Presidential Pecs; What's the Message?

The president removed his shirt in front of cameras while on vacation this month.
Not Bush. Putin.
The Russian president liked the results so much he posted several images on his presidential Web site.
It gained him a lot of feminine admirers since he looks quite muscular.
It also gained him gay admirers since they felt he was pleading for more tolerance for homosexuality, which shows anybody can get anything out of a photo.
The Putin pecs were revealed at about the same time it was charged that the magazine Paris Match airbrushed the love handles out of a photo it took of French President Nicolas Sarkozy canoeing on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.
In the bare-chested bonanza that has followed, Kremlin-watchers are trying to figure out the message.
After all, Putin says he plans to step down next year at the end of his second term. So why’s he need good P-R?
Among things for which President Bush will be remembered is his quote after meeting Putin in June 2001.
“I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul,” said admirer Bush.
The mutual admiration — Putin strongly supported Bush for re-election in 2004 — is long since gone. Putin’s soul doesn’t look all that pure.
If Putin had been shirtless when he first met Bush, one wonders if Bush would have noticed his eyes enough to made his miscalculation.