Everyone knows the photo of Barack Obama bowing down to the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah, on April 1 at the G-20 meeting in Paris. (There's no point in arguing this one, fellow bloggers--not only are there plenty of photos of this encounter, but video as well.)
As one polite observer, Clarice Feldman, put it to WorldNetDaily, "I am quite certain that this is not the protocol, and is most unbecoming a president of the United States." Yes, that's putting it politely.
The Cable Gamer would go further, adding that if anyone suspected that Obama had an, uh, affection for Islam--the Saud family of Saudi Arabia is, of course, the official protector of the Muslim shrines in Mecca and Medina, and so represent about the closest thing Islam has to a central leadership group--then this picture should turn that suspicion into conviction.
Which is to say, while Obama might be popular in the Arab and Muslim world as a result, that picture poses a problem for him back home in the US--you know, among the people who voted for him last year, and who will have to vote for him again, or not, in 2012. That's one lesson of the Cable Game world--pictures are worth a million words. Nobody really cares anymore what The New York Times says, but if the video of an obviously obsequious Obama gets played over and over again on the air, and online, the Democrats have a problem in 2012.
So TCG figures that Obama is headed back to Saudi Arabia next Wednesday, June 3, for a do-over. Or, one might say, a photo-op do-over.
And so TCG further figures that if Obama can get a photo-op do-over, then TCG can do a PhotoShop do-over.
