Althouse: "President Obama and Russian leader Vladimir Putin put on an almost comically awkward show of unity for the cameras today..."

June 17, 2013

"President Obama and Russian leader Vladimir Putin put on an almost comically awkward show of unity for the cameras today..."

"... as they made virtually no eye contact and grimaced as the other spoke following a bilateral meeting at the G8 Summit."

That thing of not wearing ties looks really bad when they're not cozying up.

46 comments:

ampersand said...: Obama should steal Putin's Superbowl ring.; 6/17/13, 9:04 PM
pm317 said...: So Obama was inflexible?; 6/17/13, 9:08 PM
George M. Spencer said...: I think that thing of not wearing ties started with Sadegh Ghotbzadeh and the Iranian Revolution. Lousy fashion, worse politics.; 6/17/13, 9:11 PM
FullMoon said...: Putin can kill a man with a superbowl ring. Obama can read a good,umm, speech....; 6/17/13, 9:12 PM
James said...: Why should men be forced to wear ties? Isn't it rape to criticize a person based on their fashion, since it reduces them to their clothing/appearance/etc.?

Or are feminists just not that consistent?; 6/17/13, 9:14 PM
Irene said...: Aren't men in formal situations expected also to sit with their legs only slightly apart? I'm not sure because my Dad, who was European, usually sat with his legs crossed in a way that would be considered "feminine" in this country.

But the two leaders here seem to be sitting with their legs far enough apart as though to suggest they might be engaged in an endowment match.; 6/17/13, 9:15 PM
pm317 said...: Actually Obama posture in the pic Drudge has makes him look like a wuss.; 6/17/13, 9:17 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "But the two leaders here seem to be sitting with their legs far enough apart as though to suggest they might be engaged in an endowment match."

Exactly. It's the I-am-required-to-sit-this-way-because-of-my-balls position.; 6/17/13, 9:18 PM
Achilles said...: Part of that smart diplomacy thing. Putin needs Assad to stay in power so he can keep his military base in Syria and keep trade open. Obama is openly supporting the caliphate. When you have both sides of a proxy war on stage things could get strained.; 6/17/13, 9:18 PM
Carl said...: Thought bubbles for the first photo:

Putin: I can't believe I'm sitting next to this asshole. If it were the old days, I could just have the negative destroyed and the photographer shot. The things I do for the Motherland!

Obama: I wonder if Michelle found the bong?; 6/17/13, 9:22 PM
pm317 said...: @Achilles,

This may give you some idea of why.; 6/17/13, 9:22 PM
Meade said...: "It's the I-am-required-to-sit-this-way-because-of-my-balls position."

Believe me (and I know you do) - it isn't a postion. It's a pose.; 6/17/13, 9:23 PM
Irene said...: This post has led me to start reading about how "polite men" in different cultures sit.; 6/17/13, 9:30 PM
edutcher said...: The pictures tell it all.

Vlad: So he wants to oppose me? ME?

Choom: Do do do doot

Vlad: How shall it be done? Kennedy? Nyet, not subtle enough.

Choom: What's bigger, a gazillion or a trillion?

Vlad: Trotsky? Nyet, mess up my image.

Choom: For an old guy, he is kinda hot.

Vlad: What was it we did to Masaryk? Out the window? Nyet, too gaudy.

Choom: Wonder if the serfs appreciate my Waygu steak diet?

Vlad (smiling as shakes hand): Da, I know. My friend, you will make an old Chekhist very happy.

Choom: Do do do doot; 6/17/13, 9:33 PM
JAL said...: Well at least they weren't wearing shorts. That would really have looked bad.

Putin was afraid The O would ask himn for the Super Bowl ring back?; 6/17/13, 9:34 PM
JAL said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/17/13, 9:36 PM
Methadras said...: What is the new protocol now for not wearing ties around communists. Urkle did it with the new chinese emperor and now he's doing it with new czar.; 6/17/13, 9:57 PM
madAsHell said...: Wait!!
I thought Barry would have a lot more flexibility after the election!?!?!; 6/17/13, 10:05 PM
bgates said...: What is the new protocol now for not wearing ties around communists

I think he should have worn a tie, even if he was meeting a communist - but I guess Putin can do what he wants.; 6/17/13, 10:13 PM
Beorn said...: What is the new protocol now for not wearing ties around communists.

Actually, Putin and Xi Jinping were observing proper dress protocol for being in the presence of a communist.; 6/17/13, 10:24 PM
Beorn said...: Which reminds me...

A muslim, communist, and illegal alien walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Hello, Mr. President."; 6/17/13, 10:26 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Wait!! I thought Barry would have a lot more flexibility after the election!?!?!"

I know. They should be taking off all their clothes.; 6/17/13, 10:40 PM
edutcher said...: Vlad would have no problem with that.

Choom OTOH...; 6/17/13, 10:58 PM
Icepick said...: Reset, bitchez!; 6/17/13, 11:02 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I think our president could take their president.; 6/17/13, 11:32 PM
Icepick said...: I think our president could take their president.

No way. 'Our' President is a pencil-necked geek who walks around in a sarong quoting T S Elliot who has a lousy jump shot. Their President knows SAMBO, steals bling off billionaires, and destroys Grozny periodically just for the fuck of it. And he's ex-KGB! I'm totally betting on Putin in any fight.; 6/17/13, 11:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Fun fact: Vladimir Putin was almost cast in the movie Predator and an extra for Rocky IV as Ivan Drago.

Actually, he's ex-KGB, so my money's on Putin.

So much for the reset button. God, this President is getting chewed up. He really believes all that liberal internationalist stuff.; 6/17/13, 11:50 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Our President is taller and younger. I think he has the better reach.

Also, I think "so and so could take Putin" should be written everywhere on the Internet because I'm sure it makes Putin mad.; 6/17/13, 11:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey, Barry's a pink-diaper baby who found himself as a explore-the-self writer cum community organizer.

He's pragmatic and cautious, finding the sour spot between Bill Ayers and George Bush.

Cut him some slack. He's a family man.; 6/17/13, 11:55 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Putin is 5'7". I didn't know that until now. I feel like I have a sudden insight into his many photos.

There's nothing wrong with being short, unless the short person thinks there's something wrong with being short; then being short can really go wrong.; 6/17/13, 11:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Short guys can be like ugly girls. They've got something to prove.; 6/18/13, 12:00 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: If you have two holes, one labeled Evil and the other labeled Good, and two pegs, one labeled Putin and the other labeled Obama, it's an easy call which goes where.

I think Obama's a terrible President, but he isn't Putin! Yeow!; 6/18/13, 12:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Mother Russia is an authoritarian land, from way back. We need to get these two into a Zaporozhets so they can do some soul-gazing.

I'd like to go on a Siberian Tiger safari and wear the skin like a royal garment.

Maybe afterwards see the enemy driven before me and hear the lamentations of their women.; 6/18/13, 12:06 AM
Icepick said...: So Obama has reach. That would help if he knew how to throw a punch, take a punch, and how to keep a grappler at a distance. But there's no indication Obama knows any of that, while Putin has at least the rudiments of a SAMBO background.; 6/18/13, 12:15 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: If you're an American, you can't root for the Put.; 6/18/13, 12:18 AM
Icepick said...: I think Obama's a terrible President, but he isn't Putin! Yeow!

Obama is worse than Putin. Putin grew up in the Soviet Union and now governs a greatly dimished Russia. It's only natural that he's a kleptocrat.

Obama, on the other hand, is trying to turn the US into Russia. Obama supports the War on Savers being pushed by the Federal Reserve System with a huge assist from a Treasury that has been spending money at astonishing levels for the last several years.

Obama supports a system in which the only people that can be guaranteed of seeing their incomes rise are the financiers.

Obama has openly rejoiced in an economy that has fewer jobs than it did six years ago. Not only that, but the full time job situation is even worse. This means more of the jobs, by percentage, are now part time than they were six years ago. This is what he and his minions claim is PROGRESS. More people have temp jobs now. More people have fewer benefits. The median wage has fallen for several years now, and Obama claims this is GOOD NEWS. Good for whom?

Obama has seen food stamp (SNAP) roles grow by 50% on his watch, and claims this is good news. Disability claims have sky-rocketed, and he claims this is good news.

And into this bleak employment environment, Obama wants to add a few tens of millions of Mexicans to compete with unemployed Americans and to depress wages further.

Add to that Obama has greatly expanded the surveillance state. Obama claims the statutory authority to assassinate American citizens without any kind of judicial review process.

Obama is destroying this country (with big assists from both major parties) and claiming that every bit of it is progress. That's pure fucking evil. And while all of this happens, he throws ever more lavish parties for himself and his harpy of a wife.; 6/18/13, 12:27 AM
Icepick said...: If you're an American, you can't root for the Put

What's Vlad ever done to me? Or tried to do to mean? Barry, OTOH, seems intent on making certain that my life never improves, and that my daughter's life be even worse than mine. Vlad's not working ceaselessly to ruin my nation, Barry is.; 6/18/13, 12:29 AM
Tom from Virginia said...: What really ruined the meeting was when Putin told PBO "Sir, I knew Dick Cheney Dick Cheney was a friend of mine. Sir, you're no Dick Cheney."; 6/18/13, 5:38 AM
edutcher said...: Ann Althouse said...

Wait!! I thought Barry would have a lot more flexibility after the election!?!?!

I know. They should be taking off all their clothes.

For a demure schoolmarm and married lady, Madame La Professeur never fails to surprise.

Icepick said...

And into this bleak employment environment, Obama wants to add a few tens of millions of Mexicans to compete with unemployed Americans and to depress wages further.

Not so much Choom as Dingy Harry and Chuckie.

For Choom, this would be just another promise to break.; 6/18/13, 5:50 AM
Nichevo said...: Putin and Obama are at entirely different levels. Putin is to the best of his ability a hero of Mother Russia, is a patriot for Russia and is serving the interests of Russia as he sees them as best he knows how. Obama? What the hell is he doing? I can't think of anything could happen to Obama that would be worse than he deserves.; 6/18/13, 6:31 AM
Paco Wové said...: I-am-required-to-sit-this-way-because-of-my-balls

Time for male politicians to trade in those dull old neckties for brightly colored stuffed codpieces.; 6/18/13, 7:04 AM
Rumpletweezer said...: When Kennedy and Khrushchev met, Khrushchev decided that Kennedy was a guy who could be rolled and we ended up with the Cuban Missile Crisis. What the hell is going to come out of this meeting--nuclear missiles in the Russian embassy?!; 6/18/13, 7:25 AM
traditionalguy said...: Putin had his Russian wrestler's face on. He is all serious and he wills to win the match.

Obama had his usual smiley face on.

Obama is in big trouble. Arrogance is not a winning tactic.; 6/18/13, 7:39 AM
Hagar said...: What's coming is maybe a general war in the Middle East.

(ME = from Morocco to Afghanistan); 6/18/13, 7:53 AM
Icepick said...: What the hell is going to come out of this meeting--nuclear missiles in the Russian embassy?!

Why not one under Obama's desk? Or shoved up his ass? Anyone else think of the snuke?

(If you don't know what the snuke is/was, take my advice and don't look it up.); 6/18/13, 8:28 AM
Crunchy Frog said...: Just be glad they're not wearing shorts.; 6/18/13, 12:34 PM