Posted on 02/02/2009 12:25:57 AM PST by chuck_the_tv_out
Apparently, President Barack Obama thought that Jessica Simpson's weight was something he needed to make fun of during his pre-Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer on NBC Sunday. Seriously. Obama called Jessica Simpson a fatty on national TV.
Lauer displayed for the audience the cover of a recent issue of the tabloid entertainment magazine US Weekly that featured the President's wife and daughters and also had an insert photo pushing a story about singer Simpson.
As he viewed the cover, Obama decided to smack the singer down for "losing a weight battle."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
Maybe Jessica should start chain smoking in emulation of our president’s health habits?
“WRONG! He said, “Who’s in a weight battle apparently...” while pointing at the headline held up by Lauer. Let’s keep it real.”
My mother always said “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Nothing compelled Obama to take note of Simpson’s weight battle. Indeed, I’d be astonished if US or similar magazines haven’t run nearly identical headlines about Oprah’s chronic struggles with her weight. Yet it is inconceivable Obama would have made the equivalent joke at Oprah’s expense were she the one who had displaced him on the cover.
His comment assuredly was not as offensive as it could have been: he didn’t actually call her a fattie, for example. But if you were JS and saw that interview, would you be feeling pride or shame in how your president elected to talk about you? The point is, the comment displayed a degree of narcissism and arrogance not particularly endearing and to some extent downright discomfiting in a commander-in-chief. Sadly, I think Obama was peeved about being bumped (there are many other incidents from the campaign trail consistent with that view) and he expressed his irritation in a passive-aggressive fashion: a throwaway remark that he could overtly dismiss as “just a joke” but which at a deeper level likely was intended (consciously or unconsciously: I don’t pretend to know the depth of BHO’s soul) to be hurtful to the individual who had only in the smallest way stolen what he viewed as HIS spotlight.
Yes, there are far more serious concerns about Obama. But I think tiny incidents like this cumulatively will come to be the measure of the man. He’s pretty self-absorbed and in many ways lacking in class. Like Obama, President Bush was a fitness “nut” yet can you picture him ever making such a mean-spirited remark?
“I’m not a big fan of Simpson by any means, but this is just tacky.”
OK - I’m starting my stopwatch right now to see how long it takes for womyn’s groups to speak out. Rosie O’Donnell?
Anyone, anyone?
Can you IMAGINE if Bush or Cheney said something like this?
Oh I get it!
Because Obama thinks it’s ok for women to kill their babies, then he gets a free pass for being a chauvenist pig.
Lightweight PO$ potus calling Jessica fat ping.
I guess he wears blinders when around his junk in the trunk wife.
“He has a long history of demeaning or patronizing behavior toward women, though the MSM seems to have conveniently forgotten that.”
Well, we haven’t, and the PUMAs sure haven’t.
I wonder about those PUMAs. Have they disbanded?
Or will something like this bring them back out?
Update from NewsBusters:
**IMPORTANT UPDATE**
This piece has been edited to correct what the President said about singer Jessica Simpson. When I first came across this story, I read the transcript that MSNBC posted on line. The transcript posted (and still does as of this correction) says that the president said that Simpson is “losing a weight battle.” (and still does as of this correction)
After I read the transcript I then watched the video and when it came to the part of the interview upon which I focus here, I had the words of the transcript in my head. As it occurs, however, on second viewing I realize that the transcript is wrong. The President did NOT say the word “losing.”
The President actually said that Simpson is “in” a weight battle. The MSNBC transcript is wrong.
So, I apologize for not catching MSNBC’s mistake. It does not alter my point, however, that Obama was commenting on Simpson’s weight. Saying someone is “in a weight battle” is not very much different than saying they are fat.
Still, we need to have the record correct on what the President said. And I apologize for the eror.
(H/T Gatewaypundit)
[Recommend story on Digg.com]
Obuma msut be confused.He should look at his lithe(bad attitude)wifey, if he wants to comment on a fatty. We can see his true disdain for causcasians shining through. My opinions are a true reflection of reality, concerning the tribal chieftian of Amerika.
The Worm Has Turned,
NSNR
well, he talks like what he is or wishes he was or pretends to be....forget it
a punk for president
I think Jessica is cute...what a bastard our President is.
*anyone get it?
Jessica is a known right winger. You know, like the evil Rush Limbaugh and the rest of us.
It doesn't sound Presidential...it sounds common from a man who holds the highest office in the land.
I’d keep my eye on the male interns if I were Michelle.
Sorry... Not guilty.
I prefer a gal with a little meat on her rather then the ones who are bones and hair.
Can anyone imagine him saying this about HER?
What a piece of work. Looking forward to his fall. I had to turn the pre game interview off. So tired of his being everywhere. No matter how hard I try, turning off the tv etc. I go to a store and there he is. UGH.
Common is as common does.
Obama is trained in tactics by which the powerless can unseat the powerful, namely thuggery, demonization, & making a stink. these methods are not appropriate for a President. Yet he continues to use the same low-rent tactics.
Obama: Yeah, who’s in a weight battle apparently. (LAUGHTER) Yeah. Oh, well.And Michelle has a fat a$$. So there, moron.
OK, I watched the video and have reflected on this.
The Left started this crap. "Anything you do or say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion."
Obama has to begin to understand that he lives in a fish bowl now. He needed to say something nice about Ms. Simpson, or nothing at all.
Yes, it was totally innocuous. But DrC's post hit the nail right on the head.
People who live in White Houses should consider their every word to be a possible stone...
PS - NewsBusters has corrected their version of NBC's incorrect transcript (NBC still has the wrong quote online).
Marylander's post has a good point.
Are Obama's Alinskyite reflexes showing?
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