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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Picture of the Day - 2 - Awkward




(Hillary Rodham Clinton greets Sen. Edward Kennedy as fellow hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, turns away before President Bush's the State of the Union address, Monday Jan. 28, 2008. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite))


Apparently, Obama and Clinton went to great pains to not acknowledge each other.

CNN had the worst version for Obama.

I guess he didn't want the photo that looked like he was forgiving her, eh?

(Later: If it matters, the AP says it was Kennedy who sought out Clinton, not the other way around. The Hill says Clinton sought it out and Obama never even noticed her.)

posted by mikevotes at 7:39 AM

7 Comments:

  • I know that this is just 1/250s in time, but the image captures a lot. Or at least lets the viewer see what they want.

    Look at the woman in the upper right. It's like the nerd kid defensively shrinking away -- almost flinchingly -- as the aggressive cheerleader pounces past her.

    Obama looks like he's trying to avoid a psycho ex-girlfriend who just won't accept that it over. Hello!? Get the net.

    I'm going to have to watch the movie Election again. I think Slate was on to something with the Tracy Flick reference. Or maybe it's just funny to think of it that way.

    By Blogger -epm, at 8:38 AM  

  • Haven't seen the movie.

    My guess in all this is that Obama felt like he was winning the PR war with the Clinton's and didn't want the handshake photo that might convey any sense of reconciliation.

    Tom's going to be really happy I said that.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:52 AM  

  • Since you mentioned Tom....

    I want to be clear that I was just having some fun with a photo. My comments weren't meant to be taken as my serious opinions... just pokin' a little fun.

    By Blogger -epm, at 9:05 AM  

  • I wouldn't shake her hand either, bama.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:46 AM  

  • EPM, Oh yeah.

    Tom has just been criticizing me for talking about the Clinton's use of racism without mentioning that the Obama campaign played it up.

    Anon, I know you don't mean it this way, but tactically, I wouldn't either.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:41 AM  

  • Strange election year. If you'd told me a year ago (heck, a month ago) that I'd find myself defending Hilary, I'd have said you were crazy. She was maybe my fourth or fifth choice of the Dem candidates.

    But since I am... OK, yes, she does look like a psycho ex-girlfriend... but doesn't Obama look a bit like a truculent teenager refusing to make nice with the grownups? (Think James Dean--a cool image, maybe, but not exactly presidential.)

    I also thought it was hilarious that Bush shook hands with Obama but not Clinton. Wow, can this guy pull in the endorsements or what?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:26 PM  

  • Yes Obama looks bad in this, but again, it's better than if he'd given the makeup photo.

    And, Obama didn't beat Bush's father out of a second term.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:02 PM  

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