As I read this, I wondered if there is a Russian Col. Mustard:
So what is it with Ray’s Hell Burger? Could it be winning the White House Burger Battle?
Let’s ask the president of Russia. We know President Obama is a fan.
On a sweltering summer day in Washington on Thursday, Mr. Obama passed on lunch from the White House chefs to take his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev, across the Potomac to Ray’s, a hamburger joint in Arlington, Va.
Mr. Obama might almost qualify as a Ray’s regular: he and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. went there on a surprise lunch run last year.
Mr. Obama had a cheddar cheeseburger with onions, lettuce, tomato and bread-and-butter pickles, with a bottle of iced tea to wash it down. Mr. Medvedev also ordered the cheddar burger, but he added jalapenos, onions and mushrooms, and paired it with a bottle of Coca-Cola.
Is there some Russian wingnut blogger pitching a fit of apoplexy because Medvedev did something “un-Russian” by eating jalapenos on a burger or drinking a Coca-cola, the symbol of capitalist excess?
Paris
In Soviet Russia, jalapenos eat you.
dmsilev
Yes yes, but did Obama use mustard or ketchup, and no matter what the answer, it proves that he’s incapable of connecting with ordinary Americans.
dms
djork
Having spent some time in Russia, I would not be surprised. There is an ugly, nationalistic streak in parts of the country much like here.
Yossarian
Not for nothing, but this is another reason to be an Obama supporter. Ray’s is the best, and the President clearly has taste.
4tehlulz
@djork: “President Medvedev’s use of cheese on his meat patty is a silent protest against the Jewish forces plotting to take over Mother Russia.”
EconWatcher
John, you’re a little behind the times. Russia itself is a symbol of capitalist excess.
EconWatcher
Yossarian:
As a Northern Virginia resident, I concur. And for those who visit the DC area, consider a pilgrimage to Ray’s.
Dave S.
@4tehlulz: Change that to “Jewish-Masonic forces” and you’re getting warmer.
Bill E Pilgrim
You’re wondering if there are people in other countries whose political rants are based on their own politicians being too American?
Er, that would be a yes. There are entire political parties built around the idea. It’s one of the major criticisms leveled at Sarkozy in his country for instance, by nearly everyone outside of his conservative party, not to mention no small percentage of those in it.
Of course, with most of the rest of the world feeling the constant encroachment of McDonaldDisneyBucks into their own cultures, they all may have just a bit more reason to justify such complaints.
Put another way, despite what our homegrown wingers may think, the idea that we’re being taken over by mustard restaurants from other countries is, well, absurd. Actually the number of Chinese, Italian,or Mexican food joints in the US has been enough to equal a massive cultural invasion for decades, it’s funny that you never hear them complaining about that.
Redshirt
They shared an order of fries? I’m seeing Gay Wedding Bells in the future!
Rosalita
@dmsilev:
I saw the photo yesterday, looks like mustard, Gulden’s this time judging by the bottle… is that elitist too?
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
This picture looks like Obama is saying, “Hey everyone, this is my buddy Dmitry” while Medvedev gives a slightly shy, “hey.”
Violet
Bread-and-butter pickles? On a hamburger? Real Murkins would insist on dill pickles. Yet more proof Obama is a sekrit Muslin Kenyan.
Zifnab
@djork: Nah. Medvedev is Putin’s man, and they’re the ones friendly with the state media. More likely, you’ll see some Russian Chris Matthews telling about the tingle he gets between his legs every time he sees the President sink his teeth into a symbol of the American Empire.
Zifnab
@Bill E Pilgrim: Where the hell is all our old fashioned English fair? I haven’t had a boiled slab of meat in forever. Reconquista! Reconquista! Papa John’s is trying to take over America!
djork
Throw in some Chechen bashing too. I’m pretty sure wingnut Russians would consider Obama to be, for all pratical purposes, a “Chacha.”
It would probably go something like this:
“Medvedev is sucking up to that Chechen lover- Obama and the American-Jewish cabal. They want to overrun the Mother Russia with Pizza Huts and sell our women to the Asiatic hordes to our east. Procreate for the motherland!! Strength in numbers!!!”
If this were Rushki Limbuagh, you’d hear the Red Army Choir version of theSoviet National Anthem playing the background until it faded out and a boner pill commercial came on.
djork
True. But IF Russia allowed dissenting views in the media…
As an aside, I actually really like Medeved. It’s shame he’s only a placeholder for the return of Putin.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Zifnab Well you could get pretty decent English fare at the Renaissance Fair. (Do they still have those?) Otherwise, good question. Why oh why doesn’t the world come running in a mad rush to English food?
Okay I’m being sarcastic. Actually, English food of the right kind can be fantastic. I’m speaking of course about fish and chips. I’ve never, once, had a decent one outside of the UK. Sitting on a bench on a freezing cold day in London, wrapped in newspaper, oh man. And the fish and chips wasn’t bad either.
jron
@Bill E Pilgrim: I’ve always thought the whole point of the British Empire was to find better food. And in that regard it served its purpose.
Jay C
More importantly, have any of our own homegrown nutbars pitched an online fit over Pres. Obama’s quaffing of iced tea during his and Pres. Medvedev’s visit to Ray’s??
I mean, ICED TEA? If he were a Real Man/Real Amurrican ™, wouldn’t he be drinking a Coke, or a beer, or something? Something other than that weak, feminized, foreign-influenced pisswater?
Just goes to show: Democrats can;t be trusted with national security. Ever!
donnah
Wait, they didn’t order the broiled puppy and kitten combo?
djork
Nah, the South would probably start supporting Obama in record numbers if the wingnuts began trashing iced tea.
Vico
Actually, Medvedev should drink Pepsi, a legacy of Nixon’s gift of the Soviet Union to his BFF Bebe Rebozo.
OriGuy
@Bill E Pilgrim: Renaissance Faires are still going on, including the first one in Southern California. I don’t think you can get a slab of boiled meat, though.
I remember being in Scotland on Sunday when the only place open in Grantown-on-Spey was the chip shop. The line was out the door with men. Getting inside, I saw that the buxom lasses leaning over to fill the orders were as much an attraction as the fish.
Bill E Pilgrim
@OriGuy: British town names are the best ever.
Who can forget Squatting on The Doon on a drizzly day, waiting for the Barking train…
Kevin Phillips Bong
@Zifnab: These days all the blokes I intersect with for work consider English food “a curry”, aka Indian. Aside from the occasional order of fish-n-chips.
Mike in NC
What, Ray’s doesn’t carry vodka?
russell
I can live with the iced tea and the bread and butter pickles, but the man has them cook his burger medium well.
Medium well?!?
That’s another cow that died in vain. I just can’t forgive that.
casey
Bread and butter pickles? Not kosher pickles? Once again, Obama’s anti-Semitism shows. He can’t even order a hamburger without it coming out. Outrageous.
This is worse than the time he gave Mayor McCheese a DVD that can’t be played in McDonaldland. Or that time he bowed deeply to the Burgher King.
Quicksand
@Jay C:
Did he finish it and scream, “M-Fer, I want more iced tea!”
Now THAT would be American, n’est-ce pas?
asiangrrlMN
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: You nailed it with your comment. I snickered.
@Jay C: But, the Baggers of the Tea would have to be torn. I mean, after all, the noble tea is their beverage of choice, right?