Nicely Done, Mr. President
Well, there's a reason he's president and not Hillary Clinton or John McCain.
Barack Obama handled himself with great aplomb, using his opening statement to lay out the problem and what his answers are. And with each question--and none of the questions were total boners, so score one for the press--the president managed to show a command of the issues and an analytic mind. Wisely, he kept coming back to the point that doing nothing is not really an answer and that tax cuts alone are not enough.
Of course, the contrast with George W. Bush couldn't have been more striking. Obama was comfortable with the long answer and the long question. There was no bristling over the Biden question but a good-natured response that seemed at once to put his Number Two to stop mouthing off so much but also an explanation of how they're trying to get it right.
I thought the tone towards Republicans was probably just right. Some on the left will probably wish he was a little more Republican bashing but that's not his style and he got his jabs in without becoming overly partisan.
For liberals who thought Obama had lost his way, that he'd conceded too much in the name of bipartisanship, that he'd been outflanked by Mitch McConnell, that he'd lost all the momentum, tonight should have been reassuring, a reminder of the power of the presidency to reset the debate and also to the enduring skills of Barack Obama.
Now comes more road show--Peoria, Florida. Those events won't command the audience that tonight's press conference did. But each visit outside of Washington illustrating the plight of the economy and going over the heads of the press and politicians should help Obama guide the debate in this final week.
Beyond that, a week from today, we're likely to be on the verge of passed stimulus package and then we'll be into health care and budget season and, of course, trying to see if any of this is working. Tonight, Obama was able to mention at a couple of junctures that he inherited this mess. True enough. But he'll need to start showing results. Hopefully tomorrow's Treasury program announcement will be soothing to the roiled markets. We'll see.
Josh
Matt
Eric
I'm pretty far left and Obama was right on.
February 9, 2009 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cooper,
I agreed with almost till the end. But you folks on the center right and right love to imagine a uprising in the left against BO. While there were some genuine concerns, most on the left didn't he lost his way. This President carries an unprecedented and Strong backing from the left- just bcoz there voices are loud doesn't mean the room is crowded.
Second, I personally think the President didn't remind people often enough that he inherited the mess- in the spirit of bipartisanship. So, I'm glad he mentioned in a couple times in the presser.
Also, what makes you think "he should start showing results." He already has one a few issues and asked for patience on other issues.
February 9, 2009 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you really think Cooper would be posting here if he were on the right? Do you really think Josh would hire him if he were "on the right"?
Yeah, yeah, I know. HuffPo and ThinkProgress and TPM are being overrun by right wing bloggers.
As a writer, many people have accused me of having some position or agenda completely the opposite of reality. Once I profiled a popular singer for the NYT. (I was also a fan.) Some of his nutso, overprotective fans accused me of trying to hurt his career by making him seem old because I referred to him as "Mr. X." Ha! The NYT requires that *everyone* is referred to that way!
Stop being so freaking defensive.
February 9, 2009 10:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
hmmm. If it were someone else I'd reason.. but too tired to involve in your usual combative arguments.
I don't doubt your intentions though.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
February 9, 2009 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
As an outsider, I've noticed that some people on the left seem to be as rigid and pure in their attitudes as some fundamentalist Republicans. I dunno, but it seems to me that this may boomerang some day. Just sayin'.
February 10, 2009 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Common sense is bipartisan, and that's why Obama was so good tonight.
February 9, 2009 9:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Again, that is the issue. The republican pols can act like fools all day long. However, the american people won't tolerate it. We may be witnessing a new age in american politics which is an incredibly good thing. That presser was awesome! He is going to the people, which is what he has to do and he is explaining it in a way that people can understand. Amazing.
February 9, 2009 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Paradigm shifts are only obvious in hindsight. I think the republican leadership in Congress and elsewhere is in for an eye-opening experience these next few years.
February 10, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought he was very effective but for this liberal in the long it's whether he delivers for me or whether he delivers for the Blue Dogs.
February 9, 2009 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Delivers for you? Is this the royal you, or are you speaking for all liberals?
Not all Dems elected in the 50 state strategy were liberals. They represent historically conservative regions and are wary of government in general and coastal liberalism in particular. Regaining their trust and support through negotiation and dialogue is vital to returning our nation to its representative roots. Your interests still matter, but getting us out from under reactionary hegemony will require that we too shall compromise.
February 9, 2009 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
A very useful point. Incremental progress is still progress, no matter how frustrating it may appear to the less emotionally mature.
Every step forward today is one we don't have to take in the future. And those who demand "all or nothing" end up with nothing too often, having to console themselves only with the thought that they've "lost pure".
February 9, 2009 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, wow, you said that so well.
February 10, 2009 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seconded as usual.
February 10, 2009 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
True that.
February 10, 2009 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reinforced every time you hear someone from Elkhart say, "I didn't vote for him, but he's the President and I want him to succeed."
February 10, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
None of the questions were total boners? Matt, did you hear the one from WaPo?
In a news conference where the POTUS spoke in complete sentences, pronounced words correctly, and knew what he was talking about, WaPo wants to know about baseball? Fucking baseball?
If that doesn't qualify as a boner question, I think that you need to get a better boner metric.
Until the economy is running as if it's on steroids, I'm thinking the WaPo question qualifies as a 14" rock hard, a donkey ... no, a blue whale.
February 9, 2009 10:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give it up. He is still defending the right-wing media totally f*cking up on the iraq war and being a propoganda outlet for the government since the 70's. The press hasn't been journalists since the 70's. The thing that is fascinating about the current dynamic is that we actually have somebody honest as president. There is no job for the right-wing press now, because they can't spew propoganda, because there is none to spew. Get a job mr. cooper.
February 9, 2009 10:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
This was an odd question (or oddly worded):
February 9, 2009 10:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
That was a bad question. Helen Thomas probably ought to retire.
February 10, 2009 12:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
It was also nice to see our president articulate his thoughts with long, detailed answers as opposed to being peppered with incoherent ramblings and false bravado.
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
February 9, 2009 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, terrific. And Matt Cooper's opener about about Obama being what we need instead of HRC or Mr. Grouch is on point.
McConnell and friends would *love* to throw the economy down the toilet if it would spite President Hillary, whereas the McCain-Palin Administration would wreak unspeakable havoc -- can one even imagine what they'd cook up?
February 10, 2009 5:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Baseball!!! WTF does grossly overpaid athletes on steroids have to do with the state of the world?
Color me baffled/dumbstruck/gobsmacked/(you're word here).
February 9, 2009 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
This was a press conference, not a stimulus conference. Reporters were not there to merely ask about the stimulus or the war. Their job was to ask about issues.
The A-Rod story has been all over the news. Congress held televised hearings on steroids so the federal government has already inserted itself into the middle of this issue.
So, although you might not care, it's ridiculous to claim this question is from la la land.
February 9, 2009 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
No. No. No. When the world is collapsing around you, sports are WTF questions, aren't they?
OTH, I've always wanted to question starving populations about who's cooler: Beckham or clean drinking water?
Oy veh. (And I'm not Jewish.)
February 10, 2009 1:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, please. The world is not collapsing. We're in an economic crisis. But how is asking about A-Rod damaging to the president's efforts to address that? Folks can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Do you suggest that the WaPo should stop covering sports or the arts or local politics because "the world is collapsing"?
If the press can't ask about A-Rod because of our economic crisis, then Obama shouldn't be going to Camp David or watching the Superbowl or taking the girls to see Alvin Ailey.
February 10, 2009 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Because I ran screaming from the room and hid under the bed whenever Bush had a press conference, I don't know if they asked him sports questions. But they have asked Obama sports questions before and he seems happy to answer them. I think it is good. Lots of sports freaks out there who appreciate a president able to converse on the topic and they cross all boundries - race, class, political leanings.
February 9, 2009 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent presser. I only heard it on the radio, but it was interesting because he sounded, rightfully, PO'd. I especially loved the digs at the GOP like these:
and
It really pisses me off that it's so hard for other Dems to make the same arguments. The President spelled it out so clearly tonight, but whenever I see other Dems on TV, I slap my forehead and say WTF? It seems like they are always on the defensive even if they are the only person in a softball interview.
One thing that did catch my ear tonight was this:
I wonder how that's going to play.
February 9, 2009 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with what you said. I don't understand why the dems don't get on TV and say the same thing. Instead we get to listen to the republicans spout lame, no brain, drivel like they know what they are talking about. Obama has to call them out, MSM doesn't seem capable of doing it. Sounds to me like Obama is really standing up for the people.
February 9, 2009 10:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe the MSM bookers aren't asking Dems to appear. It has to be way more than a coincidence that so many more Republicans get to sound off than Democrats. That said, the Dems do sound pretty pitiful sometimes and that's really distressing when they have such a positive message to get out.
February 10, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been wondering the same thing. I've finally concluded that I think it will play well. Congress and the public are now openly aware that Obama knows there are items in the bill that are not earmarks but are also not job-creators. He's okay with these coming out of the bill. Obama just sounds like a savvy prez.
February 9, 2009 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
He was en fuego tonight but like bluebell I'll be watching for the followthrough. But I will more than happily admit that this man is very capable of being an absolutely lethal weapon on behalf of progressive causes when he chooses to be. It's no wonder that the Thugs are desperate to destroy him, but they won't succeed. They're a long, long way from being a match for him.
February 9, 2009 10:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. He's a force of nature, and this should be a blessing to progressives, as it'll give us a chance to take him to task when he makes missteps, rather than prop him up like the Republicans did for Bush during every moment of his term in office.
Like any decent President, Obama can stand on his own. For a President of the United States, that should be a minimum quality.
February 10, 2009 12:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent job, indeed. The whole time I was watching I kept thinking "Thank goodness he's the President". I kept having these flashbacks imagining what Bush would have said. I almost have that little sneer and goof laugh out of my head.
February 9, 2009 10:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have the same "shuddery" feeling when I listen to Joe Biden and think "this could have been Sarah Palin and what idiocy would she be committing?"
It was just grand. And while a great pleasure, not an entire surprise. A week ago when it looked like the conservative Reps were in charge and talking about the 'worst start ever' and so on, I didn't like it but wasn't exaactly alarmed. I think it's all the 'conditioning' we got during the campaign -- of feeling that way and then realizing he had a follow-up that was all the more effective because he'd let the other side take the stage for a bit. In other words, I - and many others - are starting to trust him. And trust in our national leaders is so very important ... and so very, very rare.
February 10, 2009 8:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
>>It's no wonder that the Thugs are desperate to destroy him, but they won't succeed.>>
They get plenty of help from folks on the left who castigate him for everything from his cabinet choices to not solving the ills of the world the day he's sworn in and lambast everyone who pleads for a little patience as mindless, kool-aid drinking sheep.
February 9, 2009 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bite me, stupid troll. I will say what I think whether the likes of you approve of not.
Do you have anything better to do with your miserable, worthless life than hang around here sniffing out heresy? Jackass.
February 9, 2009 11:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ohhhhh, look who's got his panties in a knot! The asshole who been screaming about Obama's betryal before he even found his way to the WH john!
Tell us again how you never trusted him because you knew he wasn't a progressive. Tell us again how we kool-aid drinkers are satisified with getting the scraps while he gives the right everything they want. (Of course, you can't name a single thing.)
Remind us how Obama hasn't done shit for progressives, how closing Gitmo, ending torture, repealing the international family gag order, signing pay equity, expanding SCHIP and ordering plans for Iraq withdrawal are all worthless crap because Krugman and Kucinich aren't in his cabinet.
Please, please, remind us how badly we're being fucked, oh brilliant one!
HA!
February 9, 2009 11:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Criticizing him when one believes he's wrong isn't remotely the same as saying he "hasn't done shit" which is a position I've never held. But then, you've never demonstrated any sort of reading comprehension skills.
Here's a free clue. We left-liberals will continue to give Obama credit when we believe he's right and will continue to try to exert pressure on him when we believe he's going off the track (the very same dynamic that worked quite productively in FDR's day.) And we couldn't possibly care less what numbskulls like you think about it.
February 10, 2009 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
You have *never* given Obama credit for anything. Never. Every one of your posts is some rant about how he's betraying "the left" (as if you speak for everybody on the left) without offering any cogent solutions.
The sane people actually want to get something done whereas folks like you just want to beat your chest about how pure you are . . . even if it means that every progressive measure goes down in flames because it's not "perfect" enough.
Last week you and some other dumbass were saying you're too smart to be appeased by irrelevant, feel-good things like executive orders closing Gitmo and ending torture. Only kool-aid drinkers would be fooled by such shallow gestures such as respecting the rule of law.
On, by the way, for someone who doesn't care what numbskulls like me think, you sure spend a lot of time explaining and defending yourself to me. . .
February 10, 2009 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your heart is in the right place but how constructive to you think you are when you say things like this (from a comment above)?
"Do you have anything better to do with your miserable, worthless life than hang around here sniffing out heresy? Jackass."
What cause do you think you advance by talking like that? Or are you more interested in seeing how vituperative you can be in print? Is it all about you or about something bigger than you?
February 10, 2009 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seconded, Steve. Don't let the turkeys get you down.
February 10, 2009 1:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
P.S. http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/making-him-do-it-by-digby-i-was-reading.html
February 9, 2009 11:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with you. Of all the question under the sky he could ask, he went with A-Rod. Bad timing for sure
February 9, 2009 11:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oops...meant for tiowally above.
February 9, 2009 11:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
For liberals who thought Obama had lost his way, that he'd conceded too much in the name of bipartisanship, that he'd been outflanked by Mitch McConnell, that he'd lost all the momentum, tonight should have been reassuring, a reminder of the power of the presidency to reset the debate and also to the enduring skills of Barack Obama
...just curious... how so? I mean, if what people are bothered by is that the stimulus bill is badly compromised, I don't really see how this sense of disappointment would be addressed by a really killer TV appearance. The TV appearance doesn't change the text of the bill.
I mean, I guess it comes down to what happens in House-Senate reconciliation. If the committee report restores a meaningful amount of the stuff from the House bill, and Obama's TV appearance, appearance with Charlie Crist, etc are successful in browbeating Specter et al into voting for the reconciled version anyway, then this will indeed prove that the naysayers will wrong and that Obama has the skills and positioning to play the Republicans like a harp. But if the final bill looks more like the Senate version, then tv appearance or no it's going to look more like the naysayers were right and it was Obama that got played by the Republicans; and Obama in his first major test will have come off, at least this one time, as someone who can give an awesome speech but who can't deliver results...
February 9, 2009 11:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, the baseball question was odd. It's the first nightly press conference with the President and you ask him about A-Rod...kind of a wasted opportunity if you ask me. Obama, to his credit, maintained full composure and answered in a way that was respectful, while incorporating a broader message about integrity. Not too shabby...
February 10, 2009 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
I related to what it must have been like to listen to Roosevelt's fireside chats on the radio. I've never found a president's answers so thorough, honest and vital to our family's future and the future of the country. I too couldn't help comparing Bush to Obama, and the difference was night and day in intellectual analysis. I think anybody who watched Obama tonight understood why he is our president during this difficult time. He did an outstanding job today in both the townhall meeting and the press conference.
February 10, 2009 1:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
February 10, 2009 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
>>. Bugger off, troll>>
Ohhh. How original. You're still trying mighty hard to persuade me, considering that you don't care what I think.
February 10, 2009 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
His performance today at Ft Myers was even sharper.
You could see that last night left him FIRED UP and READY TO GO
February 10, 2009 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink