Last night, I was discussing with friends whether Barack Obama has ever been cheesy. Smile at the camera and say cheese! He is good at that. You could argue the train tour to Washington following Lincoln’s route is a bit cheesy. Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention featured some pretty bombastic and cheesy staging effects. You can talk about some gaffes that were exploited by the opposition and quoted out-of-context. Were they curdling or cringe-worthy? Presidential public relations spin is an old game and the winners are the ones who spend more time on spin than on counter-spin.
Pundits on the right and left are already exclaiming over the change in tone that is descending on Washington. To call it a breath of fresh air is understatement. Anyone can edit together a video of “uh…. uh…” and other stuttering from the podium, however, Obama is never going to rise to the level of red-faced, jaw-dropping, eye-rolling idiocy and embarrassment that George W. Bush has provided the world with for eight years. (h/t David Letterman)