The more I watch the Obama administration at what it ostensibly calls “work” while it runs out the clock on the remaining years of his second term, my imagination clicks into overdrive and I can see the parody version that would be a hit movie or TV series.
But the truth is, it wouldn’t be a parody. It would be a simple retelling of what has happened, and is happening.
“Truth is stranger than fiction,” as Lord Byron wrote, but Mark Twain elaborated on that by explaining that fiction is obligated to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.
As far as Obama is concerned, you couldn’t find a better example than his adventures in South Africa.
The reason for the most recent trip was the announcement on Dec. 5 of the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
There would be a memorial service on Dec. 10 in Soweto’s World Cup stadium that could accommodate 60,000 people.
You have to give credit to the South Africans to be able to pull together the logistics for so many people in barely a week.
I admit I have a suspicion they did some advance planning – after all, Mandela had been in fragile health and near death for more than six months.
Remember, Barack and Michelle visited South Africa last June but didn’t visit Mandela in person. We were told he deferred to the wishes of the family that he was too ill so the Obamas only visited with them.
While there, though, he visited the Robben Island prison, where Mandela had been jailed and a picture was taken of Obama standing in Mandela’s former cell.
Interestingly enough, the picture wasn’t released by the White House until after Mandela’s death.
One does wonder, why did it take so long?
Nevertheless, plans moved ahead for the memorial service and the list of politicians and dignitaries and varied and sundry royalty and other folks who wanted to make their presence known grew and grew.
As far as the United States was concerned, front and center were the Barack Obama, the president, and the first lady Michelle Obama.
Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were there with their wives Laura and Hillary. Chelsea Clinton was there, too, as was former president Jimmy Carter. There was a slew of Obama political operatives.
Aside from the most famous U.S. names, it would have passed from our attention except for the fact that the man who is president of the United States got a bit carried away with technology and the attractiveness of the prime minister of Denmark – a sunny and feisty blonde named Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
As luck would have it, Barack was seated next to her. British Prime Minister David Cameron was on her other side.
It was a “Helle of a sandwich” – and they all were having such fun that they took a “selfie” with her camera, an image that flew across the world.
That moment of hilarity among the three of them was also captured by AFP photographer Roberto Schmidt, as well as another shot in which Obama and the Danish dignitary were sharing a laugh with Obama’s hand on her shoulder
There they were, two of the most powerful men of the Western World, flirting for all to see with a pretty blonde who also is a top government official.
It’s not necessarily what they’d want the world to see, especially at the memorial service for a deceased former president of South Africa, the host for the event.
The pictures of the hilarity among the three also had something else: Michelle Obama, seated on the other side of Barack, with a stony-faced look that could kill.
The first lady was not amused, and it didn’t take long for her to change seats with her husband to separate him from the beautiful Dane.
Funny enough, no more “selfies” were taken!
If this had taken place at a Rotary luncheon, involving the local mayor and the head librarian, it would have been bad enough, but this was the president!
Our president looked and acted like a high-schooler who couldn’t believe he was sitting next to the head cheerleader – and through it all, ignoring the fact his mother was watching.
Not only did Obama make a fool of himself to Michelle, but he embarrassed this country and overall diminished his “presidential standing” in the world.
The diplomatic harm Obama caused with his childish foolishness cannot be overstated.
His status in the world had already been diminished with his cavalier treatment of our allies and his pandering to our enemies.
But there was more. He bowed a bit as he shook hands with Cuba’s Raul Castro – that got publicity and criticism and the media cooperated by not reporting his handshake with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.
And then, there’s Thamsanqa Jantile, the baby-faced sign-language translator who stood three feet from Obama on the podium.
That he was a fraud was the first shocker. He didn’t use legitimate sign language; it was gibberish.
Then we find out he is a schizophrenic psychopath with violent tendencies who says he was hallucinating angels during the memorial.
On top of that, we find out in the last 10 years he’s been accused of theft, kidnapping, rape and murder.
This is a man hired by the South African government, and the U.S. Secret Service allowed him to stand next to our president?
Obama standing next to a hallucinating, violent schizophrenic fraud is something for which heads should roll.
But hey, this is an Obama movie. No one is ever responsible.
The problem is, it’s not funny.
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