FingerGate: Did Obama flip the bird to Hillary Clinton? And, is this a previous example of him giving the finger?

Posted Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 6:57 am

FingerGate (aka MiddleFingerGate) enters its bitter second day with some people saying that, during a sequence of semaphoric hand gestures (!) at a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina yesterday, Barack Obama flipped off (aka gave the bird to, gave the finger to) Hillary Clinton. The campaign's video is here, it gets MSM attention here, CBS has video from another angle here, liberals agree with the assessment here, and a roundup is here. The latter explains the various references his gestures were meant to convey. A video still here shows that there were two fingers involved, but that his middle finger was extended above the other; those in the audience in front of and to his left would probably only have seen one finger. Note that, despite what some people have said in comments on the videos, there appears to be only one speech, not two.

Whether he was just scratching his cheek or whether he was trying to send a message isn't clear. What is clear is that he writes in code, so something like this isn't impossible.

And, note that he's done something like this before. At 1:56 of the following video shot on 3/31/08 (and discussed here), he raises his middle finger briefly, as pointed out in one of the comments on the video. I originally wrote it off because he switched the microphone to his other hand shortly after that, but now I'm not so sure.

On the one hand, I'd rather discuss the dishonesty shown on that video (see the last link), but on the other I don't think any of the other candidates from this year would have gotten themselves into the situation where we'd even be discussing this.

UPDATE: Various finger-related videos have racked up over half a million views on Youtube, implying this is something that will have a bit of an impact. A slo-mo version is here. And, past examples of him scratching his face - using his index finger both times - can be found here at about 3:10 and 5:15.

Tags: 
barack obama
obama classy

Comments

Mary (not verified)

Fri, 04/18/2008 - 22:01

The audacity of anyone to even pose a question to His Highness could certainly cause him to flip the bird. This is a guy who is so mad at being questioned he says he may not do anymore debates.....How DARE WE!!!!?? Apparaently he thought the Honeymoon would last forever!!Hahhahahaha

Amber (not verified)

Sat, 04/19/2008 - 02:11

OMG-- I just saw a clip of that on the news and had to immediately run to the internet to see it for myself! There is no way that was unintentional-- he has done such a horrible job this week distinguising himself from "washington politics".

john w. (not verified)

Sat, 04/19/2008 - 12:53

The right wing sure is reaching now... this is hilarious, and it's becoming quite clear that the filthy, diseased right (most of the readers of the blog, I presume) is terrified that their usual slime antics won't work on Obama and his supporters will not be swayed by Fox News trash. Good luck with your search for dirt on Obama though, as I can see it will become a full time hobby until the fall.

Fred Dawes (not verified)

Sat, 04/19/2008 - 15:16

john w. is a fool, Mary you are right, and obama the head rat will never really tell any real truth about his economic link to the CFR Or will he do anything but what he is told to do by his real boss's, obama hates our freedoms. by the way who cares about this rat obama doing the finger thing with the bitch hillary? I only care about how many weapons I will need to fight off the enemies of freedom. THINK FREEDOM BUY GUNS.

Mary (not verified)

Sat, 04/19/2008 - 18:37

John, Bulletin from the filthy diseased right...You are Moonbat!!!

hopewell (not verified)

Sun, 04/20/2008 - 11:28

Hmmm....the U.S. is hopelessly in debt...none of the candidates are addressing the rapidly declining dollar...China has us by the throat due to holding huge amounts of U.S. debt...many U.S. cities are looking like the 3rd world...families work overtime and more just to pay the bills...families thrown out of their own homes.... And all we can discuss is if Obama gave the finger? Wow! It's like being in 3rd grade again.

Mary (not verified)

Sun, 04/20/2008 - 12:52

Hopewell...If you don't understand the concept of maturity,character and leadership as it pertains to chosing a president...well, I guess all I can say is their are too many as clueless as you and that is why Obama is a 'rockstar' despite his anti-American leanings,inexperience,disastrous ideaology and arrogant attitude towards hard working Americans. His superficial appearance is pretty slick....makes his job easier to win over the shallow, uneducated masses.