Too busy to notice a President’s “obsequent” behavior
To date the NYT has been too busy to notice the unique and inappropriate event of a US President bowing low before a king, though in the days when its circulation was much higher it condemned such behavior as appearing “obsequent”.
But that was 15 long years ago. Here are the sorts of thing that have been keeping the paper occupied in these days of its decline. Gail Collins:
the Obamas wowed them in Europe. We were expecting a good reception, given the fact that the previous administration set the bar so low that Barack was able to get hysterical applause just by telling a crowd of students that Americans don’t believe in torturing people. Back home, we’re just grateful that we don’t have to sit on the edge of our collective seats wondering how the president will embarrass us next…In London, Obama was the most popular guy in the gang. When President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and China’s Hu Jintao got into a squabble, Obama took them off to separate corners and resolved the conflict, to universal applause.
And this apparently is a news story, not an opinion piece, by Helene Cooper in the NYT:
Mrs. Obama’s equivalent of the Jackie-Kennedy-takes-Paris moment of 1961. No, Mrs. Obama didn’t give a big speech or negotiate a tricky diplomatic incident. She went heel to heel with Carla Sarkozy. There they were, currently the two most famous first ladies in the world, standing side by side — Mrs. Obama, of course, a few inches taller than Mrs. Sarkozy, but not towering over her as she had over Queen Elizabeth II.
There they were, exchanging the first kiss-kiss, on both cheeks, the European way, clasping each other’s hands…not even the meeting with the queen, can come close to finally appearing in the same camera lens with the former Carla Bruni, an Italian-born singer and former Victoria’s Secret model now dominating the French political-fashion scene…
Mrs. Sarkozy sparked “Carla mania” last year when she visited Britain as France’s first lady, but the British press is fickle. “Carla Bruni may have seduced every man she met last year, but this year Michelle Obama charmed us all,” raved The Guardian in an article headlined, “How Britain was wooed by Michelle Obama.”
Given the priorities evident in the NYT’s brand of journalism, is it really any wonder that the Times, which bought the Boston Globe for $1.1 billion, is now threatening to shut it down unless it gets $20 million in concessions from employees?
April 6th, 2009 at 3:20 am
Speaking of comparisons with the Kennedy years: while the press gushed over Jack and Jackie, Soviet Premier Khrushchev supposedly sized up JFK as weak. This perception emboldened Khrushchev to put Soviet missiles into Cuba, thereby precipitating the Cuban Missile Crisis and a potential holocaust.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:01 am
I’d love for the Red Sox to really stink this year. Money is short, going to the game is for rich people and corporations. I’d love for the Sox not to be able to kick Pinch any much needed cash.