Mr. President, I Have News for You

Real Clear Politics ^ | April 6, 2014 | Carl M. Cannon

[Kenny]

President Obama was moonlighting again last week as a self-appointed media critic-in-chief, this time during a Rose Garden appearance to boast about the progress of the Affordable Care Act. It was a curious performance on many levels, not the least of which was the way he used the vice president, his own cabinet, and the White House press corps as silent props while he unveiled his message of the month.

If the ladies and gentlemen of the press weren’t given a speaking role, they weren’t forgotten. At one point, he addressed them specifically, immodestly offering his own unsolicited definition of what constitutes “news.”

The president prefaced this digression by asserting that 7.1 million people had signed up for Obamacare, triggering historically low insurance premiums in the process, and proving his critics to be not only mistaken but malevolent. Resistance to the law is futile, he added, and Republicans seeking to repeal it and journalists who dare question it are to be shunned and shamed—condemned, as it were, to history’s trash heap.

<snip>

“I want to make sure everybody understands,” he said, looking at press row. “In the months, years ahead … there will be additional challenges to implementing this law. There will be days when the website stumbles, I guarantee it. So, press, I want you to anticipate: There will be some moment when the website is down, and I know it will be on all of your front pages. It’s going to happen. It won’t be news.”

Take a moment to digest that comment, and to consider its context. He’s saying that if www.healthcare.gov continues to have problems providing a service Americans are required by law to obtain, that’s not news. This might qualify as the most specious remark Obama has ever made as president.

[Kenny]

It doesn't surprise me that Obama tries to out and out control the press. It doesn't surprise me that much of the press complies.

What surprises me, shocks me, and scares the hell out of me is that we're letting him give the Internet away thus achieving 100% control over news outlets, alternative media, and all other free information.

[Iron Munro]

Obama gets absolutely giddy when he thinks he has won a point or that things are going his way, doesn’t he?

In his Obamacare Victory Speech last week he came across like a giddy little schoolgirl ready to wet her panties.

Yet the media treats him with kid gloves - as if he was a seriopus man with real accomplishments.

[loveliberty2]

Constitutional Government

- A government of laws, not of rulers.

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What A Profound Concept!

Throughout most recorded history, people have been governed by rulers' law - the law that rulers chose to impose. The people had no real choice.

America's Founders believed liberty too precious to entrust to leaders. For the first time ever - in America, in 1787 - the people themselves prepared their own written Constitution - one of laws and people, not of rulers. It not only protected them from the harmful acts of other citizens; more importantly, it protected them from their own government.

The framers of the Constitution recognized that governments are made up of imperfect people who tend to abuse power. Thomas Jefferson said:

"In questions of power ... let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."

For the first time in history, a people had put a stop to rulers' tyranny and provided a base for a genuinely free people.

Part of the Miracle of America lies in this concept - a government of laws, not of rulers.

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Footnote: Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III:  ISBN 0-937047-01-5

[griswold3]

Remember when Obama said, “I can do any job better than the people I hire.”?
Well, since he’s been around the press for 5 years, he can do their job better now, too.

The Haughty John Kerry said when he was a presidential candidate, we needed a ‘global test’. The internet concession is just another peg.

[gusopol3]

I am about the only one, but I remain fascinated by the polling. He seems to be riding an excursion from between -5 to -15 like I’ve never seen before; for gosh sake, Rasmussen even had him at +1 the other day. He did maintain the upper end for a little longer this week, and the supposedly good news about Obamacare in the news cycle is a plausible explanation, but he’s deflated again on who knows what? Eich? I doubt the MSM has allowed that to see the light of day has it? Though Bill Maher was on it. Anyway, I predict he’ll bottom out at -14 before next weekend , then rise to -5.

[null and void]

[GOPJ]

“The debate over repealing this law is over,” he said. “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”

LOL - It use to bother some of us the way the press rolled over for Obama - taking his 'pronouncements' as if written in stone... Not anymore.

Newspapers could save a lot of money by asking some PRNewswire guy to rewrite Obama's press releases and end the pretense of the WhiteHouse press corps.

This stuff's getting old.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Take a moment to digest that comment, and to consider its context. He’s saying that if www.healthcare.gov continues to have problems providing a service Americans are required by law to obtain, that’s not news. This might qualify as the most specious remark Obama has ever made as president.

I think he's actually saying: "It won't be news - so don't report it. Or else."

[publius911]

Remember when Obama said, “I can do any job better than the people I hire.”?

I wish I had the documented date that occurred, because it explains perfectly and totally the absolute incompetence of the Executive Department substructure.
No need also to mention the constant criminality.

[Texas Eagle]

According to Preezy Pajama Boy hisself, The Affordable Care Act is only affordable if you cancel your cable, your cell phone, your internet, your meals, your clothing, your gasoline and your job.

[Kenny]

According to Preezy Pajama Boy hisself, The Affordable Care Act is only affordable if you cancel your cable, your cell phone, your internet, your meals, your clothing, your gasoline and your job.

And yet he's worth 11 or 12 mil. Are the American people really this stupid?

[Texas Eagle]

Are the American people really this stupid?

Is this a trick question?

[The Duke]

“I want to make sure everybody understands,” he said, looking at press row. “In the months, years ahead … there will be additional challenges to implementing this law. There will be days when the website stumbles, I guarantee it. So, press, I want you to anticipate: There will be some moment when the website is down, and I know it will be on all of your front pages. It’s going to happen. It won’t be news.”

So why don't Amazon, Google and Twitter go down regularly?

[MrB]

Limited government inherently thwarts the elites being able to shape society as they see fit in order to implement the environment in which humans will act according to their “basically good” nature.

The above is the humanist worldview and the consequent political agenda derived therefrom.