Posted on 05/31/2010 2:46:53 AM PDT by Scanian
'Obama Struggling to Show He's in Control," reads the headline on The Washington Post's story on Barack Obama's Thursday press conference, where most of the questions were about the Gulf oil spill.
"Defensive, unauthoritative and equivocal," wrote Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford of Obama's performance. "He came across as a beleaguered bureaucrat in damage control."
Uh-oh. People, even people in the Obama-friendly press, are beginning to say that the oil spill is Obama's Katrina. That it destroys his reputation for competence.
Obama's press conference -- his first in the White House in 309 days -- didn't make him look any more in command of things than the photos of President George W. Bush's flyover visit to New Orleans. The candidate who told us his electoral victory would be seen as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal" is now the president who seems helpless to prevent the oil slick from spreading.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Jaysin, I love the man too - and I’d rather see him back in the White House any day over the bumbling idiot who’s in there now.
But you nailed it. He backed down before the dems. His greatest strength was his love for country and his determination to protect it. But did not defend himself and fight back when he should have. Sometimes a gentleman must fight back.
Whoever is carefully crafting his image has failed. The whie house is an embaressment.
“Obama did not have Any competence to lose!”
In all fairness, he has been pretty competent at ducking the press for a VERY long time. And given how he performed when he finally deigned to have a press conference, avoiding such events appears to have been a very smart move:
“Defensive, unauthoritative and equivocal,” wrote Congressional Quarterly’s Craig Crawford of Obama’s performance.
Barone makes some great points.
But the issue is as much of a .F.D. (as Biden would say) as this crisis is, this is not the worst thing that may befall us before we can vote BO out of office. The world is a dangerous place today.
Zero “gets good marks on Iraq and Afghanistan.” No so fast. Orson Welles wisely said, “Whether a movie has a happy ending depends on where you end the story.”
When Bam-Bam said “I’m not an ideologue, he was lying as usual.
Preach it! Enviro-whackoism caused disaster.
“...even people in the Obama-friendly press, are beginning to say that the oil spill is Obama’s Katrina. That it destroys his reputation for competence.”
What a joke. What was this “reputation” was based on?
A reputation for Obama competence is a Potemkin village if ever I saw one...
Let’s see.... Watergate deja vu + Katrina deja vu + Palestinian aggression in Gaza + Failed EU = Perfect storm
Crucified Messiah. The mob will be howling for Barabas
How remarkable!
Members of the press, even Barone, continue to profess Obama's "reputation for competence"
As if.
It is probably not going to be well received here on free Republic but I would venture that our two greatest presidents, Washington and Lincoln, were men of questionable competence. Washington was a failure as a tactical commander in the war. His dispositions in the defense of New York were ill advised in the extreme. He lost battle after battle. His great virtue was his integrity and his ability to persevere, to persevere in the face sometimes of his own incompetence and certainly in the face of the incompetence of the Continental Congress.
It was not George Washington's "competence" that gave us a nation it was his courage and perseverance. And it was not strictly speaking competence that set the nation on the right track in his first two administrations. Much of that "competence" came from the likes of Alexander Hamilton.
Abraham Lincoln could hardly be called competent in his conduct of the Civil War militarily. In fact, his choice of generals was a series of ill-fated misjudgments. But he is one of our greatest presidents not for his competency in the military field but because of his vision. And it was his transcendental vision which enabled him to get the big things right. He never wavered in his belief that the union must be preserved. His timing on the Emancipation Proclamation was exquisite. His courage and the election of 1864 was worthy of everyone's respect. His grand idea of reconciliation with the South rather than vengeance was one more example of how the greatness of his spirit enabled him to get the important things right.
Liberals seek "competence" in their champions the cause of the field from which they can choose is so bare for them of men with character and vision. It is character we want in a president and competence that we want in his subordinates. But character and vision come from humility and by definition it is impossible to be a God player and to be humble at the same time. Again by definition, liberals are God players who enter the political arena because it offers them the widest scope for their ambitions.
Even granting Obama every exaggerated ounce of "competence" claimed for him by his sycophants, give me the nobility of character of Washington and Lincoln.
I'm confused.....how would GWB fighting harder against the dems have made John Sidney McCain a better candidate?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.