Posted by
RME KRNL on Wednesday, May 06, 2009 12:02:57 PM
As President Obama (and his mad-about-you mainstream media minions) celebrated his recent 100 days press conference, one of the hard-hitting, probing and challenging (actually, probably scripted) questions asked of the president by a New York Times reporter was what has so far most "enchanted" him about being president.
Oh, please! It doesn't really matter what Obama answered, because little could be more insulting to the public, journalistically irresponsible, obsequious to the president, or just plain "puffy" as the question itself. Whatever happened to the White House press corps which actually challenged, sometimes even beleaguered, President Bush? More than that, what happened to press conferences where Bush answered questions on a whole range of topics, without a teleprompter, and often even without notes, and by calling on reporters by first name (because he knew their names) and at random, rather than the scripted, pre-approved, preselected posturings which pass for press conferences with Obama?
As with most things Obama, his image is everything, so his so-called press conferences are merely maximally managed media events. Couple that with his overly lengthy responses (more posturing and pontificating), and it's no wonder that viewership by the American people has declined for each of his press conferences now in succession. In fact, there are already some who think he's just on TV too much, for too long, too often, and even some who admit to muting the TV or turning it off altogether, just so they don't have to listen to him - again.
Could Obama be becoming overexposed? Even some TV talking heads have begun raising that question, but Obama still seems to think, "Nah, people LIKE seeing me on TV, almost as much as I like seeing MYSELF on TV." Besides, I don't think he can help himself. Most narcissists can't.
But, back to the NYT reporter's question. Hmmm, is there a mirror in the Oval Office? Ideally, a full-length mirror, perhaps? If so, I'm pretty sure what has "enchanted" Obama the most so far is looking at his own reflection - as president, in the Oval Office. After all, remember that, to him, image is everything.
However, at another time and in another venue, Team Obama's smoke and mirrors imagery was recently challenged by no less than a Democratic senator, Senator Max Baucus from Idaho, who said to Treasury Secretary Tim "The Tax Cheat" Geithner, while he was appearing before Baucus' committee: "You created a situation where you cannot be wrong. If the economy loses 2 million jobs over the next few years, you can say, yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs. If we create a million jobs, you can say, well, it would have lost 2.5 million jobs. You've given yourself complete leverage where you cannot be wrong, because you can take any scenario and make yourself look correct."
Obama, Geithner and other Team Obama players saying they're going to "create or save" jobs, or anything else, for that matter, reminds me a lot of my days of overseeing and teaching security in the Army. If you've got an area to protect from intrusion, you do the best you can to devise a system, preferably a layered system, of barriers to control or prevent entry. But that's never a guarantee against a determined and resourceful opponent. So, the fact that you've not had a breach is not the same as assuming your security measures are all that effective. Another explanation may be that no opponent has yet attempted a breach. In other words, it's like proving a negative.
Another old joke in the security business told of a worker entering the office of a coworker, only to see him with a big tub and spatula spreading peanut butter all over his office furniture. Worker: "What the heck are you doing?" Coworker: "I'm keeping the elephants away." Worker: "Well, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen - that's not going to keep any elephants away." Coworker: "You don't see any elephants, do you?"
Yeah, a lot of what Team Obama says is like that.