Semi-retired President Chews Gum While Committing Diplomacy

I hope he brought enough for the whole class.

To cleanse the palate, I believe formal diplomatic protocol in this situation requires him to offer Narendra Modi a piece of his Bubblicious. Two points. One: Is it Nicorette he’s chewing? That would explain, at least, why he couldn’t refrain from smacking away despite knowing he’d be on camera for hours with India’s PM during a formal state parade. How bad is this guy’s smoking habit, though, if he couldn’t make it through an afternoon without a hit of nicotine? Remember, this isn’t the first time recently that he’s been criticized overseas for chewing gum at an international summit. Indian media obviously noticed his “ungainly” display, as you’ll see below. Either he was jonesing awfully hard for a smoke or today’s the day he moved officially from the YOLO phase of his presidency to the WGAF phase.

Two: This is the sort of trivial faux pas that the media would have hyperventilated over had it come from Bush, evidence of his essential chimp-like redneck gaucheness. President Cool naturally gets a pass. But maybe that helps explain why Indian media is coming down on O today: Over there, it’s Bush who’s the favored ally, not Obama. . .