| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Barry is cracking |
| 2010-04-04 |
| by Anne E. Kornblut, a WaPo blogger! Even by President Obama's loquacious standards, an answer he gave here on health care Friday was a doozy. Toward the end of a question-and-answer session with workers at an advanced battery technology manufacturer, a woman named Doris stood to ask the president whether it was a "wise decision to add more taxes to us with the health care" package. "We are over-taxed as it is," Doris said bluntly. Obama started out feisty. "Well, let's talk about that, because this is an area where there's been just a whole lot of misinformation, and I'm going to have to work hard over the next several months to clean up a lot of the misapprehensions that people have," the president said. He then spent the next 17 minutes and 12 seconds lulling the crowd into a daze. His discursive answer - more than 2,500 words long -- wandered from topic to topic, including commentary on the deficit, pay-as-you-go rules passed by Congress, Congressional Budget Office reports on Medicare waste, COBRA coverage, the Recovery Act and Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (he referred to this last item by its inside-the-Beltway name, "F-Map"). He talked about the notion of eliminating foreign aid (not worth it, he said). He invoked Warren Buffett, earmarks and the payroll tax that funds Medicare (referring to it, in fluent Washington lingo, as "FICA"). Halfway through, an audience member on the riser yawned. But Obama wasn't finished. He had a "final point," before starting again with another list -- of three points. It was not evident that he changed any minds at Friday's event. The audience sat politely, but people in the back of the room began to wander off. Even Obama seemed to recognize that he had gone on too long. He apologized -- in keeping with the spirit of the moment, not once, but twice. "Boy, that was a long answer. I'm sorry," he said, drawing nervous laughter that sounded somewhat like relief as he wrapped up. But, he said: "I hope I answered your question." |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #9 Sounds like he's taking lessons from his good buddy Fidel. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2010-04-04 17:26 |
| #8 Behavior that is rewarded is reinforced. If you elect a two bits con man POTUS, don't expect him to believe that he can't fool all the people all the time. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-04-04 14:52 |
| #7 I don't see the problem here. The teabaggers laughed at him and made jokes, but now he has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt and with geometric logic that his policies are sound and reasonable. /sarc |
| Posted by: Angusoque Ghibelline1266 2010-04-04 14:06 |
| #6 Very good development logi_cal. Unfortunately, also true. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-04-04 14:01 |
| #5 Events will overtake this President. We have the descent of Mexico into chaos, we have terrorism, we have the economy. It will accelerate and he will be outside the OODA loops. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-04-04 13:52 |
| #4 Well, if it's like our Dear Speaker said about healthcare ("We have to pass it to see what's in it"), then I'll predict what's said about other pending garbage: Cap & Trade: "We have to pass it to prove global warming" Iran nuke: "We have to permit the development of the bomb to prove that they are capable of building one" Amnesty for illegals: "We have to pass the bill to find out how many are here and determine the cost-benefit of keeping them out in the future" Sharia law: "We must permit the application of Sharia law in the US to determine if it's compatible with the rights of freedom of religious expression" Big Brother & anti-terrorism: "We must yield further rights & freedoms in the interest of self-protection; we will give them back when the danger is over" Greater social spending: "We must yield to the needs of the needing few. When the needing few are greater than the providers we'll take another look at where we went wrong" Higher taxes & the economy: "We must provide for the common good...it takes a large & functional government to do so. We'll reduce the taxes when the 'crisis' is over." And, of course, you can expect similar diatribes from our Dear Leader defending the moves... |
| Posted by: logi_cal 2010-04-04 12:30 |
| #3 Whoops! That image was way smaller when I found it. Could someone add "width=400"? Sorry. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-04-04 12:30 |
| #2 |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-04-04 12:28 |
| #1 I've said it all along. Like most egotists, the man loves the sound of his own voice. And when TOTUS isn't around, he sounds like a rambling, stumbling, stuttering boob. I also notice when he shifts into the "down home" dialect when he's out on the road dealing with the rubes. But, of course, the media still insists he's one of the Great Orators of our time. You'll know he's in serious trouble if even they get off that bandwagon. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-04-04 10:56 |