Indonesian Official Alleges Handshake with Michelle Obama Was Non-Consensual

In a controversy that is shaking the Twitterverse, Indonesian information minister Tifatul Sembiring claims that he was forced into shaking hands with First Lady Michelle Obama. Responding to taunts on Twitter (Twaunts?) that he violated his code of avoiding contact with women to whom he is not related, Sembiring told his followers “”I tried to prevent (being touched) with my hands but Mrs. Michelle held her hands too far toward me (so) we touched.”

Luckily, the Associated Press caught the First Lady’s salutory siege on video. Did Sembiring try to fend off the greeting, or is this just so much hand jive? (h/t Alan Colmes)

Here’s the clip. Watch closely at around the 18 second mark.

He doesn’t look all that reluctant. Maybe she employed a Jedi-whispered “This is the hand you are looking for.”

While this incident is being widely, deservedly mocked all over the internet, there are a few important takeaways. The outsize attention that this trivial encounter is receiving has an American mirror image in the right-of-center media’s idiotic obsession with the bowing customs of US presidents. Or, rather, just one US president.

More importantly, though, the world will be waiting to see if Sembiring can actually pull off this excuse. If he does, this could be a valuable precedent for men everywhere who are “forced” into contact with women, alas, too late to save Tiger Woods.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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