The XX Factor: What women really think.

Barack Doesn't Shake It

I see that the blogosphere is aflame - oh, it must be Tuesday - with a debate about whether Obama snubbed Hillary at last night's State of the Union. I didn't catch this moment, or lack of one, myself. Which is a shame, because after Kennedy endorsed Obama yesterday, I truthfully was a lot more curious about what the Kennedy-Clinton-Obama body language would be than about whether Bush would make it all the way through his last SOTU without ever once correctly pronouncing the word nuclear. (Si, se puede!)

But here is the play-by-lay from Frank James, on the Chicago Tribune's The Swamp: "As Clinton approached, Kennedy made sure to make eye contact and indicated he wanted to shake her hand. Clinton leaned towards Kennedy over a row of seats and Kennedy leaned in towards her. They shook hands. Obama stood icily staring at Clinton during this, then turned his back and stepped a few feet away. Kennedy may've wanted to make peace with Clinton but Obama clearly wanted no part of that. "

On MSNBC this morning, Obama adviser David Axelrod denied said snub: "First of all, they acknowledged each other as they entered the chamber. But I think he knew that Senator Kennedy and Senator Clinton were friends. This was obviously an awkward day from that standpoint, and I don't think he wanted to stand there while Senator Kennedy was greeting Senator Clinton. And I think that was an appropriate sentiment. Unfortunately, the camera caught it in a different way, and so it got interpreted that way. And that's the kind of environment we're in right now. It's a very competitive race, so every little thing is going to be interpreted in that way. But it was really a matter of letting Senator Kennedy have his own conversation, his own greeting with Senator Clinton without him hovering over them...I think it's understandable that he would not want to stand there with Senator Kennedy as if he were lording it over her."

Today, some Obama backers are arguing that he might not have even seen her, though this seems unlikely, given that one thing we can definitely conclude about last night is that she should wear red more often. Others in the Obama camp say good for him, refusing to shake the hand of someone so willing to whip out the race card. And of course, Hillary backers are outraged that Mr. Nice Guy, who is supposed to bring us all together, refused to reach out to her on his campaign's best day.

Whether Obama was being ungracious, authentic or tactful in a way that did not serve his political interests, I don't know. But I can't help thinking of how big a deal it was when Claytie Williams, who was running for Texas governor against Ann Richards in 1990, refused to shake her hand at a debate; it really was a turning point. Of course, last night's missing handclasp was nothing like that blatant. And Barack Obama is certainly no Claytie Williams, who handed what was left of his support from women to Richards when he observed that bad weather is like rape - "as long as it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.'' Still, for future reference: When in doubt, shake it.