This is basicly the big grin he gave her (could not find a picture of the actual grin moment).
Posted on 09/22/2010 11:40:10 AM PDT by neverdem
This heartfelt comment and question the first one President Obama received at a CNBC town hall gathering yesterday, may well become emblematic of the first half (at least) of the Obama presidency.
Ms. Velma Hart — middle class, a wife and the mother of two, a veteran, and an African-American Obama supporter — said this:
Quite frankly, I'm exhausted – I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. I have been told that I voted for a man who said was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I'm one of those people and I'm waiting, sir. I'm waiting. I don't feel it yet. And I thought while it wouldn't be in great measure, I'd feel it in some small measure. I have two children in private school and the financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my family. My husband and I have joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives, but, quite frankly, it's starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we're headed again, and, quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly. Is this my new reality?
This was a very bad moment for the Obama presidency because it was such an honest and representative one.
Velma Hart is obviously no Tea Party activist. The town hall audience was undoubtedly vetted by the White House in advance of the event. So for Ms. Hart to frame the question she did, in the manner she did, was fairly extraordinary. And she was not the only person who asked searching questions of Mr. Obama. A recent law school graduate, Ted Brassfield, told Mr. Obama that he had hoped to pursue a career in public service, like Obama himself, but said he could barely pay the interest on his student loans, let alone think of getting married or starting a family. "I was really inspired by you and your campaign and the message you brought," Brassfield said, "and that inspiration is dying away. And I really want to know, is the American dream dead for me?"
Having worked in the White House, I can assure you this is not what Obama and his team of advisers wanted to hear — certainly not from a hand-picked audience at an economic town hall forum that is being broadcast on television six weeks before a crucial midterm election.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a contributor to CONTENTIONS wrote this cautionary note regarding the new president-elect:
Sooner than he might imagine, and certainly sooner than he might wish, the responsibility for how America is performing will fall to him and his Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate. A year from now, it won't be enough to blame the problems on others. He and other Democrats ran and won on the promise that they would turn things around, and do so quickly. Those promises can't be reeled back. Obama in particular has set a very high bar. Indeed, the expectations for "change"-in policies, in performance, even in the way we conduct our politics-is as high as I can recall … For understandable reasons, many people are being swept up in this remarkable American moment. But reality will intrude soon enough, and Barack Obama will face the same standards that every other President has faced. Incantations of "hope" and "change" can work in a campaign. They are virtually useless when it comes to governing. Barack Obama is about to enter the crucible. We'll see how he performs.
President Obama has, so far at least, performed rather dismally. He set super-human expectations for himself — including his pledge to slow the rise of the oceans and begin to heal the planet, his commitment to resist the temptation to "fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long," and to "transform" America at what he called a "defining moment."
In some respects, of course, President Obama has transformed America — but in ways many American find alarming. What we are seeing all across our land is an extraordinary, organic movement rising up against Obamaism. If you go to the heart of this effort, beyond even the policy differences themselves, what you will find is an effort to restore America. It is a direct, energetic, and sometimes rambunctious response to the president's transformational project, to his effort to remake America in his own liberal image and conforming to his own liberal views and values.
As we saw yesterday, at the economic town hall meeting, the hope and promise of Obama has collided with, and is being shattered by, reality.
Barack Obama is, right now, the architect of a failing presidency and, soon, a broken party.
Click here to print.
The establishment people of both parties are pushing the voters' anger toward a French-style Revolution -- and I do NOT mean that figuratively.
Perhaps a year ago, they could have resigned, retired, quit, whatever, and left the country with their moneybags, and their carcass intact.
Today, the arrogance of these self-annointed elitists has gone too far. Everyone I hear talking about the Democrats and the RINOs really, really, really, want to see some heads roll, some public hangings, some firing squads; some very public, very permanent solutions to keep these jackasses from ever, ever, ever injecting their stupidity into our public policy or public offices of trust again.
“Ted Brassfield remarked in an interview that he would vote for Obama for a second term”..........I’d bet a hundred he’s lookin’ for one of them government jobs.........Get the bucks comin’ in...get the time off....get a new car...have the gov’t pay off that loan....now that would be walkin in tall cotton............
Well at least he wasn’t on his cellphone while she was talking. LOL
In fact, the propensity of Democrats/Socialists/Union Workers for dodging work is probably one of the few things that have kept this nation alive this long into the Obama administration.
I wonder whether he carries a cell phone. Isn’t that what his minions are for...?
Seemed to me Velma was saying, “Where’s all our free stuff you promised?”
“Vetting” is something I’d think would be proper if the audience weren’t known. I suspect this may have been an audience they were pretty comfortable with.
I bet he has one. I know he still has his Blackbarry. Thats my name for his Blackberry.
I've known many people like this - particularly in the performing arts. They spend inordinate amounts of time obsessing over their appearance or voice or personal presentation, but they can also be incredibly good friends - the kind that will rush to your aid at 3am when no one else will, because they feel so deeply. They'll... also drive you crazy with their endless worries, but sometimes that's a price you pay for genuinely liking people.
I don't get that sort of "vibe" about Obama at all, and I never have. The self-love is all there, baby, but the empathy... not so much. I think other people are a means to his ends. I'm just guessing here, but Rahm Emmanuel probably has some stories he'd like to tell.
This is basicly the big grin he gave her (could not find a picture of the actual grin moment).
I think he still has her vote. She’ll cut him some slack.
Undoing everything done from George Washington to George Bush isn’t easy. But it needs to be done.
Unfortunate the Demonrats won’t be done. If they get amnesty for illegals, very high on their agenda, combined with the bloc black vote, unions, Jews, and Hispanics, and morons, they will remain a menace despite a shellacking in 2010.
I disagree. He's well coached. He follows directions well. He can read with emotions and enthusiasm.
But anytime he's called upon to answer a difficult question on his feet, he stumbles, phumphers and resorts to indignation and empty bloviating. He NEVER offers a new breakthrough or innovation, a truly cutting quip, a fresh perspective or insight when he's speaking off the teleprompter.
He's a competent water carrier for the deviously intelligent people who foisted him upon us - the cabal of global marxists, media manipulators and leftwing Democratic Party operatives who selected him and groomed him. But outside of their handling, he's a community activist.
He may very well have one. I was being cynical of him, more than anything.
I would doubt that the black community would voice their displeasure. After all, this is a community that covers for its own criminal element. They would likely internalize their discontent,
The democrat jackasses who believed in Obammy are starting to wake up and realize they’ve been had by a snake-oil salesman.
I’m still amazed they were ignorant enough to believe that clown in the first place.
You have far more insight into this personality than I do. I just viewed the term “malignant” as meaning intentionally demeaning, not uncaring - as you paint it. After all, it stems from “malign”.
I see him as dismissive, not malignant. He doesn’t react this way because he wants to malign someone (although he’s fully capable of that as well...), but because he simply doesn’t have the capacity to empathize. I may well be wrong, Lord knows.
Where I live, we call that an idiot. I-D-I-O-T. Idiot.
;-/
You have hit a good point.
In 1994 it was anger.
In 2010, it is blood thirst.
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