Real American Optics
by digby
MADDEN: President Obama right now has suffered very greatly in the last few months because of the fight over health care, and he has very little political capital right now. So Republicans feel it is in vogue to criticize this president. And then lastly, you have to also remember the fact that the president being on vacation in Hawaii, it’s much different than being in Texas. Hawaii to many Americans seems like a foreign place. And I think those images, the optics, hurt President Obama very badly.
He’s right though. In fact, one of those Real Americans who thinks Hawaii was a little too “foreign” was Sarah Palin:
Palin’s own father says she left because she was uncomfortable around Asians and Pacific Islanders: “They were a minority type thing,” her father says, “and it wasn’t glamorous, so she came home.”
Evidently, the fact that Bush was hiding out on his faux ranch for most of his presidency was good optics for presidential involvement. I suppose that’s true. Here’s a picture of Junior getting briefed on hurricane Katrina at his ranch before he proceeded to do absolutely nothing about it:
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