I am watching Obama hold a town hall meeting in Ohio. It is not a confidence inducing event.
Those that read my posts on here are often at a lose as to how to classify me. Hard line conservatives think I’m liberal. Hard line liberals think I am conservative. I have probably cast equal votes over the years for both the Democratic and Republican parties. Heck, I even voted for Ross Perot one year.
Having said this, what I am watching on TV is nauseating. I do not know if he is shell shocked or just ill prepared, but for the first ten minutes it appeared as though he had suffered a stroke. Stumbling, stuttering, full of uhms and ahhs.
He has moved on to the usual fluff filled, substance free, feel good nonsense. He is trying to sell the public on how he has pushed the envelope in transparency (not kidding).
He is harping on how he is going to make the big banks pay for their mistakes, yet he is justifying their bailouts along with those of the automakers and the GSE’s (Fannie and Freddie).
By main reason for posting this is how struck I was with his demeanor. What I am seeing comes across more like a “slick willy” salesman or a trial lawyer. What I am seeing does not strike me as presidential. I am not inspired, reassured, or comforted.
He is milking the “we want our money back” line. I don’t blame him. He is pandering to Joe Plumber and Martha Homemaker. I suspect this will be his new catchphrase. Never mind the incongruency. This is a man who has surrounded himself with Wall Street. He gave them the checkbook and let them fill out the sum. They wrote the script and then paid themselves record bonuses.
I have watched the markets sink to their low of the day while he is speaking. It appears that maybe I am not the only one who feels this way.
Can you blame his efforts? He looks inept and incapable after losing in Mass, I think he is in preservation mode right now. He tried to downplay the Brown victory, but at bare minimum, it gives the Dems much to think about regarding their current direction and the public’s disapproval of it. He said he is all about jobs, and always has been, (personally the large majority of what he has been preaching has been about health care.) He is going to give the State of the Union Address soon, with nothing to show for his first year in office. He will tout Cash for Suckers, Bailout (oops I mean stimulus), and creation of jobs (fictitious since only government jobs were made, of which were counted two and three times over). Just a side note, the umemployment rate in Ohio for the month of December was 10.9%, wonder why he is yappin’ about jobs there?
But let’s look at what he did accomplish, or try to accomplish. An enormous contribution to government spending and national debt increase. Bribes to senators (cash for cloture). Tax exemptions for unions for support of health care. Ridiculous ideas like Cash for Clunkers, which resulted in many dealerships raising the prices of their vehicles but the same amount the government was crediting people with. He went back on his mention of showing true transparency using CSPAN, which he campaigned on. Then Gibbs stood there and insulted the intelligence of people when he tried to pass it off on us, as if we wouldn’t check him on it. Auto bailouts, of which a large portion was used to pay off the insane pensions that UAW is indebted to pay.
if you noticed the tone of that town hall meeting, he looked like he was campaigning, more than leading. Someone should have told him he won the election back in 2008, now he actually has to lead the country…whoops?
There is undoubtedly a reason why Obama has not had a single press conference since July – more than 6 months ago.
(And that one was only for the purpose of announcing that although he did not have all the facts yet, it was clear that the police had “acted stupidly.”)
Somehow, the major media give him a complete pass on his total avoidance these last six months of everything except controlled situations with pre-selected “in the tank” journalists.
All I heard was, “I WONT STOP FIGHTING, I WONT STOP FIGHTING” for about 5 minutes. I then swore at the TV and left. MaximusB, good post, nice summation of his first year in office and how awful it was. It’s sad: I believe Obama means well for the country (like most people) but he is just so stuck in his views that he is running this country into the ground.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Somehow, the major media give him a complete pass on his total avoidance these last six months of everything except controlled situations with pre-selected “in the tank” journalists.[/quote]
Wow, Obama went 6 months without a press conference? Outrageous. Why don’t you remind us how few press conferences Dubya gave, and how much that bothered you.
You guys will bitch about Obama no matter what… you have Obama Derangement Syndrome. It’s just pissing in the wind though. If Obama gave a monthly press conference, you’d complain that he was doing too many. It’s just mindless Obama bashing.
I have a sense that Obama wants to do a lot of good things, but like most politicians their corporate owners won’t let them. It is too early to make a prediction, but if Obama turns out to be a one term president expect a farewell speech that spills the beans on who really runs the show.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Somehow, the major media give him a complete pass on his total avoidance these last six months of everything except controlled situations with pre-selected “in the tank” journalists.[/quote]
Wow, Obama went 6 months without a press conference? Outrageous. Why don’t you remind us how few press conferences Dubya gave, and how much that bothered you.
You guys will bitch about Obama no matter what… you have Obama Derangement Syndrome. It’s just pissing in the wind though. If Obama gave a monthly press conference, you’d complain that he was doing too many. It’s just mindless Obama bashing.[/quote]
it doesn’t matter if you want to do well for the country, but more importantly, do you have the sack to stand up to union and lobbyist pressures, which is what I think most people thought would happen with Obama’s change. People are tired of typical Washington politics, yet Obama has thrown his hat in the ring himself. This is why people (at least myself) are so pissed.
Years back, I once heard a MLB pitcher say in a press conference, “I never got outplayed, I only got out milligrammed.” Same idea, he is doing the same thing as past presidents, when he ran on CHANGE.
I happened to see in attribution that Kid Kommunist 2000 had, as usual, some ridiculous things to say. Ordinarily I wouldn’t bother but as there is a factual matter that many may not know, I’ll make an exception.
The obvious knee-jerk idiocy of immediately citing Bush, when no one was talking about Bush
The stupidity of thinking that because there are individuals suffering the disorder, described and defined by a psychiatrist, of Bush Derangement Syndrome does not mean that individuals pointing out failings of Obama suffer from “Obama Derangement Syndrome.” However it’s at the usual thinking level of this idiot.
Now the factual matter: Not that it is relevant to whether Obama is ducking open questioning from reporters, but if we have to bring up Bush for some bizarre reason, then
a) It was widely recognized that Bush held relatively few press conferences and he was widely criticized for it
b) Bush held press conferences considerably more frequently than Obama is. For example information on that, here was something quickly found, written in 2006:
"President Bush has never been a big fan of press conferences. He held only 17 solo question-and-answer sessions with reporters in his first term (not counting brief joint appearances with visiting heads of state). That was the lowest total of any president in the television age.
"The declining standing of the news media may have had something to do with the president’s decision to ignore them. Indeed, first chief of staff Andrew Card once remarked that the White House felt members of the press don’t represent the public any more than other people do.
"But there seems to have been something of a change of heart in Bush’s second term.
“In the 21 months since his second inaugural, Bush has already held 15 solo press conferences. Last year, 2005, he held nine: more than double the number he averaged each of his first four years. In 2006, he’s already held six, including one in each of the last five months. At this rate his second term would not only easily surpass his first-term total but equal it in two years.”
So, 17 in the first term averages more than 4 per year, which is more than Obama.
It’s really sad that those such as Kid Kommunist always have to make everything revolve around Bush. So useless and simply distracting when the issue is what is going on now. But what does one expect in derangement cases.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Yes, I agree that Obama if not re-elected will reveal that he was George Soros’ puppet.
Because politicians usually reveal such things when they leave office.[/quote]
I was thinking more along the lines of Eisenhower and his farewell speech about the military industrial complex except more modern like the insurance, pharmaceutical, private prison, banking etc complex.
Bill Roberts, you should stick to writing about nutrition, rather than revealing yourself to be a hateful reactionary dumbass on par with the Headhunters of the world. Frankly, it reflects poorly on Biotest, to have you spouting your negativity here day after day, and personally attacking Biotest customers because they disagree with your viewpoints. But maybe Biotest only wants Right Wing customers?
If Obama would give a lot of press conferences, then you’d complain about that too… you’d whine about the Liberal Media and how Obama was running to the Media for cover. You’re just an Obama basher, and that’s about as deep as it goes.
Also Bill, if you’re going to write a bunch of bullshit comparing Bush’s press conference to Obama’s, you should at least bother to get the facts straight!!!
So you’re just plain wrong – again. But don’t let that interfere with your whining and complaining.
[quote]K2000 wrote:
Bill Roberts, you should stick to writing about nutrition, rather than revealing yourself to be a hateful reactionary dumbass on par with the Headhunters of the world.
Frankly, it reflects poorly on Biotest, to have you spouting your negativity here day after day, and personally attacking Biotest customers because they disagree with your viewpoints. But maybe Biotest only wants Right Wing customers?
If Obama would give a lot of press conferences, then you’d complain about that too… you’d whine about the Liberal Media and how Obama was running to the Media for cover. You’re just an Obama basher, and that’s about as deep as it goes.
[/quote]
Surely we do not have a liberal democrat harping against free speech.
I would think Biotest would welcome both Right Wing and Wingnuts. After all, what could be more democratic than voting with your dollars.
[quote]K2000 wrote:
Bill Roberts, you should stick to writing about nutrition, rather than revealing yourself to be a hateful reactionary dumbass on par with the Headhunters of the world.
Frankly, it reflects poorly on Biotest, to have you spouting your negativity here day after day, and personally attacking Biotest customers because they disagree with your viewpoints. But maybe Biotest only wants Right Wing customers?
If Obama would give a lot of press conferences, then you’d complain about that too… you’d whine about the Liberal Media and how Obama was running to the Media for cover. You’re just an Obama basher, and that’s about as deep as it goes.
[/quote]
Someone needs to hold your head underwater for just a little while.
Obama is on to something. He knows that opening his mouth too often is exactly what his political opponents want.
Personally, I would love to see him speak every chance he got. That would absolutely guarantee a complete failure of his presidency. Unfortunately, his handlers found out early on what happens when you stick a mic and camera in front of him and he hasn’t been properly coached, cued, and the crowd controlled.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Somehow, the major media give him a complete pass on his total avoidance these last six months of everything except controlled situations with pre-selected “in the tank” journalists.[/quote]
Wow, Obama went 6 months without a press conference? Outrageous. Why don’t you remind us how few press conferences Dubya gave, and how much that bothered you.
You guys will bitch about Obama no matter what… you have Obama Derangement Syndrome. It’s just pissing in the wind though. If Obama gave a monthly press conference, you’d complain that he was doing too many. It’s just mindless Obama bashing.[/quote]
it doesn’t matter if you want to do well for the country, but more importantly, do you have the sack to stand up to union and lobbyist pressures, which is what I think most people thought would happen with Obama’s change.[quote]
I quite agree with you on this, if you could pull back on the lobbyist and union pressures there is probably alot that could be accomplished.
And yes I am a proud member of the IAFF, but the problem is the UAW. My health insurance is already costly enough due to the risks inherit within my profession.
And I do not agree with the tax exemption for unions. Nobody should pay a tax on their health care benefits.