Since Barack Obama declared himself the Democrat presidential nominee Tuesday, supposedly impartial press members have been sycophantically gushing over the "fist bump" he and his wife shared that evening just prior to his victory speech (video embedded right).
Such has been reported by NewsBusters here and here.
On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," CNN's Howard Kurtz and guests discussed the media's fascination with the bump, and demonstrated just how separated from American society these folks really are.
After showing video clips of how various outlets reported the bump, Kurtz asked CBS National Correspondent Byron Pitts the following:
Now Byron, I'm not cool enough to grasp this, so tell me: is this what all the brothers do?
Are you kidding me, Howard? Where have you been living if this is the first time you've seen this kind of handshake? Maybe even more absurd was Pitts's reply:
Neither am I. Neither am I. In fact, I had to ask a young intern in our office the name of that, what they did. It's not called the "fist pump" or, what did they call it, "a little knuckle." Actually, the kids call it "giving a person DAP." So, Barack Obama gave his wife a little DAP. I think it was a nice moment, and it sort of symbolized that he's different. That they do different things. That perhaps he represents a different generation. That there's a generation of Americans, not just black -- black, white, Latino -- who are, you know, that's how they greet each other, that's casual, that's cool. And I thought it was just a nice image, and reflected a way that this is a new time, that perhaps I think sometimes that we in the news media don't fully appreciate perhaps where Barack Obama has taken the nation or the kinds of people he has attracted.
Byron, are you being serious? Like Kurtz, was this REALLY the first time you saw such a handshake. Do you really think this shows where Barack Obama has taken the nation, or are you so in the tank for this guy that you'll say anything that makes him look good?
Regardless of the answer, the fist bump is nothing new, is not generational, nor is it racially based. I am a 48-year-old white professional man that has been greeting many of my white professional male friends this way for several years. I even greet some of my female friends this way.
In fact, when the editor of this website picked me up from my hotel in DC a few months ago to attend a NewsBusters gathering, we greeted each other this way.
Taking this a step further, at the extremely upscale athletic club I belong to in my hometown -- which is patronized by successful, high-income folks mostly between the ages of 35 and 65 -- the most common physical greeting between men (and between many women!) is this bump rather than a handshake, and has been for several years.
As such, the folks in the media that seem mesmerized by what happened between the Obamas Tuesday are either so out of touch from regular Americans that they've missed this new greeting, or they're totally misrepresenting the facts in order to once again unprofessionally gush over the man and woman they want residing in the White House next January.
Whichever is the case, this folks should all be embarrassed and ashamed.
