babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Is Barack Obama Your Binky?
A blog post on Gawker is generating all kinds of buzz. And you know how we all love buzz. Buzz buzz.
So here it is — Barack Obama Is Your New Binky. It’s a cute pic of the President hugging a child in a tender affectionate way.
Luckily the current political climate in the United States of America is calm and rational. Who could possibly have a problem with this image?
Um…
Let’s take a look at the comments from Gawker, and see if we can do better, shall we?
Gawker captioned the photo thusly:
“On most days a photo like this would be simple pandering to Obamaphilia. Today, when deranged lunatics have hijacked the slow August news cycle, we’ll call it fair and balanced.”
You know, say what you want about Gawker, but they make a good point. All of the people who are showing up at Town Hall meetings demanding to be heard, saying that they won’t allow their voices to be silenced, are silencing the voices of others. That’s OK, of course, because those other voices are WRONG. But I digress.
This comment is pretty funny: “Wow, so now he’s just picking kids up out of crowds and marching them off to the death panel? I can’t believe the reaction of the crowd is just nervous laughter, but I guess I’m not in their shoes.”
Then we get to this: “Oh give me a f**king break — she’s got a security blanket? Gunman is now looking more and more staged.”
I think that’s meant to imply that this photo might not be genuine.
Sure, there are people who are over the top in their love of the current President. Then again, there are people who still talk about Ronald Reagan as if he could walk on water. Heck, there are people who still talk positively about Nixon. I’m not clear why it’s considered wrong to like an elected official, even if you like them a lot.
Anyway, Gawker’s commenters are good, but we’ve got to do better. Besides, this is a parenting site, which means that a lot of our readers have kids, which is a different perspective on the photo of Obama With Child.
So. What do you think of the pic?
Source: Gawker
Go Back To Strollerderby
0 Comments
[...] Is Barack Obama Your Binky? [...]
Best of Strollerderby August 14, 2009 | Famecrawler commented on Aug 14 09 at 9:00 pmMistress_Scorpio commented on Aug 12 09 at 8:06 pmI think all the pics he takes with kids are adorable…
Marj commented on Aug 12 09 at 8:59 pmI wanna hug Obama.
Lauren Comito commented on Aug 12 09 at 9:01 pmCan he babysit my kid for a while? I could use a nap.
Ann commented on Aug 13 09 at 10:21 pm100% Staged. But so what? Every action Obama takes has been scripted for decades. In an effort to make us like him a lot. Some believe the propaganda others fight it.
barjob commented on Aug 15 09 at 12:59 amAny elected official who takes the time to hug a child, read them books, show off his dog has my support. The child is Hugging the President, too. i love this pic.
bodydetoxgirlie commented on Aug 20 09 at 6:18 amComments
oldskoolmama commented on Sep 05 09 at 10:19 pmToday I met the little girl in this picture at my work. I wanted to try to find the image online and look at it again. I can assure you this was not staged. Her father proudly showed me the video on his phone of when he took his daughter to a rally here in NH. He explained to me she just kept waving to Obama after he had explained before going who they were going to hear speak and why it was important to him. In the video you can see the president passes them by in the crowd and then comes back over, after speaking with another person, to shake her fathers hand. His little girl spoke to him and wanted to give him a hug and he made his way past the people standing between them to do so. Obama is a father too – don’t forget – and it should not be assumed that on the road campaigning that the hug did not do something for him as well. I’m sure he missed his family. Why do people want to read into something to see it as fake or staged? He’s a good person and that’s all there is to it. And that picture says so much about his character. I have 4 children and I want a president who knows their value, their worth – how they will teach and love us more than we ever could if we’re only willing to see it – accept it – and I feel we are lucky to have him in office.
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
0