Thursday, January 22, 2009

Does the President drink beer?

It's been reported by NBC that Mr. Obama does not drink coffee. Here's a silly exchange on MSNBC's Hardball about that. (Some might say many of the exchanges on Hardball are silly. But that's for another day, another discussion.)

Sen. Barack Obama "campaigned today [10 April 2008] in northern Indiana, shaking hands and chatting with people at a diner near South Bend," MSNBC correspondent David Shuster stated to host Chris Matthews: "Well, here's the other thing that we saw on the tape, Chris, is that, when Obama went in, he was offered coffee, and he said, 'I'll have orange juice.' "

I've also seen reported, contrary to visual evidence, that President Obama does not like beer. But here's this, from Draft Magazine:

Back in September [2008], in the heat of the campaign, “60 Minutes” reporter Steve Croft said that Obama had been trying hard to reach blue-collar voters, noting that the presidential candidate had even “sipped beer with them, which I know you don’t particularly like.”

Obama, who had surely endured more significant campaign trail slights, seemed genuinely peeved by the suggestion.

“Steve, I had a beer last night. Where does the story come from that… I don’t like beer? ” he asked. “C’mon, man.”

Out With the Buckler, In With the Brew: Real Beer Returns to the White House
DraftMag.com
By Noah Davis
Jan 22nd, 2009

So there you have it. The President may like a beer now and again. And now, we return you to more substantive matters.

UPDATE: 2009.02.10: "I’m always good for a beer" .

4 comments:

  1. i wander what kind of beer he would drink most often>? is he a lager man, stout, porter, or even IPA, i am interested and its your job to find these things out, man. Perry

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  2. Okay, it's bad enough the bloke's image is plastered all over the place like Saddam, Kim Jong Il, Che, or Elvis Presley (coming up next: black velvet paintings! At your favorite roadside dealer!)..... do we really have to give a darn about his choice (or lack thereof) of tipple? Seriously, we know that Bush 43 was supposedly a teetotaler, but aside from that, do we really know the preferences of ANY of the previous dozen or so Presidents? And did whatever preference really have any impact on any drink fashion or traffic?

    Obama's already catching flak for supposedly still smoking, or not quitting. I have a nagging suspicion that, long-term, no "vice" business (booze, tobacco, gambling, etc.) should want to attach itself to a sitting president. Should Obama's current celebrity/"rock star" status eventually end up as tarnished as, say, Marion Barry or Richard Nixon, the damage to the image will be bigger than any short-term gain from the latest fashion. If Obama is even somehow documented to have two beers in one night, M.A.D.D. would be crucifying him.

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  3. Lew Bryson has more thoughts here:

    http://lewbryson.blogspot.com/2009/01/latest-obama-effect-makes-wine-people.html

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  4. @Alexander- I completely agree, he has to play to political card. I'm sure he enjoys a few behind the walls of his own home!

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