Urbane, Cosmopolitan President Looked Quite The Mouth-Breather In France

Posted on | November 6, 2011 | 17 Comments

by Smitty (via Insty)

The Washington Times reports that BHO gave it the Full Archie Bunker while visiting France, emphasis mine:

“I want to make mention that this is our first meeting since the arrival of the newest Sarkozy, and so I want to congratulate Nicolas and Carla on the birth of Giulia,” Mr. Obama told reporters shortly after his arrival at the G-20, with Mr. Sarkozy at his side. “And I informed Nicolas on the way in that I am confident that Giulia inherited her mother’s looks rather than her father’s, which I think is an excellent thing.”
He added, “And so now we share one of the greatest challenges and blessings of life, and that is being fathers to our daughters.”
Mr. Sarkozy, who is said to be very conscious about his looks, did not appear greatly amused by the comment, and some observers who attended the meeting said Mr. Obama’s remark fell flat.
The French president, who has three sons from two previous marriages, later told reporters, “You see the great influence of Barack Obama. It’s been four years now he tells me to be a father of girls is fantastic, he has two. So I listened and followed his example.”

The old “hope the kid don’t look like you” trope? For Heaven’s sake, BHO this is

a completely hackneyed line, right out of S^*t My Dad Says, and
the first thing they tell you when doing anything internationally is: humor does not translate. You. Are. Not. Funny. Do not try. It will make you look an ass.

I mean, I get that pretty much everything about the guy has a high probability of falsehood, but you’d think that he’d get at least the No Humor rule right. I’m fairly confident that even Bush got that one.

Then again, maybe he knows it perfectly well, and this knobbery is more of a statement concerning BHO’s attitude about being the chief representative of the country.

Not up for Ambassador to Vanatu: Troglopundit. Study this post, LB.

Via Gateway Pundit,

Category: Barack Obama, France

Comments

17 Responses to “Urbane, Cosmopolitan President Looked Quite The Mouth-Breather In France”

Anonymous
November 6th, 2011 @ 9:35 am

Sarkozy: “Why thank you, Mr. Obama. And I see neither Malia nor Sasha inherited your or Mrs. Obama’s brains, so their futures are indeed bright.”
Amylpav22
November 6th, 2011 @ 9:36 am

What an embarrassment.
Liz
November 6th, 2011 @ 9:58 am

Will someone please explain why anyone ever thought Obama would be good at foreign policy and diplomacy?

He lived abroad. In one country. As a child. Do all foreigners look alike now? Does my holiday in Hungary give me unparalleled insight into Central European (and world) politics?

And if he’s so smart and cosmopolitan and urbane and well travelled, then why is he a monoglot?
Liz
November 6th, 2011 @ 10:00 am

Here’s Obama harassing Angela Merkel, who looks like the only thing stopping her from tazing him is the presence of cameras:

http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/2011/11/black-mans-gesture-makes-woman-uncomfortable/

Hey, remember when Dubya was excoriated for making Merkel uncomfortable?
Anonymous
November 6th, 2011 @ 10:04 am

Well, OK, but c’mon! The dude’s wife is, like, a supermodel! This is the standard way to compliment a guy’s wife and kid.

I mean, God help me for defending the SCOAMF, but I, for one, will not stand idly by as French cultural imperialism mocks the Leader from Behind of the Free World!
Joe
November 6th, 2011 @ 10:08 am

The old “hope the kid don’t look like you” trope?

Yeah, Smitty would say that! Given how The apple that is the World’s Youngest Blogger did not fall far from the tree! He is a little bald version of his dad.

Not that there is anything wrong with that!
Liz
November 6th, 2011 @ 10:23 am

“This is the standard way to compliment a guy’s wife and kid.”

In the US, maybe, between friends who actually know each other.

But that’s clearly not how things are done in France, or most of Europe. As far as they are concerned, he just insulted their President and, by extension, the French people.

Obama represents the American people. The fact that he seems completely unable to understand the *existence* of cultural differences – let alone adapting to them – or the seriousness of his role, is disturbing and embarassing.
Humour does not travel. End of.
Anonymous
November 6th, 2011 @ 10:55 am

“I’m fairly confident that even Bush [got] that one.”

Nope.

I wonder when we’ll find out if Obama has mastered the fairly obvious “don’t walk up behind female German Chancellors in public and try to give them massages, because that’s pretty creepy, dude” rule.
Anonymous
November 6th, 2011 @ 10:15 am

Yeah, that’s one theme that might actually give me a smidgen of sympathy for SCOAMF . . . French snobbery. Also, given what the progressive transnationalists usually mean by “diplomacy,” maybe SCOAMF’s doing us a favor.

Fortnunately, Liz pulled me back from my moment of softness. The SCOAMF and his handlers largely built his candidacy around how sophisticated, educated, competent, international, cultivated, cool, etc. this clown was supposed to be – as compared to “cowboy diplomacy” from the dunce, etc.
smitty
November 6th, 2011 @ 10:32 am

Whoops! Thanks for the edit. Which took me two tries to insert correctly.
Dm
November 6th, 2011 @ 11:32 am

All of you guys are forgetting something.

You’re forgetting Sarkozy’s comment about Obama a year and half or so back, when Sarkozy spoke about real leaders can’t exist in a “virtual world,” but have to govern in the real one.

That barb stung and stuck the super, thin-skinned metrosexual with the brutal looking wife, {who was selected so he could appear to be “keeping it real”}.

This was Obama’s passive-aggressive and very public payback. On the surface he and his flacks can deny it all; but underneath the public appearance, this was Obama’s way of trying to pay back Sarkozy.

This is exactly President Obama’s equivalent to then candidate Obama slipping the middle finger to Hillary and McCain, while being able to deny he really did it.

This guy is just a low class jerk, who because of affirmative action, was lifted into educational institutions way beyond his ability or ken.
richard mcenroe
November 6th, 2011 @ 11:55 am

”
then why is he a monoglot? ”

Those ears prove nothing.
Adjoran
November 6th, 2011 @ 2:11 pm

I don’t think Obama is smart enough for this to be a payback.

I believe it is one more example of the arrogance of Obama. We have whole sections of the diplomatic corps who brief the President before meeting with foreigners. They go over this sort of stuff to avoid such incidents.

Obama famously has a short attention span for anything he’s not interested in – and he isn’t interested in much. He even leaves national security briefings early. I bet he just blew off the briefings with a wave of his hand.

Off topic, but did you know Obama waving in those group shots isn’t him saying “Hi” to anyone – it’s his way of letting the photographer know this is the last picture, he’s done with posing. For pictures, that is.
Dodd
November 6th, 2011 @ 2:42 pm

I must respectfully dissent from the assertion that this was “S**t My Dad Says”-type material. SMDS is always as original as it is caustic.

This was just a tired cliché.
Anonymous
November 6th, 2011 @ 3:32 pm

As big a they are he still has no listening ears.
Anonymous
November 6th, 2011 @ 3:36 pm

That sort of joke might be acceptable among “freinds” even then it’s a bad idea if one is standing behind a podium.
Anonymous
November 6th, 2011 @ 3:55 pm

Yes, I totally agree. I’ll have to remember to add sarcasm tags more frequently.

I’d even go so far that it might be acceptable in a private setting between the two, but not for public consumption.