Oh Be Careful Little Eyes What You See...
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President Obama and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy were waiting to take their places in a picture with junior G8 delegates for a photo in L'Aquila, Italy, yesterday, July 9, 2009.
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In fairness to both presidents: we live in an age when every frame of motion is captured by rapid-fire cameras. What may look bad in a single frame may be quite innocent on video.

It's possible that both men are just making sure that the young ladies are careful with that first step onto the stage. That's a doozy!
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(Wouldn't it be awful if the president had said "That's a doozy!" [referring to the step] and it was picked up by an off-camera mike? But like I said, unless the video confirms that both men forgot the admonition of that old Sunday School Song "Oh, Be Careful," I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that this is not what it appears to be.)

Update 8:00AM Friday Morning: We now know that the girl is a teenager from Brazil. (Thank Heaven she was not wearing a black beret.) I'm still reserving judgment until I see video of this same moment. Anything can look bad in a snapshot. Remember a few months back we saw a photo of Obama "bowing" to a Saudi King when none else in the room did. He denied it. But when the video came out, it clearly was a bow or bent-knee curtsy. Likewise, the video will reveal the truth of what might be called "The Snapshot Heard 'Round the World."

I have not yet turned on the radio or TV this morning, but I predict that the talk of the day--if this story has legs (as they say in journalism)--will not be about whether or not the peek happened. The act itself will be minimized to water-cooler talk about how everybody does it, "look don't touch" is okay, etc. It will be laughingly swept under the rug by the media boys and girls and late-night jokesters in Clintonesque fashion (If the snapshot were of George W. Bush there'd be no end to it even if the video proved his innocence!)

If that's the case, working women beware. Just when you thought you were "equal," the president will have inadvertently made ogling younger models of "the weaker sex" acceptable again.

So far, the "boys will be boys" tone has come through in the articles already printed in some parts of the world. Apparently, the bum story does have legs: I hope it's cleared up as the day goes on.

Article One: "Oh là là, President Checks Out Bum"
Article Two: "Quello sguardo "indiscreto" di Obama" (which I think means "Off-guard indiscretion of Obama")
Article Three: "Tail to the Chief"

Friday Night Update: ABC did Obama a favor and showed the video that I presumed would surface, and in this case... President Obama seems to have passed the test that former President Clinton [and French President Sarkozy] failed. As I originally said, with these new cameras that let the paparazzi take countless snapshots per second, a photo can catch a misleading and or unflattering fragment of time. See video here.
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