It is not a question of who is right and who is wrong. I assume the guy asking for the photo was a jerk who was doing it for money. What difference does it make?
It would have taken 20 seconds to smile and shake his hand. If the guy gets obstreperous, an aide should handle it. Fighting with midgets makes you look small.
The more I see of Obama, the less I like. Underneath the affable exterior is a dogmatic liberal who is prickly and temperamental.
Obama has a reputation in the beltway and press corps as being arrogant. If he gets the nomination we’re going to see a lot more videos like this. Wouldn’t take a photo on the campaign trail? That’s practically his job in the primary season - take photos, autograph hats and signs, kiss babies.
And why does Obama care if the guy sells on eBay or not? I mean, if he can get Obama to sign a photo and then sell it on eBay for $1,000 - I say more power to him and the idiot willing to pay that price. Why does Obama care? Oh, that’s right -he hates the free market, capitalism, and the very notion of profit.
Nah, I’m also on Obama’s side here. There’s very little I like about him or his ideology, but that guy was acting like a jerk simply because Obama wouldn’t butter his bread for him. And then he tried to lie about it, claiming it was for his wife or something like that. That would have made me even more adamant that he shouldn’t get a picture.
I’ve heard and read that Obama is very generous with his time on the campaign trail - for whatever reason. I’m willing to cut him a little slack if he doesn’t entertain every single request. And to cave in to this knuckle-head’s obnoxious demand would set a precedent that squeaky wheels get the oil (in this context). Then he’d be inundated by knuckle-heads.
Perhaps Sen. Obama should consider this incident the next time he argues that his constituency is entitled to the valuable resources of someone else.
Hey, the guy was just an average white person trying to make a quick buck. What’s wrong with that?
The idiot may have been rude, but at least he wasn’t some Mac Daddy, drug pushing, hip hopping gang banger.
Seems white folks make Obama really uncomfortable.
I think that’s hardly the case. This guy should be thankful the Secret Service didn’t haul his ass off after being so deliberate and belligerant. No telling what this kook wanted to do. I’m sure John Lennon thought The Person Who’s Name Shall Never Be Mentioned thought he simply wanted an autograph to make a quick buck, too. Look how that turned out.
While I don’t agree with his politics, I’m with Barry on this one.
I wonder if Obama now better understands his white grandmother disliking being aggressively panhandled by the black tramp, or does he still think she’s on par with Wrevrun Wright?
Hussein boy was clearly showing his true colors. Think what you will, and make all the excuses you want. The fact is that the man simply asked for a picture; a request made and granted thousands of other times. Hussein took more time to say “No” than to take the shot. He would never have done that to a Negro.
For the racists and bigots who linger on this board, imputing ulterior motives into the issue such as the man really wanted it just to sell it on eBay or other such farcical crap is classic delusional thinking to make you feel better about your sociopathic tendencies, but it does not help the issue and just exposes you as the elitist-bigot you are.
The Secret Service guys are doing their job of protecting the candidate. If they allowed themselves to get distracted by getting into an altercation with this man, they would not be doing their job. What makes you think that they aren’t looking at this guy up and down 100 times with their peripheral vision. The claim that the Secret Service officers need to be reassigned is a false one.
As to blowing off Picture Guy, that is one of the decisions one has to make as a high-profile leader. Kind of like blowing off Cindy Sheehan. Sure it would take only 2 seconds to grant Picture Guy his picture, but it is the precedent it sets of caving in to demands, whether it is Cindy Sheehan, Picture Guy, or Mr. Iran-a-Dinner-Jacket.
Sure Senator Obama comes off as aloof, but it is the sort of thing he is going to have to do all the time at many levels if he is to be President.
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