Some people are adding President Obama to the list of people with poor selfie judgment after the leader of the free world posed with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service Tuesday in South Africa.1) I learned about this on CBS This Morning, the same program that 24 hours earlier played Toto's "Africa" over a video tribute to Mandela.
2) President Obama also spoke to the crowd about Mandela's life and legacy. The crowd in Soweto seemed to like it. A lot. Perhaps we could talk about that?
I was relieved that ceremony organizers found room for Obama in a packed schedule, and was overjoyed when Obama absolutely nailed the speech. But yeah, he also posed for a selfie. OH NOES!
3) Even if we one plays along with the bullshit narratives that taking a selfie is totes disrespectful or un-feminist or whatever (see also), this is probably as good a time as any to note that the United States didn't always have a great relationship with Nelson Mandela or the African National Congress. The US supported South Africa's rulers throughout apartheid. Our government was on the side of Mandela's jailers, although many of us (including Barack Obama) protested our policy towards South Africa.
Even if Obama's selfie was disrespectful (no, it wasn't), it's definitely an understatement to say his performance represented a marked improvement over many of our past leaders.
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