In the past few months I’ve noticed that, when greeting each other, more and more people are doing the Baracka Fist Bump. For those of you who didn’t see the Baracka Bump on TV, let me describe it. After he finally won the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack was on stage thanking everyone when his wife, Michelle, came up to join him. Instead of greeting each other with a hug or kiss, they gently bumped their closed fists together. It was more subdued than a high five and much more personal than a handshake. It was a greeting as well as an eloquent sign of victory. The gesture seemed to capture the spirit of the Obama campaign, and incidentally I believe that the fist bump may lead to something very important: the possible elimination of an outdated and unsanitary tradition—the handshake.
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