Obama to Mongolia: Talk to the Hand!

Perhaps you’ve seen this photo of Obama blocking the face of Mongolia’s President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in a world leader group picture during a UN summit:

Obama has been ridiculed in the media, but you can’t trust reporters have given us the whole story.   They saw a funny picture and immediately assumed Obama had made a faux pas without asking any questions that may have proven an alternative explanation.

Alternative explanations:

The man in front of the Mongolian President is wearing his country’s traditional high-five hat.

Obama’s iron fist was unexpectedly attracted to Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj’s magnet face.

The Mongolian President did rabbit ears behind Obama in the previous picture and Obama is paying him back.   Where’s that picture, media?

Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj was born with a hand-face.

Or Mongolia’s President underwent cosmetic surgery to make his face more hand-like in order to appeal to high-five loving Mongolian voters.  With a name like Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, you’ve got to do something to set yourself apart.

The President of Mongolia moved his face behind Obama’s hand at the last second in an effort to gain sympathy and publicity once American journalists were forced to look up Mongolia and confirm it was a country.

The President of Mongolia was smoking a Mongolian cigarette and Obama’s licensing agreement prevents him from being photographed with any cigarettes other than Marlboro.

The photographer tricked Obama by telling him he would be taking a picture with one of those new high-five cameras.

Obama was poised to smack a mosquito off the head of the guy in front of him.  If this is true, Obama is a hero.

The photographer suggested taking one funny photo, and all the other leaders are making their best effort to be humorous, but Obama was the only leader who was successful.  Good job, Obama!

The Mongolian President feared being tagged on Facebook because once Mongolians realized he had left the country he would have to go back.

This isn’t even Obama’s hand but actually belongs to the double right-handed woman at his side.

One more thing, I don’t want to start any conspiracy theories, but I worry about the authenticity of this picture.

The guy first row, second from the left is wearing a backstage pass to a Jay-Z concert.

Why is there a Ronald Reagan impersonator on the last row, third from the right?

Why is Obama completely circled by people with glasses?  Was this intended to make him look less intelligent?

The two blond women on the top row, right, hit on me at an Eagles concert last year and told me they were twins.  How are they now leaders of two different countries if they both gave me phone numbers with the same international country code?

Finally, even if none of these explanations turns out to be true, and Obama really did wave, would he really be so wrong in assuming nobody clicked on this picture to see the President of Mongolia?

(Note: Friday Love Letters will be a semi-regular feature and won’t necessarily be every Friday unless I start falling in love much more frequently.)