"We know that Europe loves President Obama. He had adoring crowds. The press loves Obama. The question is how will this date end? Okay? The question is, to what end? Why do they love President Obama? They love his personal story, they love his wife. North Korea, China and Russia don't really care about Michelle's arms and, you know, whether they gave an iPod to the Queen, okay?"
About this Quote
The “how will this date end?” line is doing double duty. It feminizes and trivializes diplomacy, casting Europe as swooning and Obama as a charming lead. That gendered metaphor lets her contrast “feelings” with “results,” implicitly claiming the adult world is made of hard men and hard interests. The punch lands when she pivots to adversaries: “North Korea, China and Russia don’t really care about Michelle’s arms.” She pulls an image associated with lifestyle coverage and turns it into a stand-in for everything she thinks is wrong with Obama’s brand: aesthetics, celebrity, and symbolic gestures.
The iPod-to-the-Queen reference crystallizes the critique of “optics diplomacy,” but it also reveals her own media awareness. She’s not arguing policy details; she’s arguing the story people are telling about policy, and insisting it’s dangerously naive. Subtext: admiration from Europeans and elites is itself disqualifying, a cultural marker that Obama is performing for the wrong audience while real threats remain unimpressed.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sarcastic |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Ingraham, Laura. (2026, January 16). We know that Europe loves President Obama. He had adoring crowds. The press loves Obama. The question is how will this date end? Okay? The question is, to what end? Why do they love President Obama? They love his personal story, they love his wife. North Korea, China and Russia don't really care about Michelle's arms and, you know, whether they gave an iPod to the Queen, okay? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-know-that-europe-loves-president-obama-he-had-126560/
Chicago Style
Ingraham, Laura. "We know that Europe loves President Obama. He had adoring crowds. The press loves Obama. The question is how will this date end? Okay? The question is, to what end? Why do they love President Obama? They love his personal story, they love his wife. North Korea, China and Russia don't really care about Michelle's arms and, you know, whether they gave an iPod to the Queen, okay?" FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-know-that-europe-loves-president-obama-he-had-126560/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We know that Europe loves President Obama. He had adoring crowds. The press loves Obama. The question is how will this date end? Okay? The question is, to what end? Why do they love President Obama? They love his personal story, they love his wife. North Korea, China and Russia don't really care about Michelle's arms and, you know, whether they gave an iPod to the Queen, okay?" FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-know-that-europe-loves-president-obama-he-had-126560/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.





