Wait - wot country am I in now?

[majes]

This morning I was watching the news while running on the treadmill. They were showing Barack and Michelle meeting with the French president and the French first lady. Watching them smiling, shaking hands, and going through their greetings, I noticed how happy everyone seemed. Not polite, but happy. They had genuine smiles. They weren't those

Comments

[spwebdesign]

Did you see how Michelle and the Queen put their arms around each other? You just don't touch the Queen. Last time someone did, big to-do. But the two of them embraced and it seemed so natural.

And I love seeing how Barrack is charming the pants off other national leaders. Maybe the neocons will see that you can get more done by being friendly and receptive than by being beligerent.

[eanja]

I thought that was very cute. I'm pretty sure the rule is actually that you don't touch the queen first, which I think is what happened in the past. Here it seems like she put her arm around Michelle first, which is pretty much unheard of, but I think at that point it would have been incredibly rude if she hadn't responded, especially since it such an unusual overture.

[spwebdesign]

All the talk I've seen here in London is that it is uncertain who initiated the gesture, that it seemed pretty spontaneous. But everything I've read expressed surprise and shock that there was contact at all. Apparently the last person to touch the Queen in public was the Prime Minister of Australia, who was then labeled the "Lizard of Oz" after he put his hand on her back.

[eanja]

I've been seeing different versions since then, but at least some saying the Queen went first; at any rate, it seems to have pretty much a mutual thing.

It definitely seems really unusual, but also clearly not unwelcome. I don't know much about the Oz thing, but protocol aside, there's a very different vibe between an older woman and a a younger woman who's about the same age as her kids giving each other a psuedo-hug, and a (presumably not kid-aged) man putting a hand unsolicited on an older woman's back. Even between two random people, I think latter would be much more likely to strike people as patronizing or overly familiar.

[bitty]

It's creepy and unreal. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up from a pleasant dream, and reality will feature Dick Cheney having taken over in a bloodless coup.

[nex0s]

The Obamas make me proud to be an American.

N.

[ifuonlyknew]

Its such a pleasing change of pace. It gives me hope that this country will start to improve.