For Exhibit A, we have President Barack Obama, the tough Chicagoan, inured to the cold and snow:
President Obama led off a meeting on the economy yesterday with a lament familiar to local parents: "My children's school was canceled today. Because of what? Some ice?" he said, a note of derisive incredulity creeping into his voice. "As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled. In fact, my 7-year-old pointed out, you'd go outside for recess in weather like this. You wouldn't even stay indoors."
Okay, we've done our share of complaining about hair-trigger school closings. But something, well, rankled, just a bit when this newcomer thumped his chest about "flinty Chicago toughness" and proclaimed that "when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things."
In fact, didn’t he proclaim during his pre-election European tour that Americans should show leadership and turn their thermostats down? Why, yes, yes he did!
We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world's energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we'll be fine. Don't worry about us. That's not leadership.
Let’s look at Exhibit B, President Barack Obama, the hothouse flower, shall we?
NYT: WASHINGTON — The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.
“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”
What was that you were saying about leadership, Mr. President?