The College Fix

You might think this is a tongue-in-cheek moment (to be sure, most clear-thinking people do probably think that), but considering how the White House itself, some state governments, and many colleges are cracking down on any sort of conduct that could be construed as “sexual harassment,” the following behavior (via CNN.com) is highly questionable:

After Mike Jones joked to President Obama “Don’t touch my girlfriend” while at a voting booth in Chicago,

Obama got back at Jones after voting, with a hug and a kiss for his fiancée.

“On the cheek, just the cheek — please, Michelle, don’t come after me — just the cheek!” [Jones’ fiancée Aia] Cooper told CNN affiliate WLS-TV after voting.

“Now, he’s really jealous,” Obama told Cooper.

Hold on a second — did the president get an explicit verbal consent from Ms. Cooper to kiss her? No, he did not.

In fact, he ordered Ms. Cooper to kiss her:

I wonder what would happen to, say, a fraternity president if he had ordered a female party attendee to kiss him … hugging her all the while?

Without any clear — affirmative — consent, the frat prez could be brought up on sexual harassment/assault charges.

Don’t laugh! It’s not as if we haven’t read about such instances at least as silly …

Not to mention — haven’t we been told time and time again that sexual harassment is partly about “power differentials?” How much more powerful does it get than the president of the United States?

Read the full article.

h/t to Althouse.

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IMAGES: New Cellar Door Films/Flickr; CNN video screen capture