Basically, if you listen to what embattled President Obama says with what I call a lawyer's ear, you will rather quickly realize that he's not actually saying anything that he can be held to. For example, when a normal person promises to listen to what someone else has to say, that usually implies that the first person will take that someone else seriously, and will accept any arguments that person makes that are reasonable. However, if you read the words literally, without implying anything into them, all you get is a the promise to listen, and absolutely no promise to do anything more than listen, in the same way that one might listen to the dishwashing machine washing dishes.
