Bush does the Obama power fist bump

It was the fist bump heard round the world -- the power greeting that Michelle Obama gave her husband the night he wrapped up the Democratic nomination for president.

Fox News anchor E.D. Hill wondered aloud if the thumbs-up knuckle-tap gesture between the Obamas was a "terrorist fist jab." The Obama campaign, sensitive to false Internet rumors believed by about 12% of Americans that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim, encouraged him to stop using it. In fact at a rally in Zanesville, Ohio, Wednesday, Obama all but ducked when a
young fan at the Eastside Community Ministry stretched out his fist. "If I start that ... " the candidate remarked.

But now comes our president, Republican George W. Bush, who has decided that he is hip enough to bump fists with constituents.

On a swing through Arkansas  on Tuesday, Bush had just honored a 12-year-old for his volunteer efforts. Robbie Powell, a student at Bob Courtway Middle School, had given Bush a green silicone "Live 4 Ben" bracelet he sells to honor a friend who died of a neurological disorder. According to the Associated Press, Bush put on the bracelet. Then, said Powell, the president "just held out his fist and I knew what that meant."

Maybe the president's a secret Obamacan? Or part of the terrorist fist-jab movement?

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[marie in tampa]

Moronic media. Obama did not deny a kid a fist jab. He denied the kid's request to sign his (the kid's) fist because the kid's mom might get upset. You people jump to conclusions without first investigating the matter and especially when you're biased.

[Lisa]

I am pretty sure that fist bumping wasn't evented by the Obamas.

[anon]

I'm shocked at how many media outlets seem so bewildered by simple fist-bumping. Even if they're not in tune with "urban youth culture" (neither a strictly urban nor youth gesture), have they not seen Howie Mandell? Does he suddenly not exist? Funny how soon they forget how they pondered that too, when they first noticed. For crying out loud, get over it, and open your eyes the next time you drop your kids at school.