Bruce is one of my favorite FB posters. I think he had a good read on the final presidential press conference of the year. I absolutely agree with Bruce that BHO is that smart. And I also believe he has a profoundly good spirit. To borrow from The West Wing, I hope the strategy of the final two years is to let Obama be Obama. Mele Kalikimaka Mr. President. ✿´¯`*•.¸¸✿ ✿¸¸.•*´¯`*•.¸¸✿ ✿¸¸.•*´¯✿ From Bruce Lindner: I watched the Presidents year end press conference this morning, and if you missed it, it was pretty fascinating. I then channel surfed the three cable news outlets to get their take; Chris Matthews was hyped up like a chipmunk, that nitwit Gretchen Carlson was trying to double-team Alan Colmes with some GOP hack on Fox, and the crew at CNN was essentially asleep at the wheel. So I drank a big glass of water, grabbed my hat and coat and went for a long walk (theres nothing like a blast of fresh air to blow out the pipes and kick-start the brain). And I replayed the presser in my head as I walked. It began of course, with him ticking off his administrations accomplishments. Then, as expected, the first question was the Sony hacking story, and the President was ready for it. He built up to it methodically, but when it came to the crucial question, do you think Sony made a mistake by yanking the film, he said; Yes, I do believe Sony made a mistake. And that right there, was destined to be the headline of the day. He also fielded questions about the economy, Cuba, the XL Pipeline, working with Congress, etc. In all of his answers, he was upbeat and confident. Very positive. Like a man about to spend the next two weeks in Hawaii – which he is – but also, a man unshackled. As if now that the Democrats have lost the Senate and he no longer has to cater to the last of the Dixiecrats, hes free to be blunt. And the pundits all caught wind of it too. But after all the assigned journalists had asked their questions and he was about to walk away from the podium, April Ryan asked him if she could squeeze in one last question, and he obliged her. She asked (again, Im paraphrasing from memory, so dont shoot me if Ive garbled it); Six years ago, I asked you about the state of race in America. How has your view changed since then? He took a loooong pause before responding—a far longer wind up than usual for such a soft-ball pitch. The room fell silent. When he finally answered, he cited both the Eric Garner and Michael Brown situations, but almost as an aside, and his bottom line was basically: No change. Im still upbeat, and while theres still much work to be done about race relations in America, I feel the same way about it today as I did in 2008. And off he went. Well, the punditocracy was deflated. How come he gave such bold, vigorous answers about everything else, but punted here? Especially considering the Tamir Rice, Treyvon Martin, etc. scandals have happened in the past six years? The talking heads were abuzz. Chris Matthews said I liked the new Obama 2.0. On everything except race, that is. Even CNN momentarily woke up. Fox was just Fox, picking apart the entire speech. But I think every last one of them misread that. Look at the situation. He answered 5 or 6 prepared questions from journalists whod been pre-arranged with the White House. For each of them, he had to have a good idea what they were going to ask, and he responded accordingly and off the cuff. But not April Ryan. She caught him off guard, and that slow wind up wasnt him thinking; Okay, how has my view on race changed since 2008?, it was more like; What do I want to be the take-away for my year end presser? It was either going to be about North Korea committing a cyber-crime of unprecedented magnitude, an opportunity to bury the hatchet with an old adversary, or some sound byte that will play into the hands of his loudest critics ... the Republicans who claim hes overly focused on race. You could almost hear the wheels turn as he built up to that anti-climactic moment. And in the end, a potential gift to the right was defused. Rush Limbaugh went limp. Not that I think his views HAVE changed all that radically since then, but had he allowed himself to get distracted by the question and removed himself from the narrative of the rest of his answers, the headline at CNN and Fox tonight wouldnt have been about Lil Kim hacking Sony, or the Cuba breakthrough. It would have been something they would have turned into a negative, and pushed for weeks. In my opinion, thats what that long pause was. He was considering all that before answering, and instead, ended it with an upbeat, confident, presidential note. And in doing so, he denied his detractors any fresh meat. I believe this president is the most intelligent president since Lincoln, if not ever. Hes not only outsmarted those whove conspired to make his presidency a failure, but hes smarter then the media analysts who are paid to try to read his mind. If Im right about this, and I think I am, what he did today was pretty damned slick. He crammed about a dozen what ifs into maybe 5 seconds of thought, responded intelligently, then went on vacation knowing he steered clear of a potential snafu. And he did it all on the fly. Mele Kalikimaka, Mr. President. Enjoy your vacation. And when you come back, put that pen to work and sign those executive orders. Im glad youve found your second wind. And Id HATE to ever play poker against you.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 23:33:08 +0000
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