Bow wow wow

THIS is what we're upset about now? President Obama may or may not have bowed to Tampa mayor Pam Iorio upon meeting her when he arrived at Mac Dill Air Force Base last week. Yep. This is what we're upset about now. Previously, he's bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Japan's Emperor Akihito. Now, if he's not looking for a quarter he dropped on the tarmac or preparing to head butt her, he's bowing to the mayor of Tampa! What the hell, people?!? He's a serial bower! He's got a problem and it's gotta stop! He's weakening our nation! AUUUGH!!!

No less an authority on all things stupid than conservative radio talk show host Todd Schnitt has weighed in on the situation. "You shake the mayor's hand, you can give the mayor a hug, you can even give the mayor a kiss on the cheek if you want. But bowing is considered a sign of weakness," says the man who has apparently never seen a martial artist bow to his opponent before trying to kick a hole in his thorax and who I would guess would not be thrilled to see Obama give Newark mayor Cory Booker a peck on the cheek. Schnitt says he's fielded numerous phone calls to his show agreeing with his opinion. Well, if there's a more accurate cross section of individuals who represent the core beliefs of this nation as a whole than the people who would call in to a conservative talk show, I don't know what it is. Of course, it's possible that he's fielded numerous phone calls from people who think the "wacky" stunt he pulled that injured a firefighter back in December on his other radio show (where he goes by the alias MJ...hey, don't act like you wouldn't change your name to Mary Jane or whatever MJ stands for if your parents named you Todd Schnitt) was brilliant too.

Look, we all know where this is coming from. For eight years, liberals used George W. Bush as a never-empty pinata, taking great delight in every gaffe or slip-up unfortunate enough to be caught on tape. And there was a whole lot of it caught on tape. Conservatives were understandably hurt and insulted and now that the other side has a guy in the White House, it's payback time. From that extremely narrow perspective, they're right. However, on a bigger scale, which is kind of how we should be looking at things these days (in my humble opinion), it's childish, pointless, stupid and counterproductive. I'm not saying you have to like everything the guy does. I'm not saying you have to like anything he does. Dissent is healthy. But if you're a dissenter, do you really want to waste your time and energy on something this dumb? Think about it; he might listen to you and go back to fist bumping instead.