May 21, 2010

"In his battle with the titans of Wall Street, President Barack Obama almost got upstaged by a rat."

"But he didn't even seem to notice. Assuming that's what it was, scurrying in front of his podium Thursday in a sun-drenched Rose Garden."

1. It wasn't a rat. It was a vole.

2. Our own animal nature is revealed by the way we are distracted by animals. We are critters too, and we have a sharp eye for prey, even when it's something we don't eat anymore.

3. I bet Obama was thinking about the time a fly tried to upstage him at the White House:



Can't do that with a vole, can you? Poor Obama! Things don't go his way as easily as they did a year ago when he "got the sucker" (the fly).

4. The "sucker" symbolizes his opponents. Last year, it was a slow-moving fly, handily squelched. This year, the vole skitters unscathed. By next summer, the White House is going to look like this:



UPDATE: Hours later, scientists determine that it was in fact a vole. Told ya. Thanks to Meade, a man who can tell one rodent from another.

35 comments:

Ron said...

The revenge of Paul Vole-ker.

Wince said...

20th Century Vole.

Anonymous said...

"Almost upstaged"?

Uh, huh.

This is how the media "covers" for Barack Obama in a way they would never do for any Republican candidate.

If this was George W. Bush ... the headline would be "Bush Upstaged by Rat."

He wasn't almost upstaged.

Obama was joined on stage by a second rat, which stole his limelight.

Anonymous said...

The way things are going, by the end of this administration we'll probably see Obama sitting out in the White House garden wearing a wife-beater t-shirt and mumbling about the critters.

BlogDog said...

He's got the vole world in his hands
He's got the vole-wide world in his hands

John Richardson said...

When I saw the vole aka The Rat on TV this morning, the first thing I thought was that the rats were leaving the sinking ship of the Obama White House.

Unknown said...

He's getting grayer, too.

I think Mr. Richardson's analogy is particularly apt, considering the swoon in the markets yesterday.

BlogDog, all I can say is, "Arrgghhhh".

Fen said...

An omen.

Geoff Matthews said...

The next step will be Ratatouille, where the rats end up running the place.

Unknown said...

i think there should be a 'completely in Althouse's head' tag; or 'Althouse reading tea leaves' tag.

what is verified in this post is that Ann likes animals/nature; that she thinks that Obama also thinks the fly moment prescient (though I dont recall things being so 'easy' last year); and that based on the presence of the vole, now things are going to go badly.

is that superstition ? are you using moments with animals -- you know, cause of our own animal nature and our sharp eye for prey -- to try to draw out what will happen in the future. maybe the tag can be 'Althouse's natural religion' ...

oh ! I've got it ! 'Avatar Althouse !'

... next time you should post in Navi.

nikrok1 said...

Maybe it WAS a Vole . . . anyway there WERE two rodents on the steps, scurrying around looking scared.

According to wikipedia, A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes.

Obama is NOT a vole. It's the ears that are the giveaway.

Hagar said...

This administration does have trouble calling things by their right names, doesn't it?

Unknown said...

The White House is occupied by "V" type aliens. That was lunch scampering by.

Robert said...

So, that ad that allegedly branded the Dems as DemocRATS......

I guess that was prescient.

A.G. said...

This puts the Libs in a bit of a bind, I think. The AP article noted that the same rodent was scurrying around just last week before Obama was set to speak about the oil spill.

So do you call out the exterminators to prevent future embarrassing events for Barack Milhous Obama, or do you listen to the animal rights crowd (and future animal rights czar Cass Sunstein), and let the poor thing be?

Roger J. said...

I know rats; I live in memphis where, besides our elected officials, we have rats--BIG rats; I am on good terms with the rats in my backyard, and I can assure you that the vole was no rate (apologies to Lloyd Bentson)

Number Six said...

That was no rat. It was a local community organizer!

Don't pretend it was a vole. Everyone who has walked around the city knows D.C. has a very large and healthy population of rats. You can watch them playing on the bridge embankments in Georgetown.

Number Six said...

If it looks smaller than the average rat it was probably a juvenile forced out of Momma's nest and looking for a new home.

toadold said...

Not only a wife beater undershirt, but a six pack(or a box of cheap wine), a bucket of popcorn, and a large ultraviolet baited electric bug zapper. Every time the zapper nailed a big one he'd giggle and mutter, "Take that Rush." and throw some popcorn to the rat. Of course he'd need someone from the deep piney woods of East Texas to show him how to set up everything.

dave in boca said...

Prez Calderon making a cameo appearance?

LordSomber said...

Voles are related to lemmings, right?

Palladian said...

Animals think they understand...
Trust in them... A big mistake! Animals want to change my life!
I will ignore animal's advice....

I know the animals are laughing at us!
They don't even know what a joke is!
I won't follow animal's advice!
I don't care if they're laughing at us!

They say they don't need money...
They're living on nuts and berries...
They say animals don't worry...
You know animals are hairy?
They think they know what's best...
They're making a fool of us...
They ought to be more careful...
They're setting a bad example...
They have untroubled lives...
They think everything's nice...
They like to laugh at people...
They're setting a bad example...

Palladian said...

Man, I think that song is more about Barry than the vole.

luagha said...

About Barry getting grayer...

I think he must really believe that his policies are supposed to be, like, workable in a real world. Supposed to be effective. And now he's faced with more and more evidence that it's not so. And every time he tries to do what he thinks is 'right' he doesn't get any of the results he would like.

Must be stressful to be a true believer.

lagibby said...

Voles are nocturnal field rodents a bit smaller than a mouse. Vole? I live in the country and you usually see voles dangling from the jaws of a cat. It was just a rat trying to get back into the big nest.

Richard said...

This reminds of a story told me by a gentleman, many many years ago. He was enjoying a cocktail alone in a lounge at the posh Claridge's Hotel, when he noticed across the quiet room a mouse scurrying along the base of a banquett; so, he pointed it out to his waiter standing nearby, who without a beat stated in his most proper British: "Yes sir, the very best I'm sure. Claridge's you know."

GM Roper said...

Interesting that the features are a Vole and the fly episode.

The only thing that entered my mind was the Dean Martin Song.

Vol(e)are (To Fly)

Then again, maybe I've had too much coffee.

Toren said...

He made such a production out of that damn fly I thought he was going to ask the Secret Service agents to pick it up and have it stuffed.

Jeremy said...

New "Hussein" Ham said..."If this was George W. Bush ... the headline would be "Bush Upstaged by Rat."

Ohhhhh, poor little Georgie.

A tea bagging fool...still defending the worst president in our nation's history?

WAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

Beth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beth said...

They should have gotten a dachshund instead of a Portuguese water dog. Weenie dogs are bred to catch voles.

Opus One Media said...

Dick....Dick....

is that your secret location Dick?

Opus One Media said...

New "Hussein" Ham said...
"If this was George W. Bush ... the headline would be "Bush Upstaged by Rat."

ahhhh no.

Rat upstaged by ...

Moose said...

I liked the fawning and his encouragement of it - he is so frickin' self absorbed that he can't stop looking at himself via other people...

Neil said...

"Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole." -Waugh