First, there was Michelle Obama touching the Queen!!  Oh dear heavens!

Then there was President Obama’s “servile, scraping” handshake/bow with the Saudi King.

If you’re sympathetic to Newt Gingrich, you were no doubt outraged and terrified to see Barack Obama shaking hands with Hugo Chavez earlier this week.

And who can forget Barack and Michelle’s infamous “terrorist fist-jab,” or as another Fox News reporter put it, “fisting with one another.”

At the risk of appearing to make the common mistake of assuming the echo chambers of the media in any way truly resemble popular culture; are we really this hypersensitive about touching? And if so, when the hell did the memo get sent out?

The  practice of shaking hands dates back to at least the 2nd century BC, and has been common in the western world since the 16th century.  Many believe the ritual of shaking hands finds origin in the act of checking one another for concealed weapons, or as a symbolic disarmament and embrace in the spirit of peace.

Across the world, the etiquette for shaking hands often differs in many small ways, but one thing is virtually universal – to refuse an offered hand without good reason is seen as inappropriate, if not outright insulting.

It is a well-known fact that babies will die if deprived of a human touch.  Humans need contact with one another, particularly as a basis for right relations.

Shaking hands, in all its many forms, serves as both a gesture of good faith and an opportunity to evaluate the other person’s character – they say you can learn a lot about a person from their handshake.

It’s no secret that Obama likes to communicate with his touch.  Apparently, this is a cause of great concern for some.  I understand that one of the best terms for belittling liberals is “touchy-feely” but I’m starting to think this has gone a little too far.

These kneejerk reactions to human contact reinforce a dangerous sense of alienation.  As a society we have become so concerned about appearances, terrified of being inadvertently sexual, and mistrusting of one another’s motives that the basic act of touching another human being is becoming taboo.

But maybe I’m being too touchy-feely, and Newt Gingrich is right… like he said, “we didn’t rush over, smile, and greet Russian dictators,” right?

Oh, right… well, it’s unbecoming to the American president or his administration to be too chummy with known dictators from South America, or the Middle East!

Um… Saudi Kings?

Well, apparently world politics is just one big game of grab-ass. Perhaps we should keep that in mind next time some pundit starts hyperventilating over the president’s latest sign of basic human decency.

[Full Disclosure: I probably could have found more images to share, and I wanted to further address the "terrorist fist-jab," but I simply couldn't bring myself to Google for "Bush fisting"]

Vice President Joe Biden said recently;

“Since the beginning of last year, there have been nearly 7,000 drug-related murders in Mexico. If we had said that years ago, we would have looked at each other like we were crazy.  Violent drug trafficking organizations are threatening both the United States and Mexican communities.”

While the Mexican government has been deploying thousands of troops to border towns like Ciudad Juarez, U.S. governors in border states are becoming increasingly concerned, including Texas governor Rick Perry who recently made an “urgent call” for 1,000 additional National Guard troops to be deployed to his state to assist with securing the border.

President Barack Obama said recently that several states have requested additional deployments, although according to a Pentagon spokesperson they have not yet been ordered to move any troops to the border.  The president has said he has no interest in “militarizing the border,” and there has been no discussion of sending U.S. troops into Mexico.  However, the Mexican government currently has 5 helicopers, a Marine surveillance vehicle and handheld scanners on loan from the U.S.

Obama and Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met earlier this month in anticipation of Mullen’s recent trip to Mexico.  The White House is eager to assist in stablizing the region, and has been mobilizing all resources to address the problem.  Secretary of State Clinton will be in Mexico later this month.  A House subcommittee is expected to question Department of Homeland Security officials in an attempt to address potential dangers to our citizens at home in upcoming hearings.

Mexican government officials share their own concerns about their neighbor in all this – turns out, the majority of the weapons being used in attacks in Mexico have been of U.S. origin.  Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz told CNN that two .50-caliber rifles were confiscated during a recent raid, both of which were purchased via the Internet, from the U.S., citing an example of the easily availability of heavy military-grade firearms to those with the cash.  Mexican officials are increasing pressure on the U.S. to clamp down on the flow of firearms across the border.

Despite a recent U.S. State Department travel alert which compared the fighting between the cartels and local authorities to “small-unit combat,” Mexico’s tourism chief reports no decrease in tourism as a result of the increased killings.  According to him, Mexico is perfectly safe as long as you avoid the “zones that are not safe.”  Well, now I feel better.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the details, and the numbers.  Safe zones and unsafe zones, so many deaths, so many soldiers, so much cash – Forbes added Joaquin Guzman Loera, the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, to their billionaire’s list this year, “self-made” in the “shipping” industry.  Our continuation of the failed War on Drugs is no small part of this mess, and by now it should be clear we have no option other than to legitimize and marginalize the drug cartels if we are ever to restore peace to the border towns of either country.

The Obama administration wants a clean slate after the recent Russian invasion of Georgia, and Clinton arrived with a gift; a red plastic button in a green box, emblazoned with the Russian word for “reset” — er, make that “overcharged”.

Turns out the two words aren’t so dissimilar (peregruzka, perezagruzka), and an apparent clerical error resulted in a lost-in-translation moment.

“In a way, the word that’s on the button turns out to be also true.  We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an overload of work.”

Clinton deftly joked, at a press conference later in the day.

Time will tell if a new administration will succesfully make and use a clean slate, or if the typo becomes prophetic.