Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch Part Forty-Goddamn-Eight

Fast and furious, they're coming today. Woo. Shaker Misiale pointed in comments to this item at Media Matters in which it's reported that Fox News host E.D. Hill teased an upcoming segment discussing the Obamas' hilariously over-analyzed fist bump by saying: "A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently."

In case you've been trapped under a rock for the past week or so, here's a picture (thanks to Aulelia) of the moment from last Tuesday night when Senator Barack Obama took the stage:


Well, I can certainly see why someone might see a terrorist plot unhatching there. I mean, if that someone has either just come out of a 30-year coma or is less hip than Pat Buchanan.


Now, for the record, Iain and I have our own crazy little handshake that we do with each other, but I tend to regard the Obamas' fist bump in the same way as Jessica Ann (thanks, Jack!):

I think that little gesture is striking (Ta-Nehisi has a video clip) because it was a visual representation of a partnership, a signal that this victory is something they've accomplished together. It's an entirely different image than the "you go get 'em, honey!"-style hug or reassuring pat on the arm that we're used to seeing from candidates' wives. Like Ta-Nehisi, I have to say it gave me some hope that if he's elected, we'll be getting a presidential partnership.

And I also suspect that many other people, who are busily feigning shock or perplexity over the Fist Bump Heard 'Round the World, see it the same way, too—only they don't happen to share Jessica's and my and lots of other people's opinion that Michelle Obama having influence in Barack Obama's White House would be a good thing.

I also happen to think that they reflexively dislike the idea of the Obamas' partnership not only because they don't like uppity womminz, but because they distrust men who consider their wives their equal partners. And that fist bump says, "We did it. We two. Together." That fist bump conveys a partnership.

…Leaving this post to be cross-referenced with the Barack Obama Sexism Watch and the Michelle Obama Sexism Watch, too.

[Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Two, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, Thirty-Six, Thirty-Seven, Thirty-Eight, Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-One, Forty-Two, Forty-Three, Forty-Four, Forty-Five, Forty-Six, Forty-Seven.]