I have gotten some peculiar comments on yesterday’s post mocking Barack Obama for riding his bicycle. The general accusation is that I was being elitist, of all things, by comparing the photo of helmeted Obama riding a girl’s bicycle at a slow pace with a photo of Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth riding horses. This is apparently elitist because horseback riding, in this feudal society we suffer in, is for the wealthy elite and I should not blat Obama for eschewing it to pretend he is a San Francisco bike messenger.Which is not what I was doing. I was blasting Obama for looking like a complete ninny. I do not want the president looking like the ideal progressive beta male metro sexual, but I could excuse it if his bicycle riding was the only example of his girly-manness. Ut it is not. The guy bows to third world thugs, apologizes for his country’s existence, plays golf like Tim Conway’s Dorf character, and throws a baseball with the same poise I assume Betty White would. It is insult to injury.
Whatever happened to wanting the president to project toughness? FDR would never allow himself to be photographed in his wheelchair for fear of looking weak. Jimmy Carter gets out there during heavy carpentry work and still has a zip on his fastball. Reagan maintained his cowboy image. Bush 41 jumped out of an airplane in his ’80’s to show he still has nerve. Bush 43 chopped firewood in the middle of the Texas summer.
What is Obama doing? Riding his little girl’s bicycle at a leisurely pace, and surrounded by a security detail. At the very least, he should lose the helmet. Or add trainig wheels. What is the worst that could happen under those conditions, anyway?
Do you really wonder why conservatives mock him, world leaers likesarkozy openly call him a wuss, and soldiers hate saluting? T is because it is incredibly difficult to take the guy seriously.
