While some netizens were amused by Obama’s appearance in the photograph, others claimed that the 44th POTUS “has a much better and down to earth personality than many other presidents”.
A Reddit post displaying a photo of former US President Barack Obama from nearly a decade and a half ago has recently gotten a lot of attention online.
The image in question, titled “Obama socializing in Russia (2005)” and upvoted almost 3.9 thousand times, depicts Obama and US Senator Richard Lugar, together with several other men (only Obama’s and Lugar’s faces are visible), raising glasses filled with clear liquid, likely alcohol.
However, according to a 2008 NYT report, on Obama’s 2005 trip to Russia, the 44th President of the United States “priggishly requested that his vodka shot glass be filled with water.”.
“This picture is odd, it’s like he’s both really out of place but also fitting right in,” one Reddit user remarked, with another responding that something seemed “off” and suggesting that “some photoshopping” might have been involved.
“That look on Obama’s face. Hilarious,” quipped yet another user, netting themselves the following reply: “Maybe it’s cause they gave him a glass of straight vodka.”
“He looks like he’s just been told that ‘this is our culture, you must drink the vodka’ and he doesn’t wanna disrespect their culture but they are really just yanking his chain and are trying to get him all jacked up and he knows it,” a Reddit user speculated.
As per Sputniknews, one person also argued that Obama “has a much better and down-to-earth personality than many other presidents.”
In 2005, when Obama was still a US senator, he and Lugar traveled to Russia and inspected the facilities where nuclear weapons were held before being destroyed under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program.
