If there are too mention to mention, surely you can think of one particularly egregious example. The comments here so far should lead you to consider that your issue with this is not shared by–well, anybody.
Not true. Lots of married women I know feel the same. Men may not.
Are you kidding? holding an umbrella is touchy feely? I think you’re imagining nefarious deeds where there aren’t any.
No woman I know who is free of an anti-Obama bias feels the way you do. Neither do Zombies.
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I saw this as a simple act of kindness without any sexual hint. I hold doors open for other men and often get the same in return.
Maybe its a regional/cultural thing. Where I am from we all wave and greet each other, even strangers passing on the sidewalk or cars on the street. Its usually just a nod or even a finger lifted from the steering wheel (the Hawkeye wave) but we do it as a matter of custom.
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The touchy feely comment was not about this particular umbrella moment. I was asked to give other examples and I gave the example of always hugging and kissing women when a handshake could have done the job.
Thanks for understanding. My parents culture in which I was raised, frowns upon being overly touchy with women who aren’t your wife. It’s seen as improper.
To Zombie, I’m far from being anti-Obama. I was fully active as part of his Asians for Obama OFA group in both elections.
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Fair enough, but you need to be aware of the culture you comment on. Perhaps in the culture you are from, a leader doing this would be interpreted as such. In this culture, it is not. Everything is relative, so always put it in context when analyzing an event.
I’d agree with you if I hadn’t grown up in America, and also didn’t know that the overly touchy feely thing with him, and the hugs and kisses all the time with women, is a more recent and not very appropriate thing. Our opinions don’t always have to coincide. Where you guys don’t see anything wrong with hugging and kissing every woman in sight as a married leader, I see differently. Some unmarried women and others who have a crush on him and are willing to disregard his wife, may take sides with you, but those of us women in loving and active marriages find it disrespectful and unbecoming.
“To the Pure, everything is pure”
And…the shoe drops. Obama hugs and kisses “every woman in sight”?
This isn’t a cultural interpretation. It’s a hang-up.
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I frequently kiss the lady in a couple I know with the hubby right there. No, not on the lips…but it’s a common greeting with no sexual overtones. And where do you get that he is hugging and kissing every women in site?
Also, I have seen Obama put his arm around men as well, nothing sexual about that either. He’s a touchy feely guy. Probably hugs and kisses his kids a lot too.
Truly. Do an image search for “Barack Obama kiss” and you find that Michelle Obama is almost always the “woman in sight”, with Hilary Clinton second. After that, there are damn few of other women, an extremely paltry number for a man who meets so many people and supposedly is touching and smooching every woman in sight.
Also, remember that the comment is in reaction to the umbrella video. Watch it closely from about 0:30 to 0:45 and see how Obama holds himself and who initiates the contact. Touchy-feely my butt.
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PajamaMedia was all over the “Obama is running around and kissing every woman in sight” theme last year. Google “Barack Obama kisses every woman” and this is the top return
Greeting your friend’s wife with a kiss on the cheek is far different from kissing and hugging every woman you cross paths with, or female colleagues for that matter. Your wife would not be quite as accepting I assure you. But I also remember differently from you about President Obama. I remember a president who would not kiss or allow Sarkozy’s wife Carla Bruni kiss him, offering a handshake instead when both couples met. He was always very appropriate. Somewhere along the way unfortunately, the kitschy, inappropriate hugs and kisses became his thing. Maybe as a way to keep the women’s attention and their support. As a wife, I think it’s uncalled for, and in some ways cheapens him and devalues his marriage in the eyes of many of us who wonder what happened, and why handshakes once acceptable, are no longer adequate.
To Ottnott, you don’t have to google. Watch any of his events, it’s all hugging and kissing and Michelle isn’t at most of these. And to the extent any woman feels emboldened to initiate that type of improper physical contact with him, it’s only because he’s encouraged it. An ego booster to feed a midlife crisis compounded by the unusual attention and highs derived of power maybe.
Therapy. Soon.
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"I awaited at the foot of Air Force One as Obama drew closer from above,
He unsheathed his umbrella and slowly, expertly extended it to its fullest glistening measure,
The earthy smell of tarmac and jet fuel rose up and mingled with the salty rain,
and the throbbing of the mighty plane engulfed me in waves,
The engines shuddered and stopped, but I could not hear my cry,
My pounding heart racing as the rains washed over me and – "
I’m sorry – where was I?
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I think that’s for them to decide and not you. I personally have no issue with someone I’m good friends with hugging me or kissing me on the cheek regardless of sex. If that person is okay with how they’re being greeted then that’s all that matters. Trust that the person involved would say something if it bothered them. I understand you’re saying it’s a cultural thing with you, but you aren’t recognizing that other cultures have different norms. If he hugged you like that and it bothered you, then yeah feel free to say something then. But you can’t say it’s across the board inappropriate.
Where on earth are you getting that from?