The Rights "rage" re the smile and handshake with Chavez has little

[monmouth]

to do with actual outrage of worth. The real rage and consternation has to do with the popularity, the joyous welcome and rising approval ratings of President Barack Obama. Any thinking person by now should realize our President is a gracious and polite individual. He attracts people toward him with that glorious smile and genuine gleam in his eye. Even his most ardent detractors may be a little snarky but when in his company, still want that autograph or photo taken with the man to be posted on their home newspapers.

Chavez reminds me of the high school football player, BMOC who realizes he's got some competition in the "buzz" area. It's not going to be about him but the new guy. Chavez may be many things but heaven knows he's not stupid. It was obvious, at least to me, Chavez has admiration for Obama. Perhaps, thinking ahead, he can make points in helping with the Cuba situation. Chavez knows the big picture when he sees it.

The Right is aghast about the smile, the handshake, the giving of the book. At least that's what they're saying and of course, the media plays along. What they're really aghast about is that our President has accomplished so much in less than his 100 days that a second term is looming large and he's not even through the first year. OMG, he's actually going to accomplish all of these things he said during the campaign, we'll never see a majority again! Obama responded as we would expect him to and came away from that conference, like he did the G-20, as a genuine statesman.

This is really what their angst is all about. Our President knows how to engage people, he knows how to listen and while doing so, says a lot. Good job Mr. President, you did us proud. Now run the dog.

[Arkana]

1. It's fake, ginned-up outrage manufactured by slime like Limbaugh

and the pond scum of Fox Noise. They're throwing anything and everything at Obama in the hopes that it'll stick, but Obama's been like Teflon so far--and that just infuriates them further.

[droidamus2]

3. You couldn't be more right

Look at what they did to Clinton they kept throwing things at him from misleading to out right lies until Monica Lewinski fell into their laps. Their idea is to build up a 'history' of inappropriate actions or ideas, even though most of what they put out is fake outrage and lies, so that when they finally find something to go after him on the can also claim he has 'a history' of these type of things. This is similar to the 'Al Gore is a serial liar' meme they used. They continually misquoted and misinterpreted Gores statements to make them appear to be lies, i.e Invented the internet, that way if they were caught on any one of their lies they could just say well maybe that was but how about all these other ones. There problem this time is that as long as they leave President Obama alone in the sense of not going for impeachment or anything like that he won't try to prosecute them for their crimes as soon as they get too out of hand they better watch out. Don't be surprised if somewhere down the line they try to drum up some transgression that they can use for impeachment hearings especially if by some miracle they were to get back in control of the House or Senate.

[panader0]

2. Remember how bush looked into Putins eyes and saw his soul?

Has Obama invited Chavez to his ranch yet?

[brentspeak]

4. Obama shaking Chavez' hand is one of the few smart things Obama's done so far

Chavez is not our "enemy".