THIS JUST IN! Here’s a vital UPDATE on Dijon-gate.
Last week Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and some other conservative pundits and broadcasters essentially accused President Barack Obama of being an elitist, a weak-kneed wuss because he put Grey Poupon Dijon mustard on his burger. From one standpoint, it’s all in fun…a bit of mockery. But from a political standpoint, it underscores how some partisans will use anything they can to try and negatively define someone — which can work when your main audience is a choir that already agrees with you.
This led Kraft Foods to write a for-real letter to Obama asking for “Dijon Gate” pardons. Read our earlier post with the full press release and letter HERE.
But now it comes out that former President George W. Bush ALSO USED DIJON MUSTARD — in his deviled eggs. Will it now be argued that real Americans and real men might use it in their deviled eggs, but if you use it on your hamburger you’re a wuss?
Or will there be some consistency? If Obama is considered an elitist and an implied wimp, will Hannity, Limbaugh and all of the conservative pundits now point out that Bush is too? (Friendly suggestion: Don’t bet your house in Vegas…this isn’t how American partisan politics is played in the 21st century).
The real winner? Kraft: because now it can argue its Grey Poupon Dijon mustard is the favorite of BOTH the right and the left, of two Presidents — unless Bush and Obama are both elitist, wimpy wusses.
NEWS FLASH: There’s a rumor that Hannity secretly eats French food — and is full of crepe.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.