There’s a lot of buzz over this clip of President Bush going down the line of world leaders at the G20 Summit and not shaking anyone’s hand or being offered a hand to shake. Many people note that this video is misleading because he had already met with everyone earlier in the day and shook all their hands and that’s why he’s just kind of walking by, head down. One commenter on Huffington Post calls it “diplomatic protocol” and another says “But this is clearly not about being shunned by global leaders as he had previously met with each for a ceremonial hand-shake photo-op.” Others say it really looks like there’s a coordinated effort not to shake his hand and note that no one really looks him in the eye.

One of the most accurate comments may be this one:
“It makes sense that nobody is shaking his hand because they had seen each other previously, while some of the others had not seen one another. HOWEVER, the fact remains that they are still ignoring him. Other people would still chat or smile or laugh or toss off an aside. Not here. He is pretty much the invisible man.”

To me it looks like he’s trying to avoid shaking anyone’s hand for whatever reason, probably because he already met them all, and that toward the end of the line the other important people pick up on it. Once he starts looking up they figure he’s not into shaking hands and don’t offer one. It’s not like Bush put his hand out and got ignored, but there’s definitely some tension in the rarefied air.

The National Enquirer has a new story this week that seems like speculation about how Laura Bush’s new memoir may be a tell-all about her husband’s problems. They say she’s going to dish about how Bush started drinking again after 9/11. They also claim that Laura thought Bush had something going on with Condoleezza Rice at one point, though, so their source is a bit suspect.