The White House released this picture today of Obama firing a gun. The caption reads:
“President Barack Obama shoots clay targets on the range at Camp David, Md., Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012”. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.”
Maybe I need to get my eyes examined because…. I’ve never seen gas from a gun in AUGUST, but on icy cold days, yup. I’ve also never seen anyone fire at a clay pigeon parallel to the ground – USUALLY the targets are slung into the air and the shooter aims upward to shoot – if he has any hopes of hitting it. Obama’s also standing by a paved road – yup – I guess all firing ranges have paved roads everywhere.
“Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we DO skeet shooting all the time,” said Obama.
In NC, we ‘shoot skeet’.. just sayin’…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/04/obama-birthday_n_1741215.html
[no mention of DOING skeet shooting]
Oh Firebird, if Obama said The Holocaust was a senseless act of violence some right winger, somewhere in the US would defend the Nazis.
No, seriously, they would…
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/339003/president-obama-commemorates-senseless-holocaust-eliana-johnson
Kinda like Steve2 defends Obama/liberals.
It looks more like Eliana Johnson is making a poor attempt at attacking Obama for talking about “senseless” violence and tries to claim what happened wasn’t “senseless.” Nazism may have been an ideology to which the United States was — and to which the president is — implacably opposed, but it is hardly “senseless.”
She fails to convince me. I find it hard to find something more senseless. There are plenty of things about which to criticize Obama without Johnson’s senseless diatribe. Plus, it should be abundantly obviouis to any writer that appearing to defend Nazis (she’s not defending Nazis but comes way too close) in any way is ill advised.
It is a popular convention of American thought that if something is bad, it is ultimately ineffectual, as in “crime doesn’t pay,” “violence never accomplishes anything,” and “senseless violence.” Which leave the critical thinker (spoilsport) with the inference that if crime DID pay, or if violence DID accomplish anything, etc., it would be okay. This is rampant consequentialism (if Lynn can talk about complementarianism, by george, I can talk about consequentialism.) We need to rethink this.
Lots of discussion about this picture here. Pretty much all the points you raised Plus, a link to the Exif data that shows it was run through Photoshop. I question the sharp image of Obama over the blurred background. This could have been green screened. I don’t have the full expertise or equipment/software to tell to what degree the picture was altered, but it’s not a convincing picture.
The more this picture is out there, the more problems are found with it…. the exhaust indicates the gun has been fired – yet he’s still holding the gun level and against his face; if the tip of the gun went up when it was fired (as happens 99% of the time with most all weapons), then he was aiming at the ground…. also, the photographer is in front of the shooter – never, ever the place to be.. and referring to what Kim said – surely the president would have the ‘coin’ for a custom weapon, if he ‘does skeet shooting all the time’
“I’ve never seen” Very common with stop action or slow motion filming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yCs8NkSwRA
” I question the sharp image of Obama over the blurred background.”
Depth of field effect. Very common in photography, sometimes done deliberately. Professionals can kind of eliminate this with, IIRC, a very small aperture if they have sufficient light.
“shooter aims upward”
I went skeet shooting maybe 5 times ever. One of the docs in our area was an Olympic skeet shooter and invited us out to dinner and had us shoot some. In his 60s, he was still an incredible shot. I suck. If you dont track well, you sometimes end up shooting pretty level. If you watch youtubes of skeet shooting, you see a lot of variability. I am betting he never shot skeet before, but it’s just one of those things you do at Camp David since it is in the woods. He would have been much better off just saying he had never done until he went to Camp David.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIpFd1Xi4dU
Steve
I am betting he never shot skeet before, …
LOL. Ya think? He barely knows how to hold the gun. I suck at skeet shooting too, but part of that is my shotgun being full choke which shoots a smaller pattern. Never had much trouble shooting rabbits.
The problem is he is left handed. Unless you have the coin to purchase left handed bolt action or pump guns, shooting left handed is awkward.
Also, where I come from it was always referred to as “skeet shooting”
Both my brothers were left handed which is why my dad both us pumps. Still, the shell ejected across their faces.
According to the article where I got this picture, it’s an OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPH…. my point is – Obama wants to walk the walk, but he doesn’t know enough to talk the talk… you’re right, Steve – he would have been better off saying he’d never done the skeet thing until he tried it at Camp David. I also found it interesting that HuffPo mentioned his birthday golf game, which often runs 5+ hours according to the BSM…. but there was no mention of shooting. I bet if he had picked up a weapon, ANY WEAPON that day, the BMS would have freaked out. Finally, Obama goes NOWHERE without at least one official photographer… there had been zero mention of Obama ‘doing skeet shooting’ when staffers and photographers were interviewed PRIOR to release of this ‘official’ picture. The picture is a fake, just like Obama.
Well THAT picture answers a whole lotta questions! LOL
Real or not, it’s just pathetic.
Late to the party pandering.
Yup….