Saturday, November 8, 2008

The Double-Talk and All-Talk Obama News Conference

If you watched Mr. Obama's first post-election news conference, you probably heard a lot of words about all of our problems but no real solutions. He called the economic situation a priority for his administration and that we need to act quickly. However, as he continued, he clearly said that we only have one President in this country at a time. Consequently, he implied, without really saying it, that he wouldn't do anything until he gets into office. Where's the priority? Where's the we need to act quickly?

When he said "America is a strong and resilient country" he sort of implied that America can almost fix itself. Apparently, he must feel that the "fundamentals" are strong. Something he slammed John McCain for saying during the campaign trail.

Apparently, Mr. Obama thinks his hands are tied right now. He could have come out and said that he has begun working with the leaders of Congress (both right and left) and the President to try and get something done right now. At the very least, he could have called for a lame-duck session of Congress to convene and have bills written and on his desk the day he parks his you-know-what in the Oval Office. However, that message wasn't in his little I've-really-never-left-the-campaign-trail and don't-try-to-pin-me-down news conference of yesterday. I guess that news conference was another typical example of his voting "present" and not taking a hard stand. He wouldn't even answer a question from a reporter as to whether or not he will still proceed with raising taxes on wage earners above $250,000.

(Click to see full report on his news conference).


The most we got out of his little presser is that one of his daughters is allergic and, so, they will be getting a hypoallergenic dog. Also, he managed to slam the very old and hip-injured Nancy Reagan with a rather cheap seance comment about conferring with "living" Presidents and not dead ones. From giving Hillary the finger, to calling a reporter "sweetie", to his really-wasn't-talking-about-Sarah-Palin comment about lipstick on a pig, to yesterday's remark about Nancy Reagan, you really have to wonder about this guy's problem with women. There's just too many cheap shots coming from him to be a coincidence. The fact that he stomped on Hillary Clinton every time he had a primary win by not allowing her a concession speech before he gave his victory speech was another example. Also, let's not forget throwing his now-dead Grandma under the bus when he called her a "typical white person." Fortunately, this time, he had the sense to call Nancy Reagan and apologize.

Joe Biden recently said that Mr. Obama will be tested and that we will see that this guy has a "spine made of metal". OK. I believe that when I see it. His life has been riddled with not really taking a stand on anything. When things are tough, he has a history of turning into J-E-L-L-O. He's thrown so many people under the bus during this campaign that the buses wheels are now off the ground. That's because he doesn't have the spine to defend his long time relationships (even though they all were truly questionable people and, in theory, indefensible as a future President of the United States).

Besides the economic situation, he made no mention of the brewing problems on the international front. There was a little talk about Iran's Ahmadinejad and the letter of congrats that he sent to Obama. Beyond that, there was no mention of the recent threats by Russia to line up it's European borders with offensive nukes and to electronically jam any installed missile defense systems to be installed in eastern Europe. No mention of Iran's threat to shoot down any aircraft over it's territory. No mention of Pakistan's threats against any further incursions.

I think it will be an interesting 4 years. Of what, I don't know. That's because the true "what" is the Obama we still don't know and may never get to know.

No comments: