SALON

Tuesday, Nov 6, 2012 4:25 PM UTC

Obama and Christie: It’s all right to cry

After an exhausting week, the president and the New Jersey governor finally let their feelings show

By

Topics: 2012 Presidential Elections, 2012 Elections, Chris Christie, Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama, Hurricane Sandy, ,

Obama and Christie: It's all right to cry (Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing)

It’s OK, guys. By now, we all feel like crying, too. As America finally begins to see the light at the end of the hellsuck of both Hurricane Sandy and a nauseating presidential campaign, two of the men who’ve been at the center of both – Barack Obama and Chris Christie – are finally finding it impossible to hold back the tears.

At his final campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, a wrung-out and obviously exhausted President Obama roused supporters for one last voter push. Speaking near the site of his 2008 caucus headquarters, an emotional Obama addressed a crowd of 20,000, his voice cracking as he told them “what one voice can do.” And as he did, a fan on Twitter promptly sent out an image purporting to be of the commander-in-chief rendered tearful as he delivered his ultimate chant of “Fired up” to the crowd.

And in hurricane-ravaged New Jersey, die-hard Springsteen fan Gov. Chris Christie couldn’t hold back his feelings after he got a hug from the famously liberal, Obama-supporting Boss. The Associated Press reports that Christie admitted Monday that after a squeeze from Bruce at Friday’s benefit concert for the victims of Sandy, he went home and cried, “calling it a major highlight during a tough week.” 

Obama and Christie aren’t the first politicians to get verklempt, of course. But during a week of exhaustingly historic proportions, what’s disappointing is the incredible lack of slack — even now — they’re granted for displaying emotion. Commenters on Twitter Monday declared the president looked “weak and beaten” and asked, “Why is Obama crying … I don’t think it’s gonna get him any extra votes.” Gawker, meanwhile, snarked that Christie getting a hug from Springsteen “sounds like a small, normal enough gesture. Not for Christie. He was so moved by the moment that he cried afterwards,” and noted his “mostly one-sided high-profile fanboy crush.” Har har!

It’s a classic example of the same old, same old. Five years ago, when then-president Bush wept at a Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony, the Telegraph asked, “Do you think less of Mr. Bush for crying at the event? Would it have been more fitting for the president to have kept a stiff upper lip? Was it self-indulgent for him to weep, particularly given his role in the war?” And in 2008, Hillary Clinton caught all manner of hell when she became tearful in the midst of her presidential campaign, because to be a woman and to cry is to be too weak to lead, right?

We may still be a long way from the day when it’s acceptable for anyone who is not a 4-year-old girl to let loose with the waterworks, but frankly, if any two sleep-deprived, overwhelmed men in America have earned the right to a three-hanky moment this week, it’s Obama and Christie. And if you disagree or feel like ragging on the guys after all that’s gone down lately, please, just go vote for a robot. Because it turns out that tears are just one more bit of common ground the otherwise opposed politicians have found in the past few days. And if Mike Bloomberg were to suddenly find himself with something in his eye today, could anybody blame him?

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 11 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations