<p>I don’t think there was any “shoulder-rubbing” about it. It was as FS described. But you would have to see the whole 2-second episode to get it, instead of of the carefully serialized still shots. What saps you are!</p>
<p>we may not all need to do all things well but the pres should do all things passably well. i sincerely doubt his poker skills are formidable enough to compensate for his other glaring shortcomings. I dont require a leader who is a nice guy or eloquent with flourishes that when swept away reveal an emptiness. There are people who have a lot going on inside but may lack verbal polish. I understand the poison of intellectualism. I also dont care if food drops from his mouth when he eats. Leaning over with a Yo, Blair as if to establish his street credibility, then vexing because hezbollah is doing that ■■■ (ok I do insist on nouns and verbs with more detail than s and f) irritates me because it shows there is not more there than meets the eye. He struggles to remember what he is supposed to say, delivers those same verses like a trained seal and renders everyone with a true sense of occassion into mute discomfort. I sobbed at his speeches just after 9/11 but somewhere along the way hes begun to believe he has some intangible gift in his gut that makes him the only right man for the job. No doubt someone with similar instincts but also a vigorous mind would have done our country greater credit.</p>
<p>isnt there some choice ground between false humility(clinton) and undeserved arrogance(w) ?</p>
<p>It was clearly a joke.</p>
<p>Oh- my mistake- I thought jokes were supposed to make people laugh </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>touche, again, ro</p>
<p>“I think Merkel’s expression really says it all.”</p>
<p>No, it does not say it ALL. Even the commentary attached to the silly montage is a lot less hypocritical. </p>
<p>“The press has given this incident light coverage, and says that Chanellor Merkel of Germany smiled as our President gave her a backrub at the G8 summit this weekend.”</p>
<p>Finding issues, let alone scandals, with the most trivial actions of the President is a truly pathetic way to spend one’s day, even if spineless morons seem to applaud the efforts to outdo one another with glee and find more puerile comments.</p>
<p>A “yo, Blair” issued in what was assumed to be a private moment can’t be said to be an attempt to establish “street cred,” can it? Ro, I enjoy deciphering your flowery prose, just as I enjoy doing crosswork puzzles and solving other riddles. But I think you are way off base in assuming that private man-to-man talks among world leaders can’t or shouldn’t be conducted in earthy tones. Do I wish that George W. Bush had more of Daniel Webster about him? Oh, you bet I do. But Webster was an eloquent drunk. Lincoln–now considered one of our greatest orators–was considered (at the time) to be a fool and a fluke who surrounded himself with powerful men in order to shore up an illegitimate presidency.</p>
<p>Although I have long made my living with words, I think that way too much attention is spent on words in evaluating political leaders, who need to be evaluated by their actions. I see no arrogance in the Bush/Cheney administration; I see resolve, and I am grateful for it. Some of you people seem to want a “trophy wife” for president; I want the real deal. In our current environment, I don’t care if other “world leaders” like him–but I want them to fear him.</p>
<p>I’d like other world leaders to respect our president, not cringe when he opens his mouth, particularly if there is food in it.</p>
<p>AM–there’s an opportunity for you. “Presidential Make-over”, on the Style Network.</p>
<p>I don’t really understand how these two similar yet different threads merged
but I strongly disagree as a woman- that men should be allowed to put their hands on them- whenever & whereever they want- and we are just supposed to smile about it
She was the only female leader in teh room- his marriage is in trouble- he apparently realized he can’t pee in public to mark his territority, but he can grab one of his few allies to claim " I can touch whomever and whenever I want"
I understand why conservatives want to dismiss this inapporopriate public act, because it is just one in a long list from this president who thinks acting like a “good 'ol boy” and not a head of state is the way to win friends and influence people.
- Well GW, how’s that workin for ya?*</p>
<p>How about respect? Anybody with a big enough army can make anybody else do almost anything, but a real leader is someone who inspires. Bush is a man who can only command respect at the end of a gun.</p>
<p>I think we need the soldiers and the planes and the guns and all that but I would like the President to be a leader who offers something more than the sum of all those things and, frankly, he does not.</p>
<p>“too much attention is spent on words”</p>
<p>um WORDS are everything, especially when they don’t match actions, reality or facts when it comes to political leaders</p>
<p>The difference between invasion, war, occupation, terrorist, freedom fighter, aggression, self protection, insurgents, rebels, whatever WORD the Presidet uses are as important as anything he does…it creates an attitude…fighting an insurgent is very different from fighting a freedom fighter or rebel</p>
<p>Rsolve does not mean anything if it is not based on reallity</p>
<p>Just today we learned that:</p>
<p>U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said there has been an average of 34 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi forces in the capital over the past five days. The daily average for the period June 14 until July 13 was 24 a day, he said.</p>
<p>Yet Bush says its getting better, so words, are important</p>
<p>When you have Bush’s head aide say that adult stemcells are better according to studies than embryonic cell for research and potentional, those words are important</p>
<p>To disregard words- let us see, the speech to the nation, the speech to the UN, those WORDS cause things to happen</p>
<p>The real deal is honest and can back up what they say and allude to with facts, and if we don’t watch the words, we don’t know the difference between retoric and information</p>
<p>Words ARE politics for heavens sake, politics is impressions, feelings, passions </p>
<p>So why bother having any press conferences, have him answer any questions, have him explain any actions…nah, just let him take action…</p>
<p>The words of McCarthy, after all they were just words, the words of Hitler, they were words, the words of the George Washington, just words, the writings of Eisienhower, jsut words</p>
<p>It was the CONTENT of his conversation, not just the verbiage…it was the tone, it was the discussion, and those words are important…he he’s a peach or whatever, he’s a honey, those words are important…the difference betweent he attitude of TELLING someone what to do and askng are HUGE, ask any boss or child</p>
<p>Words convey respect, education, depth of character, range of experience, understanding of location, appropriateness, attitude, caring, and so much more</p>
<p>If we DON"T look at the words used, say those 14 or so words in the SOTU address, and their important meening we are fools</p>
<p>The President has been doing his job for 5 years, he knows that EVERYTHING he says in public is heard, nothing is private, especially in a large conference room filled with mikes and cameras</p>
<p>His words, when we went into Iraq, what was it, crusade, was quickly dismissied by the administration after he used it becuase of all the meanings attached</p>
<p>Words are power and to think otherwise…I can’t imagine</p>
<p>
Happy hour on CGM’s couch must have started early today.</p>
<p>EK you are sooooo right, imagine if driver’ daughter was mandhandled by someone she didn’t want, guess that would be okey dokey</p>
<p>Some professor rubbing her back in class in front of every body else…while not rubbing anybody else, or what if Bush had massaged Putin back…</p>
<p>I think its cute when he holds Condi’s hands…eww</p>
<p>As a married man, my H would never hold another woman’s hand except for his sister, his d or his mom</p>
<p>Driver, come on you come out of your bunker yet>?</p>
<p>Wow…sounds like happy hour started really early.</p>
<p>flowery prose, man to man, earthy tones. what are you suggesting behind those loaded words? That I am a dandy recoiling at boy talk? Really driver I can pinch butt with the best of them. I look into the guy’s eyes and see what’s there. Forget the literary dimension please. I don’t think he’s a genuine macho man. I think he’s a poseur. This is not a political judgement. To Look at lincoln’s face and dismiss him as a lightweight is impossible. There’s eloquence in every facet.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot to add ‘trophy wife’ to the subtle accusations of over-feminization. I too like a kick-ass president. this one seems to kick his own ass. You’re actually causing me to dig in deeper against his image than I was originally intending with my humorous continuation of his off- the-cuff remarks,…</p>
<p>et tu, xiggi?</p>
<p>guess driver has no answer, just wants to insult</p>
<p>what a suprise!!</p>
<p>“It was the CONTENT of his conversation, not just the verbiage…it was the tone, it was the discussion, and those words are important…he he’s a peach or whatever, he’s a honey, those words are important…the difference betweent he attitude of TELLING someone what to do and askng are HUGE, ask any boss or child”</p>
<p>Oh, CGM, just get over it, and drop the pretense about caring about the relations between world leaders and Kofi, and the apparent lack of respect for the UN. If you believe that this lack of respect started yesterday, go back and check how strained the relations were when Clinton appointed a certain Wellesley and truly inept grad to the UN, only to see her making a mockery of the institution. </p>
<p>While you are at i, why don’t you research why Bush and Blair might be discussing Kofi in the first place. They did not seem to applaud the decisiveness of the Ghanean who is on his way out after a lackluster 10 years, did they?</p>
<p>what I also find is predictable but disturbing, is that even though there are some topics on these boards where I find actual discussion, when politics are involved, certain people are so predictable, so defensive of any behavior of their fearless leader- trying to justify every action or lack of action.
IS this how you parent as well?</p>
<p>cgm, can you put a cork in it for a second?</p>
<p>pretence xiggi, discussing and then making a decision to tell him what to do</p>
<p>but guess you don’t think anything world leaders talk about with regards to the plans being made are important</p>
<p>Bush says he is not doing anything to stop this mess, yet he wants someone else too, that is important to kn0ow</p>
<p>Have Kofi make some calls, then later send in Condi when everyone else has laid the groundwork so we look good</p>
<p>Yeah, that conversation wasn’t important at all</p>
<p>xiggi, come on keep trying to bully me, I know the type</p>