Fist Bump Overshadows Ass-Slap

The obsession with Barack and Michelle's "fist bump" on national TV last week has caused the media to ignore an equally important gesture that the couple shared just moments later, a prominent media critic said today.

"The mainstream media and the blogosphere have been buzzing about the fact that the Obamas bumped fists," said Davis Logsdon, Dean of the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism. "But no one seems to have noted that right after the fist bump, Barack slapped Michelle on the ass."

Dr. Logsdon, using a DVD player with a slow-motion control, showed students in his Advanced Media Criticism class a clip of the now-famous fist bump, which, just seconds later, gave way to a clearly discernable ass-slap.

The journalism professor said that the media's overemphasis on the fist bump and underemphasis on the ass-slap is "symptomatic of the shoddy coverage we've seen" this election cycle.

"There has been an endless deconstruction of the so-called fist bump," he said. "Why hasn't the media devoted the same attention to the ass-slap?"

One possible exception is Fox News' anchor ED Hill, who today called the ass-slap "a common Islamofascist greeting."

"When Al-Qaeda bigwigs get together, slapping each other on the ass is shorthand for 'Death to America,'" Ms. Hill reported.

Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and at his award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com. He hosts "Countdown to the Election, with special guests Joy Behar (The View) and Jeffrey Toobin (CNN, bestselling author of "The Nine") at the 92nd Street Y in NYC on October 22 at 8 PM. Student tickets half-price. For tickets go to 92y.org.