo of Sarah Palin up there with her tongue out!

HT said...

JimmyNashville said...

Obama's father is really Roger from "What's Happening"...

5/1/11 9:36 AM

___

Thank you. I couldn't figure it out till now.

Almost Ali said...

Hey, Crack - I watched the whole balcony scene and I swear, I didn't see her doing that!

Which channel did you have on?

Jason (the commenter) said...

And if anyone looked at the text and not just the pictures, they'd see Obama, his father, and a story about Gadhafi's son being killed by Obama.

The Freudian interpretation is always the shallowest.

cbinflux said...

Uh, I don't get it. Paging Marilyn vos Savant...

MamaM said...

No one has yet mentioned the guy with the big nozzle about to pump some expensive gas.

newscaper said...

re: Jason's "It's also interesting how the two had such different outcomes at the same university. If anything, it sounds like Obama's father was discriminated against by Harvard."

I can't possibly imagine what might have changed at Harvard between 1961 when Obama the elder's egregiously scandalous conduct got him eased out (we know it wasn't racism since he got *in* in the 1st place) and the younger Obama's presumably successful stay there much later.

Perhaps the cultural revolution of the late 60s/early seventies and a couple decades of PC 'diversity' might have had an eroding effect on Harvard's standards?

Nah.

Wince said...

Speaking of photo juxtapositions:

Who knew that in the 1970s Obama's father starred as "Raj" in What's Happening?

Ryan said...

I love what Drudge does with photos too. What I see is oral gratification, and specifically oral sex. The hand is Daniels giving a blow job. The look on the face of Obama and his father is that of receiving a blow job. The strawberry and pipe reinforce that in a subliminal way, as does the word "eat" in the headline. Palin's tongue licks a clitoris.

chardin said...

Karaoke machine? Moar like bukkake machine, amirite?

I can't see why people are giving Althouse so much grief over this. Maybe I'm just a filthy, evil fellow, but I chortled the second I saw those pictures. The connection was obvious, and hilarious.

Mikey said...

I chortled the second I saw those pictures. The connection was obvious, and hilarious.
Would the connection have been obvious if you hadn't been looking for one? Just curious.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

I don't get the 'rudeness.' To stretch for meaning, maybe Ann wants a red herring. Looking at the back story around the birth certificate is not flattering to those who say there should be no confusion about what the nice Obama parents were up to.

1389 said...

The strawberry metaphor? Perhaps it brings to mind a story of mental instability, incompetent management, fragile egos, and the abuse of authority, among other things. Think Captain Queeg.

Just sayin'.

Anonymous said...

you know that Barack is always wear coat and Tuxedo he also play golf in white house.