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Somebody you don't like wants to shake your hand -- whaddya do?
I suppose we can hear from the wingnuts who'll say they would *never* have shaken Chavez's hand, no matter what! Of course, their own Richard Nixon went over and buddied around with Mao, who's zealots had killed est. 100,000,000 people only a few years prior in the Cultural Revolution (why, Tricky Dick even toasted the Great Helmsman!). So, uh, never say never! :)
Seriously, some person who can't abide walks up to you in a social situation and wants to shake your hand. Comes striding up with a big grin. How can you reasonably avoid it?
I'm not coming up with much, personally.
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Hey, it wasn't the hand shake. It was the smile! A President can get away with invading a country without provocation and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and he can order torture, but he might get impeached for smiling.
April 19, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is almost becoming unremarkable that the republicans are in a tizzy. Is there ANYTHING Obama has done that didn't get a hysterical reaction? I really don't like Chavez either, but how in the hell are we supposed to take care of business if the President is expected to act like a 6th grader (Oh ... the last 8 years, never mind).
One thought ... a notable part of Chavez' power comes from vilifying the U.S. and accusing us of plotting his overthrow. It will put a serious kink in his message if the people start to look at Obama as friendly. Thawing relations with Cuba also puts him in a tight spot with no anti-U.S. patron. I think the best outcome will be for Chavez to pump himself up and go all Sarkozy in the local press - he seems sort of insecure/braggadocio so it might be hard to resist. There is probably more behind this photo op than a surprise meeting handled gracefully (such an undesired encounter even happening would be horribly sloppy statecraft).
April 19, 2009 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I really don't like Chavez either, but how in the hell are we supposed to take care of business if the President is expected to act like a 6th grader"
Absolutely right. I betcha there's some ugly kvetching going on over this on Politico nonetheless, but I can't open the 1158 current comments, the site may be overloaded with handshake rage. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21401_Page2.html
I agree Chavez may have reason to be nervous. It's hard to rally people to hate Barack Obama. The teabagging parties were ill-attended, much laughed at, and mostly frequented by marginal types and oddballs. What's a despot to do?
April 20, 2009 12:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree - but have to admit I had all sorts of fun imagining what President Obama was thinking as he stood there.
April 19, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sure!
April 19, 2009 11:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just how much self-induced marginalization can GOP leadership achieve??
Does a marginalized GOP represent a credible threat to American politics, or does it represent an excellent opportunity for "third parties" to make headway and establish themselves with greater legitimacy?
By calculation from a recent poll, 17% of the electorate are self-professed Repos who don't approve of Obama. 17%. This looks like a great opportunity for Libertarians, Constitutionalists, and others to build their ranks up and bring their largely marginal platforms into the mainstream.
Is the age of "two party" politics in America about to collapse? Or will Gingrich/Palin re-unite a suicidal GOP?
April 19, 2009 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting reflections! Gingrich is really gunning for it. Palin, too.
Josh had a good "Deep Thought" the other day: Palin thinks she's running for president.
He's right. Who the fuck is she kidding, pardon me? She can pull out the nutballs, right-to-lifers to a great degree, a very few gender feminists ("time for men to step out of the way!") plus some low information voters. That's it. What's that? 25% of the electorate? Less?
So your word suicidal is apt. And I think your point about an opening for a third party could even have validity. Who would want to be a Republican? What's the motto, "Lose with us in 2012?"
April 20, 2009 12:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Heh! "Just say No to voting!"
What concerns me is the power vacuum they are creating. Something will fill that eventually. Healthy debate needs more than self-alienated kibitzers in the opposition party. A democracy or a republic without healthy debate moves inexorably towards monarchy (or other autocracy). As a fiscal conservative progressive I cannot reject conservatism out of hand.
I still estimate an 8-15% drop in GDP for 1-2 years, but I don't see government shrinking accordingly. At some point big government becomes more parasitic than symbiotic, and at that point revolutionary messages move masses quite easily. And I don't mean 'revolutionary' in the sense of "brand new progressive ideas".
April 20, 2009 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Think of an Obama-Chavez handshake like that scene from "No Time For Sergeants": Andy Griffith saw three officers - I see Venezuela shaking hands with the United States of America.
April 19, 2009 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink