She and I agreed immediately that this is an oddly but potently touching gesture. It's hard to explain why, but it strikes me as an incredibly genuine gesture. The standard political motion would be to embrace, a brief kiss, and then they'd both turn and wave at their adoring crowd and the cameras with his hand around her waist or holding hands or something. And Obama is a polished enough politician that I'm sure that's exactly what they did right after, but this that moment right before, when they were just being Barack and Michelle. If it's true that love lies in the quirks and the details, then this is it. And it just makes me incomparably happy that our next president could be someone who pounds fists with his wife when they're congratulating each other.
3 comments:
I saw this live last night and I loved it, and felt the same way as you. The way they look at each other and interact with each other feels so real. It feels the opposite of staged.
It's funny. I saw that happen and wondered for a second if it was staged, and then realized how unlikely it was.
I then supplied the missing lines:
Michelle: "OK - it's official now. You told me that if I let you drag the girls and me through all this shit, you'd win. I thought you were crazy, but you wanted it so bad. I sure never thought you--even you--could do it. I kept telling myself how insane I was to not fight this with every bone in my body. I still think you're crazy, but, ok, all the credit is yours."
Wasn't it terrible when Fox News called it a 'Terrorist Arm Jab'? I, too, felt the moment was more true than nearly all spousal interaction we see from presidents. To have that moment called a terrorist communicative devise was both laughable and deeply disturbing.
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