March 24, 2016

In Argentina, the state dinner is not a staid dinner. As Barack Obama does the tango with a woman who is not his wife...

.... fortunately, Michelle Obama is doing the tango with a man who is not her husband...



ADDED: Should Obama be dancing the tango after the terrorist attacks in Brussels? Yes. Don't encourage the terrorists. Don't reward them. Don't let them think they can make the President of the United States cancel his plans. Do you want terrorist attacks in response to every presidential plan? Support the President in this, whether you like his politics or not.

Remember:
[T]hey wanted to create an atmosphere of fear. And one of the great goals of this nation's war is to restore public confidence... Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America's great destination spots. Go down to Disney World in Florida, take your families and enjoy life the way we want it to be enjoyed.

77 comments:

Jake said...

It takes two...

cubanbob said...

Its nice to see Obama finding something he has a real talent and ability for. Perhaps next year he can become a dance instructor as a second career.

Personally for me the best thing about an Argentinian State Dinner would be the beef and the wine.

Christopher said...

I know that a lot of people are enjoying the chance to treat Obama in the same manner as the Left treated Bush but I say let him enjoy his vacation, the longer we keep him away from making any actual decisions the fewer disasters we'll need to deal with.

Let him dance, the adults will take care of the situation.

Alexander said...

Remember when the left spent years mocking Bush for finishing up a children's story after a terrorist attack?

Yeah, me neither.

Holding My Nose said...

The terrorists may be able to murder Belgians, and other Europeans, at will but our President can dance a tango if he wants to. So take that terrorists !!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Cuba: "From 1959 to 1960, the new government carried out summary executions of at least 1,118 people by firing squad. Guevara himself presided over the notorious La Cabaa prison, where hundreds of the executions took place. For comparisons sake, the Batista regime was responsible for 747 noncombatant deaths between 1952 and 1959. The Cuban revolution under the direction of Guevara also saw the rise of forced labor camps which gave way a few years later to full-scale concentration camps. These were filled with dissidents, homosexuals, Jehovahs Witnesses, Afro-Cuban priests, and anyone else who had committed crimes against the new moral revolution."

Obama is dancing on graves.

Tank said...

Tank does not want to see the Zero happy before, during or after Islamic terrorist attacks. He is a bad, evil, liar and con man who has done great harm to his country, and I am only happy to see him sad, mad or miserable, and that is what I wish for him every day all day.

Well, that wasn't very nice.

Todd said...

Don't reward them. Don't let them think they can make the President of the United States cancel his plans. Do you want terrorist attacks in response to every presidential plan? Support the President in this, whether you like his politics or not.

For some reason, this makes me think of Marie Antoinette...

'TreHammer said...

...DWTS?...

Wilbur said...

He IS noticeably less awkward at the tango than he has demonstrated throwing a baseball, shooting hoops, bowling or golfing.

An embarrassingly low standard to rise above. Our worst athlete in the Oval Office since Nixon, although Bubba Clinton was no great shakes either.

rhhardin said...

Obama's right but he won't win. The media need the terrorist tune-in for business reasons. Soap opera women rule public debates.

Terrorist attacks do no significant military damage. It's a mutual benefit public relations agreement between terrorists and media.

And, in the case of Iraq, between terrorists, media and Democrats.

Think of terrorism as an entertainment choice, like school shootings.

It will be different when they get better technology. Give it a few years.

tim in vermont said...

Other than the fact that he was hobnobbing with a brutal dictator whose idea of income equality is for the whole country to be dirt poor while one family is among the richest families in the world, other than that, I have no problem with Obama not allowing the Presidency of the United States to be jerked around by every jihadi nutjob who has a good day.

cacimbo said...

Obama should not have canceled his trip. Obama should have displayed more concern than the 50 second mention in his first speech after the bombings. That does not mean the trip to Cuba was appropriate. Opening up relations with Cuba is very different from having the President visit to be insulted by Castro.

Curtiss said...

Do you want terrorist attacks in response to every presidential plan?

I'd like a presidential response to every terrorist attack.

Gahrie said...

Hell...going to parties is about the only thing Obama is any good at. Frankly, I'd be happy if that is how he spent the next 9 months...it would probably be cheaper in the long run.

tim in vermont said...

They should make some movies about The Blitz. Teach these jihadis what kind of punishment they will have to dish out to win. Plus we should focus on North American oil, yes, that includes Keystone XL and ANWR and get the hell out of the ME, leave it to people who want to be brutal enough to play there.

Hagar said...

Has he offered to help Argentina "recover" the Malvinas yet?

Sebastian said...

"Support the President in this" I do. Let him stay. Condition: that he does nothing else. That way we'll have an anti-Islamic-terrorist policy at last.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

AprilApple said...
Obama is dancing on graves.


Odd that you do not mention all the killings in Argentina.

"One example was Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, a far-right death squad mainly active during the "Dirty War". By the time military rule ended in 1983 some 1,500 people had been killed directly by "death squads", and over 9,000 named people and many more undocumented victims had been "disappeared"—kidnapped and murdered secretly".

pm317 said...

Use all the perks before it is over.

tim in vermont said...

The Democrat coalition has some serious conflicts, often the conflicts arise from the same voters who have all of the strategic sense of a hungry puppy. On the one hand they want out of the ME, fine and dandy, we have to be reliant on others for oil, on the other they want to keep North American oil in the ground, also fine and dandy but we better have a secure overseas supply of oil..

If we run out of oil, there will be economic collapse and Donald Trump gets 60% of the votes nationwide, not just a bare majority of Republicans. I don't think Trump is Hitler, don't ge me wrong, but Hitler arose out of an economically devastated Germany, and maybe the next guy to come along in an economically devastated United States isn't as nice a guy as Trump.

tim in vermont said...

One example was Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, a far-right death squad mainly active during the "Dirty War". By the time military rule ended in 1983 some 1,500 people had been killed directly by "death squads", and over 9,000 named people and many more undocumented victims had been "disappeared"—kidnapped and murdered secretly". - ARM

Odd then that you consistently advocate increases in state power here in the US.

Bob Boyd said...

Obama tried to bail after the first out and back. I don't blame him. But his partner wouldn't let him off the hook that easy. It was her moment in the sun.
She looked pretty fit, didn't she.

CStanley said...

No problem with this but the visual unfortunately reminds me of what I've noticed for quite a while now- that the Obamas never seem to enjoy each other's company anymore. I don't like him personally or politically but they previously seemed to have a good relationship and sweet family and I find it sad if that has changed.

Phil 314 said...

Professor,
Since you've previously posted OK Go videos, thought you might appreciate this one that features the tango.

The tango is a beautiful dance when done well. Our President does not do it well.

tim maguire said...

I recall Bush being criticized for playing the guitar several days after a terrorist attack. But Obama dancing is fine. Only Republicans are supposed to be dour when they care.

Fabi said...

I'll be happy to add that image to his legacy.

tim maguire said...

cubanbob said...Its nice to see Obama finding something he has a real talent and ability for. Perhaps next year he can become a dance instructor as a second career.

Given Obama's background, I expect this performance to get him an Olympic Gold in ballroom dancing. Because he might enter the Olympic competition some day.

lonetown said...

What next? A cake walk?

Largo said...

Tim:

Do you mean the Special Olympics?

Todd said...

Curtiss said... [hush]​[hide comment]
Do you want terrorist attacks in response to every presidential plan?

I'd like a presidential response to every terrorist attack.

3/24/16, 7:53 AM


Me too. My personal preference is that some spot on the globe becomes available for new development due to the prior occupying structures have all been converted into powder.

In fact the next president should declare that whenever there is a terrorist attack that results in the loss of American lives, a ransom mosque somewhere in the world will be turned into rubble. One for each American life lost. Could be one here in the states. Could be Mecca. Random selection. This would continue as long as terrorism continues and as long as there are mosques. It is becoming apparent that this is what it will take to get them to understand. They have no respect for other religions, others history, others cultures, and others so time to make "not playing nice" have consequences.

Anonymous said...

CStanley,

This trip to Cuba and now Argentina has been with his entire family in attendance. Michelle, the two daughters and even his mother in law. Michelle was dancing the tango with a male dancer just feet away from the President here. Interesting how that wasn't mentioned. How can one jump to the conclusion that there is trouble in his family life from a cropped picture of a dance at a state dinner?

tim maguire said...

Largo said...
Tim: Do you mean the Special Olympics?


Ha ha, no...of course it was a Nobel Prize reference.

I'm still going with the Chauncey Gardner explanation for the phenomenon of Barack Obama. While he is an adequate reader of other people's words on a teleprompter, his one and only real talent is getting influential people excited about him. Mostly because they can flatter themselves through him.

Bill R said...

Usually he dances a jig after a successful terrorist attack.

So this is an improvement.

dreams said...

Yeah, fiddle while Rome burns.

prairie wind said...

What next? A cake walk?

A shoutout to Dr. Joe Medicine Show.

dreams said...

Of course those who are maimed and lost limbs from the terrorist attack can be excused for not dancing.

cubanbob said...

AReasonableMan said...
AprilApple said...
Obama is dancing on graves.

Odd that you do not mention all the killings in Argentina.

"One example was Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, a far-right death squad mainly active during the "Dirty War". By the time military rule ended in 1983 some 1,500 people had been killed directly by "death squads", and over 9,000 named people and many more undocumented victims had been "disappeared"—kidnapped and murdered secretly".


3/24/16, 7:58 AM"

Why ignore the number of people killed by the Communist terrorists?

Dan in Philly said...

I think the issue isn't that Obama is dancing, but rather "remember all the grief Bush took for his seemingly carefree attitude right after Katrina?" Katrina was the real beginning of democrats being able to hurt Bush, who up to that point had been Teflon against their attacks. Now is what was good for the goose still good for the gander?

Rick said...

AReasonableMan said...
Odd that you do not mention all the killings in Argentina....By the time military rule ended in 1983


Odd. Whatever could the difference be? Only an unreasonable person could possibly believe murders committed by the regime hosting Obama are more relevant than murders committed by a regime half the population can't even remember.

I find it interesting the left fete Castro and Che while concurrently carrying on about relative pikers in Argentina and Chile. This misplaced emphasis can't be justified by anything other than political sympathy.

dreams said...

If we turn the other cheek, we win. Yeah, that'll show those terrorists.

Michael said...

Professor Althouse wrote: "Don't encourage the terrorists. Don't reward them."

You think their "reward" is seeing the POTUS hop on a plane. They got their "reward" in the Brussel's airport there by the American Airlines an Delta check-in counters and there on the subway.

It is this nonsensical and circular reasoning that has Donald Trump our likely president.

Don't fight the terrorists, that's what they want.
Don't bomb them it brings in recruits
Don't speak ill of Islam it enrages them

This "don't reward them" thinking is ivory tower, sanctimonious and shallow.

I can see Obama holding to a schedule if he was doing something important, but basically he is on spring break with this daughters and wife at your expense. I cut my spring breaks short for a hell of a lot less than a terrorist attack.

Michael said...

ARM

ERP, People's Revolutionary Army. Argentina. Check em out.

Gusty Winds said...

Obama hasn't handled ISIS very well, but better than the Europeans.

And I think I'm a little more fed up with America's political propensity toward righteous indignation than maybe even ISIS. Who gives a shit if Obama does the tango? I thought we loved Dancing with the Stars.

Condemn Trump! Condemn Obama! How dare you! I'm not baking lesbians a cake! If you don't agree with me you're Hitler! Every little technical glitch is a disgrace! You hate children! You hate women!

I'm in the Dennis Miller camp. We are a country with our heads up our asses.

Thanks God for Spotted Cow.

wendybar said...

I wish he would stay there. He is an embarrassment.

M Jordan said...

Obama looks totally overmatched by the woman.

Jupiter said...

"Should Obama be dancing the tango after the terrorist attacks in Brussels? Yes. Don't encourage the terrorists. Don't reward them."

Althouse, the terrorists don't want to spoil the President's vacay. They want Europe.

mtrobertslaw said...

Ann's right. We should support our President in his moments of levity. Nothing pleases those Isis guys more than to strike fear into the hearts of Western leaders. But our President isn't going to fall for that trick.

That's why at Obama's next press conference, as soon as he is asked about Isis terrorism , he should be ready to immediately launch into a stand-up comedy routine based on the Brussels bombing.

BJM said...

While the optics are awful, no one is talking about this:

http://tinyurl.com/hsv3m53

CStanley said...

@Amanda- I didn't jump to that conclusion from one photo, which is what I stated in my comment. I've noticed a vast difference from the early years of his presidency over many, many functions and trips that the press covers and photographs. It's sorry that you seem to infer some kind of nastiness in my comment but i have no desire to see their marriage fail- quite the opposite, I used to enjoy looking at the photos of them together and I wish them all the luck in their personal relationship.

SayAahh said...

I posted this elsewhere: When you are Obama it only takes ONE to Tango.

MayBee said...

I don't think the President needs to stop every little thing, but imagine after 9/11 seeing Tony Blair dancing the Tango with some hot Argentinean, having fun. We wouldn't like those optics.

I'm not sure what to think of this new thinking of "Just go on with your daily life when there's been a blast in an airport that has killed and maimed 100's of people" On the one hand, I get it. On the other hand, doesn't that mean we are going to lose a little bit of our humanity?

MayBee said...

Also:

My husband is out of town, so I fall asleep with the tv on. Last night it was CNN.
And it is hilarious to hear expert after expert come on and say Brussels needs to have law enforcement and intelligence infiltrate the muslim areas and they need to close off the borders. Brussels was being willfully blind not to do this already. THEN they talk about Obama and Hillary Clinton sounding wise when they criticize Cruz and Trump for saying *we* should have law enforcement and intelligence infiltrate muslim areas and we should do better with our borders.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

So the president dances in public, with a woman he doesn't know, who is not a relative and she is half-naked. I guess he should be spending his time doing something that would really piss off ISIS.

MayBee said...

CNN also interviewed the mayor yesterday, and she said she had no idea these guys who had been deported from Turkey were being released back to live in her area. It made me thing about *our* federal practice of the government not telling governors and mayors which refugees are being resettled into their cities and states.

Is America allowed to learn any lessons at all from other countries? Or are we above all of that?

MayBee said...

There is a big difference between Americans living their daily lives, and the Obamas living like Kings, doing the wave with a Castro, and tangoing at a State Dinner for a barely appreciated country.

The optics are awful.

MayBee said...

What do we think of Obama standing in other countries, criticizing the candidates of the other political party? Standing in Argentina and comparing Ted Cruz to Castro?

I thought politics stopped at water's edge?
Other presidents didn't do this.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

The tango is an elegant and passionate dance. I can understand why Robert Duvall devoted himself to it and the dancer who taught him.

MayBee said...

Here is John Sexton noticing the same thing I noted above, this time with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter saying what Europe needs to do (hint: It's what we can't possibly do because it's profiling)

MayBee said...

And back to Obama- there are lots of Americans still missing.

Achilles said...

"ADDED: Should Obama be dancing the tango after the terrorist attacks in Brussels? Yes. Don't encourage the terrorists. Don't reward them. Don't let them think they can make the President of the United States cancel his plans. Do you want terrorist attacks in response to every presidential plan? Support the President in this, whether you like his politics or not."

This is wrong. It is the job of citizens to continue on with their lives and act like nothing happened. It is Obama's job to make us safe doing it.

Obama travels around with an army of people larger than most militaries providing security. If he continues flouncing around while us little people get blown up he is not doing his job. On top of that he tells us to stop saying mean things about Muslims and to be happy being strip searched to get on a plane.

It is almost as if he is working with them against us.

Michael K said...

"the longer we keep him away from making any actual decisions the fewer disasters we'll need to deal with."

Agreed. He is doing what he does best. Dancing. Not very good, but his best. Free throw shooting is farther down the list.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

We have to let Obama play the fool and embarrass our country, or the terrorists have won.

Anthony said...

"You can't resist us, Mr.. Powers."

"Au contraire, baby, I think that you can't resist me."

Portlandmermaid said...

The dancer is seesawing him across the floor. He looks so uncomfortable. MO was wise to simply sway in the background and let her shiny dress do the work.

Michael said...

I think that the fact that the terrorists chose to put their bombs near U.S. carriers like Delta and United and American should be a clue as to their intent.
Why not Czech Air?
Why not Emirates?
Why not FinnAir?
Why not British Air or Bulgaria Air or Ethiopian Airways or Iceland Air or Air Canada or All Nippon?

But enjoy your vacation, Mr. President, it is probably one of the last five or six you are going to get in the big bird.

Because that's all the terrorists think about Mr. President: you.

bgates said...

I guess he should be spending his time doing something that would really piss off ISIS.

Tomorrow's Good Friday; he could go to a service in that church his family picked out when they moved to DC seven years ago.

Richard Dolan said...

"Should Obama be dancing the tango after the terrorist attacks in Brussels? Yes."

You're kidding, of course. It's quite plain that he doesn't know how to dance the tango, and ends up looking like a graceless, flat-footed twit.

Todd said...

Michael said...

Because that's all the terrorists think about Mr. President: you.

3/24/16, 11:09 AM


Are you referring to the "terrorist" terrorists or what our own government labels terrorists; you know vets, tea party folks, republicans, anyone flying the gadsden flag, and conservative groups?

exhelodrvr1 said...

You could behave "normally" without the dancing - seems that would be a common sense approach. But considering the ball game the day before, and similar occurrences throughout his Presidency, he doesn't seem to care. Or has a clueless set of decorum advisors.

But the biggest issue is that this falls in line with his nonchalant approach to Islamic terrorism/Iraq/Afghanistan. He just doesn't think it's a significant problem.

walter said...

In teh age of "fair share", we should have at least sent James Taylor.
My favorite part of New day in Cuba (beyond that grand Che photo op) was Castro harrumphing about any politicization of human rights..i.e. if that's going to happen, Cuba ain't changing.

Oh..Tango is a brothel dance. Somehow fitting.

mccullough said...

Although Obama's tour of Latin America shitholes is symbolic leftist flummery, I wouldn't interrupt a ball game or dancing with a beautiful woman either for Europe's shit show. They need to take care of their own problems. I'm glad he's making that clear to them.

walter said...

It seems Americans were targeted at "Europe's shit show".

JAORE said...

The tango doesn't bother me nearly as much as the pose before the ginormous Che monument.

That the president's handlers did not object to this says a lot about someone on the team. Perhaps the Coach.

walter said...

Crazy people walkin' round with blood in their eyes
And all (s)he wants to do is dance, dance, dance
Wild-eyed pistols wavers who ain't afraid to die
And all (s)he wants to do is
And all (s)he wants to do is dance
And make romance
(S)he can't feel the heat
Comin' off the street
(S)he wants to party
(S)he wants to get down
All (s)he wants to do is
All (s)he wants to do is dance

Sabinal said...

Obama was escaping and having fun. Belgium? Who cares? That will be someone else's problem next year.

Stop making excuses for O because you are scared of being called a racist.

Rusty said...

Why ignore the number of people killed by the Communist terrorists?

Because they killed the right people.
The left sees governmnt as punishment for all wrong thinking people. It is why the want political power.