May 23, 2012

NYT digs back 3 years into the photo files to find something super-sentimental...

... in a touching effort at boosting the Obama reelection campaign.

Kudos, NYT! You've made it all very clear.

105 comments:

campy said...

Obama is awesome! I can't wait to vote for him again! I may vote 5 or 6 times!

Right is right! said...

The affirmative Action President.

Right is right! said...

And you Ann Althouse fell for it!

Clint said...

Ann you have to check out the Biden headline and accompanying Hillary pic on Drudge.

Dave said...

They were going to use the picture of him enjoying tacos di chihuahua and setting up a "death panel" before answering the call to prayer from the minaret he had built on the West Lawn while Michele wrote a constitutional amendment banning cookies, but they couldn't find it.

I think Elvis gave it to Sherif Joe Arpaio or Sarah Palin.

The Drill SGT said...

Useless wasted ink on their part. A self-focused feel-good cocoon piece. NY State is not going Red in 2012. And the people that the NYT reaches in its national subscription are pretty much blue (absent my Dem wife McCain voter).

Nobody believes the NYT has any impact on swing voters in any purple state.

Dave said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Frankns said...

Which only reminds us that Obama bows to everyone ... as long as it's in his interest.

Bob Ellison said...

The comments on that story are telling. "Mr. President, we've got your back." "It took me a while to wipe the tears running down my cheek as I read the comments." "How lucky we are to have such an incredible, intelligent, & powerful statesman who, once again, shows us he's just a regular guy. Obama brings so much to the table & for that I am grateful."

I don't know anyone who would vote for anyone other than Obama.

Dave said...

Wow - all this sniping and apparently no one actually read the article. The point being made is that Obama has rarely addressed issues of race, but he is an iconic figure to African Americans. The little boy asked to feel the President's hair to see if it felt like his own nappy locks.

But it's so much more fun to make stupid snarky comments, isn't it?

Ann Althouse said...

Oh, I read it, Dave. Think again. My subtlety might be too much for you, but I still believe you can think harder.

Bob Ellison said...

Dave, thank you for re-framing it for me. Now I am properly politicized, and I understand the worth of the article.

chickelit said...

"Black Like Me" would be a good caption.

So we've made the point that we can have a black President. Does that mean that hencefore we must have a black President lest the little boy won't feel like he's represented? What about the Asian kid, the Latino kid, or the gay teen?

If Obama were the best qualified candidate running, I'd be fine with him. But he's not. For starters, he's more devisive than Bush.

TWM said...

Dave said: "The point being made is that Obama has rarely addressed issues of race, but he is an iconic figure to African Americans."

We needed a NYT article to tell us this? I shoulda had a V-8.

"But it's so much more fun to make stupid snarky comments, isn't it?"

Not only fun, but appropriate.

kcom said...

Were there scissors in that boy's hands? Am I getting warm?

Carl Vero said...

NYT will have to do better; a burbling baby with a beaming mother.

TWM said...

Dave said: "The point being made is that Obama has rarely addressed issues of race, but he is an iconic figure to African Americans."

On yes, he rarely addresses issues of race if you don't include those times he was making things ALL about race (the beer summit, Trayon Martin, etc.)

chickelit said...

Carl Vero said...
NYT will have to do better; a burbling baby with a beaming mother.

Last time I checked, the NYT sneered at babies and motherhood.

Have they changed?

Beta Rube said...

No pictures of Romney giving a haircut to an unwilling child?

Beta Rube said...

I think the Washington Post and NYT bylines for all Obama stories should be "The Full on Monicas". Just keep it simple.

Dave said...

Ann - There doesn't appear to be much subtlety on either side. Your motives are as obvious as the NY Times'.

By the way your blog came in #2 today for inadvertant spell check humour. FYI, they were passing out FLYERS in Janesville not FLIERS.

#1 was a posting on another site where someone accidentaly wrote "I apologize if my convulsions offend you." (c and v are next to each other on the keyboard!)

Ron Nelson said...

Hmm, So Obama was justing letting the Saudi King feel his hair?

campy said...

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!! Fliers instead of Flyers!!!! Oh, what a scream!!!!

Good catch, Dave!!!!!

edutcher said...

He looks bent at a perfect 90 degree angle in the pic.

Even when he's supposed to be natural, he isn't.

Frankns said...

Which only reminds us that Obama bows to everyone ... as long as it's in his interest

And against America's.

Dave said...

Wow - all this sniping and apparently no one actually read the article. The point being made is that Obama has rarely addressed issues of race, but he is an iconic figure to African Americans.

He is? Then those stories that said black people have replaced use of the word, "nigger", with, "President", aren't true.

The little boy asked to feel the President's hair to see if it felt like his own nappy locks.

So I guess Imus wasn't being a racist, either?

Bob K said...

That photo was taken while he was practicing to meet Emperor Akihito.

As you can see here, practice makes perfect.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/obama-emperor-akihito-japan.html

AllenS said...

Dave said...
(c and v are next to each other on the keyboard!)

Holy shit. My keyboard is the same way!

Ann Althouse said...

Uh, Dave, that was so dumb. Both spellings are used, and I went with the one that was in the Wisconsin State Journal article that I was quoting.

But I take it you've got nothing. The bathos in the NYT stands for what it is: an embarrassing concession that the paper is boosting one candidate in a presidential election. I'm blushing for them.

Uncle Frank said...

Let's take this to the next level...some NYPD officer from Queens should do a compare with Joe Biden to see if each has the Irish Inch.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Dave,

When doing spelling flames, always spell-check yourself.

By the way your blog came in #2 today for inadvertant spell check humour. FYI, they were passing out FLYERS in Janesville not FLIERS.

#1 was a posting on another site where someone accidentaly wrote "I apologize if my convulsions offend you." (c and v are next to each other on the keyboard!)


You're entitled to "humour" if you're an Anglophone outside the US. You aren't entitled to "accidentaly" in any language. Yeesh.

Dave said...

"campy said...
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!! Fliers instead of Flyers!!!! Oh, what a scream!!!!

Good catch, Dave!!!!!"

Thanks, though with that screen name I wouldn't expect that you'd find it amusing. Oh, you're being sarcastic??? How clever...

Patrick said...

The bathos in the NYT stands for what it is: an embarrassing concession that the paper is boosting one candidate in a presidential election. I'm blushing for them.

Well, they aren't blushing. They are cheering. They will stop at nothing.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

I inadvertently forgot to mention your "inadvertant."

Dave said...

"Michelle Dulak Thomson said...
Dave,

When doing spelling flames, always spell-check yourself."

True - my bad - but the point is that it is a different word with an entirely different meaning.

Amelia Earhart was a flier.

I hate it when a flyer is put on my car while at the grocery.

The irony of this malapropism was the subject matter - those "damn" teachers.

Petunia said...

Barf. Obama's as much white as he is black. So we still haven't had a true black president.

BTW, Dave, it's "inadvertEnt", not "inadvertAnt".

yashu said...

As Bob Ellison pointed out--

The comments, OMG.

Not a dry eye in the house.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Dave,

Amelia Earhart was a flier.

Amelia Earhart was an aviatrix. :-)

Nowadays, we tend to call them "pilots."

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Beat you to it, Petunia, but only by three minutes, and a lot slower than it should've been. But then I've been proofreading most of the day, and eyes get tired.

Shanna said...

Kids are cute and that picture is cute because of it.

I don't vote on cute kids, though.

JAL said...

As a candidate and as president, Mr. Obama has avoided discussing race except in rare instances when he seemed to have little choice

Wgat are they smoking at the NYT these days?

edutcher said...

I think Hatman has a new account.

Unfortunately, he seems to think a sense of humor came with it.

kcom said...

"Kids are cute and that picture is cute because of it.

I don't vote on cute kids, though."


Yes. This.

It's like that post about Eugene Volokh discussing those advocating non-legal reasons to uphold the Affordable Care Act. Bad idea. Similarly, there are good reasons to vote for someone as president. Being in a cute picture with a kid is not one of them.

chickelit said...

Dave wrote "...while at the grocery" [Full Stop]

Now that is an interesting colloquialism! Which part of the US are you from?

Dave said...

Michelle - Amelia Earhart did NOT turn tricks!

Michael K said...

" Obama has rarely addressed issues of race"

HAHAHAHAHA

greenlantern said...

Can that kid run now? Seems like his maturity level would have already surpassed BO's.

Look, the sadness of that photo is the shame this kid will feel over the dubious privilege of meeting the Worst President Evah and being sold this fraud as someone "like him".

Almost Ali said...

It's very Norman Rockwell, and I like Norman Rockwell.

Meanwhile, I just read on DRUDGE that "THE AMATEUR" (book about "President" Obama) will debut #1 at the NYT.

So there's that.

Dave said...

edutcher - Thanks for the post with the n-word. I came across this blog a couple of days ago, and your is the first. Oh and that other poster who said Obama isn't "really" black. Such an enlightened bunch.....

rcommal said...

Cute picture of the president and the boy. Cynical snapshot of the campaign season. Both views reveal important truths. Or at least aspects of the truth.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

chickelit,

Dave wrote "...while at the grocery" [Full Stop]

Now that is an interesting colloquialism! Which part of the US are you from?


I don't find that particularly odd. I mean, "grocer's" or "grocery store" is more common, but "grocery" is acceptable shorthand in the places I've lived most of my adult life (CA, OR).

wv: elygum tyetroy. I want that to mean something.

Freeman Hunt said...

Dave, you've been lit up. Step out before you catch the room on fire.

Anonymous said...

This is due to the result of the CORE (COmmittee to Re-Elect) the POTUS. We have a quota: Every day we have to get in touch with reporters (esp. at NYT, NPR, etc.) and give them some leaks/help/stories, and in return they write about what we want them to write. We have been building the foundation since the GOP primaries, as we knew that the MITT the PARASITE of BAIN will be the nominee.

At the Oval Room, near the WH, shindig today, one super K-street gal said that she called over 20 reporters today. This is totally awesome. My quota is no more than 10 per day. We do contacts via email, phone, and skype.

The election is already over. Romney is finished. GOP is finished. And, America will be better this way. Why change a great horse, when the only option you have is GOP.

Cheers!

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Dave,

Oh and that other poster who said Obama isn't "really" black. Such an enlightened bunch.....

What Petunia said is that Obama is as white as he is black. You know, the way George Zimmerman is as Peruvian-American-mestizo as he is white. But, for present purposes, Zimmerman is "white" [emended to "white Hispanic," an odd descriptor for someone with a Black grandparent] and the President is "black." Why is that?

vnjagvet said...

Again America's Politico strikes fear in the hearts of the opposition. Wattacommenter. Let us all retire from the field. In an orderly manner of course.

MadisonMan said...

It is a cute picture, but that's about it.

machine said...

Must...criticize....everything....always...

somefeller said...

edutcher says:He is? Then those stories that said black people have replaced use of the word, "nigger", with, "President", aren't true.

Which stories are those, edutcher? Got any links?

Anyway, while the story may be pro-Obama cocooning, it's impossible to deny that Obama is an iconic figure among African-Americans and a lot of other Americans for that matter. That may bother many of the commenters here, but the facts are what they are.

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

We at the Oval Room also discussed that Romney will select Portman, Ryan, or Jindal as his VP. But it will not matter.

We at the CORE are so committed to making Obama-Biden win that we will destroy the GOP ticket.

We will contact every reporter at every newspaper. We will even win the reddest state: SC.

So, GOP/Romney, your VP selection is not relevant. You might as well have no VP. Don't waste your time. Just have Romney vs. Obama/Biden, spare someone else the defeat, glorious one at that.

Mt Rushmore: Here comes Obama just after Jan. 2017.

Mark said...

I guess the New York Times has noticed the growing "likability" problem.

When we get a chance to look back, I suspect the "Julia the Co-Dependent Baby-Mama" campaign will be seen as the last straw. NEVER tell a co-dependent they're co-dependent unless you want to piss them off for life.

chickelit said...

AP wrote Mt Rushmore: Here comes Obama just after Jan. 2017.

HaHa very funny. I don't think so. Attorney General Elizabeth Warren will see to it that South Dakota deeds the Black Hills back to the Sioux, effectively nixing those plans.

yashu said...

America's Politico, get lucky with the blonde yet? Or are you waiting for the Super-Obama-Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong shindig to make your move?

(I hope she wasn't a casualty in the War on Women. Don't tell me you've lost her to the Mittbot.)

chickelit said...

@AP: I suppose that POTUS will want to mount Rush more after he's out.

NTTAWWT

bgates said...

The point being made is that Obama has rarely addressed issues of race, but he is an iconic figure to African Americans.

That was such an odd statement that I spent the last 3 hours looking in to it. I had a hunch, but there's literally no discussion of it on the internet; I had to go to the local college library. I couldn't find anything in the stacks, but by pure luck, the late shift librarian was an older guy who used to live in Hawaii, and-long story short-it turns out Barack Obama's dad was black.

So that means Obama is part black, right?

This is literally the first time I've heard about this.

Anyway, I guess (though it feels kinda racist to write this) that's why black people feel a bond with the guy. I hadn't really noticed that before either, but now that Dave mentions it I think he's on to something there.

Did any of you guys know that about Obama? I try to keep politically informed, but I have never, ever, heard Obama nor anybody else talking about his ethnicity. Not once. I figured he's from Hawaii, he's probably Hawaiian.

bgates said...

Hey, you know what? I think Obama might be the first person with a black parent to be elected President in this country. Does anybody know if that's happened before?

kcom said...

"Must...criticize....everything....always..."

It's a natural response to a "news" organization practicing "Must...shill...for...Democrats...always."

If they weren't so transparently cheesy, people wouldn't feel the need. But the NYT has striven extra hard this election cycle to beclown themselves with their bias and that brings consequences.

bgates said...

By the way your blog came in #2 today for inadvertant spell check humour. FYI, they were passing out FLYERS in Janesville not FLIERS.

ATLANTA-
...The center, based in Montgomery, Ala., records only groups that are active, meaning that the groups are registering members, passing out fliers, protesting or showing other signs of activity beyond maintaining a Web site.
Mar 7, 2012, published guess where?

Automatic_Wing said...

The NYT digital subsription - All the white guilt you can consume for only $15 a month. What a bargain.

Original Mike said...

Obama is Buddha. It's why all the saps voted for him the last time.

(I'm sorry. I can't help it. It still completely befuddles me that this guy is President.)

Mark said...

Must...criticize....everything....always...

Somewhat off-topic, but that's a pretty good summation of the Scientific Method.

Thought the Left was into Science. (I am, in a big way. But then, I'm Libertarian, not Left.)

Pastafarian said...

Yes, son, the President's hair is like yours.

Unfortunately, so is his understanding of basic economics.

One of the more unfortunate things about the failed Obama presidency: This turd is our first black president. This feckless nincompoop socialist is what a couple of generations of black children have to look up to; because it will probably be two generations or more before another black candidate has a chance, after this idiot spent four years dropping deuces in the punch bowl.

Mark said...

Original Mike, I hear ya. Of all the "First Black Presidents" we might have had, we get saddled with this sap. Historic First Fail.

madAsHell said...

I'm buying Klein's book "The Amateur".

I wonder if Klein is Jewish???

David said...

Did the kid believe Obama about the F-22?

Obama and Gates killed the F-22 (Obama threatened a veto of funding) and set a limit of 187 aircraft, which were produced. They said the cancellation was prudent in light of the "capabilities" of the supposedly cheaper F-35. Now the F-35 is proving to be a little light in the capability department and much more expensive that anticipated. There are no combat ready F-35's and funding for that aircraft is in doubt. Meanwhile the F-22 is hobbled by some mysterious oxygen issue. They will fix that, but commanders will be very reluctant to risk F-22's in combat because we have only 187 of them worldwide.

Air power is the crucial element of our national defense. A 7 year old kid knew that. Obama did not.

KCFleming said...

The NYTimes is Tiger Beat for lefties.

He's so dreamy!

Mrs. NYT Obama 4evah!

Tim said...

"... in a touching effort at boosting the Obama reelection campaign."

In which a newspaper and its entire readership has gone Pauline Kael...for 44 years now, and this is news, somehow?

Next, we'll learn NPR is funded by tax-dollars...and its editorial policy affirmatively hates the 47% of the electorate not dumb enough to vote for the affirmative action candidate.

Original Mike said...

"One of the more unfortunate things about the failed Obama presidency: This turd is our first black president."

Yeah. Too bad.

yashu said...

Mrs. NYT Obama 4evah!

LOL. The grey lady can't help it.

Henry said...

Obama is just following in the path of Teddy Roosevelt who used to let young children swing from his mustache, so they knew it was real.

* * *

It really is a sweet photograph. Ah newshounds, such a sentimental species.

Tim said...

"...This feckless nincompoop socialist is what a couple of generations of black children have to look up to; because it will probably be two generations or more before another black candidate has a chance, after this idiot spent four years dropping deuces in the punch bowl."

Given the comparative demographics of African-Americans and Hispanics, it isn't unreasonable to presume Barack might be the only Black/Half-Black/African-American (or whatever box is best checked for him) ever elected president.

The fact he's a failure will rest with him and gullible white liberals - had he been more honest with himself, and they more honest about his gross lack of qualifications for president, this historic accident of train-wreck presidency wouldn't have happened.

Henry said...

David -- In what combat do we need F-22s? In what theater do we not have complete air superiority?

Everything I've read about assymmetric warfare points to trained personnel being more important than superior firepower.

Automatic_Wing said...

David -- In what combat do we need F-22s? In what theater do we not have complete air superiority?

Well, it's a bit of a conundrum - The whole point of having things like F-22s is to ensure that we never need to use them in combat against peer opponents.

Beldar said...

It's a charming photo, and Jacob is very cute. History will indeed record, as probably the best thing (and one of the few good things) about the Obama Administration, that he was a good role model for fathers generally and for black families in particular. But substantively, I'm with Isaac.

master cylinder said...

Check yall out! Cruel neutrality with an emphasis on cruel. Be true to your school.
You dont disappoint.

Beldar said...

No one doubts, by the way, that at least briefly, the F-22 could indeed maintain air superiority in any given local theater. But it remains to be seen how vulnerable they are to swarming manned and unmanned opponents; they cannot maintain air superiority in very many places or for very long because there are so few of them; their actual economics over their useful life will be dreadful because the per-unit cost is so high because so many fewer were built than were planned; and if you are paying any attention at all to what the Chinese, the Russians, and even our NATO allies (independently of the F-35) are doing, you would recognize that those programs are all moving ahead and catching up, while we are GUARANTEED to be standing still for many years to come. Strategically, it makes sense to exploit and play to our advantages, of which high-technology aircraft is clearly one; the F-22, however, is a huge national strategic investment that has been squandered by feckless Democrats.

Ralph L said...

A flyer is a sled.

Craig said...

The people who elected Obama are delighted to know that Romney will get the GOP nomination. They spent three years with buyer's remorse thinking they had been duped into electing Mitt Romney. Now they know otherwise.

yashu said...

Nah, I don't think Americans by and large associate O's awfulness with his being black. No more than they associated Carter's awfulness with his being Southern.

Clarence Thomas, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, lots of black figures with gravitas in the top echelons of power in the last few years. Of course, they happen to be black-- but they didn't attain their positions because they were black.

Obama won't be the last black POTUS; but he will be the last POTUS elected just because he's black.

I was going to say, he might be the last black Democrat POTUS we get in a good long while... but then you look at someone like Cory Booker. There are black Democrats, and black Democrats. In time, someone like Booker may turn out to be what Obama marketed himself as being.

Ralph L said...

When a Boy Found a Familiar Feel in a Pat of the Head of State
Good thing the photo was near that headline, or people might get the wrong idea.

KCFleming said...

Was the boy blind?

Carnifex said...

@Dave

C'mon man, you're the dude from the "Leave Britney alone" video, aren't you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc

With the antipathy towards the American Ideal that AA inculcates, I suspect all D black politicians will be Zero redux.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I liked this photo a lot.

el polacko said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
el polacko said...

wow...like that wasn't a set-up. the embarrassed kid whispers his coached line and then is told to repeat it. "to see if your hair is (nappy) like mine" ?! good grief. another "historic" moment brought to you by the department of racist propaganda.

Anonymous said...

That's such a beautiful photograph. I cry every time I see it. You know what else brings a tear to my eyes? These beautiful photographs:

http://www.troll.me/images/bebi-dhe-hitleri/bebi-dhe-hitleri.jpg

http://aryanism.net/wp-content/uploads/Childcare-2.jpg

http://nspcanada.nfshost.com/graphics/Hitler/ah_child.jpg

http://furtherglory.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/hitler-and-child.jpg

http://www.tomatobubble.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/ingeitler.jpg

Yup, those photos bring a tear to my eye every time. Kinda' puts a lump in your throat. Just precious.

And, how could anyone not be brought to their emotional knees with the following:

http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2001/0108/castro0813.jpg

http://www2.macleans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/091001_slide_newsmakers02.jpg

http://www.socialistaction.org/images/castron.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/7/21/1248198679599/Fidel-Castro-with-Che-Gue-001.jpg

Of course, my favorite Castro picture that brings me to tears is that beautiful moment when little Gonzales was finally reunited with his homeland:

http://2010.newsweek.com/content/2010/top-10/accidental-celebrities/elian-gonzalez/_jcr_content/par/textimage/image.img.jpg

/sarcasm

Cheers

MayBee said...

This is why Cory Booker cannot be president. He's bald! What are black children supposed to think? How will they relate?

MayBee said...

It's sad for the NYT and the campaign that the Obama girls are no longer cute little girls. They are still cute, but they aren't little.

Will the NYT re-run the photos Pete Sousa has taken with Sasha re-enacting the Kennedy kid photos (here's Sasha hiding behind the couch!)?

Matt Sablan said...

People still believe that Obama avoids the issue of race? When has a politician avoided any issue that could be spun in his or her favor?

gerry said...

In the photo that has hung in the West Wing for three years, President Obama looks to be bowing to 5-year-old Jacob Philadelphia, his arm raised to touch the president’s hair — to see if it feels like his.

That's not only wierd, it's racist.

They really are desperate.

Bryan C said...

"The point being made is that Obama has rarely addressed issues of race, but he is an iconic figure to African Americans."

His administration has rarely addressed issues of race? You can't be serious.

"The little boy asked to feel the President's hair to see if it felt like his own nappy locks."

I think we got that. It's cute. Little kids do cute things, and Obama was nice to him. I guess being nice to cute kids is the highest expectation some people dare have for a President. Or at least for one with "nappy locks".

JohnJ said...

Touching story.

…and picture.

Romney should consider keeping it on display in the West Wing.

Rose said...

Maybe it's the first step in grieving. They're going through the old pictures and sobbing about what might have been.

Maybe, now, they will begin to move on, admit he is a failure, and work to get some honest reporting about that failure in the hopes that they can help keep everything from going down the tubes.

Ross said...

After I saw the boy patting the president's head, I realized the potus was bowing. Does he ever stop bowing? Maybe he should bow to Romney and preemptively surrender the November 6th election.

Roger J. said...

I note the Yahoo wing of the democratic party has picked up the story in their little droppings section.

roesch/voltaire said...

How dare a racial trait might be featured in a positive way-- just another reason to pile on pejoratives about a Black president. like so many good Republicans we know what lies in the heart of darkness.

Anonymous said...

The Times is p0rn for leftwing idiots