Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Can’t Touch Him: Obama's uncanny ability to shake off blame
Newsweek ^ | May 17, 2010 | Howard Fineman

Posted on 05/16/2010 12:06:42 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Let's try a political thought experiment. Imagine that a few months after a new president takes office, his administration approves an offshore oil well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico. It is to be run by BP, whose employees were very generous donors to the president's campaign. The oil company airily dismisses the possibility of a catastrophic leak that might destroy the coastline. Nearly a year later, the president—to the dismay of his environmentalist supporters—says he wants to greatly expand offshore drilling. Soon after that, the BP well explodes, and oil spews into the gulf. It's clear to everyone that the blowout is a major catastrophe, requiring a federal mobilization. But the president's initial response is to say, in effect: do not worry, BP will pay for the cleanup. Eleven days pass before he goes to survey the scene.

Of course, this is a sketch of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and the president is Barack Obama. But here is the rest of the experiment. Imagine the reaction of Washington—the media, Congress, the "national conversation"—if the president wasn't Obama but George W. Bush. "We would be under siege," says Dan Bartlett, who was communications director in the Bush years. "There'd be calls for special prosecutors, investigations everywhere. The focus wouldn't be on what was happening out in the gulf—it would be on what happened in the West Wing."

Now, I hold no brief for George Bush, and I have no desire to launch a screed against the home-field advantage that Obama still gets in the non-Murdoch media.(continued)

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2010; bho44; bush; jourbalism; mchammer; obama; obamasfault; oil; oilspill
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-71 last
To: Recovering_Democrat
industrial strength knee pads.

I just posted a comment about knee pads just below yours. GMTA!

61 posted on 05/16/2010 6:26:16 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Remember in November. Clean the house on Nov. 2. / Progressive is a PC word for liberal democrat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Political Junkie Too; onyx

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2514526/posts?page=33

See post 33


62 posted on 05/16/2010 6:45:35 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Support our troops....and vote out the RINOS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Can’t Touch Him: Obama's uncanny ability to shake off blame

It's weird to call something Obama's "ability" that is the product of those Democrats in the media failing to ask questions and point out the errors, obfuscations, and lies of Obama and his regime.
63 posted on 05/16/2010 6:51:07 AM PDT by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Obama's uncanny ability to shake off blame...

...is a result of the absolute slobbering devotion by the State Run Media.

If Bush were to have done half of what obama has done, the SRM would have first crucified, then shot Bush themselves. Apparently they are more afraid of the truth and obama's attack ballerina than they were of Karl Rove.

64 posted on 05/16/2010 6:58:58 AM PDT by GBA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
...on the left, he still can do no wrong, or at least nothing so wrong that they are willing to take him on.

Fineman. You know better than this.

On the left (meaning YOU), you know that there would be REPRISALS for straying from the obedient, lockstep, Pravda-esque and servile "journalistic" duties as prescribed for you by this W.H.

You KNOW this, yet you choose to whistle past it, in faked amazement.

You have voluntarily, and most cowardly surrendered your First Amendment rights; and, now you pretend to wonder where you put them.

.

65 posted on 05/16/2010 8:11:55 AM PDT by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arrowhead1952
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
66 posted on 05/16/2010 8:32:30 AM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Well as their revenue continues to drop you would think that newpapers and magazines would see that everytime they allow him to shirk the blame that they lose more and more American's trust. Unemployment was 6% when Bush left office, this well was started and approvoed by Obama who allowed BP to bypass many things because they were large donors to his campaign....wait for it.....this is.... OBAMA'S FAULT
67 posted on 05/16/2010 9:56:06 AM PDT by chris_bdba
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: onyx

I have friends in TN and am so impressed with the people of that Great State. You didn’t see them sitting on their “Behinds” waiting for the Gov’t to do it for them. They got busy: Helping themselves and one another!! The difference between Tennessee and New Orleans, LA was astounding to say the least! Also a Thank You to the TN. National Guard, Red Cross,and many other Groups who helped as well. To this day, I haven’t heard a word out of Obama’s mouth re the Devasation in the South! Hopefully, all Americans will be more careful re voting for a Communist next time around!


68 posted on 05/16/2010 11:11:34 AM PDT by Patsygirl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
...”Martial Law’”. Yer right, all this is leading up to it. The latest is the new ‘Tea party’ administration “operatives” that intend to incite violence, among other things to outlaw free speech. Since this is an open ended article, what caused that explosion, did I miss something? Or, was this sabotage. Another crisis???
69 posted on 05/16/2010 12:32:44 PM PDT by gargoyle (..."I have not yet begun to fight" John Paul Jones...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
But there are others. One is Guantánamo, which remains open; another is the Patriot Act, most of which the president supported when it was recently reauthorized. He has doubled down on Afghanistan, and there are still nearly 100,000 troops in Iraq. Despite the advent of Arizona's anti-immigration law, Obama says that this year he will not push Congress for federal reform (which Bush, to his credit, did). Fearful of the gun lobby, the White House is even shying away from a bill, proposed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to take guns away from persons on the terror watch list. Imagine if Bush had done that!

However, Zero doesn't WANT to do ANY of this. He campaigned on the opposite of all this and he legislated 180 degrees different than this. It's just that because of FOX, Rush, etc. he's being pushed to the right of what he and his rabidly leftist cronies want to do.

70 posted on 05/16/2010 2:40:43 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

nice try howard ... just keep drinking the kool-aid ... i can’t wait until november ... LOL


71 posted on 05/16/2010 3:05:11 PM PDT by Patton@Bastogne (Angels and Ministers of Grace, Defend Us ....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-71 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson