President Bush vs. President Obama: Two pictures that tell a thousand words about each man’s character

Whatever you might say about President Bush, he was first and foremost a kind and gracious man. Even to his political opponents. I think this picture of him helping Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) is a very telling picture of the kind of man that President Bush is:

President Bush: a kind and gracious man

Compare that to this very telling image of President Obama from the recent Beer Summit with Officer Crowley and mean-spirited jerk, Henry Gates:

An officer, a racist, and an egomaniac

Officer Crowley is a man who has spent his life helping and serving others. Even people he probably doesn’t like. And, much like President Bush, it’s in his nature to be kind and gracious.

But I think this image shows so much more of Obama’s character than it does either of the two men he’s left in his wake. It shows a man not even considerate enough to turn around and help his own friend.

American Thinker has a good point, that this picture becomes a metaphor for ObamaCare: “The elderly are left in the back, with only the kindness of the Crowleys of the world, the stand up guys, to depend on. The government has other priorities”

Sergeant Crowley, the sole class act in this trio, helps the handicapped  Professor Gates down the stairs, while Barack Obama, heedless of the infirmities of his friend and fellow victim of self-defined racial profiling, strides ahead on his own. So who is compassionate? And who is so self-involved and arrogant that he is oblivious?

That’s why I think this image will have genuine resonance. It captures something that older Americans in particular can relate to. The President presses ahead with a program that will tell them to take painkillers instead of getting that artificial hip.

At every stage of the entire Gates affair, Obama has provided a revealing tell. The “acted stupidly” blunder revealed that he automatically blames the police and thinks they really are stupid to begin with. It didn’t trigger a single alarm bell in his mind as he figured out what to say.

I’m sure the Libtard Blogosphere will find a thousand ways to spin this — but it is what it is.

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OTHERS:

Quincy Pundit:

It is not just the fact that Obama is looking like he is on his way to catch a plane out of there; the whole thing was a cover up of what the Jr. President tried to cover gaff with a teachable moment.

Red State:

But, in this unusually candid photo, the truth comes out. Obama keeps on walking paying no heed to Gates, and it is Crowley, who has been demonized throughout this entire incident, who is left to help the man.

Pondering Penguin:

A sense of common courtesy and standard good manners are necessary at all levels of society, most importantly at the top. This president is woefully lacking in standard decorum from the White House. The process matters.

Buttle’s World:

A photo like this could have been taken and used by an agency that wanted to make a president look bad. But it wasn’t. It’s an official White House photo. Do they really think this makes Him look good?