Posted on 05/27/2010 7:33:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As Shawn mentioned below, the Obama press conference today was literally unbelievable. The "checkers moment" ("daddy, did you plug the hole"?) he tried to insert in the presser came after an hour of unctuous lecturing and evasion. This may have been the most disastrous presidential press news conference since Nixon's famous "I am not a crook" moment.
It's hard to imagine a Republican president getting away with the weasel words offered today by Barack Obama. The President couldn't determine if MMS head Elizabeth Birnbaum was fired or she resigned. Even the Obama bread carriers at CBS were skeptical:
Elizabeth Birnbaum's departure was first reported as a "firing." Later, a "resignation." When asked for clarity, President Obama told the press corps today he had no idea.
"Did she resign," asked CBS White House Correspondent Chip Reid. "Was she fired? Was she forced out? And if so, why?"
"I found out about her resignation today," the president answered, "so I don't know the circumstances in which this occurred."
An incredulous press corps followed up.
"How is it that you didn't know about Ms. Birnbaum's resignation/firing before?" asked another reporter.
Mr. Obama: "Well, you're assuming it was a firing. If it was a resignation, then she would have submitted a letter to Mr. Salazar this morning at a time when I had a whole bunch of other stuff going on... Come on, I don't know. I'm telling you I found out about it this morning. So I don't yet know the circumstances, and Ken Salazar has been in testimony on the Hill."
After unequivocally stating that he owned and controlled every aspect of the BP oil spill catastrophe, this President doesn't know if his own Minerals and Management Service Director, which had oversight authority of the BP, was fired or resigned? He found out about it just this morning? What we need to know, actually, is who owns Interior Secretary Ken Salazar: the President or Congress?
Then came this whopper from Fox News about the Sestak job kick back/bribe allegation that simply won't go away:
President Obama said Thursday that the White House is preparing to issue a formal explanation regarding the allegation that it offered Rep. Joe Sestak a job to drop out of the Democratic primary race against Sen. Arlen Specter.
The president, addressing the matter in public for the first time since the Pennsylvania congressman leveled the claim in February, said the statement should answer questions about the claim and insisted "nothing improper" happened.
"There will be an official response shortly on the Sestak matter," Obama said, when asked about the issue by Fox News at the president's press conference. "I mean shortly -- I don't mean weeks or months. ... I can assure the public that nothing improper took place."
This form of "I'll get back to you on that" answer is truly outrageous. Even the genuflecting hard core liberals in the White House Press Corps had trouble swallowing that command. Is there anything that this president believes he can't make happen with his ability to turn a phrase and make his listeners disabuse themselves of doubt? As Allah noted, via Breitbart:
"White House cover-up of Sestak job offer not quite finished yet."
What makes me think this inexperienced young President, a recipient of the odd combination of a nation's goodwill and racial guilt, has suddenly found himself wagering greatly on the outcome of one press conference? (That was Charles Krauthammer's point tonight on Fox News) Barak Obama did not have to hold this presser today but he did, perhaps because of a confluence of events that were bearing down on him: the Sestak matter, the BP disaster, his falling poll numbers, the looming 2010 midterms and maybe James Carville's unhinged and unguarded critique of the president this weekend. So why did he do it? And perform so poorly?
This president is not just losing the ideological battle spectacularly. He is being consumed by a tidal wave of events that only an experienced executive can effectively manage. In short, he's in over his head and we will suffer the consequences.
Hey....his daughter asked if HE PLUGGED the HOLE!! That is ALL that matters!!
I don’t think he has even managed to zip his fly (at least by him self).
He is a criminal and mole/agent for people who want the US destroyed.
No wonder this doofus has avoided press conferences for almost a year. What an embarrassment to the country. ObaMao is so out of his league.
where is checkers?
Worse than lame.
Can’t figure out how he got a jump in the polls today.
He never managed more than a Dairy Queen...
"Daddy, did you plug the hole??"
"Not exactly. It was too big. But I fired a Jew!"
“Daddy, did you plug the hole?”
“That’s a personal question!”
Next question: Mr. President, are you aware that China just invaded Taiwan?
the report by the u.s. coast guard admiral this morning to the
effect that the well had been plugged,
now looks staged to build up obama’s first press conference in one year.
Hussain doesn't even know what's going on in his own regime? Who the hells driving this bus anyway???? We, as a nation, are royally screwed when the president can't even answer convincingly what happened to one of his department heads. I mean we're not talking about some low level clerk down at the local DMV. This person is a high level official.
Goes to show you what happens when you turn over the highest office in the country to someone who's never done a real days work in his life. What in God's name is a community organizer anyway and how does one land such a "job"?
His poll numbers went up a bit because there are many who get tingles up their legs everytime he speaks. And it matters not what he actually says ‘cause they don’t pay attention to that anyway. They just know he gives great speeches.
Hmm I wonder if Nixon’s Ghost is hanging around the WH these days...
That’s a joke... right?
The stupid people that elected him!!
This guy hasn’t made one decision since he got there. It was never in the plans for him to actually lead. His puppet masters are calling the shots. Problem is they never trained for a giant hole in the ocean spilling oil all over the place so they didn’t have a canned response. If it was a hurricane or chemical attack or even nuclear attack they’d already have the response on the teleprompter.
MSNBC loved that. But they still ridicule Nixon’s Checkers speech.
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