Posted on 10/30/2009 8:00:54 PM PDT by kristinn
At today's White House briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Barack Obama has spent "close to 20 direct hours" in meetings on Afghanistan since Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for tens of thousands of reinforcements was submitted over two months ago with a warning the war would be lost in twelve months without more troops.
Gibbs says Obama also spends "quite a bit of time" thinking about the war in Afghanistan.
Gibbs was asked about a statement by the mother of one of the fallen soldiers, Sgt. Dale Griffin, killed in Afghanistan this week whom Obama met with at Dover early Thursday morning. The mother, Dona Griffin, said she told Obama, Don't leave our troops hanging," when he asked the families if there was anything he could do for them. Gibbs was asked if Obama feels like he is leaving the troops hanging.
He responded that Obama is trying to "understand the full cost of the war."
MR. GIBBS: Again, we haven't gotten into broad specifics on that yet.
On the first part, Jeff, you know, look, I think -- I don't -- I used to have it calculated, I should just go back and do it, the number of hours that he has spent in these meetings is probably now -- well, at the end of today will probably be getting close to 20 direct hours of his time. The group -- the principals that meet with the President additionally take time to get the material ready, and are prepared to answer questions for the President, probably at least twice as much of that of the President's time the principals have spent.
So obviously we -- the President and his team have spent a pretty big chunk of time evaluating very, very closely each of these individual countries, their relationship together and their impact on the region.
At the conclusion of these meetings, he generally is off to the next thing. I think he has spent quite a bit of time after the meetings back in the office -- back in his office, probably primarily in the Residence at night, going back and reading through his notes, as well as -- notes that he's taken on the meetings, and oftentimes will come out with questions that the team will prepare the answers for, for the next meeting.
SNIPQ--Early yesterday morning when he was in Dover and met with the families, the families said that he asked, is there anything we can do for the families. And the mother of -- Dona Griffin, a mother of the last of the dignified transfers, said that she told the President, "Don't leave our troops hanging." When he walks into the Situation Room right about now, does he have any sense that the time he's taking to make these decisions is leaving those troops hanging?
MR. GIBBS: Again, to go back through what's happened, the President believed that additional forces were needed in March and he added them to get us to a point where we could evaluate the outcome of the election. That obviously has been delayed a little bit, but he believes this is a point in which it's necessary to fully assess where we are. I don't believe the President thinks -- I know he doesn't believe that this assessment is in any way doing that. I think he understands and I think, as you heard him say yesterday in the Oval Office, I think his commitment, particularly after going to a place like Dover, is to understand the full cost of the war.
Our kids have spent that much time "pondering" it!
Bizarro world.
That’s what I thought too, Kristinn - 20 hours is NOTHING compared to the time he’s dedicated to golf!
And has been mentioned constantly, it took him forever to pick out a dog!
20 hrs? THATS ALL??? For the Love of God!
Wonder how long he would last as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company using these "management" skills and busting their budgets?
Waiting on administration input, lawmakers delay vote on biosecurity bill
Snippets:
The Homeland Security and Government Affairs put off for at least a week the mark-up of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2009 to allow the Obama administration additional time to comment on the bill, said panel Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.).
Collins estimated the bill would affect some 400 U.S. research facilities and the nearly 15,000 individuals authorized to handle deadly pathogens.
Committee member Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said yesterday it would be a "mistake" to take up the bill because several agencies -- including the Homeland Security and Defense departments and the National Security Council -- had not weighed in on the proposals.
"The bill is moving very quickly even though the issue [of laboratory security] has been around a long time," he said, adding the bill was introduced just last month.
“Broad specifics”? WTF is a “broad specific”? I guess these guys are just way smarter than I am.....
You do realize you're being very generous? After rereading it says close to...I'm guessing it was about 16 to 19. Rounding is a wonderful thing. I hate when I'm petty.
Jim's Dad, a rich lawyer, said he would pay for the damages.
Jim is on the phone with his Father, and he asks Devito how much his stuff was worth. Devito walks back and forth, thinking up numbers and saying to himself, no that's too much and no that's not enough. He's getting real agitated the more he thinks about it.
When pressed by Jim, Devito comes up with a number around 20 grand. Jim tells his Father and hangs up. When Devito asks him what his Father said, Jim says his Father was relieved, because he thought Devito would ask for $100,000.
Then Devito collapses. It was very funny.
I can imagine Gibbs and Obama doing the same thing when they came up with the 22 hours. 50 hours? No, too much. 15 hours? No, not enough. 22 hours? Sounds believable.
Where are your pom poms?
That’s probably a low estimate, only about 4 min. per crapper visit? And the Secret Service is forced to watch every second. Obozo probably had them bronze his first WH movement, and sent it to Chrissie Matthews.
20 whole hours! Wow... /s
WOW. Thank you, kristinn, for threads like this.
Your efforts are so very appreciated. If most Americans heard this sh*t, they’d be FURIOUS.
Ah, but since he was warned we are in danger of LOSING THE WAR (the one he said during the campaign was so important) without sufficient additional troops, he's really bumped it up in priority.
I mean, he's spent like FIVE PERCENT of his time over the past two months on this crucial issue.
Of course, that's assuming he works 40 hours a week. If it's only 20 hours a week that Obama actually works, then it would be an even higher percent of his time.
His lies are so blatant.
How do you save youtube videos?
The Fraud in Chief.
So....are you going to reply to anyone?
Whenever I'm looking for a particular video, I just type in some basic keywords into the search box and then hunt.
The full cost will include his Presidency because he is failing. He is failing at the most critical job requirement that he was elected to do. He is failing to lead. Every day he delays in making the critical leadership decision adds immensely to the cost of this war.
Obame is proving to be a loser rather than a leader.
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