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President Obama Still Doesn't Get It
Townhall.com ^ | November 4, 2010 | Matt Towery

Posted on 11/04/2010 6:13:51 AM PDT by Kaslin

Those who've followed this column over the years know that when President Obama was first elected, I tried valiantly to give him the benefit of the doubt. I believed for the best that his promise of "change" would be an exercise in moderation and sound judgment. But that didn't happen, and this past week's elections were a comprehensive rebuke of the first two years of his presidency.

What amazed me most was his press conference following the elections. The White House press corps finally found the courage to ask some tough questions. And the president? He seemed not to comprehend -- or at least not to acknowledge -- the message the American people had just sent him, courtesy of a resounding electoral defeat for Democrats nationwide.

Although he did concede to the Democrats having taken "a shellacking," he also seemed unable to just come out and say, "I've made some big mistakes, and I need to correct them." Instead, he used the persistently ailing economy as a crutch.

This ignored that it has been at least partly his own and the Democrats' policies that have probably worsened our economic malaise. It's also precisely these policies that drew droves of Republicans and others to the polls last Tuesday.

Then he addressed the issue of trying to work productively with the new U.S. House, now to be under Republican control. We could quibble over whether he showed any willingness to be conciliatory with the GOP. But his main example of potential compromise was climate control. He prominently mentioned electric cars.

This is a White House completely out of touch. When asked -- by a reporter from liberal NBC, of all people -- whether the president would accept that his politics may have contributed to the thumping that many of his fellow Democrats took on Election Day, the president danced around. He suggested that the American people were upset in large part because the effectiveness of Democratic policies is underappreciated for not always having been obvious to see.

This dodged completely the fact that his own former chief of staff once famously said that emergencies were made to be taken advantage of politically.

Finally, a reporter bluntly asked the president about the elephant in the room, health care reform. Obama defended himself as having produced legislation beneficial in many ways, including a provision that allows children up to 26 years old to remain on their parents' insurance policies.

He even acknowledged that it may have been overly burdensome on small businesses to have to issue 1099 federal tax forms to any individual or other entity with whom that business pays over $600 a year. Wow! A breakthrough! But even then, the president said we'll have to wait and see what's best to do or not do about it. Well Mr. President, there aren't enough 1099 forms in America to meet that hidden requirement in the bill.

This isn't to suggest that Obama did not seem at all humbled. But he skipped around, venturing his toe halfway into the cold water here and there. Reporters pressed him on the effect that his and Congress' policies might have had on so many longtime Democratic congressmen and -women who lost on Tuesday. He said every one of those defeated congressional members told him that they had no regrets for having voted for his policies.

Doubtless that will come in handy when these soon-to-be former lawmakers are applying for jobs as greeters at the nearest discount chain store. (Or maybe they'll become lobbyists in a few years.)

I want to disabuse the misinformed over their belief that Obama can only talk with a teleprompter. He could have had a console full of teleprompters to read from at that press conference, and he still would have needed to find a corner to hide. The Washington press corps was finally acting as it should and confronting the president over his litany of ifs, buts and maybes.

George W. Bush's new memoir is about to be released. My guess is that it will contain more candor in its first 100 pages than we witnessed at the president's post-election press conference.

Like too many of his policies, this get-together with the press harmed Obama more than it helped him. His strategy for the event was probably misconceived by the same advisers and others that have led him astray so continually for almost two years.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
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1 posted on 11/04/2010 6:13:52 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

He won’t get it. He’s hopeless. There’s also an excellent chance the GOP hacks in Congress don’t get it either. They’re almost hopeless.


2 posted on 11/04/2010 6:16:23 AM PDT by BiggieLittle
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To: Kaslin

The whole Obama thing is like a nightmare!

How in the hell can a nation as full of competent people pluck a piece of garbage from the sewers of Chicago (of all places) and place it in the White Hut?


3 posted on 11/04/2010 6:17:03 AM PDT by IbJensen (Our government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.)
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To: Kaslin

OH, HE GETS IT....but the Marxist is on a mission.


4 posted on 11/04/2010 6:17:50 AM PDT by Doogle ((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: BiggieLittle

With hacks like McConnell leading them, they have but a slim chance!


5 posted on 11/04/2010 6:17:56 AM PDT by IbJensen (Our government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.)
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To: IbJensen

Slim to none.


6 posted on 11/04/2010 6:22:05 AM PDT by BiggieLittle
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To: Kaslin
He won.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, but he won.

7 posted on 11/04/2010 6:22:05 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("Government has no other end, but the preservation of property." --John Locke)
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To: Kaslin

We need Bachmann as majority leader in the House
And Paul as minority leader in the Senate


8 posted on 11/04/2010 6:22:49 AM PDT by wilco200 (11/4/08 - The Day America Jumped the Shark)
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To: Kaslin

In his mental mind - he has done nothing wrong. Someone like him who was told from childhood that he was special - he was elite - no one was like him - and he has not only made the Kool-Aid - but he’s keeping it for himself and drinking vast amounts of it...

When he is defeated in 2012 - he will walk away thinking that the US public doesn’t deserve him...

Maybe he’ll go to Cuba and replace the casto family!!!


9 posted on 11/04/2010 6:23:12 AM PDT by BCW (http://babylonscovertwar.com/index.html)
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To: IbJensen
The whole Obama thing is like a nightmare! How in the hell can a nation as full of competent people pluck a piece of garbage from the sewers of Chicago (of all places) and place it in the White Hut?

Beautifully stated! The broadcast media MUST be made to pay for the Joseph Goebbels role they played and ARE still playing. But how?

10 posted on 11/04/2010 6:23:33 AM PDT by Huebolt (It's not over until there is not ONE DEMOCRAT HOLDING OFFICE ANYWHERE. Not even a dog catcher!)
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To: BiggieLittle

Obama gets it. America doesn’t get Obama. As long as Americans don’t have to go without -they will never take the problems as serious as they should. By the time Americans Do have to go without - it may be too late. “That’s not really gonna’ happen” is whats being said. It will be followed with “I can’t believe this is happening”. Followed by “Oh my God! What are we gonna’ do”? Obama has a plan. It’s working fairly well...so far.


11 posted on 11/04/2010 6:28:01 AM PDT by 2dollarbill
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To: BCW
When he is defeated in 2012 - he will walk away thinking that the US public doesn’t deserve him...

Absolutely spot on. Obama has two major weak points: his narcissism and tone-deaf political sense. I'm hoping the GOP uses them to skewer him as 2012 draws near.

Obama's Presidency reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George gets a job at Penske. Nobody knows how he got there and he is able to fool them for a short while. But when the time comes to show the work he's done, well, you can only hide incompetence for so long.

12 posted on 11/04/2010 6:29:38 AM PDT by Kharis13 (That noise you hear is our Founding Fathers spinning in their graves.)
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To: Kaslin

FRAKKING Teabaggers!!!! Don’t like this shellacking!!

13 posted on 11/04/2010 6:30:39 AM PDT by Colonial Warrior (Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.)
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To: Doogle
OH, HE GETS IT....but the Marxist is on a mission.
Well said, that is what I believe also. He is a rigid, dogmatic, Ideology and will force his global vision on American regardless of what any polls say or what people must suffer, because he KNOWS BEST!
14 posted on 11/04/2010 6:31:58 AM PDT by 2001convSVT ("Repeal ObamaCare")
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To: Doogle

“OH, HE GETS IT....but the Marxist is on a mission.”

BINGO!!!


15 posted on 11/04/2010 6:34:44 AM PDT by maggief
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To: IbJensen
How in the hell can a nation as full of competent people ...

There's your mistake right there.

16 posted on 11/04/2010 6:35:28 AM PDT by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: Kaslin
On the otherhand maybe he does git it but dont like it?..
Or is that too close to "The King has no clothes"..

I know.. I know.. I am uncouth and a Tea Partier..

17 posted on 11/04/2010 6:35:55 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: Huebolt
The media are starting to pay, their ratings are in the toilet and going deeper everyday.

The think that they can do like democrats and shift from left to center to accomodate the current mood and leadership of the country, but I think the obama administration has made them poop in their own mess kit.

It will be a long, long time before the core of the country trusts them again, or will believe anything they say. Most of us can get more reliable information via Email SPAM than from the MSM.

The internet, cable TV, and the DVR have all but extinguished the need for the alphabet networks and most of the newspapers.

Newspapers didn't shrink their size down to that of "The Weekly Reader" to be fashionable, they're hurting for cash too. Their cash comes from advertisers - you know, all those businesses that are going OUT OF BUSINESS, thanks to the liberal agenda.

But the press doesn't see that, nor do they realize that if the left gets their way and achieves their goal of dictatorship, the press will no longer be free. They are merely serving as useful idiots for the left...but they think they're being cool...ssshhhhh...don't tell all the up and coming journalism students they're wasting their tuition money.

I would put the selling out of the watchdog media as the single, most powerful faction that brought us to where we are today in America. If they had remained neutral, honorable, and done their jobs, progressivism would never have gotten the foothold that it has achieved.
18 posted on 11/04/2010 6:38:42 AM PDT by FrankR (November 2nd is NOT an election - it's a RESTRAINING ORDER.....VOTE!)
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To: Kaslin

Matt, you are as big a dunce as the President.


19 posted on 11/04/2010 6:40:11 AM PDT by SC_Pete
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To: Doogle
OH, HE GETS IT....but the Marxist is on a mission.

I completely agree with this. He is not the least bit interested in what the American people want or expect. He doesn't care about doing what's necessary to be a good president. He only cares about his radical remake agenda. Yes, he will make some concessions, but only for the opportunity to have four more years to enact his agenda. He doesn't even care about the democrat party. All those dems who lost their job, were just necessary casualties in the war for socialism. The only thing he learned from this election, is that he will have to do it slower. That is the only thing in his mind, in my opinion.
20 posted on 11/04/2010 6:40:11 AM PDT by ZX12R (IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!)
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