White House Flickr: The Finger

This rather small-minded photo, the only one posted on the WH Flickr site today, is either a weak attempt at intimidation, or is somehow supposed to make someone believe that Obama, in wagging that finger, is dictating terms for negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. What it more likely telegraphs — given how the two leaders so publicly and blatantly disagreed today on Israel’s ’67 borders as a fundamental framework item — is that: 1) the White House has very little real leverage to apply to the Prime Minister, and 2) they are ticked off about it.

But then, given there is no love lost between these Benjamin and Barack, it’s not like we haven’t seen this before. …And then, talking about petty visual putdowns by the WH where Netanyahu is concerned, I also like this shot, taken a year ago March, where Obama pawned Bibi off on Biden for dinner and the WH photo shows Biden looking down the table rather than meeting Bibi’s attention.

(h/t: Ken J)

(photo: Pete Souza/White House caption: President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as they walk from the Oval Office to the South Lawn Drive of the White House, following their meetings, May 20, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza). linked photo: David Lienemann/White House caption: Vice President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their delegations sit down for dinner at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, March 22, 2010.)