July 16, 2014

"I don't want to put anything on top of that. I don't want to put Obama drinking beer on top of that."

I say, referring to the previous post, a tribute to Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech, 50 years ago today, after Meade emails me a MarketWatch article — "Right and left finally agree: Obama has checked out" — with this photograph:



And Meade says: "Except that it's kind of related."

51 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

I don't think this is what Meade meant, but there was "Gold Water," the beer — "The Right Drink for the Conservative Taste."

Ann Althouse said...

What a disturbing picture!

The blonde woman looks like she's going for his zipper.

He looks pained. But what's he doing there, cavorting with 2 women? Does Michelle appreciate that kind of posing with other women?

And what of all the American citizens who disapprove of or have a religious scruple against drinking alcohol? It's such in-your-face beer-guzzling? Who likes seeing that? It's not what feminists want in a man.

Lyssa said...

Was anyone saying that Bush had checked out around this point in his presidency? I don't specifically recall it, but I could have missed it. I'm trying to gauge whether or not this is just a normal pattern.

Meade said...

And let me remind you that extremism in the pursuit of condescendingly denying that you have any interest in photo ops is no virtue.

Nonapod said...

Running for president is very stressful and tiring, especially when the campaign goes on for over 6 years.

ThreeSheets said...

At least he has his pinkie daintily in the air when he drinks a pint of beer.

tim maguire said...

Ann Althouse said...Does Michelle appreciate that kind of posing with other women?

As we learned from the Nelson Mandela funeral selfie incident, no, she does not.

Ann Althouse said...

From March 2010: Obama's doctors recommended "moderation of alcohol intake" and I observed that Bush was was criticized for being a drunk when he didn't drink at all.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Moderation in the intake of alcohol is no virtue.

Unknown said...

Except that the one on the left looks a little heavy set and the sign on the right is a little to bright, this would be a good ad.

Brando said...

How can Obama be "checked out" if he's also illegally expanding executive powers by going around Congress? I don't get the sense that he's "checked out" at all, except to the extent that he's "checked out" from the idea of working with Congress to achieve his ends.

What we're seeing is the same thing we saw in the middle of the second terms of the last two presidents--a complete lack of political capital, a united and defiant opposition, a tired and cowed congressional party, and the public feeling fatigue at the president. It may be shocking to Obama who expected his popularity to carry on all eight years, but this is nothing new.

Bob Boyd said...

Maybe its the Hamm's Beer Bear that Obama identifies with.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc7HoWEk6y8

Skeptical Voter said...

Not to be sexist or anything, but couldn't he find better looking beer hags and bar flies to be drinking with? I mean aside from the title he has, the dude has gazillions of bucks--and that usually attracts pretty women.

I thought we were electing a President in 2008 (not that I voted for him because I could see the train wrecks --plural there--that would come with such a novice) instead of a party animal. Well we got the party animal and fund raiser--but as for the role of President, Obama has pretty much been missing in action.

Brando said...

Lyssa--I'm not sure if anyone said that specifically about Bush, but his political fortunes were in the same place post-Katrina. Immigration reform and SS reform both stalled, then the economic turndown in his last year left him pretty hobbled.

AllenS said...

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that there was just as much beer in left in his glass when Barry left the bar.

One or two sips. That's it.

Paul said...

He probably drinks a lot since it's unlikely he can still do blow and smoke reefer.

abby said...

He has decided to "check out" at the worst time in our lifetime. The Middle East is imploding, we have an invasion on the southern border, scandals in his administration. The people are getting very tired of this president and wish they could put him out of the White House, and make him happy.

Mr. Forward said...

" It's not what feminists want in a man."

"Bartender, another beer here, please."

machine said...

the hatred is comical...thanks again.

Gahrie said...

It's not what feminists want in a man.

The only thing feminists want in a man is a wallet.

Lyssa said...

Brando said: How can Obama be "checked out" if he's also illegally expanding executive powers by going around Congress?

I think that you could make an argument that if you checked out, you would look for the easiest way to accomplish your goals, rather than the legally and/or politically appropriate one. For example, if you were usually really careful about your job, but then you checked out, you might just get it done without worrying about getting it right.

But that sort of assumes that he was concerned about the legalities before, of course.

Re: my earlier comment - I'm more trying to decide if the criticism is normal, not the political hobbling that comes with lame duckedness.

Matt Sablan said...

"It's not what feminists want in a man."

-- Given who feminists I know date/dated now and in high school and college, I think you're wrong there. It's not what feminists SAY they want in a man, but everything I've seen points to at least it being neutral/break even on what women want.

Matt Sablan said...

[Then again: Men are also really, really bad at knowing what they want.]

Mark Nielsen said...

Where are Obama's eyes?

Drago said...

Machine: "The hatred is comical...thanks again"

LOL

Your discernment of hatred amongst the comments on this thread thus far is comical.

Thanks again.

chillblaine said...

Obama is much better at being head of state than being head of government. He would much rather engage with interesting Italian intellectuals discussing architecture than engage with lawmakers.

bgates said...

From March 2010: Obama's doctors recommended "moderation of alcohol intake"

No they didn't, they recommended "moderation in", and recommending "moderation of" is completely different from recommending continuation of "moderation in."

MadisonMan said...

This is not how I think a President should behave.

What is he campaigning for?

The Elder said...

"Mr. Obama does not appear to relish being chief executive."

I disagree. I believe that Mr. Obama really enjoys being chief executive. He loves the trappings: Air Force One, incredibly expensive vacations, being called Mr. President, etc.

What he doesn't relish is doing the work of the chief executive. He isn't good at it. He knows he isn't good at it. That's why everything that goes wrong is someone else's fault.

This problem is not rare. I know a number of judges who suffer from the same problem. They love the title. They like everyone standing up when they enter the room.

We all seem to expect that a President will be driven by his historic legacy to actually do the work. Instead, we finally have something that left and right can agree upon -- this narcissist has checked out! We have no leader of this country simply because he is not demonstrating leadership.

lgv said...

He's having a beer with the regular folks, just like he used to when he was younger. No?

He's already been photographed drinking beer with the cop/professor mediation. No big deal.

The problem is that appears as contrived as the photo op with the shotgun. It would be like seeing William Buckley at the sports bar downing a beer. Not buying it.

Bob Ellison said...

PBR is the cheap beer of choice.

My brother and I once finished most of a case of Knickerbocker beer before we noticed that we weren't even giddy. That stuff must have been about 1.8%.

Then there's Colt 45. 5.6%. All the alcohol, all the smooth, and all the carbs you could possibly ask of a 40.

madAsHell said...

When was the last picture of a president drinking a beer?

hombre said...

He's doing what he's always done.

It's just catching up to him now because the cumulative effect of his incompetence cannot be covered up by the mediaswine any longer.

mccullough said...

This photo is 2 years old and was taken in Ohio, which Obama won again a few months later, so he definitely knew what he was doing. This is the kind of stuff that swings a swing state.

W. was also very good at this type of stuff, although H.W. was terrible at it. Hillary is bad at it as well.

The Repubs better nominate someone who can mingle with the volk better. Is Walker any good at this stuff? Cruz and Rand Paul don't strike me as any good at this either.

Anthony said...

I'm not entirely sure he was ever checked in.

Richard Dolan said...

That's a picture and a pose made more for Bill Clinton that Barry O. Bill would definitely know how to take it from there.

Brando said...

"I think that you could make an argument that if you checked out, you would look for the easiest way to accomplish your goals, rather than the legally and/or politically appropriate one. For example, if you were usually really careful about your job, but then you checked out, you might just get it done without worrying about getting it right.

But that sort of assumes that he was concerned about the legalities before, of course.

Re: my earlier comment - I'm more trying to decide if the criticism is normal, not the political hobbling that comes with lame duckedness."

I sort of interpreted "checked out" as "giving up" on policies--at least domestic policies where you have less leeway. It seems lame ducks spend more time on foreign policy for this reason--they usually have no political capital left to get Congress behind anything.

Obama does seem to have checked out as far as getting anything done with Congress is concerned--and everyone can argue based on their own perspective whether he is more at fault or his GOP opposition--and now is just letting his agencies do whatever they want, figuring if the courts overturn him later, at least he will have tossed red meat towards the Left, and trolled the GOP. Unfortunately this partisan move also tends to further divide our damaged country (to say nothing of the further divide by race and gender that his policies seem eager to exploit).

He's also sort of never "checked in" in the sense of managing his own administration or legislative efforts. His M.O. has been to make some big speeches, and hope his soaring rhetoric will get enough support to get his allies and functionaries to run things. This they do, and this is why the ACA turned into a Frankenstein Monster of a piece of legislation, riddled with items of dubious legality and bad policy effects. This also explains why he was "shocked" to discovery his VA mess, IRS scandal, and HHS rollout of the health exchanges. He never really "checked in" to any of this.

I have no cites but I suspect Bush was similarly accused of being checked out in his second term--I do recall a lot of gripes about his "excessive" vacation time, and the optics of not ending his vacation early when Katrina hit was a PR fiasco.

Rusty said...

machine said...
the hatred is comical...thanks again.



What is it about mediocrity you find so compelling you'll go out of your way to defend it?
Please feel free to comment in depth.

Crimso said...

When was the last picture of a bear drinking a beer?

Left Bank of the Charles said...

As this picture was taken on the campaign trail in Ohio in June 2012, a state Barack Obama able to carry by 3%, this must be regarded as one of the more effective moments in the Obama Presidency.

machine said...

2...years...ago.

nuff said...and ya burnt!

Saint Croix said...

PBR is the cheap beer of choice.

It's an amazing cheap beer. In fact I think it's the finest American beer, regardless of price. Particularly if you get it on draft.

sinz52 said...

He didn't really drink the beer. Observers said that he only sipped the beer. (Long enough for the photos to be taken.)

ALP said...

HOLY SHIT - forget the President, AllenS is BACK!

khesanh0802 said...

I, too, have been wondering where Michelle is in all this. It's hard to believe that she can be so detached - or ignorant - to let her reputation collapse along with his, at least without a fight. It is also hard to believe that if the folks in the WH are at all serious - and some of them must be - that they are not terribly disillusioned at this point.

Of course we realize that in a couple of weeks Obama will be off for the Vineyard to "rest" from his pressure-packed schedule. Meanwhile Congress is still in session and actually passing (in the House) some interesting bills.

Smilin' Jack said...

I don't want to put anything on top of that. I don't want to put Obama drinking beer on top of that...
I say, referring to the previous post, a tribute to Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech, 50 years ago today...


Well, one thing that could top that is that today is the 45th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, which will be remembered long after Obama and Goldwater are forgotten.

richard mcenroe said...

If he's gonna try to leave a legacy of outdrinking Hillary, he's in deep kimchi...

richard mcenroe said...

Spike Lee will glare at Barry fiercely.

Boltforge said...

machine said...
"2...years...ago."

Today ...

https://twitter.com/dougmillsnyt/status/489824110688485376/photo/1

https://twitter.com/SuchatPederson/status/489821820783054848/photo/1

... nearly 300 murdered by terrorists and it doesn't even dent the money pandering schedule of President "Can't I eat my waffle!?".

machine said...

so...yesterday's post and all the comments above were actually about a picture taken today?

mad skillz...props.


if he only had a dude ranch to play cowboy on...

Drago said...

machine: "if he only had a dude ranch to play cowboy on.."

He didn't play cowboy.

He cleared brush, built a few things, rode his mountain bike, etc.

You can go back to lefty pretend-land now.