Althouse: "But on this issue of um uh Obama's man... man... manliness... or manhood... what's your... what's your take on this?"

September 27, 2014

"But on this issue of um uh Obama's man... man... manliness... or manhood... what's your... what's your take on this?"

This is a strangely evasive and inconclusive effort at approaching a subject!

39 comments:

Rob said...: In his final term, Obama, still clutching a pearl necklace, looks disarmingly placid and composed--as if simply asleep.; 9/27/14, 6:30 PM
Brando said...: I couldn't care less about a presidents manliness--LBJ was obsessed with his manliness and that only made things worse. If Obama actually showed wisdom I'd be fine with him prancing around in a tutu.; 9/27/14, 6:34 PM
Anonymous said...: "Why is he doing this?"

"There has to be some alternate theory for what he's doing."

Not exact quotes of althouse, but I believe pretty close.

The alternate theory, that I've been putting forth since forever, is that he is King Putt. There is nothing there. He isn't "doing" anything. Well, with the exception of giving speeches.

The White House isn't run by Obama. Which explains why he learns of everything on the news. He is too busy with golf, and cheeseburgers, and beer summits, and speeches, and raising money for Democrats.

He doesn't care. He doesn't care about ISIS or Iraq or Afghanistan, or any of the rest of it.

The show is being run by people he hired. He is the type of executive who says, "I can't be bothered with this! Take care of it!"

This is your mistake, professor. You think he has a reason. And the tragedy is, he doesn't. Which is why he can take credit for ending the war in Iraq and then later say it wasn't his fault it ended.

He. Doesn't. Care.

Leave the man alone. Let him golf in peace.; 9/27/14, 6:36 PM
rcocean said...: IMO, this kind of personality driven Presidential stuff is much less important then it used to be, for two reasons:

1) People are just smarter now. They don't "look up" to the President, and they aren't upset when doesn't behave like "the leader of the free world". They understand it doesn't matter that the President plays golf, throws like a girl, reads playboy, and looks like a space alien, all he needs to do is make the right decisions.

2) More and more Americans just vote Conservative/Liberal or Democrat/Republican and don't care about anything else. "Their Guy" could be caught having sex with a teenage boy and they wouldn't care.; 9/27/14, 6:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @eric I'm sure you know (whether you listened to the whole video or not) that the "it" that we're talking about is the war in Iraq and Syria. I'd been taking the position that the most likely reason is that he genuinely sees (from the inside, with intelligence) that there are threats to American interests.; 9/27/14, 6:45 PM
rcocean said...: As for Obama, let him spend every moment he can on the Golf course, he'll do less damage there.

He was a barely adequate choice for a country at peace and more or less prosperous. I'd rather have him than some crazy, Johnny McCain getting us into 3 useless wars simultaneously.

Seriously, can you imagine what an absolute disaster a loose cannon like McCain would've been?; 9/27/14, 6:50 PM
rhhardin said...: Max – “Well, there are other methods 99. For example there’s smell. As I stand here right now I’m taking notice of the cologne that you’re wearing. Seductive, subtle, feminine, mysterious…”

Agent 99 – “But Max, I’m not wearing any cologne.”

[embarrased Chief begins looking very busy shuffling papers on his desk.]; 9/27/14, 6:51 PM
rhhardin said...: Obama is covering for his idiocy, not for his manliness.; 9/27/14, 6:52 PM
Anonymous said...: @Ann,

Yes, I understand your position. You believe he see's a real threat. He perceives a real threat and he is going about the serious business of putting a stop to that real threat.

I, on the other hand, believe he has advisers who see the real threat. And they've pestered him enough that he's finally consented. He's a "Path of least resistance" sorta guy. Whatever works.

I don't think he cares one lick about what's happening in the Middle East, or even here in the United States. King Putt cares about King Putt. That's it.

We are fortunate that he has hired people who, when finally confronted with real danger, are responding appropriately.; 9/27/14, 6:54 PM
rcocean said...: I'm reminded of "Keep Cool with Coolidge" although that didn't turn so well in 1929.; 9/27/14, 6:57 PM
rhhardin said...: Nobody but an idiot would give the speeches Obama gives.

It's all very well to play to the women, but there are men listening too.; 9/27/14, 7:06 PM
Lydia said...: A strong man or woman is, by definition, a decision maker, and Obama is not of that stripe. I don't recall learning anything about his past in the 2008 campaign that indicated this was a guy comfortable with making decisions. Instead, he seemed to be able to latch onto friends/fellow politicians who could open doors for him, show him how to play the game, etc. And most of it was small-time stuff, at least by comparison with the Presidency.; 9/27/14, 7:16 PM
rcocean said...: "It's all very well to play to the women, but there are men listening too."

There are plenty of men listening, many listen in Spanish translation.

Not me though. I've never listened to a single Obama speech.; 9/27/14, 7:22 PM
chickelit said...: Bob Wright looks good with a beard.; 9/27/14, 7:25 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Bob Wright looks good with a beard."

Obama should grow a beard!; 9/27/14, 7:34 PM
Michael K said...: "Seriously, can you imagine what an absolute disaster a loose cannon like McCain would've been? "

Really ? McCain could not have done worse than Obama. McCain was ridiculed for saying we might have troops in Iraq for 50 or 100 years, like Germany. How does that look now ?

"I'm reminded of "Keep Cool with Coolidge" although that didn't turn so well in 1929."

Some of us read history and know that Coolidge was not president in 1929. Perhaps you could tell us who was actually involved in the low interest rate that led to so much speculation, like now, for instance. Does the name Benjamin Strong ring a bell ?; 9/27/14, 7:35 PM
David said...: Does Bob often have a stutter? Did he ever? (I say this as a person who once had a severe stutter. Only intense anxiety brings it out now.); 9/27/14, 7:38 PM
glenn said...: I could give a stool less about Barry. It's 58 million people who voted for him that worry me.; 9/27/14, 8:21 PM
glenn said...: BTW, Eric is right.; 9/27/14, 8:23 PM
Barry Dauphin said...: Obama should grow a beard!

Parallel universe Spock.; 9/27/14, 8:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: They all send a mental disharmony of affects in describing their hero Obama but cannot bring themselves to diss him.

When a man is yang and women are the yin it creates a harmony.

But Obama uses the intellectual aloofness of ideas about issues to back out of his doing the yang role while he still demands to be totally obeyed which is all yang.

Who else does stuff like that? Hitler did, and Charles Manson also comes to mind, and also Muslim Imams. They all primarily use spirits for power while to appear normal they publicly are in favor manly men and serviced by womenly women.... but they don't go use male roles themselves. Power in the spiritual realm is asexual.

Wright is a very sensitive guy under all his assertiveness. You can watch Bob wrestling emotionally to find acceptable word categories to say what I just said above and thus harmonize his theory with a very obvious reality.; 9/27/14, 8:59 PM
dreams said...: Bob is the quintessential sissy but I bet even he isn't married to a tranny like our first black gay president.; 9/27/14, 10:08 PM
dreams said...: "Obama should grow a beard!

Parallel universe Spock."

He married one or maybe a tranny.; 9/27/14, 10:22 PM
chickelit said...: Althouse wrote: Obama should grow a beard!

I agree. He's been repressing a Cantinflas 'stauche for years now. Look at any high resolution photo of his upper lip...and people thought Nixon had a "shadow problem."

On the other hand, Americans haven't elected a man with a beard since Benjamin Harrison.

[what about 2008? - ed.]; 9/27/14, 10:26 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Both Ann and Bob think Obama is gay but can't bring themselves to say it aloud.; 9/27/14, 10:30 PM
dreams said...: He doesn't have to grow a beard, he married a beard.

At least George Clooney didn't marry a tranny.; 9/27/14, 10:33 PM
rcocean said...: "Obama should grow a beard!"

No, no. That makes you evil. Cf: Spock and Bob Wright.; 9/27/14, 10:42 PM
rcocean said...: "Some of us read history and know that Coolidge was not president in 1929."

Really? Others of us read history and know Coolidge was President until March 1929.; 9/27/14, 10:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Obama and his team view everything through a political prism... all problems and all solutions are framed in terms of the advantage to themselves and impact on the next election.

Doesn't strike me as 'manly'.

I actually prefer my presidents to be more Searchers-John-Wayne than Being-There-Peter-Sellers.; 9/27/14, 10:47 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Add a fifth choice to your poll: Bob Wright is effete (in the true sense of the word: ineffective, depleted, worn out, spent).; 9/27/14, 11:21 PM
buwaya said...: The man doesn't matter. The true leadership of the US now is actually collective. Presidential elections, should the administration change, bring in a partial reshuffling of the collective. And not in the formal way the institutions and laws would have it, but in the manner things actually work today.
Some Presidents actually manage to be leaders and can shove the collective around to a degree. This one is just a figurehead.; 9/27/14, 11:33 PM
Kansas City said...: Interesting exchange. Ann knows he is a weak stick, but does not want to say it. Bob seems to sense he is a weak stick, but does not want to accept it and does a pretty good job of blinding himself to it. If Bob had seen him throw a baseball like a typical little girl, even he would have said, okay, he's not manly.

Bob himself comes across as a bit of a sissy, but the beard does look pretty good on him.; 9/28/14, 12:57 AM
richard mcenroe said...: Obama does too have a manhood. He just doesn't have the batteries.; 9/28/14, 1:25 AM
CWJ said...: Sorry, this is a very late comment. I agree more with eric on this. He has it correct about Obama's caring for himself first rather than the country. He has it backwards regarding hiring. Obama didn't hire. He was hired. He's a figurehead easily manipulated and run by others. As long as they keep stroking his ego, he either doesn't notice or is willing to accept his role as puppet. He's the clean black man with the crease in his trousers to paraphrase two of his early supporters.; 9/28/14, 9:18 AM
David said...: His blackness confounds yee.; 9/28/14, 9:30 AM
Jaq said...: "Obama should grow a beard!"

I had a similar thought the other day, except I was thinking more a handlebar mustache.; 9/28/14, 2:20 PM
MathMom said...: Obama quote: I can't grow facial hair.; 9/28/14, 3:09 PM
Michael said...: Beard with white skullcap.; 9/28/14, 3:09 PM
gk1 said...: How on earth with Robert Wright know? Talk about a testosterone deficit.; 9/28/14, 5:35 PM