PrintApril 29, 2009
The Obama 100 day presser Live blogging
Thomas Lifson
He starts with Swine Flu. That's smart; he looks presidential. Then segues into confidently arguing for his budget, continuing the lie of a tax cut for 95% Claiming that low interest rates are a likw tax cut. When they go up, it will be like a tax hike, right?
How many teleprompters does he have tonihgt? I think they are in the back, on big screen TVs. I don't see them in shots from behind, showing the press. I notice that he isn't just reading off the right and left. He has something right in line with center.
He went for a little Loven in taking his first question.
Now he is telling us to wash our hands and stay home if we feel sick. Dr. President. Or did Michaelle play Dr. Mom wit him earlier today?
On Chrysler: unions have made "enormous sacrifices" upon sacrifices. But bondholders have yet to sacrifice? What about shareholders and managers? What about suppliers?
He sees only unions and capital. And he knows one is good and the other bad.
Now he is claiming that we didn't need waterboarding to get the same information. He caqlls it torture.
And he is comparing Britsh treatment of "detainees" -- not torturing them during the Blitz. Does he mean POWs? They were covered by the Geneva Convention, unlike ununiformed detainees.
He calls waterboarding a recruiting tool. We weren't waterboarding before 9-11, but they seemed pretty able to recruit.
Larrey Anderson:
Thomas Lifson
He has read the documents Cheney mentioned but won't talk about them "because they haven't been declassified". What a crock! He could declassify them right now.
He is talking like a con man.
Now the subject is Pocky-stahhhn, as he used to call it. I notice he is pronouncing it a little less noticeably differwnt than the American usage. Of course, that was the first foreign country he visited as a college student. Doesn't everyone want to visit Pakistan during college. The art galleries! The food! The culture! Maybe he cought a rail pass to see all the important cities.
He deflected serious consideration of the rising violence in Iraq, laying repsonsibiltiy on the Iraqi forces. And he will get away with it thanks to the media tongue bath that will follow.
I want my "Republican friends" to know my outreach is genuine. What happened to "I won."
Boy, he really is good at sounding like he means it.
The thing is, it all sound like boilerplate. It is actually boring. But he is good at reading the sound bites prepared for him.
Aboriton is a moral issue and an ethical issue? How about the Born alive infant protection act? He was willing to see unsuccessful aboritons end in a live baby executed.
Where's the morality in that?
Now he is hauling in the sex education agenda to reduce abortions.
Boy, he did look unconfortable though. he even told the deminists that the Freedom of Choice Act is not his top priority. Bet he gets some phone calls, and backtracks soon.
He's having trouble with the question on what surprised him, enchanted him, etc.
Oops, backtracked on enchanted with troops.
Why couldn't he say he was enchanted with his kids in the WH? Or with Michelle's reception.
Humbled is tough. The presidency is part of a b roader tapestry of life and there are a lot of powers.
He feels humbled by bakers? C'mon - he has them where he wants them.
Boy, he cannot admit to being humbled, only opposed.
This was the best quetsion of the night, and he is blowing it. Rambling, almost incoherent at times.
Finally at the end, his teleprompter told him to say that he was humbled by the American people. That seemed the obvious first answer. Or, humbled by the responsiblity. or humbled by following intnhe footsteps of George Washington and Jimmy Carter. or something.
Barry doesn't do humble.
Now he is praising Janet Napolitano for her expertise. Earth to Obama: she doesn't even know how the 9 11 hijackers entered America.
Boy, first he calls the Hispanic correspondent, then the BET correspondent. Is this ghettoizing minorities? Now that Hispanics utnumber blacks, I guess this is the result.
Now he wants to modify the state secrets policy. I want details. He is arguing that sometimes national security precludes litigation. I guess that's good. Unless he means that conservatives are a natrional security problem, as Napolitano argues.
Larrey Anderson:
Thomas Lifson
He says he wants to get out of owning the car companies. That's good, I think.
He says he's not an auto engineer and couldn't design an affordable "plug in hybrid." But he says if the Japanese can do it, we can too. Ooops! GM and Ford already have hybrids, and he just said they aren't as good as the Japanese models.
That's a great way to help sales! For Toyota and Honda.
Thank God it is over! This was painful. I wasn't very impressed, but this will play well with his base.
He starts with Swine Flu. That's smart; he looks presidential. Then segues into confidently arguing for his budget, continuing the lie of a tax cut for 95% Claiming that low interest rates are a likw tax cut. When they go up, it will be like a tax hike, right?
How many teleprompters does he have tonihgt? I think they are in the back, on big screen TVs. I don't see them in shots from behind, showing the press. I notice that he isn't just reading off the right and left. He has something right in line with center.
He went for a little Loven in taking his first question.
Now he is telling us to wash our hands and stay home if we feel sick. Dr. President. Or did Michaelle play Dr. Mom wit him earlier today?
On Chrysler: unions have made "enormous sacrifices" upon sacrifices. But bondholders have yet to sacrifice? What about shareholders and managers? What about suppliers?
He sees only unions and capital. And he knows one is good and the other bad.
Now he is claiming that we didn't need waterboarding to get the same information. He caqlls it torture.
And he is comparing Britsh treatment of "detainees" -- not torturing them during the Blitz. Does he mean POWs? They were covered by the Geneva Convention, unlike ununiformed detainees.
He calls waterboarding a recruiting tool. We weren't waterboarding before 9-11, but they seemed pretty able to recruit.
Larrey Anderson:
It is amazing. As soon as the TelePrompTer goes dark the level of rhetoric drops like a stone. He is NOT as good an off the cuff speaker as W was.
And W was not very good.
"Wash your hands and cover your mouth." I just heard the POTUS speak those words as the antidote for swine flu.
No one in the room laughed. This is simply stunning. The man is NOT intelligent. I doubt that he would have made my high school debate team.
Thomas Lifson
He has read the documents Cheney mentioned but won't talk about them "because they haven't been declassified". What a crock! He could declassify them right now.
He is talking like a con man.
Now the subject is Pocky-stahhhn, as he used to call it. I notice he is pronouncing it a little less noticeably differwnt than the American usage. Of course, that was the first foreign country he visited as a college student. Doesn't everyone want to visit Pakistan during college. The art galleries! The food! The culture! Maybe he cought a rail pass to see all the important cities.
He deflected serious consideration of the rising violence in Iraq, laying repsonsibiltiy on the Iraqi forces. And he will get away with it thanks to the media tongue bath that will follow.
I want my "Republican friends" to know my outreach is genuine. What happened to "I won."
Boy, he really is good at sounding like he means it.
The thing is, it all sound like boilerplate. It is actually boring. But he is good at reading the sound bites prepared for him.
Aboriton is a moral issue and an ethical issue? How about the Born alive infant protection act? He was willing to see unsuccessful aboritons end in a live baby executed.
Where's the morality in that?
Now he is hauling in the sex education agenda to reduce abortions.
Boy, he did look unconfortable though. he even told the deminists that the Freedom of Choice Act is not his top priority. Bet he gets some phone calls, and backtracks soon.
He's having trouble with the question on what surprised him, enchanted him, etc.
Oops, backtracked on enchanted with troops.
Why couldn't he say he was enchanted with his kids in the WH? Or with Michelle's reception.
Humbled is tough. The presidency is part of a b roader tapestry of life and there are a lot of powers.
He feels humbled by bakers? C'mon - he has them where he wants them.
Boy, he cannot admit to being humbled, only opposed.
This was the best quetsion of the night, and he is blowing it. Rambling, almost incoherent at times.
Finally at the end, his teleprompter told him to say that he was humbled by the American people. That seemed the obvious first answer. Or, humbled by the responsiblity. or humbled by following intnhe footsteps of George Washington and Jimmy Carter. or something.
Barry doesn't do humble.
Now he is praising Janet Napolitano for her expertise. Earth to Obama: she doesn't even know how the 9 11 hijackers entered America.
Boy, first he calls the Hispanic correspondent, then the BET correspondent. Is this ghettoizing minorities? Now that Hispanics utnumber blacks, I guess this is the result.
Now he wants to modify the state secrets policy. I want details. He is arguing that sometimes national security precludes litigation. I guess that's good. Unless he means that conservatives are a natrional security problem, as Napolitano argues.
Larrey Anderson:
His answer to the last in the series of question "what has humbled you?" is the key to understanding Obama. He has no idea what humility is. He cannot define it. He cannot describe it. He has no idea what the word is or means.
This response, as far as I am concerned, was THE response of the evening. His answer was revealing. Humility is a concept that Obama finds unfamiliar. He is uncomfortable with the notion. Humility is foreign to him.
I will leave it to the AT psychologists to dissect the answer. But I found it intriguing that his tone of voice did not change. His rhetoric did not change. His facial expressions did not change. There was NO humility in the answer to the question "What has humbled you?"
Thomas Lifson
He says he wants to get out of owning the car companies. That's good, I think.
He says he's not an auto engineer and couldn't design an affordable "plug in hybrid." But he says if the Japanese can do it, we can too. Ooops! GM and Ford already have hybrids, and he just said they aren't as good as the Japanese models.
That's a great way to help sales! For Toyota and Honda.
Thank God it is over! This was painful. I wasn't very impressed, but this will play well with his base.
