Yesterday, a pool report out of Ohio indicated that Obama had refused to trade a trademark fist-bump with a 12-year-old in Ohio, with the words, "If I start that..."
By this morning, Maureen Dowd in the NYT was citing the episode as part of Obama's effort to be more "conventional." The Washington Post saw it as a symbol of his ideological shift for the general election, reporting, "He just keeps moving to the center." New York Magazine called it a "sad little tidbit."
But wait! Someone bothered to go back over the videotape of Obama refusing to fist-bump the tyke. Here's the actual exchange, as the kid raised his hand, from ABC's Political Radar:
"Child: Can you sign my hand?
"Obama: If I start that...plus Mom might not be happy when she comes home. She'll be like, 'what is the dirt on your hand?'...see ya.
"Child: Can you sign it in pen so it will come off?"
So, it had nothing to do with a fist bump. Maybe whoever did that pool report .... shouldn't do any more pool reports.