Bowing and Shaking

So I’m supposed to think that President Obama shaking hands with Hugo Chavez is a bad and horrible thing, and that the United States does not deal with tinhorn dictators or leaders who were not duly elected by a democracy.

And these are the same people who want me to think that Mr. Obama is not a duly elected President, and there are questions about his birth certificate, and that he’s really not president because he’s really not a true American citizen and therefore none of the things his administration does are legal and we don’t have to obey them.

Say WHAT?

When the tea-baggers loitered at the state capitol last week, some had signs equating Mr. Obama with Hitler; one told us to beware his plan for white slavery; and we were advised that a lot of President Obama’s bailout money is going to people just looking for a handout.

OK, there was plenty of horrible rhetoric from the other side about President Bush. So I guess this is really just some sort of balancing act. There’s plenty of wackiness on both sides to go around.
I would think anybody who followed the news coverage the past few days would have realized that it was Chavez who was the publicity seeker who couldn’t seem to get enough face-time with the American President, angling for shots together, handing him some weird book, and having his people back in Caracas pump out tons of publicity about their encounters.

Personally, I’m far more annoyed that my President bowed to the Saudi King a few days ago, and that his press apparatchik back home in D-C pumped out a ton of obvious lies about how it really wasn’t a “bow” and that Mr. Obama had to bend down to shake the King’s hand, and blah blah blah….except the video of the event, widely available, showed the gesture clearly to be a bow and not a handshake.

Whatever.

I wouldn’t mind if the Limbaugh crowd crowed about our leader bowing to another leader, but this business of shaking hands with Chavez….not on my radar. Bigger fish to fry, and all that.