OBAMA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME
(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: