Clearly, with all the attention we at The Plank are giving it today, Politico's piece on Obama's tippling-habits is perhaps shrewder than we care to admit.
That said, I find it hard to believe that many Americans--and Southerners in particular--are sitting around stewing about the President sucking down a beer while the economy is floundering, as suggested by the caller to a Louisiana radio sports show that Politico quoted. (“People are losing 5, 10, 20,000 dollars a day in the stock market, and he’s sitting there drinking a beer...It’s insulting. There’s a lot of people suffering.”)
Where I come from, nothing goes with hard times better than cold beer. Whisky is also an acceptible option. (What would down-on-your-luck country songs be without oceans of both?) As long as POTUS isn't caught sipping chablis courtside or slurping on something pink and girly like a cosmopolitan, my guess is he'll be OK.
--Michelle Cottle