I agree with you. There she was all high and mighty about making her point and he sort of laughed her off...like putting a needle in a balloon.
Clever I thought.
BTW, a linguist posted something saying that Obama’s use of denounce was correct - a proposal that has been offered can be rejected but something with which you disagree is denounced.
you can denounce a person’s specific statements while accepting their endorsement and support. Obama wanted to have it both ways so that the NOI would help bring out the troops for his campaign.
so, Obama was right on both counts by denouncing AND rejecting. :)