December 23, 2015

"Unsuspecting hikers had to move to the side of the [Koko Head Crater Stairs] as a sweaty Obama and his security entourage barreled up the trail's 1,048 wooden steps...."

Much social media activity ensued. E.g.:

Climbing Koko Head Crater with President Obama. It was so exciting meeting him!! #POTUS #Hawaii

A photo posted by Krissia Manansala (@krissia_nicole) on


Koko kudos to the President for not wearing shorts.

50 comments:

Snark said...

Donald Trump wants you to know there is a bathroom at the top of those stairs.

David said...

Try this, Hillary!

Anonymous said...

Hint.

Those are not steps, they're cross ties, ties, or sleepers

Fabi said...

Obama and I have the same running shoes, but I wear shorts when I run -- regardless of the season. Obama looks like a candy-ass in his little yoga pants ensemble. How appropriate.

madAsHell said...

Wow! I read the comments. There are still a lot of people with a tingle up their leg.

Chuck said...

I've always had a mild interest in your jihad against men in shorts, Althouse. You are not entirely wrong. But with a slim guy like President Obama out for exercise in a hot climate -- a figure who is called by his tailor as having "the body of a mannequin" (40 long) -- I'm not sure how shorts would be inexcusable.

I'm thinking that you might want them to wear long pants in the NBA, or at Wimbledon. Wimbledon is probably not such a stretch:

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/JtJQkQhChmYPugL5vOb8vO/Wimbledon--Pantemonium-on-the-courts.html

Roughcoat said...

The girl in the pink top is pushing out her tits provocatively.

Ann Althouse said...

My main point about shorts, which is only implied in the post, is that the guy who is taking up most of the frame looks pretty atrocious in shorts.

Ann Althouse said...

Picture that guy with dark, long pants instead of those shorts. He would look infinitely better.

Ann Althouse said...

And that shirt with the shorts... it's the enlarged child look. He's like a sized up Peanuts character. It's like the goal is to ward off any sexual response.

David said...

"It's like the goal is to ward off any sexual response."

See how well it works.

James Pawlak said...

How much did this Imperial vacation cost the People?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

No Let's take a closer look at those breasts comment?

madAsHell said...

Your Peanuts character needs to lose 30 pounds, and work on the muscle tone. The stripped shirt looks like something Charles Schulz would have drawn as well.

Are we sure Peanuts isn't part of the security detail?

Gahrie said...

Why did they have to move to the side? Obama is a citizen just as they are, not a king.

We need to stop treating the president like he is a king.

Obama has clearly delineated and emphasized the "royal prerogatives" of the current presidency.

Rae said...

It's nerdier NOT to wear shorts when you're hiking up a mountain in Hawaii.

Curious George said...

Obama....dude in shorts...where? All I see is a young lady in a pink top.

Skeptical Voter said...

Well the one good thing about the guy in shorts is that he blocks most of the view of Obama. Otherwise the guy is dressed like he emptied his dirty clothes hamper. There's a line in Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down" where the speaker wakes up hung over and puts on his "cleanest dirty shirt". The guy in shorts channels that image.

Fabi said...

The male in grey looks rather ridiculous - I'll have to agree with Althouse.

Obama's a 40 Long? I'm his height and in fantastic shape, yet I'm a 43 Long. Feed BHO some poi and spam while he's over there.

Mele kalikimaka.

CWJ said...

Get used to it America. The Obama's have no place they truly consider home. I don't see him retiring to a mansion in Hyde Park. Shopping at the co-op and lifting a beer at what's left of Jimmy's. This man and his family will be shunting citizens aside for decades to come. And loving it as their just desserts.

clint said...

"Gahrie said...
Why did they have to move to the side? Obama is a citizen just as they are, not a king.

We need to stop treating the president like he is a king."

Good point.

Temujin said...

In other news, school kids were bombed yesterday in Syria.

FullMoon said...

The girl has an odd colored fingernail. Maybe a coded message to Jihadists.

Unlike liberal stripey short man,the guy with black backpack behind pink girl has better fitting shorts and muscular Conservative legs.

grimson said...

Rae is right--no shorts in this situation looks nerdy. Even so, Obama can dress well; America would have been much better off if he had gone into modeling instead of politics.

Unknown said...

And yet the two guys behind Obama look like schleps in their long pants and the guy at the right side of the frame looks pretty good in his shorts. Maybe, just maybe, it has more to do with being in shape and wearing clothes that flatter.

MAJMike said...

Not very polite to the voters who placed him in office, twice. The sense of entitlement remains strong in him and his entourage.

Big Mike said...

Looks as though the "trail" is the remnants of an old, Swiss-style, cog railway.

Gahrie, for a change I disagree with you. A hiker who is being overtaken by someone coming up from behind really ought to step to the side as a matter of politeness, even for a President of the United States.

The main thing that bothers me about this episode is that there is nothing about the situation in the world right now that should make a US President think he can afford to spend hours away from a communications center.

Tibore said...

"Some people vacation in Hawaii to sip Mai Tais on the beach and indulge in well-deserved R&R. But not POTUS.
When he visits the Aloha State, he puts in work."


Obama climbs a long set of stairs on vacation. LET'S ALL APPLAUD HIM!!!

Jesus, HuffPo, you're beyond parody.

kjbe said...

"And that shirt with the shorts... it's the enlarged child look. He's like a sized up Peanuts character. It's like the goal is to ward off any sexual response."

Maybe it was - do you know him?

John Scott said...

Given the color scheme the guy picked out for himself, I'm pretty sure he would look just as bad in long pants. Sorry, Ann, but Rae has the better argument.

Jason said...

I used to teach band at Henry J. Kaiser high school, right at the foot of the hill. Went to 6th grade right down the street, at Kokohead Elementary. People in Wisconsin are cute when they tell Hawaiians how they should and shouldn't dress when climbing up a mountain.

Anonymous said...

And yet the two guys behind Obama look like schleps in their long pants

You mean the Secret Service agents that went along for the hike? They're not paid to look good.

Anonymous said...

And yet the two guys behind Obama look like schleps in their long pants

You mean the Secret Service agents that went along for the hike? They're not paid to look good.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Man that's his security detail? The blow and hookers have taken their toll.

FullMoon said...

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but when I walk in shorts, kings and queens step aside

Freeman Hunt said...

I've never voted for Obama, butdeven I think it would be pretty cool to run into the President on a hike.

readering said...

Will Trump now take the same walk to show that he'll be the healthiest president in history?

holdfast said...

Obama only has a 40" chest? Try a barbell cake boy.

Also, Obama's oversized shades and pulled-low cap combo give off a creepy stalker vibe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH7bzcYVeps

Rumpletweezer said...

This may be the first time he's worked up a sweat. Maybe ever.

readering said...

AA: Stay away from latest photos of the president playing golf.

jimbino said...

It looks to me like the easiest way for an Amerikan Black to get into state and national parks, forests and trails is to be elected President, seeing that Obama and family have visited numerous lands, patrimony of all Amerikans and bought and maintained by taxpayers, from which our African Amerikans are almost totally absent. Privatize!

Jason said...

"Bro. Do you even left?"

Quaestor said...

Just how does not wearing shorts stack up against the megabucks (12 for far) this jaunt is costing the taxpayers? Trump should take this opportunity to pledge, if elected, to party on his own dime.

mccullough said...

Obama needs to wear pants when he golfs. He doesn't have the legs for shorts.

Rick Caird said...

I am unimpressed with anyone wearing jeans on a daytime hike up a mountain, even with stairs. Notice, he isn't even carrying his own damn water. Next step, he will get a porter to carry him up.

Anonymous said...

"Just how does not wearing shorts stack up against the megabucks (12 for far) this jaunt is costing the taxpayers?"

The actual cost of this (and every other) presidential trip is not known and will never be publicly disclosed because the largest part of the cost is hidden away within the black budgets for the SS, the Air Force, etc. There's a lot involved in setting up the temporary WH in a remote location, and taxpayers always end up paying for the full security costs, the communications costs, the cost of the many support personnel that accompany the president, etc. For example, in the past, when Obama flew to Hawaii on vacation, the AF-2 plane also went along as back-up (military decoy?) because the trip to Hawaii is an over-water flight. The presidential 747 doppleganger was then parked discreetly away in a secluded spot at the Kona Airport on the Big Island (not on Oahu). I don't know if the SS still insists on such redundancy today. There have been no reports of sightings of AF-2 this year, unlike in some previous years.

walter said...

It's a foreigner thing. I have a friend from India and another from Iran. I don't think they own a pair of shorts. Usually sport jeans, corduroy and some running shoes.
But they have more sense than to wear all black in the sun.

SukieTawdry said...

It's Hawaii, not Wisconsin. Shorts are the order of the day.

BN said...

I call Bullshorts!

Seriously, who gives a fuck?

Nothing else to blog about?

You're trolling us trolls. Examine yourself.

Leigh said...

But no barreling itself was captured? None at all? Did any barreling in fact occur? Because no one in this photo -- save for the lovely Miss Pink, who looks always and ever ready to barrel -- gives any hint that they've just barreled up or down anything. Also, barrel is a trigger word: as in, "staring down the barrel of a gun" or "staring into the ponderous depths of a barrel filled with whiskey." Thanks a lot, Ann, though it may be Pete Souza's fault for approving Miss Pink's falsetta caption. Ether way, after one innocent, unforwarned click, I now find myself mind-altered, in the thwows of a blash fack with Dack Janiels ...

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=KD6LPNNX