Had TV on as I was having breakfast and soon heard the president come on for his press conference, so I kept it on as I was did my morning blog read/news check. Have scribbled a few notes. My general evaluation is that he’s not doing himself any favors. He seems incredibly defensive and eager to attack the political opposition.
Now, maybe he’s smiling when I’ve been looking at my computer, but whenever I look up, he looks angry and grim and has not been smiling. Don’t think he’ll win much favor among the American people who are watching today. That said, maybe he scheduled a morning press conference when most people are at work (those who still have jobs).
(There, he smiles in response to question whether or not this is a “second stimulus.”)
Seems bound and determined to set himself against his predecessor and the GOP. And he keeps repeating the same clichés he’s been repeating since the campaign — almost as if he’s still on the campaign trail.
UPDATE: Is it just me or when Chuck Todd asked him about changing Washington, he didn’t identify any specific things he did,* but did use the occasion to attack Republicans. (Will [try to] review the transcript when it’s made available.)
UP-UPDATE: Kudos to Obama now for praising W for the way he responded to 9/11, saying that that good Republican was “crystal clear” in saying that this was not a war against Muslims.* [Goes against “conventional wisdom” of many on the left about Bush–wonder why it was at pains to defend that much maligned man.] For all the defensiveness of this press conference, he has handled this question about the supposed upsurge in animosity against Muslims in a pretty presidential way (would be more presidential if he steered clear of the first person singular pronoun).
UP-UP-UPDATE: His responses seems rambling and disjointed with a lot of empty rhetoric and a paucity of specifics.
Huh, what critics of Obamacare are praising the smooth implementation of the overhaul?
CONCLUDING THOUGHT: Given how much is going on in my life right, I doubt I’ll have time to review the entire transcript as I’d like. I’ll just say that whatever he was trying to accomplish, he didn’t do it with this conference. He didn’t inspire much confidence, rambled when he should have offered succinct responses. It seemed one of is advisors told him he had to do this, but he didn’t want to. That reluctance showed. Was, as per the title of this post, more defensive than confident. Don’t think this will change many minds, nor rally people to his party or reverse his poll numbers.
NB: As I offered my concluding thought, I re-read the entire post and cleaned up some of the language.
*In reading David Freddoso’s post on the conference, he included the relevant section of the transcript. To be sure the president did indicate the specifics of some of the legislation, but did not identify specific ways he’s changed the culture of Washington.
SIDE NOTE: I wonder if he’s even conscious of how his repeated attacks on Republicans undermine the essence of the change he promised in his campaign. As the aforementioned fetching blogger quips, “Why is Washington still dominated by finger-pointing? It’s all THEIR fault!”
*From the White House transcript:
One of the things that I most admired about President Bush was after 9/11, him being crystal-clear about the fact that we were not at war with Islam. We were at war with terrorists and murderers who had perverted Islam, had stolen its banner to carry out their outrageous acts. And I was so proud of the country rallying around that idea, that notion that we are not going to be divided by religion; we’re not going to be divided by ethnicity. We are all Americans. We stand together against those who would try to do us harm.
Now, when people attack W for waging a war against Islam, we can use his successor’s word to help defend that good man.
He’s grim & desperate. He also said we’re “one Nation under God.” He did this because people doubt his claims as him being a Christian & anti-American. As usual, Obama comes off as a fake & fraud. The only thing genuine about Obama is his false face. “Whispered lies & snide asides/cover, run & hide you’re lying eyes…”
He’s also on the defense about ObamaCare. Weak.
Man does this guy ramble without a teleprompter.
And I think he’s crying! Isn’t that a tear on his face?
Damn, man up dude.
The bottom line is he looks like a guy who had no idea this was going to be a hard job. And he’s got no more ideas on what to do. All his have failed.
Are these the best journalists we have to offer?
Ahhh it’s not a tear on his face, it’s glitter from last nights White House parties.
President Obama is going into campaign mode; he cannot help himself. He’s also trying to fillibuster his answers. Not a good move. People want specifics. Obama’s need to vote “present” will continue to hurt him. A POTUS cannot vote “present” on ANY issue.
The rambling is natural for a man who has to hide his real Marxist beliefs. He cannot say he wants to turn the USA into a Communist country. The people are already onto to him & the Obama Democrats. It’s too late for Obama to save himself & the Obama Democrats for the midterms.
It’s clear Michelle Obama wears the pants in the family. He is a wimp, but this is what happens when bullies are exposed. He’s just a sad little girl looking for her mommy. In this case, the mommy is his teleprompter.
I love how Obama without a teleprompter says “ya ohh” “yaoh” all the time. Better than uhh, ummm, uhh.
Ever wonder what your HS class President would look like doing a White House press conference….bingo.
Why is Obama more comfortable with a teleprompter than with real people? Obama is much like Al Gore: Both men are visibly uncomfortable in their own skin.
I knew Obama is a pre-fabricated television personality created by the MSM; he is not charismatic or even a good politician. He is a political hack overwhelmed by the Office of the President. He has done nothing to deserve to be POTUS. He is truly an empty suit of epic proportions.
He is a man with a few talking point,s a few bullit points, then that’s it. Man is it embarassing. Blather, he talks to us about basic things like we don’t know anything. Blather…..inane blather.
The fact that Obama is a bad Democrat doesn’t make Democrats bad. The fact that Obama is a loony-left Democrat doesn’t make all Democrats loony-left. I wish the Democrats would realize what a huge mistake he was and how he’s destroying the party and what it stands for.
I guess congressional Democrats were too busy rubber-stamping every aspect of Obama’s “loony-left” agenda to notice how out of the mainstream he was.
President Obama’s administration is like combining several types of bubble gum until one has enough to blow a bubble. For the Obama Administration, the bubble gum has lost its flavor & the bubble has burst all over Obama’s face. This is what it’s like watching Obama without a teleprompter during a Q&A session with journalists.
I stand corrected. Obama did use his precious teleprompter at the news conference:
http://weaselzippers.us/2010/09/10/shocker-obama-brings-along-his-beloved-teleprompter-to-press-conference/
How embarrassing is this for Obama? Mommy is never too far away. Let her hold his hand as the robot Narcissist-in-Chief speaks with a stutter.
“Hope” = He got gimmick.
@1,3,7,11,13: The man simply is uninspired at the opportunity to lead this country. His interests are international and unexceptional (i.e., opposed to American exceptional). Put the pen down. Exam over. Finito. Q.E.D. Got it?
#17: I think part of O’s problem is that he’s reading answers from TOTUS… whoever’s typing the answers to the reporter questions isn’t typing fast enough.
Perhaps O needs to get Bill Clinton in the White House as some sort of shadow president. For the most part, Bubba was smart enough to not keep screwing up.
SCR, Obama’s problem is he can’t think on his feet; everything must be prepared before hand, literally following a script. Essentially, Obama is a newsreader, except he’s POTUS. He’s pathetic.
I’ve always felt kind of sorry for him. He lives in a household of four women, one of whom is his mother-in-law.
Poor Obama, he had visions of grandeur and now he has fallen and he can’t get up.
Could somebody please call an adult?
What this country needs is a good five cent czar.
I agree with some who have said
he just looks SMALL.
Whether it was that oval office thing a couple days ago, speaking about Iraq or this presser….he looks like a small man, way way in over his head. Imagine the press of the Reagan years……they’d have had Obama in tears.
I watched this conference prior to leaving my home on the West Coast. He was definitely scrambling most of the time. He did not answer most of the questions but did the “let me say this about that” routine. Community organizing 101 didnt prepare Obama for the Presidency. Chicago politics didnt prepare him for the Oval Office. And teaching certainly didnt “empower” Barak to become a decent President. Did you notice his eye movements? Most of the time he was looking down and to his left – something tells me that he forgets to control his eye movements so that he appears to be telling the truth.
Duffy, Obama rarely looks into the camera; he always looks down or from LEFT, RIGHT, & only at the CENTER when he has his THIRD telepromnter; he usually only has TWO. When he is in a press conference, he never looks in the eye so the people can see his eyes. Obama knows he’s a fraud. His body language betrays him.