The manner in which Barack Obama conducted himself at an important summit in Beijing hasn’t gone down at all well with the Chinese public.
Chinese citizens who expect an extremely high level of formality and impeccable etiquette from their statesman, were dismayed at Obama’s trademark air of casual loafing and easy going bar room banter. So upset were many at the keen golfer’s gum chewing informality, that Obama has been branded an ‘idler’ and a ‘rapper’ by an outraged Chinese public.
Now we all know Obama can deliver a good rap, whether or not he believes in his own articulate spiel is another thing all together. Yet to date, no other President of the United States of America has been called a hip-hopper before.
Barack Obama who was recently mistaken for an ice cream seller by Welsh schoolchildren when he attended the Nato Summit in Wales, has apparently fueled the ire of the Chinese mainly because he was seen chewing gum at the Beijing summit.
Obama who has had a well-documented battle with nicotine, is a renowned user of Nicorette, a gum used by smokers to stop their cravings when they’re lost and alone in the iron grip of their addiction.
Here’s the rub. The U.S. President was allegedly chomping like a cow on cud on his addiction stabilizer or as it’s more commonly known, Nicorette, at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
The Daily Mail reported that after emerging from his limousine at Olympic swimming venue, the Water Cube, Obama casually strutted around chewing gum like a dead-eyed whiskey drinking gun slinger from the Wild West, as traditional dancers gyrated around his person.
It was reported in USA Today that Yim Hong, a professor of journalism at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, took to the Sina Weibo micro-blog service to grunt his disapproval.
The outraged professor didn’t pull any punches when it came it describing Obama.
“We made this meeting so luxurious, with singing and dancing, but see Obama, stepping out of his car chewing gum like an idler.”
As nicknames go, the ‘Idle Rapper’ does have a certain je ne sais quoi . So who knows. Now that his career in politics is on the down low, and with his musical contacts, perhaps Obama should consider forging a new career in the world of hip hop, but then again, perhaps not. Idle is as idle does.
