The 'hilarious' photo of Obama 'moronically' waving

In a group photo with world leaders, Obama's waving hand blocks the face of Mongolia's president — and incites a fresh round of internet ridicule

The motivation for President Obama's ill-timed wave, which blocked the face of Mongolia's president, remains a mystery, even as this photo inspires a bipartisan chorus of jokes.
(Image credit: Pool/Getting Images)

Whoops. A "hilarious" photo of President Obama — taken during his visit this week to the United Nations — is eliciting chuckles worldwide. In a group shot of world leaders at an Open Government Partnership event, the president "moronically" waves his hand — blocking the face of Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj. (See the image at right and below). While many people initially suspected that this image was a Photoshop creation, it appears to be the real deal. Naturally, commentators are cracking wise. Here, a sampling:

Presidential privilege

"Don't worry about the dude right behind you, Obama," says Dan Amira at New York. "Just go ahead and be the only person to wave to the camera."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Show of hands

"All incompetent leaders who have no clue what you're doing, raise your hand," quips The Jawa Report.

Not his finest moment

Let's just call this "Photo Op FAIL Of The Day: International Not-So-Much-Diplomacy Edition," says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway.

A true portrait

This "gaffe-tastic photo" confirms what we already knew, says Zombie at Pajamas Media. "Our president is a clueless narcissist."

Punk'd?

Maybe, says Kerry Picket at The Washington Times, "the other leaders played a prank and all planned on waving at the same time and then left Mr. Obama waving by himself, while they snickered amongst themselves towards the camera."

A plausible explanation

"Maybe someone was throwing a shoe at the guy," suggests Tommy Christopher at Mediaite. "Or maybe someone waved at the president."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us