This might be the only time you’ll her me defend Barack Obama, but the people making hay out of this issue need to get bent. Would it raise an eyebrow if a German-American politician gone to Germany and donned some liederhosen that was given to him? But who is being accused of circulating this:
“Everybody knows that whether it’s me or Senator Clinton or Bill Clinton that when you travel to other countries they ask you to try on traditional garb that you have been given as a gift,” he said. “The notion that the Clinton campaign would be trying to circulate this as a negative on the same day that Senator Clinton was giving a speech about how we repair our relationships around the world is sad.”
Every time I start getting scared of the messianic following Obama has, I’m reminded of the fact that Hillary Clinton is a vile, vile creature, and I rightly deserves to lose for resorting to tactics like this.
This is where I miss Fred Thompson’s no silly-hat rule. Americans abroad, HEY! It’s not necessary to drink the water from the pond in an effort to establish “authenticity” – you just get a real bad case of diarrhea.
Jackie Kennedy once on a State visit to India wore a sari – but in the “traditional” or village style – which was sans bra.
Somebody (in State Dept.) didn’t like her or didn’t know (not surprising) or didn’t warn her that it was a HUGELY low-status and sexually provocative thing to do, especially in conservative, stuffy, and status-obsessed Indian culture.
It made a big local-Media negative and “shocking” impact in the news but I don’t know if that made a dent in the American media – maybe it did — living there we just remember it as a moment of The Ugly American incarnate.
She would have been more respected and appreciated if she wore what was expected of her – Chanel or whatever couture she had going.
So, don’t wear funny hats or weird clothing.