Althouse: "President Obama is so much better when he takes a heated, knotty issue... and talks to the country like adults."

January 27, 2010

"President Obama is so much better when he takes a heated, knotty issue... and talks to the country like adults."

"He is so much better at making us smarter than angrier. Going to war with the banks for a quick political sugar high after an electoral loss will just work against him and us. It will spook the banks into lending even less and slow the recovery even more."

Thomas Friedman said, making me struggle — dumbly — to remember when Obama made me smarter.

52 comments:

JAL said...: By winning your vote then losing your support?; 1/27/10, 7:11 AM
JAL said...: And it would be nice if he would talk to the us like adults.

Instead of stupid marks.; 1/27/10, 7:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Change "smarter" to "sadder but wiser".; 1/27/10, 7:15 AM
AllenS said...: Obama will speak, and the Democrats will stand up and applaud. We've seen this movie before. After the speech, will anyone remember one thing that he said?

Will he say: "This is not about me."

I don't plan on watching the speech. I'll wash my hair instead.; 1/27/10, 7:20 AM
jayne_cobb said...: I keep trying to think of an example but the only thing that comes to mind is "Bob the Builder" for some odd reason.; 1/27/10, 7:20 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: And it would be nice if he would talk to the us like adults.

Well why do you think he'd think that? He convinced 52% of the electorate to choose him, a community organizer to be President by repeating HOPE and CHANGE over and over.

The only hope I have is that before the end of his term he channels LBJ and claims not to seek re-election.; 1/27/10, 7:20 AM
rhhardin said...: Friedman long ago ran out the possibilities of leftist thought.

Now he's alluding to its imagined possibility.; 1/27/10, 7:22 AM
rhhardin said...: Obama has to calibrate to the amout of estrogen left in America.; 1/27/10, 7:23 AM
Skyler said...: It seems the theme going forward (which my mostly liberal brother offered to me the day after the Brown election) is that the voters are just too ignorant to understand the brilliance of Obama and his nationalization of the auto industry, the banking industry, and most especially the medical industry.

If only we weren't so stupid, we might better understand the wisdom of our benevolent leader.

Those of us who don't like marxism aren't principled, we're ignorant and misled by the sirens of Fox news.; 1/27/10, 7:23 AM
KCFleming said...: His instincts are counterproductive.

He said the police had “acted stupidly in arresting” Henry Louis Gates Jr.

He derides the NYC financial community as "a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street" who “still don’t get it.".

The faux populism is straight out of the community organizer's playbook, which is also counterproductive. At the local level, community organizing does minor to modest harm as businesses pay off the shakedowns just to get them out of their hair.

But at a national level, such words can bring the economy to a standstill.; 1/27/10, 7:26 AM
Crimso said...: Slightly OT- Obama called the #1 ranked 19-0 University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team on Tues. This morning, they are 19-1. Heckuva job there, Obama! (and I'm not making this up; Corzine, Deeds, Coakley, Kentucky, what next?); 1/27/10, 7:28 AM
lucid said...: Thomas Friedmann is the epitome of the stupid smart man. He doesn't really believe in democracy any more (see his writings on China). He would prefer that the nation be governed by the editorial board of the NYTimes, or the Hrvard faculty or the guests at his dinner parties. He turns out to be wrong about just about everything he predicts, but his cronies provide him with book reviews and other forms of cover.

He as a phenomenon is why the demise of the old media is to be anticipated with a sense of a liberation to come.

Did you see that Newsday's paid portal has attracted exactly 35 subscribers?; 1/27/10, 7:38 AM
kathleen said...: Thomas Friedman relying on Obama to make him smarter .... that's the problem in a nutshell. At least Friedman knows he can't be smart on his own.; 1/27/10, 7:38 AM
traditionalguy said...: The professor Obama is a fraud and he knows it. His election came by teaching fairy tales about the bad old Bush monster. Now he is telling tales to child like voters about bad old big banks eating up peoples' money. The sad truth is that the big banks have been our hold on a part of the wealth we call world trade enabled under Pax Americana. Industrial production went away to cheaper labor cost countries. Energy extraction wealth went away when enviros here were allowed to ban American production. The wealth we shared in was the commerce profits thru banking, insurance and management. Now the amazing Professor Obama is teaching us that Big Banks business should be forced overseas too so the unemployed Americans can just eat from their gardens or die, like Kenyans do. We need to revoke this ignoramus Professor's tenure in 2012.; 1/27/10, 7:45 AM
Tank said...: lucid wins "everything" with this:

Thomas Friedmann is the epitome of the stupid smart man.

Truer words never spoken. Unless the big zero himself beats our Friedman.; 1/27/10, 7:48 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I still don't get why the NYT pays huge bucks to the likes of Friedman, Dowd, Kristof, Herbert.

They'd get a way bigger bang for fewer bucks if they hired a few outspoken, well-informed and popular bloggers.

I guess Pinch Sulzberger is mad at his own money.; 1/27/10, 8:02 AM
Michael said...: Obama and Friedman are jackasses. Platitude ridden, sanctimonious,, smug, narcissist and of average intelligence.; 1/27/10, 8:02 AM
Anonymous said...: U.S. taxpayers saved Goldman by saving one of its big counterparties, A.I.G.

Wrong, as usual.; 1/27/10, 8:07 AM
X said...: the mortgage industry just had their regulations doubled and liability tripled, but I'm sure the statist will be dumbfounded when he sees January housing sales grind to a halt, mostly because it's so much harder to get a mortgage. last month's 17% drop was nothing compared to this month.; 1/27/10, 8:19 AM
jag said...: I hope SNL does a skit of the Obamas at the breakfast table with the teleprompters set up. Wouldn't that be hysterical?; 1/27/10, 8:43 AM
The Drill SGT said...: WoW, today my WaPo did an Obama, the first year, retrospective and used a photo of him speaking to Congress as the visual. The caption lists the big 5 successes:

President Obama's first year in office

President Barack Obama marks his first year in the White House this week. The good feelings that surrounded him in the months after Inauguration Day a year ago have faded. Since January 2009, Obama has signed an economic stimulus bill, pushed Congress to pass health-care reform, traveled overseas and upheld traditions like the White House Easter Egg roll and a State Dinner.; 1/27/10, 8:44 AM
Tibore said...: This is really illustrative. The idea of talking "to the country like adults" apparently is simply a matter of sloganeering, making statist commentary and government promises.

No wonder leftists are condescending. They think they're adults.; 1/27/10, 8:46 AM
Opus One Media said...: Well think of it this way Ann. Bush and Cheney continually made you and everyone dumber so by default he has to improve the intellect. Think of it as better water than tap water.; 1/27/10, 8:48 AM
Brian said...: Crimso said:

Slightly OT- Obama called the #1 ranked 19-0 University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team on Tues. This morning, they are 19-1. Heckuva job there, Obama! (and I'm not making this up; Corzine, Deeds, Coakley, Kentucky, what next?)

LOL. Obama is the William H. Macy character in "The Cooler." He shows up just when you're on a hot streak, and cools you down.

During the Winter Olympics, maybe we can get him to sit with the OTHER countries athletes.; 1/27/10, 8:57 AM
Henry said...: Obama has yet to make me either smarter or angrier.

They say we learn from mistakes. But all of his mistakes were predictable.

After the Brown election it does seem that voters are smarter. You could give Obama the credit for that. Even if his execution was faulty (remember when the stimulus was supposed to be fast as well as large?) he has discredited Keynesian economics in the mind of the average voter. (The ivory tower voter continues to rationalize). That's made some people smarter.; 1/27/10, 9:08 AM
Tank said...: Why couldn't we get the big zero to sit with the Colts on the sideline. Next to Peyton.

Damn.

Sincerely,

Jets; 1/27/10, 9:08 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: I wonder if he will take on the knotty issue of the Justice Department hiring lawyers who represented terrorists as prosecutors to work on terrorism affairs and cases? Will he talk to us like adults or spoiled children.; 1/27/10, 9:14 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Clearly Obama has never spoken to Friedman as an adult, not even once.; 1/27/10, 9:52 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: We are living in the Thomas Friedman/ Paul Krugman economy.; 1/27/10, 9:52 AM
ricpic said...: To hear Friedman tell it Obama is on our side. Tell another whopper while you're at it, Tommy boy.; 1/27/10, 9:54 AM
Phil 314 said...: More cowbell does not make me smarter.; 1/27/10, 9:55 AM
Phil 314 said...: More cowbell does not make me smarter.; 1/27/10, 9:55 AM
The Skeptic said...: I agree with Ann that it's hard to think of when he, in fact, made me smarter. On the other hand, he makes me feel smarter every time he speaks.; 1/27/10, 9:56 AM
KCFleming said...: I haven't heard him speak since December 2008. After that, I couldn't bear to listen, knowing the coming disaster.

Now he just sounds like so much white noise.; 1/27/10, 10:05 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I haven't heard him speak since December 2008. After that, I couldn't bear to listen, knowing the coming disaster.

All praise the remote control. Click click click. Dang...he's everywhere...screw it..change to the music channels.

Now he just sounds like so much white noise.

Yes. Like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons. Waah whah wah whaah.

I plan to play World of Warcraft and level my druid and her inscription skills.; 1/27/10, 10:17 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: I haven't heard him speak since December 2008. After that, I couldn't bear to listen, knowing the coming disaster.

I didn't know bin Laden put out an audio tape last month.

Ohhhhhhhh.....never mind my mistake.; 1/27/10, 10:37 AM
Henry said...: Is anyone keeping track of the "Obama lost me" columns in The Times? Krugman, Herbert, now Friedman. I think Obama lost Modo a long time ago, but she's too smart to play the slack-jawed dupe in public. Is Kristof next?

Douthat doesn't count.

It's a game of liberal nine-pins.; 1/27/10, 10:49 AM
Chris said...: Friedman admires the Chinese political system and expresses frustration with this messy thing, we have, called democracy. He has lost all credibility.; 1/27/10, 10:49 AM
Richard Dolan said...: Yes, more fatuous nonsense from Friedman.

But it's interesting to see how Friedman is still trying to come up with an inspiring 'Obama-narrative' that might fly with the true-believer set. You can see Friedman trying to talk himself into it, sentence by sentence, and not succeeding very well.

How fitting that the subject is Obama, for whom words (mostly his own words) are the only reality that counts. The new Obsma logo should be Chip Ahoy's image of Obama looking into a mirror and seeing a reflection of his back. Completely surreal in every sense.; 1/27/10, 11:11 AM
Moira Breen said...: lucid: Thomas Friedmann is the epitome of the stupid smart man.

Don't you mean "the smart stupid man"? Describing someone as a stupid smart person usually means they're poor and lacking in success despite their brains. Friedman is stupid as a brick and very, very rich.; 1/27/10, 11:35 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Drill Sgt:

The Philly Inquirer had a cartoon by its liberal cartoonist. It was a drwaing of the Oval Office. On one wall, there was a plaque that read "Barack Obama Slept Here".

I said wow when I saw that.; 1/27/10, 11:37 AM
John Stodder said...: For the Thomas Friedmans of punditry, the only way in which they can communicate their alarm about Obama's failures and major errors is to precede it with flowery encomiums to his greatness.

In royal times, courtiers bearing bad news excelled at this:

"Fortune smiled on us the day you were born and on each day that led finally to your ascent to the throne. Epic poems will be written about your brilliance and in ages future, learned men will marvel that, yes, a God walked among us in this most propitious time. However, despite my unworthiness to occupy your shadow, there is one small matter I feel bound to bring to your attention. Certainly a matter usually far beneath your elevated attentions, and I apologize meekly for asking you to lower your eyes to the insect level where we all dwell..."

I think we're going to see a lot of this kind of thing in the next year or three.; 1/27/10, 11:51 AM
damikesc said...: "Slightly OT- Obama called the #1 ranked 19-0 University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team on Tues. This morning, they are 19-1. Heckuva job there, Obama! (and I'm not making this up; Corzine, Deeds, Coakley, Kentucky, what next?)"

Heck, the worst part is that they lost to a very mediocre Gamecocks squad that has one actually good player (the best player on the team is injured).; 1/27/10, 12:20 PM
Palladian said...: "Now he just sounds like so much white noise."

Racist!; 1/27/10, 1:00 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I found this humorous by Taranto in the WSJ:

Axelrod, speaking of the president, tells the Washington Post: "This is someone who in law school worked with [Harvard professor] Larry Tribe on a paper on the legal implications of Einstein's theory of relativity."

Part of why this is humorous is that understanding (the physics type of) relativity typically requires a semester or two of Calculus. As most of us who has studied it can attest that it is not all that easy to understand.

My guess is that the sainted Obama didn't have those Calculus classes in college, and even more likely, didn't take the physics classes where relativity was studied (I have been through it at least three times now, at different levels of complexity - it isn't easy). But we will never know, because we will likely never see his college transcripts.

I should add though that Prof. Tribe is bright enough that he may have taken those physics classes. And, he apparently did publish an article titled "The Curvature of Constitutional Space", which I vaguely remember.

Of course, it may be better that President Obama not disclose his college (and law school) transcripts. I, for one, always get a kick out of AlGore opining about science and the environment, after having received a C- and a D+ in the two bone-head science classes he took in college (my memory is that he took more in theology).; 1/27/10, 1:03 PM
KCFleming said...: Palladian, for a brief moment I actually thought against pressing "Publish" because of that.; 1/27/10, 1:08 PM
mariner said...: Pogo,

Don't worry. You were being profound, not racist.

It really says something that all we get from our first black President is white noise.

wv:replie -- that was the idea; 1/27/10, 2:54 PM
mariner said...: It doesn't matter how Obama talks to the country; 53% of it listens like children.; 1/27/10, 2:54 PM
BJM said...: @Comrade X - or when they can't get a truck loan.; 1/27/10, 3:38 PM
JAL said...: Repeat comment --

For SOTU tonight:
SOTU bingo cards over on Town Hall

(I'm doing other things.); 1/27/10, 4:45 PM
JAL said...: They left off "Bush" !

Card 2 of 4; 1/27/10, 4:51 PM
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