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On Meet the Press this Sunday, Old Frat Boy David Brooks and MSNBC's Non-Journalist Chuck Todd questioned the President's "Manhood" in dealing with world affairs. The irony is painfully obvious. Number one, both of them are pretty much the antithesis of Macho, using talking points from the #GOP on any given day like a couple of trained parrots, which is an insult to parrots. And number two, they just sound jealous, as if they have career ~ if not "manhood" ~ envy.
They're just so ready to emasculate the President now that Obamacare is a success, while GOP has gone flaccid except for their "Patriot" rhetoric. The Republican Presidential candidates are the return of the clown show, and the Tea Party only wants to have an armed insurrection in Nevada. I guess size really does matter when you are the incredible shrinking party.
Transcript Via Crooks and Liars
DAVID BROOKS: And, let's face it, Obama, whether deservedly or not, does have a (I'll say it crudely) but a manhood problem in the Middle East: Is he tough enough to stand up to somebody like Assad, somebody like Putin? I think a lot of the rap is unfair. But certainly in the Middle East, there's an assumption he's not tough.
. . . CHUCK TODD: And isolating Putin, but also just sort of containing this issue, because there is this fear, as you know. He doesn't want this to become the rest of his presidency, you know. But in many ways, he is being tested here in some way on how he handles Ukraine.
So, for instance, I'm about to hop on a plane in two days. We're going on this Asia trip. And, oh, by the way, Japan has an issue with islands with China; Korea has some territorial issues. There are a lot of countries in Asia that have territorial issues with China. Where is the United States going to sit when this decides to raise its head and become an issue there? So that's why this does matter globally, sort of how the White House responds to this. And they have no interest right now in doing sectoral things.
DAVID BROOKS:I mean, basically since Yalta, we've had an assumption that borders are basically going to be borders. And once that comes into question, if in Ukraine or in Crimea or anywhere else, then all over the world, you know, the tokens--
CHUCK TODD: All bets are off.
DAVID BROOKS: All bets are off.
CHUCK TODD: It is open.
CHUCK TODD: By the way, internally, they fear this. You know, it's not just Bob Corker saying it, okay, questioning whether the president is being alpha male. That's essentially what he's saying: He's not alpha dog enough. His rhetoric isn't tough enough. They agree with the policy decisions that they're making. Nobody is saying-- but it is sort of the rhetoric. Internally this is a question.
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. . . It was this president who escalated the use of force against al Qaeda; it was this president that launched the mission that killed bin Laden; it was this president who increased the use of predator drones to strike at terrorist suspects (including killing Americans affiliated with al Qaeda living abroad); it was this president who helped assemble an international coalition to strike at the Gadhafi regime in Libya; and on and on.
. . . If you knew literally nothing about the last five years, you might hear this chatter about “manhood” and “alpha males” and assume that President Obama was a pacifist, reluctant to use military force under any circumstances. But given what we know about what actually happened over the last five years, the scuttlebutt is just bizarre.
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Steve Benen, Maddow Blog
The racial aspect adds another dimension. Obama’s entire political career has been defined by pushing back against the “threatening, black alpha-male” stereotype. Conciliation, not confrontation, is not just his style, but the core of his substance as well.
. . . The more that physicality, per se, is demonized in the black male, the more problematic it becomes for white males asserting their own masculine identities, particularly their power over women. This inherent, largely buried contradiction lies close to the core of the GOP’s current problems, simultaneously losing the votes of women and minorities in a long demographic decline.
Faced with this reality, the GOP has no choice. No matter how riddled with contradictions it may be, faulting Barack Obama for his performance of masculinity is the only possible move Republicans have left.
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Paul Rosenberg on Salon
Brooks exemplifies the problem with US foreign policy, which is that the inside-the-beltway chickenhawks with small peckers equate military aggression with “manhood.”
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Juan Cole on TruthDig
How is it that the GOP still feels that if you don't threaten a war, you are not a man? It galls the GOP to no end that Obama is smart enough to fix problems and avoid conflicts without resorting to warfare.
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ImaPragmatist on Huffington Post
Because as every good Tea-Thuglican knows, the only way to deal with any foreign country is by whipping out your missile and wagging it in their face.
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Shawn K. on ThinkProgress
More Old White Ba___ds trying to Castrate a Black man.
War loving, A**kissing,"CHICKENHAWKS!" make me sick.
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Tom L. on ThinkProgress
These folks are to funny...in other words, Obama is not being the bully of the world they are so accustomed too! And that's exactly why we reelected him! Alpha males don't start or look for fights...or stick our nose in others business!
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Art W. on ThinkProgress
Pasty GOP Media Tools Chuck Todd and David Brooks Decide That Obama Has a Manhood Problem
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Headline on PoliticusUSA
