Obama Is Even Greater Then We Realize

Obama's press office puts out a release detailing his brilliance, patience, and insight into both the political process and the business of making cars.  My goodness, what a time-saver - in an earlier era we would need to see what Obama actually did and whether it worked, but the internet has speeded up everything.

For a new president, the automobile industry crisis has tested the boundaries of his activist approach and the acuity of his political instincts. As with so many issues in his action-packed 100 days in office, Mr. Obama confronted choices few of his predecessors encountered. His ongoing intervention in an iconic sector of the economy offers a case study in the education, management and decision-making of a fledgling president.

Tutored by veterans of past administrations, Mr. Obama, often after dinner with his wife and daughters, devoured briefing papers until midnight to master the intricacies of the auto industry. But he had advisers deal directly with the car companies and never spoke with the G.M. chief executive he effectively fired.

Methodical and dispassionate, Mr. Obama aggravated powerful players in Congress and the unions that helped elect him, then moved to assuage them. He encouraged internal debate but was forced to head off tensions as his treasury secretary and White House economic adviser maneuvered for position. In the end, he struggled with the proper balance between government power and market forces, a theme that has defined his first months in office.

He does it all.  After dinner!  More hagiography:

A half-hour into the meeting, an aide entered the Oval Office and slipped Mr. Obama a note informing him another meeting was to begin. The president told advisers he needed more time to decide Chrysler’s fate. He then headed off for a day consumed by a new strategy for Afghanistan, a threatened rocket launch by North Korea and the evacuation of a flooded Fargo, N.D. (“What is this, a ‘West Wing’ episode?” Mr. Axelrod recalled asking Mr. Emanuel.)

What kind of investigative journalism is this, anyway?  They are utterly silent on whether that Superman outfit gets scratchy or bunches up under his suit.

CLASSIC MOMENTS FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO MULLIGANS:

Mr. Obama grew irritated at the auto executives, who in his view had a long history of bad decisions. “What are these guys thinking?” Mr. Axelrod remembered Mr. Obama asking when the chief executives of Chrysler, Ford and G.M. flew to Washington aboard corporate jets to request a bailout.

Hmm.  What were they thinking?

Comments

[Jane]

Our president,sadly, is a joke.

OTOH Hit is a genius!

[bad]

Perhaps they were thinking it was a great time for a photo op.....

[centralcal]

greater than, Tom, greater THAN.

[clarice]

Wonderful little ruffle and flourish at the end,TM. How would we get thru the One-Der Years without you?

[bad]

Tutored by veterans of past administrations, Mr. Obama, often after dinner with his wife and daughters, devoured briefing papers until midnight to master the intricacies of the auto industry.

The dinner must have really sucked if he devoured briefing papers until midnight. Couldn't he have just ordered pizza?

How many papers can one eat between after dinner and midnight?

[PD]

He goes to Europe to say that the US has been arrogant (without giving evidence of same), but his own arrogance (as evidenced by the press release) is staggering.

[PMII]

"They are utterly silent on whether that Superman outfit gets scratchy or bunches up under his suit." Super!!!!

Any truth to the rumor that Chris Dodd's switching parties to save his re-election....

Is there anyway the public can introduce term limits?

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

...devoured briefing papers until midnight to master the intricacies of the auto industry.

Oh yeah, sure. All it takes to master a multi-billion dollar industry is to read a few papers.

[Uncle BigBad]

Wonderful parody of a New York Times article.

[Rick Ballard]

"Methodical and dispassionate, Mr. Obama aggravated powerful players in Congress and the unions that helped elect him"

The UAW must have been holding out for 100% of the stock.

[Ignatz]

Geez. I didn't follow the link so assumed this was some article from Barry's campaign site.

[Frau Jedöns]

The dinner must have really sucked if he devoured briefing papers until midnight.

Nubian? "Nubians have long ears, ideally reaching half an inch past the muzzle."

[maryrose]

Remember the bigger they thik they are, the harder they fall...

[matt]

I preferred the New York Post's analysis of Obama's first 100 days myself. It was more honest.

[MayBee]

I love Iowahawk!

[Anon]

Why was the Obama family devouring papers together if they had just had dinner?

Isn't it traditional to burn papers in order to hide their content? Another amazing innovation by The One. Turn your historic documents into a snack -- maybe he learned that from the First Puppy.

[maryrose]

USA Today- Incomplete so far, awaiting tangible accomplishments like more new or even saved jobs. Gdp today -6.2. Gee that stimulus bill is falling flatter than a overcooked souffle.

[Appalled]

Look guys, Obama is really smart. That's why he figured out that there are papers you need to digest, but don't have time to read, the only solution is to eat them.

Of course, explaining this to the National Archives when his term is done is going to be a little difficult.

[Mickey]

The fawning over this guy is disgusting. It will settle out at some point as his rating head south. He will be judged in the rearview mirror in the future, and I hate to think what we will see. He will be the biggest assault on American values, attitudes and spirit the world has ever seen. We worry about all the threats from around the world, and we have the biggest one as our leader, he will do far more damage to America then all the others put together.

[gus]

Still waiting for someone to ask for the PASSENGER MANIFEST from the Air Force The ONE episode.
I wonder who got the joy ride at taxpayer expense.

[centralcal]

Hit's photoshop made Newsbusters, too!

Everybody knows a good visual joke when they see it.

[hit and run]

Keith Olberman, rapist.

http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTdjNGQ5ZmRjNThkOWMyNmFjMzc5MGQzMzQxZjZmZDk=>GE's Bailout and Olbermann [Greg Pollowitz]

Just saw this on http://www.usnews.com/blogs/peter-roff/2009/04/24/ge-bailout-piles-rocks-outside-keith-olbermanns-glass-house.html>U.S. News & World Report. http://www.worstbailoutintheworld.com/>There's a new petition asking Keith Olbermann to give back his extra $3.5 million in compensation, in light of the fact that GE is taking bailout funds:

While General Electric, the parent-company of your MSNBC network, was negotiating a $126 billion taxpayer-funded bailout, you signed a new contract raising your salary from $4 million to $7.5 million annually. You have used your show as a platform to call for the resignation of corporate executives accepting excessive bonuses on the backs of taxpayers who are picking up the tab for these atrocious bailouts, yet you yourself have no problem engaging in the same "class economic rape" that you access them of.

Please heed you own advice and stop accepting taxpayer money to subsidize your nightly diatribes. Resign or return the balance of your excessive raise to the U.S. Treasury.

[Mike Huggins]

And also from the NY Times, War?, What War? Is there a war on?

[bad]

Axelrod said the WH was sooo West Wing. How transparent of him to say so.

[bad]

Keith Olberman, rapist.

I assume he is using a foreign object.

[Mike Huggins]

And once more at the NY Times, with this measured assessment of Obama's brilliant first 100 days.

So much to pick from here. I liked this one: "These are very tough times, but Mr. Obama seems to have lifted the spirits of a divided and fearful nation."

And we also get this, "Mr. Obama’s commitment to Israeli-Palestinian peace is already being tested by Israel’s new prime minister, who says he doesn’t believe in a two-state solution."

[Bill in AZ]

...devoured briefing papers until midnight to master the intricacies of the auto industry.

Must have been a lot of pictures for him to take so long. President Training Wheels has kindergarten knowledge of economy, and not much beyond that for just about anything else.

[hit and run]

centralcal:
Hit's photoshop made Newsbusters, too!

Heh, cf. the "Why Are They Telling Me What I Was Telling You, Fox News Edition" thread, where TM laments Fox not giving links ... and the Clarice/Verner discussion http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/04/why-are-they-telling-me-what-i-was-telling-you-fox-news-edition.html?cid=6a00d83451b2aa69e201156f666e86970c#comment-6a00d83451b2aa69e201156f666e86970c>starting here of the same linklessness on stuff they've done.

Not that I care -- but I gave my pic to Mark Hemingway via email, and when he posted it on the Corner, he linked to my flickr page. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Not so with NB, where they host the image themselves, rather than link (they got it from the Corner but don't even put in a link back there).

Which leads to comments on the NB thread like...

nice photoshoppin!
April 29, 2009 - 12:41 ET by katainkent
whomever does your blog pics should apply for the next photo op job ;)

and

Love the pic J.P.
April 29, 2009 - 11:52 ET by mizflame98

The White House could have saved a lot of money and ill feelings if they only borrowed your pic.

Now, I'm not protesting the pic being borrowed, who cares about that. More importantly, what I am trying do is to put myself in the same class with TM, Verner and Clarice.

I don't long for random, widespread blog love. My heart beats only for JOM love.

[clarice]

You have JOM love and you know it. Write a note to NB demanding credit. It's unique, unlike an opinion article where people could possibly have just come to the same conclusion themselves. This is irrefutably your exclusive work.

[hit and run]

Oh, crap. The link to the corner IS at the bottom of the post.

My mostest profusest apologies. Here, let me try this:

I apologize for the misattribution of the NB commenters, who led me to believe that there was no link ::he said in his best Obama Administration apology-imitation::

[anduril]

Rush is on an incredible roll today, with his Obama POA and so forth.

[clarice]

And to think I've wasted all this time trying to register at NB to fight for you, hit!!!

[hit and run]

Oh, gosh, Clarice -- I'm sorry.

And to think I've spent all this time just trying to get wasted.

[bad]

I wonder how much Biden is lying about his influence in flipping Spector.

It's literally impossible he isn't lying to some extent.

[clarice]

**THWACK**

[PDinDetroit]

Just one more item that The Obama failed solving - LUN.

I thought the Earth was going to heal and the waters part or some such nonsense, not a big-ass ice shelf falling off and changing the Antarctic Map.

Maybe the weight was just too much to bear...

[PeterUK]

If O could solve anything,he'd fix M's overbite.

[bad]

LOL PUK

[PeterUK]

Must be like kissing a pair of pliers.

[Mary]

I think Obama is bringing back the Fred Flintstone car.....no emissions.....
OOPS-wrong Fred will emit carbon dioxide...guess that one is OUT !!!

[bad]

LOL Mary

[Old Lurker]

"I wonder how much Biden is lying about..."

Are his lips moving, Babd?

[Old Lurker]

bad...

[Extraneus]

Rush is on an incredible roll today, with his Obama POA and so forth.

Sorry I missed that, all I heard was the beginning where he mentioned he was doing the show on 1.5 hrs of sleep.

(Heh, PUK.)

[Danube of Thought]

As Mark Twain said about the music of Wagner, I understand it's better than it sounds.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I wonder where BHO found the reincarnated Goebbles. This "press release" sounds strangely like that prop master's cant.

And I understand reprints are available and suitable for framing.

Just $10.95 -- $12.50 with plastic frame, and if you want a coin commemorating the first hundred days, just throw in another $5.00.

[Pofarmer]

Rush and Hannity have both been replaying Obama in St. Louis dissing Fox and the tea party protests.

What an arrogant ignoramous.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Talk about spending political capital.

[bad]

At least he didn't call them teabaggers.

[Pofarmer]

Yah know, it seems to me that the tea parties have been pretty polite and civil so far. Do you really want to go poking half a million people with a stick?

[MayBee]

I think it irks him that Fox News gets more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined. He keeps pick pick picking at Fox.

It probably also irks him that Fox isn't carrying him live- probably afraid he'll run over into the start of AI.

[Pofarmer]

It probably also irks him that Fox isn't carrying him live- probably afraid he'll run over into the start of AI.

That may be, but I've never heard any other politician, let alone POTUS openly vilify a news network, or even public personalities. It would appear that the Obama administration does have an active enemies list.

[MayBee]

I never have heard that either, Pofarmer.
I remember John McCain trying to complain about the NYTs being biased, and all the other news outlets agreed that was really weak.

Not sure how this is different, but Fox has about twice the audience NYTs does.

[matt]

Po;

GWB is at the top of that list. Look at how he has treated him and some of the things he's said in public. Just imagine what he has aid in private. The One has had a number of very snarky moments; the San Francisco bitter clingers one was one of the few widely reported.

He preselects the reporters and the questions in his press conferences; he overuses a teleprompter, his gaffes and interactions with global leaders have been abominable, and he is tone deaf to the reaction to things like the AF1 snafu and others he has caused.

But we're all supposed to join the kumbaya chorus. HE LISTENS and is empathetic to us as he marchs us through the gates of his socialist workers and activists paradise.

His snark on the tea party today was especially offensive since his whole career was as a community organizer...if he can';t recognize legitimate grass roots grievances with his "experience" he's going to be in a world of hurt that much faster.

[PD]

Obama is so great he has his 100th day in office the day the 100th episode of "Lost" airs!

[Pofarmer]

His snark on the tea party today was especially offensive since his whole career was as a community organizer...if he can';t recognize legitimate grass roots grievances with his "experience" he's going to be in a world of hurt that much faster.

I don't think that was real successful career from what I've seen. Which would explain a lot. I doubt that he recognizes people with motivation when he sees them. Most of the folks that he was trying to organize were waiting to have something handed to them.

[TCO]

You bailout loving Republicans led us down this path. Principles of allowing entities to go bankrupt were compromised and now the whole thing is being run by fiat. Congrats, you have destroyed free markets. You had a chance to fight and didn't.

[maryrose]

Remember the cardinal rule: Nothing but praise for Obama...Diagreement is not permitted.

[clarice]

Po, On the contrary he got exactly what he wanted out of community organizing..sn entre into Chicago politics. Ditto with his use of Michelle and Rev. Wright. Everybody and everything has always been a stepping stone to hie achieving greater glory.