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Obama: Presidents ‘don’t start with a clean slate’
Politico ^

Posted on 01/19/2014 12:08:36 PM PST by Sub-Driver

Obama: Presidents ‘don’t start with a clean slate’ By: Reid J. Epstein January 19, 2014 12:41 PM EST

President Barack Obama believes his presidency can be successful even if none of his policy goals are accomplished during his term in office, Obama told New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick.

“One of the things that I’ve learned to appreciate more as president is you are essentially a relay swimmer in a river full of rapids, and that river is history,” Obama told Remnick. “You don’t start with a clean slate, and the things you start may not come to full fruition on your timetable. But you can move things forward. And sometimes the things that start small may turn out to be fairly significant.”

Obama spoke to Remnick several times in the White House and aboard Air Force One for a profile that runs 17,000 words and is set to appear in this week’s issue.

Obama described his role as president as steering the country in a direction that’s more advantageous to the middle class and the poor, even if he doesn’t succeed in winning the reforms he seeks while in office.

“I can tell you that I will measure myself at the end of my presidency in large part by whether I began the process of rebuilding the middle class and the ladders into the middle class, and reversing the trend toward economic bifurcation in this society,” Obama said.

Without comparing himself to predecessors directly, he cited Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan as examples of presidents who steered the country to fit their will.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: davidremnick; newyorker
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Bush's fault.......
1 posted on 01/19/2014 12:08:36 PM PST by Sub-Driver
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: Sub-Driver

Well, he’s right on this one. It’s going to take his successor years to purge Obama’s evil influence and rebuild the country.


3 posted on 01/19/2014 12:10:52 PM PST by livius
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To: Sub-Driver

Wow, he just said non of his policy goals have been accomplished. I thought he’s gotten everything he asked for.


4 posted on 01/19/2014 12:15:16 PM PST by andyk (I have sworn...eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.)
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To: Sub-Driver

I thought that ole Double Barrel Biden said Zer0 was clean....


5 posted on 01/19/2014 12:16:39 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: andyk

Actually the Dems spent so much time on Obamacare during the 2 years they controlled Congress and POTUS, that they whiffed on Cap N Tax and card check for unionization.

Cap N Tax has sort of happened via a bunch of EPA decrees, but the failure to pass card check probably means the death of unions eventually. That was the only way they can “win” in the workplace these days.


6 posted on 01/19/2014 12:19:26 PM PST by nascarnation (I'm hiring Jack Palladino to investigate Baraq's golf scores.)
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To: andyk

“I thought he’s gotten everything he asked for.”
It’s the things that he hasn’t dared ask for that he laments.
Like us still being alive and armed.


7 posted on 01/19/2014 12:20:19 PM PST by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: Sub-Driver

Read the laughable line of pseudo-intellectual bullshyte from Obungu. Trying to look intelligent for the presstitutes at the NY Times. Obungu knows how to connive his way into power with the help of evil genius David Axelrod. But as far as governing and making America a better place, the man is a complete idiot. He is the male version of Moochelle Obama


8 posted on 01/19/2014 12:22:52 PM PST by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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To: Paladin2

They don’t come with a clean slate,but they do come with a resume,and yours Obama is one of a hatred of America .
So take your slate and stick it


9 posted on 01/19/2014 12:23:35 PM PST by ballplayer
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To: Sub-Driver

When you set the bar low enough, you will have to eventually dig a hole and toss the bar into it.


10 posted on 01/19/2014 12:39:05 PM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: Sub-Driver
Two things, maybe three:
Number one: He inherited a bad economy. It is what you want when you take office. If you are a coach looking for a job in the NFL, you have an easier time taking a job with a team that went 3-13 than one that won the Super Bowl. 8-8 would be considered a success.
Number two: he marketed himself as a messiah. He had all the answers. Was he wrong? Was he lying?
Number three: Did he think he had a blank slate when he was campaigning? Is he really that stupid?
11 posted on 01/19/2014 12:43:05 PM PST by fhayek
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To: Sub-Driver

“...a profile that runs 17,000 words...”

And doesn’t amount to a cup full of warm spit.


12 posted on 01/19/2014 12:47:26 PM PST by Carriage Hill (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading.)
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To: Sub-Driver

If a Republican is elected president, it will be funny to watch the media discover unemployment, how low the workforce participation rate is, how many people have lost their homes, and all the other wretched facts about the economy. And, as always, the homeless will reappear.


13 posted on 01/19/2014 1:08:50 PM PST by TheGipperWasRight
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To: Sub-Driver

Up a river without a paddle..

Nothing but his inflated ego..

Enjoy the rapids..

And watch out for the gators.


14 posted on 01/19/2014 1:26:41 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: F15Eagle

Kinda sounds like he’s hinting he’d like another ten or twenty years to totally complete his destruction of the Republic.


15 posted on 01/19/2014 1:38:40 PM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: F15Eagle

Kinda sounds like he’s hinting he’d like another ten or twenty years to totally complete his destruction of the Republic.


16 posted on 01/19/2014 1:38:50 PM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: Sub-Driver
"...I will measure myself at the end of my presidency
in large part by whether I began the process
of rebuilding the middle class
and the ladders into the middle class..."
-
EPIC FAIL!
18 posted on 01/19/2014 1:51:15 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Sub-Driver; All

If I recall, the corrupt media promoted Obama as being the closest thing that humanity has come to deity, the gap actually wider than the known universe, in order to make Obama president.


19 posted on 01/19/2014 2:09:28 PM PST by Amendment10
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Yeah, his plate has a a little line of blow on it.

Thanks Sub-Driver.


20 posted on 01/19/2014 2:30:01 PM PST by SunkenCiv (;http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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