Obama has destroyed so much of his magic by taking that selfie with Cameorn and the Danish woman.

[moondog]

What an appallingly crass thing to do.
I've really gone off him in a big way.

at the Danish Prime Minister being defined as the Danish woman and someone's DIL

DC did a good job of defending himself just now in PM Questions saying that Mandela brought people together so when Kinnock's DIL asked him to be in picture he thought it was only polite to say yes.
Pretty nifty response I thought - but I never thought it was a biggie anyway.
Have seen the picture of the pic now too, and you can see that it wasn't that out of place in a big stadium celebration of Madiba's life.
I can kind of imagine Mandela doing the same himself?

Indeed. Not impressed the Op couldn't even be bothered to look up Helle Thorning-Schmidt's name.

I'm not too chuffed with my selfie participating PM BUT there are way bigger problems in the world than that. Politicicians love it when we get all het up about the trivial stuff. Distracts everybody from the real problems.

I don't understand why everyone is calling it a 'selfie'?

There were three people in the picture, so it isn't a selfie is it?

www.thewire.com/politics/2013/12/no-obama-didnt-take-selfie-learn-english-language/355977/

I bet Nelson wouldn't have been fussed.

I'm not really bothered. It wasn't his selfie - it was taken by the Danish PM who was presumably going along with the atmosphere of celebration and history, found herself next to two other world leaders and thought, well, why not?

I think that's what a lot of people aren't getting - it wasn't as though it was Mandela's funeral. It was a big celebration of his life and achievements in a football stadium. There was singing and dancing and speeches. It was an event. In the West we feel we have to look solemn and po faced at a funeral. People look terrified if they laugh or smile in case...shock, horror... they have given offence. I don't know for sure, but from what I have seen since last Thursday, in Africa it doesn't seem to be like that.

Yes, and I don't suppose Mandela himself would have been remotely bothered.

moondog actually yes, why did you call the Prime Minister of Denmark, 'the Danish woman'? Ffs.

Agree with Hester Shaw.

Couldn't give a toss.

I did rather enjoy Marina Hyde's article in The Guardian exploring the general hypocrisy of certain politicians' reactions to Mandela's death.

But if you look at the photographs, everyone around them is looking pretty sombre, certainly behaving with a lot more decorum. They are not randomers in a crowd for goodness sake: they are heads of state.

Michelle looks completely and utterly cool and contemptuous of him.

I have decided she is the brains in the relationship.

Yes, I am more bothered about Prince William's reaction " a tragedy" and "his family are in my thoughts and prayers". Idiot!

Actually Prince Charles, utter chump though he is, gave the most honest reaction to the news, when he, smiling, talked about Mandela's joy. The most overriding impression he had of him was of a great man capable of great joy (paraphrasing).

Do you think that the man who danced in Brixton would mind about people enjoying themselves at his memorial? I don't.

They're hardly pulling moonies.

Its not a big deal to me.

More interesting is not knowing it was the danish Prime Minister.

African funerals are very different to white british funerals in my limited experience

I think it was a miscalculation. There are times to be dignified and that was one of those times. After the memorial they could have taken all the pics they wanted to.

FFS. Mountain out of a molehill.

It's a slippery slope though Gideon.

One minute they're doing selfies, the next they're doing trout-faces in their underwear.

I can't get het up. It wasn't a funeral, it wasn't even a memorial. It was a bizarre, overly long 'conference'. The people of SA obviously wanted to dance and sing, Call Me Dave got it totes wrong in his black tie, odd set of speeches by endless dignitaries....

I really don't see the issue.

I've never been a huge fan of Obama so for me there isn't any 'magic' to lose.

'That blonde woman' is the Danish Prime Minister though, and it is pretty bloody rude to not define her as such.

Meh, I don't like people who do selfies much. They strike me as self-absorbed, vain and all about the "I was here-woo". It doesn't surprise me that Obama did it.

I'm Danish, and I must say I am a bit embarrased on Helle Thorning-Schmidts behalf! She is getting all the wrong attention at the moment, and I normally hold her in very high regard because of her obvious intelligence. Luckily press attention is usually brief and I hope next time she will get attention for her work.

Oh, FFS. Really?

Bit of context here from the photographer who took the pic

'Anyway, suddenly this woman pulled out her mobile phone and took a photo of herself smiling with Cameron and the US president. I captured the scene reflexively. All around me in the stadium, South Africans were dancing, singing and laughing to honour their departed leader. It was more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid. The ceremony had already gone on for two hours and would last another two. The atmosphere was totally relaxed – I didn’t see anything shocking in my viewfinder, president of the US or not. We are in Africa'

Obama is great politically, but he is also a flirt (or if you prefer, has a rather louche streak). Remember the California Attorney-General thing?
Didn't demean the occasion-it was a joyful celebration of Mandela's life (or supposed to be), he didn't have to be po-faced.

Being the first remotely good-looking US President in history is going to his head, it seems. Well it would, wouldn't it?

I take it that all the dissenters would be perfectly happy for guests to take selfies, mugging for the camera at their relatives memorial service? Maybe a nice tasteful shot of the grave or coffin in the background? Indeed lets go the whole hog and selfie away at funerals too.

Its only a bit of light hearted fun after all ...

Its not the dancing, relaxing, singing, enjoying element of it that I find so crass, it's the selfie aspect of it.

If he were 16, I would be slightly more forgiving (slightly)

It wouldn't bother me at a celebratory memorial service of a well-loved and elderly relative. It wasn't so much a service as a 4 hour long wake (without the booze).

As to the pic of Michelle looking bootfaced - it was a long service. She has more than one facial expression. Here she is laughing along with the joke