David Brooks and Chuck Todd revived one of the Republican Party’s favorite smears against President Obama on Meet The Press. Brooks claimed that Obama has a manhood problem.
Video:
http://youtu.be/VVUQS8Ri4O4
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Transcript:
CHUCK TODD: And isolating Putin, but also just sort of containing this issue, because there is this fear, as you know. He doesn’t want this to become the rest of his presidency, you know. But in many ways, he is being tested here in some way on how he handles Ukraine.
So, for instance, I’m about to hop on a plane in two days. We’re going on this Asia trip. And, oh, by the way, Japan has an issue with islands with China; Korea has some territorial issues. There are a lot of countries in Asia that have territorial issues with China. Where is the United States going to sit when this decides to raise its head and become an issue there? So that’s why this does matter globally, sort of how the White House responds to this. And they have no interest right now in doing sectoral things.
DAVID BROOKS: I mean, basically since Yalta, we’ve had an assumption that borders are basically going to be borders. And once that comes into question, if in Ukraine or in Crimea or anywhere else, then all over the world, you know, the tokens–
CHUCK TODD: All bets are off.
DAVID BROOKS: All bets are off.
CHUCK TODD: It is open.
DAVID BROOKS: And, let’s face it, Obama, whether deservedly or not, does have a (I’ll say it crudely) but a manhood problem in the Middle East: Is he tough enough to stand up to somebody like Assad, somebody like Putin? I think a lot of the rap is unfair. But certainly in the Middle East, there’s an assumption he’s not tough–
The only people who having this discussion about President Obama’s manhood are Republicans who constantly try to make up for their own inadequacies by talking tough and starting wars. “Manhood” is not going to win the peace, especially the Republican definition of manhood that Todd and Brooks subscribe to.
Real manhood means making the tough decisions that keep the country out of wars. Real leaders don’t have to send our troops off to die in some foreign land in order to prove their toughness. A real man is a good husband and father. He is a role model, and a leader.
Obama’s problem is not one of manhood. His problem is middle aged conservatives who think that only white swaggering fake cowboys like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are capable of being real men. Brooks said that a lot of the rap that Obama gets is unfair, but that didn’t stop him from repeating the Republican claim that Obama has a manhood problem.
Barack Obama is a real man in ways that Chuck Todd, David Brooks, and little boys in the Republican Party who desperately want to fire their guns will never understand.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
