Obamisms

[Loredoctor]

Seriously, keeping a record of Obama's social gaff's and accidents is a excellent idea. Because I felt so sorry for Bush in the end.

It got to the stage where I was defending the previous president's intelligence at work. Coworkers were saying, "Bush is so stupid because he does things like confuse his left hand for his right hand". "I do that all the time, it doesn't make me stupid". "Bush once attempted to bounce a basketball that wasn't filled with air, how dumb of him". "He probably wasn't aware of it being not filled". . . etc etc

As Australia's ex Foreign Minister said of George W. Bush:

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says outgoing US President George W Bush had the image of a "bumbling Texan" because he was a nervous media performer who "never improved".

Speaking to Triple J's Hack program on Mr Bush's last day in office, Mr Downer says during his personal dealings with Mr Bush he found him to be a confident, funny and charming man.

But he believes Mr Bush was never entirely comfortable dealing with journalists during his eight years in office and as a result his public image suffered and he was misunderstood.

"I think a big function of it is the way he appears in the media as a slightly nervous, unconfident and bumbling Texan," he said.

Mr Downer says Mr Bush's performance in front of the cameras has been a major problem for the US government.

"I don't think in the media he was ever good actually, I don't think he improved," he said.

"I've not of course said that to his face but I've said it to a number of people in the administration."

During his time as president, Mr Bush was a target of ridicule for his "Bushisms" in which he appeared to confuse words and mix up or forget parts of quotes.

[Ki]

Thanks, HLT for the link. And thanks too LM for sharing.

[Zarathustra]

To be clear, I don't think Obama is stupid. Not at all. (However, I do think he is misguided, manipulative, elitist, and disingenuous.) My purposes in this thread is simply to illustrate that every politician makes mistakes . . . in the interest of providing balance.

[wayfriend]

Once again, I'll say Kentuckians didn't need a president to come to our state during a disaster. We handled it fine. Sounds like New England handled too.

The point Malik was making was about the media..not the president.

Which is ecactly my point as well. There were no media stories about Bush NOT coming to New England. Just as there were no media stories about Obama NOT coming to Kentucky. So I see no "media bias" -- when you compare two things that are the same. The difference must lie in the difference between Katrina's severity and Kentucky's severity, not in the media's bias. Which means blaming media bias is an unfair accusation.

[Ki]

Well, there is media bias whether you see or not. And the media (with the exception of Fox News and talk radio) is definitely in the pocket of Obama. How many times did we see the video of Bush trying to get out through that locked door in China? We saw it a bunch. All in an effort to show what an "idiot" Bush was. How many times did we see any footage of Obama mistaking the White House window for a door?

[High Lord Tolkien]

Well, there is media bias whether you see or not. And the media (with the exception of Fox News and talk radio) is definitely in the pocket of Obama. How many times did we see the video of Bush trying to get out through that locked door in China? We saw it a bunch. All in an effort to show what an "idiot" Bush was. How many times did we see any footage of Obama mistaking the White House window for a door?

[crickets chirping.....]

[[Syl]]

Personally, I never saw the aforementioned Bush video until months after it happened. I heard about the Obama door incident that day. *shrug*

[aliantha]

Haven't seen either one. Sorry.

[Ki]

well, maybe I watch too much news. Actually, I know I watch way too much news.

[Cagliostro]

I've heard the "Left-Wing media bias" tune several times before, and I just don't see it at all. I've heard the opposite quite a bit as well. But as both sides seem to complain that the media is in the pocket of the other guy, that might mean that the media is doing it's job after all.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I've heard the "Left-Wing media bias" tune several times before, and I just don't see it at all. I've heard the opposite quite a bit as well. But as both sides seem to complain that the media is in the pocket of the other guy, that might mean that the media is doing it's job after all.

If you can pick this up somewhere it might be an eye opener for you.
When it first came out the guy was pretty much banned from most media sources.

www.amazon.com/Bias-Insider-Exposes-Med ... gy_b_img_b

[Zarathustra]

Personally, I never saw the aforementioned Bush video until months after it happened. I heard about the Obama door incident that day. *shrug*

We watch news sources which present a slant that we don't always agree with (we like to keep it balanced). For instance, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews. So we saw plenty of unflattering coverage of Bush from MSNBC.

Of course a conservative is going to be sensitive to liberal bias, and let conservative bias slide. But I think the opposite is true of liberal viewers. That's not necessarily a bad thing--it keeps everyone on their toes.

HLT, that looks interesting. John Stossell's books are an eye-opener, too. When he was scaring the sh*t out of consumers over things like lighters exploding in your pocket, he was a media darling. But when he realized that this only happened, like, twice . . . and government corruption hurts people a lot more, he tried to change his tactics--to the jeers of his peers.

[aliantha]

I've said before here that back when I was in the news biz, we figured we were doing okay, balance-wise, because we would get complaints of bias from both the left *and* the right.

Generally speaking, I've found that people think the news is biased if they don't agree with it.

Just sayin'.

[Harbinger]

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama called on Americans Thursday to follow Abraham Lincoln's example of showing generosity to political opponents and valuing national unity — above all else.

At a ceremony in the stately Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol marking the 16th president's 200th birthday, Obama said he felt "a special gratitude" to the historical giant, who in many ways made his own story possible. On Thursday night, Obama, the nation's first black president, will deliver the keynote address at the Abraham Lincoln Association's annual banquet in Springfield, Ill.

As lawmakers and guests looked on, Obama recalled Lincoln's words in the closing days of the Civil War, when the South's defeat was certain.

Lincoln "could have sought revenge," Obama said, but he insisted that no Confederate troops be punished.

"All Lincoln wanted was for Confederate troops to go back home and return to work on their farms and in their shops," Obama said. "That was the only way, Lincoln knew, to repair the rifts that had torn this country apart. It was the only way to begin the healing that our nation so desperately needed."

A day after House and Senate leaders agreed on a costly economic stimulus plan that drew scant Republican support, Obama said, "we are far less divided than in Lincoln's day," but "we are once again debating the critical issues of our time."

"Let us remember that we are doing so as servants to the same flag, as representatives of the same people, and as stakeholders in a common future," Obama said. "That is the most fitting tribute we can pay and the most lasting monument we can build to that most remarkable of men, Abraham Lincoln."

It was by no twist of fate that Obama was there.

When he launched his presidential campaign, he did it in Abraham Lincoln's hometown. When he arrived in Washington, he followed the train route Lincoln used in 1861. When he needed a Bible for his swearing-in, Obama picked Lincoln's.

Heck, even Obama's lunch on Inauguration Day was modeled after Lincoln's favorites, right down to the seafood stew.

Clearly, the 44th president wants Americans to know how much he admires the 16th.

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin thinks that reflects Obama's genuine affinity with Lincoln — for his willingness to learn and grow, his ability to communicate with the nation, his insistence on having strong-willed, independent advisers.

"Somehow Lincoln has worked himself into Obama's heart and mind, and it's a good thing to have Lincoln as your mentor," said Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Team of Rivals," a Lincoln book that Obama says has influenced his thinking on how to govern.

But for a new president trying to reassure people during another time of crisis, highlighting Lincoln can also be a signal to the nation: If one skinny Illinois lawyer could guide the country through the Civil War, then maybe another one can handle today's problems.

In a sense, Obama has associated himself with one of the most popular political brands in Illinois, says Bruce Newman, an expert on political marketing at DePaul University. Evoking Lincoln reassures voters that Obama shares their values and will try to emulate their hero.

Obama is hardly the first president to display an affection for Lincoln.

Teddy Roosevelt, for instance, was sworn in wearing a ring that contained a strand of Lincoln's hair, and he surrounded himself with busts of Lincoln. Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon identified with him, too.

Historian Richard Norton Smith said admiring Lincoln is practically routine for presidents, particularly embattled ones. "I'm not sure how much it matters to voters. I suppose it's better to associate yourself with Lincoln than Millard Fillmore," he said.

But no other president can match the emotional connection of a black man following in the footsteps of the president who ended slavery. It helps complete what Smith called "the unfinished part of the Lincoln agenda" — bringing America closer to real racial equality.

Then there are the more mundane links.

Both Lincoln and Obama were lawyers who served in the Illinois Legislature. Both had brief Washington careers before running for president. Both started out as relative unknowns who were criticized as inexperienced, yet managed to win the White House.

Smith, who was the first director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, sees a potential risk in Obama's public admiration of Lincoln.

"To the extent that you are seen as wrapping yourself in the Lincoln flag or, worse, presenting yourself as a latter-day Lincoln, you set the bar terribly high and you invite legitimate criticism," said Smith, now a scholar in residence at George Mason University.

But both he and Goodwin said they think Obama has successfully walked that tightrope so far.

"It's not that he's comparing himself with Lincoln," Goodwin said. "It's rather that he's just saying, here was a man who ... faced a time of crisis and came through it so extraordinarily, and I can learn from him."

Abe Lincoln Said:

"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois" (September 18, 1858), pp. 145-146.

And he also said:

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. -Response to a New York Tribune editorial on abolishing slavery

Lincoln promised freedom for slaves if they rebelled and helped the Union in states not yet under Union control. In response to the successful efforts of black troops, and keeping his promise, Lincoln has a change of heart:

There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion before the proclamation issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt, returning to their allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as favorably for us, since the issue of proclamation as before. I know, as fully as one can know the opinions of others, that some of the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us our most important successes believe the emancipation policy and the use of the colored troops constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the Rebellion, and that at least one of these important successes could not have been achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity with what is called abolitionism or with the Republican party policies but who held them purely as military opinions. I submit these opinions as being entitled to some weight against the objections often urged that emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as military measures and were not adopted as such in good faith.

You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then exclusively to save the Union. I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time, then, for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes.

I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the negroes should cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the enemy in his resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought that whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for white soldiers to do, in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do any thing for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive—even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept. - Letter to James Conkling one year after the signing of the Emancipation Ploclamation.

So yes, Abe Lincoln was a man for unity. He would have done anything to keep the North and South together. He was one of our greatest presidents. He was a Republican. He kept his promise to the fighting slaves. He ended slavery. But he is not the champion of slavery that your grade school history teacher made him out to be.

[Cagliostro]

Maybe the problem is how people define left and right agendas. If it is things like reporting lighters exploding in their pockets, I think of scare tactics that lead me to think conversative slant. So basically, the stuff that we think is crap is the reporting of someone who works for the other side of the fence, and therefore, I think it is that the media is full of crap and that we should all stop pointing the damn finger at each other and realize we are all human and full of crap and that these labels that we put on ourselves and others don't mean...uhh...crap.

But we've completely derailed this thread. Let's get back to making fun of Obama!

[High Lord Tolkien]

But we've completely derailed this thread. Let's get back to making fun of Obama!

Yeah, Harbinger wtf?
That gets my vote for the weakest Obamism ever!

[Harbinger]

I didn't know where else to put it. When I started writing it, I was thinking Obama doesn't know history. You would think that someone who idolizes Lincoln as much as Obama professes to would know the whole story. Well, maybe he does but he loves him anyway. As I wrote it, I saw that Obama, any black, or any right thinking person could feel a large debt of gratitude to Lincoln even if the abolition of slavery was not his goal for the Civil War.

EDIT: BTW, cal's statement was not in response to my thread. We submitted posts at exactly the same time. Though it is appropriate.

[Ki]

I've said before here that back when I was in the news biz, we figured we were doing okay, balance-wise, because we would get complaints of bias from both the left *and* the right.

Generally speaking, I've found that people think the news is biased if they don't agree with it.

Just sayin'.

I don't always agree with what O'Reilly or Hannity say AND I realize that they can be biased. I can watch Olbermann and know the man is biased. But they are commentators. I am talking about straight up news. I don't disagree with facts. Here's an example, today when it was reported that the Consumer Index increased by 1% (not much, but the experts expected it to decrease), Fox News had it on their website, but CNN did not. I would think that is a very important story for CNN to cover. Are they that incompetent that they would overlook such a story? It may be there now. I'll go look, but it defiinitely wasn't there this morning.

[The Dreaming]

I didn't know where else to put it. When I started writing it, I was thinking Obama doesn't know history. You would think that someone who idolizes Lincoln as much as Obama professes to would know the whole story. Well, maybe he does but he loves him anyway. As I wrote it, I saw that Obama, any black, or any right thinking person could feel a large debt of gratitude to Lincoln even if the abolition of slavery was not his goal for the Civil War.

EDIT: BTW, cal's statement was not in response to my thread. We submitted posts at exactly the same time. Though it is appropriate.

He was still elected on an abolition platform. (Which was one of the direct causes of the secession). True, he planned on a gradual emancipation, and the immediate one he called for was mostly meant to break the southern economy in a time of war. (Much the same as Reaganomics broke the back of the USSR) But he still was an abolitionist who truly believed slavery was horribly immoral.

[Vain]

Adding for posterity....

President Barack Obama said yesterday that Caterpillar Inc. will hire employees if the pork-bloated Generational Theft Act passed.
Today, Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens said it wasn't true.

Not only is Caterpillar not hiring... they will probably lay off more employees this year.