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President Say Anything Does So, Again and Again
Townhall ^ | February 5, 2010 | Hugh Hewitt

Posted on 02/05/2010 2:48:51 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

"I have seen more of President Obama than I have of my wife," said the caller from Atlanta. "And I'm a newlywed."

Funny. And true. And sad. Stung by his defeat in Massachusetts after a personal appearance on behalf of Martha Coakley and a long speech telling Massachusetts voters why they had to send her to Washington, President Obama seems intent on punishing the entire nation with speech after speech after speech.

We are to be cajoled into submission.

It isn’t working. “He talks and talks,” Mark Steyn said on my show Thursday. “And the more his rhetoric is detached from reality, the more he’s actually devaluing his only currency which is words.”

President Obama’s meeting with Senate Democrats on Wednesday is the perfect example of the political cul-de-sac he finds himself in. He is trying to use words to change the political weather, but the more he speaks, the more ridiculous his arguments appear.

He told the senators that "they needed to get out there, get out of Washington, out of the echo chamber." This is laughable when this past August is recalled. Democrats went home to their states and districts and found town halls jammed with Obamacare opponents. Then the president urged them to disregard the voters. They did so, and their political peril is palpable. Now the president is telling them to hold more town halls.

That’s not amazing as the president’s rewrite of budget history, which somehow ignores that the budget deficit was $161 billion in 2007 and now stands at $1.6 trillion, a staggering number that is spooking markets. “We’ve also got to get back to fiscal responsibility,” the president told the senators, and the listeners outside the room howled. Not only is the president not persuading the public of his ideas or his leadership skills, he is shrinking before their very eyes. It is a poor impersonation of Jon Lovitz, with the president thinking “that’s the ticket!” with every paragraph he utters.

President Obama does seem to realize that blaming President Bush, which was never very Presidential to begin with, has become almost a sign of adolescence. The new president is thus pivoting from blaming his predecessor to blaming the Congressional GOP. The president told the senators that they had had to face more filibusters in a single year than all of the filibusters of the 1950s and 1960s combined, and blamed the Republicans for obstructionism. Of course this is nonsense. Not a single successful partisan filibuster was mounted in 2009, which is not surprising because after Arlen Specter’s switch, the GOP totaled 40 votes. A handful of Obama nominees languished because significant numbers of Democrats joined Republicans in opposing them, but the idea that obstructionism prevailed throughout 2009 is risible, and a president who claims 60 votes is just not enough is risible as well.

The entire meeting was comedy though it was intended as drama, and the president left thinking he’d had another great day, just as he thinks he won his debate with Republicans the Friday before.

While the president pats himself on the back, however, the unemployment numbers climbed, the budget deficit shocked, the markets tanked and Iran threatened. President Obama is in a bubble of words and surrounded by “advisors” who are clearly overmatched by the world. Even Republicans have to hope a shuffle is ahead for the senior staff, and that some experienced leadership is brought to 1600. The country is in a difficult place, and unlike a debate tournament, losing a few rounds has enormous consequences.

We have to hope that the president recognizes that his speech offensive has become offensive, and that what really needs to be done is some work. Beginning with a red pen and his absurd budget. When he asks his party to do anything remotely difficult --and that does not include demanding ruinous taxes on the small businesses they so obviously disdain and in some cases despise-- people may begin to listen again.

Or perhaps not. President Obama may already be in reruns in most voters minds, which makes for a long three years ahead.


TOPICS: Editorial; Extended News; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bho44; congress; democrats; economy; massachusetts; obama; taxes; townhalls
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He'll never read an article like this, or watch Fox News. This is what happens when we elect a leader based on emotions.
1 posted on 02/05/2010 2:48:51 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Familiarity breeds contempt, let him yak, without the Totus he’s exposed as a nothing


2 posted on 02/05/2010 2:54:35 PM PST by 1000 silverlings (everything that deceives, also enchants: Plato)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe we should hope for a terrorist attack on the company that makes teleprompters. It would slow him down somewhat.


3 posted on 02/05/2010 2:58:46 PM PST by A Strict Constructionist (How long before we are forced to refresh the Tree of Liberty? Sic semper tryannis)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I wonder if any of his stooges, like Gibbs, has had the nerve to tell him how to pronounce Corps.


4 posted on 02/05/2010 2:59:25 PM PST by Malesherbes (Sauve qui peut)
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To: 1000 silverlings
This is what happens when you make an emotional purchase.

Buyers remorse.

5 posted on 02/05/2010 2:59:32 PM PST by Col Frank Slade
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This must be the year Zero is gonna crash and burn. His Kenyan roots just might betray him:

To the Kikuyu tribe of central Kenya, the number 10 is considered bad luck. In fact, “10” is so feared that no one speaks it aloud; they just skip that number when counting anything—especially people, since it’s thought to be particularly bad luck to count humans.

Fear 2010 Zero!!


6 posted on 02/05/2010 3:07:17 PM PST by flash2368
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He’s no longer giving campaign speeches, he’s ranting ... incoherently ...


7 posted on 02/05/2010 3:14:08 PM PST by SkyDancer (But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He needs to refer to the Supreme Court like a group of bastards a few more times.


8 posted on 02/05/2010 3:16:23 PM PST by BerryDingle (I know how to deal with communists, I still wear their scars on my back from Hollywood-Ronald Reagan)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
You talk too much!

9 posted on 02/05/2010 3:18:44 PM PST by mojitojoe (“Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.” - Vladimir Lenin)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

obama is turning into those stale old reruns.


10 posted on 02/05/2010 3:29:17 PM PST by cubreporter (Scott Brown turned it all around. The people CAN and DID make a difference!!!)
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To: AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...
President Obama's meeting with Senate Democrats on Wednesday is the perfect example of the political cul-de-sac he finds himself in. He is trying to use words to change the political weather, but the more he speaks, the more ridiculous his arguments appear. He told the senators that "they needed to get out there, get out of Washington, out of the echo chamber." This is laughable when this past August is recalled. Democrats went home to their states and districts and found town halls jammed with Obamacare opponents. Then the president urged them to disregard the voters. They did so, and their political peril is palpable. Now the president is telling them to hold more town halls. That's not amazing as the president's rewrite of budget history, which somehow ignores that the budget deficit was $161 billion in 2007 and now stands at $1.6 trillion, a staggering number that is spooking markets. "We've also got to get back to fiscal responsibility," the president told the senators, and the listeners outside the room howled.
Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
11 posted on 02/05/2010 3:33:14 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Happy New Year! Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: cubreporter

Jimmy Carter Lite


12 posted on 02/05/2010 3:35:45 PM PST by Fred911 (YOU GET WHAT YOU ACCEPT)
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To: A Strict Constructionist
"Maybe we should hope for a terrorist attack on the company that makes teleprompters. It would slow him down somewhat."

Or on the speechwriters. Hahahahahahaha!

13 posted on 02/05/2010 3:40:03 PM PST by jackibutterfly
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To: 1000 silverlings
Familiarity breeds contempt, let him yak, without the Totus he’s exposed as a nothing

Even with TOTUS he's a fool...

Dangers of TOTUS: Obama Reads Word "Corpsman" as "Corpse Man" Twice

14 posted on 02/05/2010 3:42:23 PM PST by raybbr
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I do not have cable and I didn't get the converter once they shut analog broadcast down. My hobbies are flurishing, my family plays more together, and I don't have to listen to advertising or the "zero".

Turn your TVs off. Enjoy life!

15 posted on 02/05/2010 3:54:20 PM PST by GingisK
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To: GingisK

Zero reminds me of a song by the comedian Martin Mull..

http://www.amazon.com/Im-Everyone-Ive-Ever-Loved/dp/B00006BNED


16 posted on 02/05/2010 4:18:35 PM PST by Armedanddangerous (Montani Semper Liberi)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
the corpsemen has no emotions~~~~~~~
17 posted on 02/05/2010 4:24:00 PM PST by FreeperFlirt
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To: Fred911
Jimmy Carter Lite

Uh Unh. Obama is Jimmy Carter on steroids!

18 posted on 02/05/2010 4:35:03 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Made from The Right Stuff)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think we’ve seen more Obama in one year than we did both Clinton and both Bushes combined. Someone please tell him we are sick of seeing his fugly mug and keep him off of our TV’s!


19 posted on 02/05/2010 4:56:53 PM PST by chris_bdba
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
YOU TALK TOO MUCH
Joe Jones
Words and music by Joe Jones and Reginald Hall

You talk too much you worry me to death,
You talk too much, you even worry my pet
You just talk, talk too much
You talk about people that you don't know,
You talk about people wherever you go
You just talk, talk too much
You talk about people that you've never seen,
You talk about people, you can make me scream
You just talk, you talk too much

20 posted on 02/05/2010 5:14:53 PM PST by upchuck (The horse is in the pasture. The barn door is wide-open. Obama wants to know who made the hinges.)
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