(updated)
Is there anything Barack Obama can do that Andrew Malcolm of the L.A. Times won't find fault with? Here he's apparently chastising the president for lack of dignity on a visit to troops in Afghanistan, contrasting this photo...
...with this one from the Bush presidency:
Well, Andrew, I notice you didn't choose this Bush rub-the-bald-guy's-head-for-good-luck photo:
Or these two Dancin' Bush photos:
Or, of course, the photo of Bush waving a plastic prop turkey at the troops:
It's all a matter of selection, Andrew, isn't it?
****
AND: As cautiousman notes in comments:
Look closely at the picture of Bush that Malcolm did use - he appears to be rubbing the head of the African-American soldier he's looking at, in front of him.
Comparison FAIL?
Indeed. Bush, in fact, had a bizarre fondness for rubbing, kissing, and otherwise bonding with bald heads:
More photo evidence here.
*****
AND: In comments, Tom Hilton makes the point that what Malcolm seems to be addressing is the troops' relative enthusiasm. I may have misread the item (but if so, so did the headline writer -- the subhead is "The styles of Barack Obama and George W. Bush in photos"). But a lot of the troops in the Bush photo look bored or distracted, and thrilling to Bush's presence was hardly a universal reaction on the part of photographed troops:
