The President's Bad Week

"Well I may have had a bad week, but, ah, I won the election in 2008...  Didn't I?

President Obama had a really 'interesting' week this week.  It wasn't 'interesting' for any one thing he did, but rather for the number of 'interesting' items which arose over the past five days. 

So many interesting things have arisen recently, I'm only going to cover the past three day's worth. 

All things considered, I almost feel sorry for him.

Almost.

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012, Washington, DC, Huffington Post:
WASHINGTON -- Four top lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees condemned recent national security leaks during a Thursday news conference and announced plans for legislation to prevent future breaches.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said she and her fellow lawmakers are not voicing concerns as a way of "finger pointing at anybody," including the White House. "What we're trying to do is say we have a problem and we want to stop that problem," she said. "We're not finger pointing."

Feinstein, joined by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), promised new legislation to crack down on leaks of classified information, The issue has gained traction since the publication of two front-page New York Times stories last week providing new details about President Barack Obama's secret terrorist "kill list" and the U.S. government's cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear facilities. ...

“This administration takes all appropriate and necessary steps to prevent leaks of classified information or sensitive information that could risk ongoing counterterrorism or intelligence operations,” Jay Carney said, “Any suggestion that this administration has authorized intentional leaks of classified information for political gain is grossly irresponsible.”

...

"The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive. It’s wrong," Obama told reporters at a news conference Friday. "And people I think need to have a better sense of how I approach this office and how the people around me here approach this office."



Why it's interesting:  "Grossly irresponsible" claims or not, Eric Holder's Justice Department has just (defined here as: 'moments ago' on this Saturday morning while YOU are sleeping) appointed two US Attorneys to look into the source of the leaks referenced above.

AP just reported the story just prior to 8am.  It's kind of odd that this should occur while so many people are un-connected, offline, and literally, 'sleeping'?

"An unconcious customer (Citizen) is our BEST customer (Citizen)..." 

________________________________________

Thursday, June 7th, 2012, Los Angeles, CA: 
“I want to thank my wonderful friend who accepts a little bit of teasing about Michelle beating her in push-ups but I think she claims Michelle didn't go all the way down"

Why it's interesting:  The President referenced Michelle Obama's visit to the Ellen DeGeneres Show while speaking to 600 supporters at a fundraiser for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Leadership Council.   

Watching the video clip below, you will spot the moment in which he realizes what he just said, and to whom around 23 seconds into the clip.  Lacking the required 'Time Machine' to go back and un-say it, the President gestures to the audience to 'keep it down'.

Seriously, just because it's on the teleprompter, do you HAVE to read it???

Video Link HERE

________________________________________

Friday, June 8th, 2012

Friday, June 8th, Late Morning Press Conference:
 
QUESTION:  What about the Republicans saying that you're blaming the Europeans for the failures of your own policies?

THE PRESIDENT: The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we've created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine. Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government -- oftentimes, cuts initiated by governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don't have the same kind of flexibility as the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in.

And so, if Republicans want to be helpful, if they really want to move forward and put people back to work, what they should be thinking about is, how do we help state and local governments and how do we help the construction industry. Because the recipes that they're promoting are basically the kinds of policies that would add weakness to the economy, would result in further layoffs, would not provide relief in the housing market, and would result, I think most economists estimate, in lower growth and fewer jobs, not more.

ENTER...  The Huffington Post (immediately following the morning press conference): 

As a political matter, the remark had all of the makings of a gaffe. The economy is Obama's biggest weakness in his campaign for re-election, and the comment almost certainly did not help the president's standing.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has had his his share of poorly phrased statements about being "not concerned about the very poor" and liking to fire people when talking about choice in health care, jumped on the comment.

"He said the private sector is doing fine. Is he really that out of touch?" Romney said in Iowa. "I think he's defining what it means to be out of touch with the American people."

Said Romney, "For the president of the United States to stand up and say the private sector is doing fine is going to go down in history as an extraordinary miscalculation."


Friday, June 8th Press Conference 'Clarification', President Obama, mid-afternoon:

UPDATE:  The president sought to clarify his remarks later Friday, saying it is "absolutely clear the economy is not doing fine." He continued, "That’s the reason I had a press conference. That’s why I spent yesterday, the day before yesterday, this past week, this past month and this past year talking about how we can make the economy stronger. The economy is not doing fine. There are too many people out of work. The housing market is still weak, too many homes underwater and that’s precisely why I asked Congress to start taking some steps that can make a difference."


Why it's interesting:   According to "Mid-Morning President Obama", the private sector is doing 'just fine'.  Yes, 8.2% unemployment is 'fine', 2x the number of Americans on food stamps since he was elected, is 'fine', our National Debt $6 TRILLION higher than when he was elected.  Yes, everything is just 'fine'. 

Once again, according to the "Mid-Morning President" the only thing NOT fine yesterday morning was the fact that state and local governments were NOT growing. 

Yes, this is EXACTLY what Americans want more of, state and local governments... 

Why it's interesting(2):   Yesterday afternoon as Mitt Romney spoke of the President's comments, the "Mid-Afternoon President Obama" admitted that he 'said what he meant', but he didn't necessarily 'mean what he said'.

We (AND the Huffington Post), 'mis-underestimated' him once again.

For the love of God, would someone please fix his Teleprompter?!?!? 

When it's NOT on, the President talks 'all crazy', but, um, when it IS on he talks all, um, 'all crazy' then too...

Ah, never mind.


President Obama does not need a Teleprompter to get re-elected - what the man needs is a complete Media Black-Out (no racial pun intended).

Image courtesy of FloppingAces.net

So, is this it?  Is this everything that happened during the past three days of the Obama Presidency?

No, there's more of course, but it's Saturday morning and I've got chores to do.

While I'm gone, you can check out the following story which is making NO waves at all, odd, since it involves ACORN, President Obama, and one-half of a BILLION dollars of your (or is it, China's?) money...

June 7th, 2012, Judicial Watch:  The Obama Administration has given a former director at the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) nearly half a billion dollars to offer “struggling” Illinois homeowners mortgage assistance, a Judicial Watch investigation has found.

It means the ACORN official (Joe McGavin) will go from operating a corrupt leftist community group that’s banned by Congress from receiving federal funding to controlling over $445 million in U.S. taxpayer funds.  The money is part of a $7.6 billion Treasury Department program to help the “unemployed or substantially underemployed” make their mortgage payments.


Ah, what the heck, it's only a half-billion dollars, that's 'chump change' in the Reign of Obama.  Don't worry about it, maybe there's something good on cable...

Have a nice weekend,

Moos