Could be that I’m in denial because it’s too depressing to believe that a guy’s business might actually be boycotted because he clowned around with the president, but unless I’m missing something there’s no organized boycott happening. When Van Duzer says “boycott,” I think he’s referring to individual people grumbling on Yelp that they won’t eat at his place anymore. And if you follow that last link, you’ll find that as of tonight there are way, way, way more people rallying to his side — partly as a reaction to the churlishness of the “boycotters” — than there are people who are peeved at him. Makes me wonder if him talking up a boycott is actually a smart, savvy businessman’s play, knowing that while he might lose a handful of diehard anti-Obama customers, he’ll gain a bunch of publicity among liberals who’ll want to show solidarity by eating there. At least, that’s what I’m hoping. Surely, if the liberal heathens of NYC can make common cause with Tim Tebow, local Republicans can still eat at Van Duzer’s place if they like his stuff. C’mon.

Oh, and by the way, Politico’s surely right that these beer and pizza photo ops for The One are no coincidence:

And, by way of contrast, he’d also like to remind the electorate about who doesn’t seem to enjoy bars, or sports, or sports bars. Hint: It’s the other candidate running for president, the guy who happens to be a teetotaler and who refers to “sport” as though he were doing an impression of Mr. Burns or an English Olympics official…

Some of this is geared toward appealing to male voters, whom Obama struggles with compared to women, and convincing everyday Americans that their arugula-eating president is no snob. But it’s hard to believe the president would be determined to demonstrate his passion for beer and football if he were running against, say, Tim Pawlenty, who was known to throw down his gloves on the ice from time to time growing up in Minnesota…

Prince, who has written on the potential pitfalls when it comes to candidates and food, put it this way: “Bill Clinton used to go to McDonalds. Sure he liked McDonalds, but he was also driving a contrast with Bush 41.”

Exit question: Did the Secret Service clear the hug heard ’round the world or not? Yesterday Van Duzer told the NYT that he got permission first. Today, in his interview with CNN below, he says that it was completely spur of the moment. Did the Times misunderstand him?