April 5, 2013

"If there is ever a time in the 8 years when you would relax on the money and try to govern, it would be at this point."

"What he has done completely in contradiction to what he promised as a candidate in '08. He institutionalized the permanent campaign. He's out there raising money at the beginning of the second term when he ought to be here working on the budget, on sequester, and all these other issues. But now he is the essence of exactly the system that he denounced and he promised he would messianically redeem."

56 comments:

TMink said...

And this is news how?

Trey

chickelit said...

POTUS seems beholdered to a higher cause--reshape the lawz

Anonymous said...

Do you have an "Obama lies" tag?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

What was your second clue?

( The first was when, during his first presidential campaign, he broke his promise and forwent public financing. )

Ann Althouse said...

"And this is news how?"

Don't assume that if I post that means I'm asserting that this is news.

But I think the key point that makes it worth posting is that it's the beginning of the second term. It should be the least campaign-y time. If you were ever going to stand up and be the statesman, be President for all Americans, it would be now.

So it's nailing down that Obama is never going to step up to the job.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

They said Bill Clinton was the first celebrity president but that's like saying Herodotus was the first historian.

Meade said...

The Drill SGT said...
Do you have an "Obama lies" tag?

No. She has an "overpromoting Obama" tag. Will that work for you?

lemondog said...

....and try to govern....

Gggggov....how dayasay that?

Unknown said...

"it's nailing down that Obama is never going to step up to the job."

Exactly.

He doesn't know what the job is, or he doesn't care.

Michael said...

Professor Althouse:"So it's nailing down that Obama is never going to step up to the job."

Yes. He believes, I am afraid, that campaigning is the job.

Brew Master said...

TMink said...
And this is news how?


One and done.

Original Mike said...

"She has an "overpromoting Obama" tag. Will that work for you?"

Nothing short of "Obama is a lying son-of-a-bitch" will do it for me.

Brew Master said...

So it's nailing down that Obama is never going to step up to the job.

And this is news how?

Meade said...

Oh wait, here's one: "Obama's media". That's pretty much the same as "Obama lies" isn't it?

Anonymous said...

He's still organizing his action.

Real American said...

it's almost like he's not qualified to do anything else! Too bad we weren't warned before he was elected!

Nonapod said...

He's out there raising money at the beginning of the second term when he ought to be here working on the budget, on sequester, and all these other issues.

Well, personally I would rather have him on a permanent campaign than actually doing anything since he's got a lot of horribly destructive policy ideas (although I wish he'd shit or get off the pot on the Keystone Pipeline issue). Thankfully he seems to be more interested in appearing to do things than actually doing things.

AustinRoth said...

He has no interest in governing and never has.

It has always been about changing America into the Ayres/WU vision.

That requires constantly pushing the message, i.e, propaganda and campaigning, and laying foundations and barriers.

Meade said...

"Obama is leaking" is also a tag.

AustinRoth said...

He has no interest in governing and never has.

It has always been about changing America into the Ayres/WU vision.

That requires constantly pushing the message, i.e, propaganda and campaigning, and laying foundations and barriers.

Ipso Fatso said...

Obama knows his legacy is secure. The NYTs, NPR, Hollywood, ad nauseum will see to that. He doesn't have to govern. And when Obamcare kicks in and medical costs sky rocket, his media and cultural enablers will blame Republicans, racism, Rush and whomever and BO will jet off to another golf outing… He will go down in history as the greatest president in the last 40 years. The history departments at Yale, Harvard, etc will see to that.

Sorun said...

All that matters to his core supporters is that he's black.

Larry J said...

As I've written before, Obama does far less damage to the country when he's playing golf than when he's playing president. He should play golf every day.

Seriously, how could any allegedly intelligent person believe that Obama - a man who had zero executive experience, zero real world work experience, and almost no other work experience at all - would be up to the job of being the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief? Oh, yeah. He went to the Ivy League. That means he must be able to do anything.

dreams said...

In fairness to Obama, he did Implicitly promise to destroy our country and he is obviously keeping that promise.

Seeing Red said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Seeing Red said...

It costs a lot of money to fundamentally transform/organize America.

Why is this news?

He also said again he doesn't like the chaos.

Give him what he wants, it'll be peace & calm.

test said...

This is 100% correct. Obama stood in front of a black audience and lied that George Bush blocked Katrina relief funding because NO residents are disproportionately black, and now he stands in front of audiences and whines that our political discourse is toxic.

Some level of hypocrisy is to be expected, it's hard to practice what you preach. But Obama is just breathtaking with, of course, the full support of the left who participate and abet the same attitude.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

And you voted him in.

Slow clap for Althouse. McCain would have been so much worse right?

Clap. . . clap. . . clap . . .

test said...

Larry J said...
Seriously, how could any allegedly intelligent person believe that Obama - a man who had zero executive experience, zero real world work experience, and almost no other work experience at all - would be up to the job of being the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief? Oh, yeah. He went to the Ivy League. That means he must be able to do anything.


The experience they valued was community organizer. The job entails convincing the community everything wrong with their lives is the fault of your political opponents. I'd say the left sought the perfect experience to accomplish their goals and that Obama has delivered for them.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yeah... and? Most lefty dems don't care at all.

Harry Reid's democrat controlled senate did not submit a budget for 4+ years. When they finally did, the budget never balances.

We are swimming in unsustainable debt and teetering on the ObamaCare event horizon... It is laughing at us like Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton at a Stephen Colbert/cackle convention.

Right now what matters in D-money-land is the road to gun confiscation and the road to handing people who came to our nation illegally a drivers license and full-on amnesty. Democrats are desperate to grant illegals a goodie bag with a card attached that says "You're welcome, please remember us at election time."

MayBee said...

Speaking of the campaign, did Obama or Romeny ever really use the campaign busses Obama had made for them? I know Obama used his once or twice on POTUS events, but not during the campaign I don't remember Romney using his at all.

edutcher said...

He wasn't against any of it.

He just wanted to be a bigger part of it than he was.

Meade said...

Do you have an "Obama lies" tag?

No. She has an "overpromoting Obama" tag. Will that work for you?


Similar to the guy in Sing Sing who said he was in for receiving stolen goods and was told, "Well, it's not like you murdered somebody...,

But it's a start".

edutcher said...

Marshal said...

Seriously, how could any allegedly intelligent person believe that Obama - a man who had zero executive experience, zero real world work experience, and almost no other work experience at all - would be up to the job of being the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief? Oh, yeah. He went to the Ivy League. That means he must be able to do anything.

The experience they valued was community organizer. The job entails convincing the community everything wrong with their lives is the fault of your political opponents. I'd say the left sought the perfect experience to accomplish their goals and that Obama has delivered for them.


The irony here is that he was lousy at that, too.

And, in answer to the question, "how could any allegedly intelligent person believe that Obama ... would be up to the job of being the Chief Executive?", remember we're not talking about intelligent people.

We're talking about Leftists, Liberals, Democrats - y'know, low information voters.

Brew Master said...

Hasn't the meme of Obama voting 'Present' been around since before being elected in 2008?

It is who and what he is, and always has been. Others have always done the actual work for him, they have been willing to do so quite happily. All he needs to do is be 'clean and articulate' per Joe Biden, say the right words and fawning masses have stepped up to do all the actual work.

His record of accomplishments was never scrutinized (primarily because he had no accomplishments that could be touted as successful).

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Campaign, lie and golf. It's for the common good.

garage mahal said...

Yes. He believes, I am afraid, that campaigning is the job.

That's worshiped by conservatives in Wisconsin. Walker barely steps foot in this state between all the fundraisers to prepare a run for the presidency. He's headed to China this month to shore up some foreign policy cred on our dime.

Brew Master said...

I wouldn't worry about Walker running for president.

I've heard that he's going to be indicted, any day now.....

jacksonjay said...


So it's nailing down that Obama is never going to step up to the job.

SUCKERS!

exhelodrvr1 said...

It was clear back in early 2008 that this is the kind of president he would be.

Ann Althouse said...

"She has an "overpromoting Obama" tag"

I have so many Obama tags. That's one I forgot about. Obviously, it could have been used many times. Now, it's kind of too late.

I do have "Obama stumbles," which I've used a lot.

Lyle said...

So he's like Julius fucking Caesar?

Lyle said...

So he's like Julius fucking Caesar?

Colonel Angus said...

I have so many Obama tags.

Do you have Obama is a moron?

That should serve as a multi purpose tag.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Khamer delivers.

Seeing Red said...

A community organizer's job is to inflict pain, not feel it.

They sell pain.

Sam L. said...

Bub, but...that's all he knows how to dooooooooooooo!

Marty said...

The most interesting question to me still revolves around voter gullibility and wishful thinking. The actual Obama was never all that carefully hidden in 2008; his ultra-left orientation was plain to see for anyone that wanted to find it. Why did the majority of us NOT want to find it? Why do so many of us continue to believe in green unicorns and progressive utopias? In a self-governing republic, this question is of paramount importance. Obama is the result, not the cause.

Anthony said...

He only does what he's good at: Making vapid speeches before adoring masses of drooling and fawning acolytes, and separating fools from their money.

But as others have said, better that than actually make some attempt at governing which he just screws up at.

Albireo said...

Perhaps this is too obvious to state, but because Obama is unable or unwilling to compromise he must have both houses of Congress on his side. His only hope of pushing through his agenda is to win the House and keep the Senate in 2014, therefore he continues campaigning.

virgil xenophon said...

I can't help but harp on the fact that Obama was quite clear in both his writings and public utterances as to what kind of President he would be, and I (as well as many others here) was not shy in voicing the alarm. Given that, I would say that Ann, an otherwise well-educated, obviously intelligent and well-informed individual who would qualify as an "intellectual" in anyone's book, nevertheless voted for Obama the first time around only confirms yet again the truth of Orwell's statement that "...only an intellectual could possibly believe in such things--no ordinary person could ever BE such a fool."

But Orwell's dictum doesn't account for the fact that so many of Orwell's "common-sense" "ordinary"
people were also obviously fooled as well. My conclusion? Orewll's analysis, while necessary, was not sufficient to explain the phenom that is Obama. The guy who riffed on Lincoln when Slick Willy was first elected by restating Lincoln's axiom as "All one needs to do is fool enough of the people enough of the time" was/is perhaps the closest anyone has come to providing the all-encompassing explanatory power for the reason behind Obama's election and continued popularity--that this depiction of the national psyche rings true is much to our nation's discredit..

Anonymous said...

Why did the majority of us NOT want to find it? Why do so many of us continue to believe in green unicorns and progressive utopias? In a self-governing republic, this question is of paramount importance. Obama is the result, not the cause.

I would emphasize, as is my wont, that our elites went overwhelmingly for Obama as much as the minorities.

Our smart professional people with good degrees from good schools, with good jobs, nice houses, money and power -- the people that we look to for judgment and leadership -- were swigging down the koolaid with the best of them.

It's one thing for people of average or less intelligence busting their humps and raising families to fall for a huckster like Obama. They are the people who may understandably be low-information.

But damn and blast the professional classes, especially lawyers and law professors, for their smug arrogance that they know best who inflicted this disaster on the Republic.

Baron Zemo said...

How about the tag: "Obama is a lying sack of shit."

Joe Schmoe said...

Oh he's tried governing. From 2008 to 2010, it was "You guys figure out something to make me the progressive Reagan." No ideas, no leadership. Economic ideas from the Keynes camp that failed to produce the promised results, and a gargantuan health care bill slapped together in the heat of the night.

After losing the house in 2010, his attempt at governing was to say do it my way or I'll take my ball and go home. The House said we've got our own ball, so do whatever you want.

It's not that he hasn't governed; it's that he's tried it and he colossally sucks at it.

TMink said...

Althouse, I was not snarking you. My apologies for the inelegant post. I was snarking our President. I try to post as few words as possible sometimes, and that can make a martyr of comprehension! But again, my apologies.

Trey

MarkD said...

Well, what a surprise. He lied.

ken in tx said...

Julius Fucking Caesar was a successful commander. (Gaul is divided into three parts, I came, I saw, I conquered).That is not to say he was right to dismantle the Roman Republic, but he was an able leader. Obama has not demonstrated any such qualities yet.

I hope he will not be successful in dismantling our republic.