'How Do You Know That?'

“It seems Obama is an equal-opportunity president: he’s managed to offend almost everyone,” Neo-Neocon writes, linking to excerpts from Bob Woodward’s new book. As Neo notes, “I’m not sure how much I trust Woodward. But his account resonates with everything I’ve ever observed about Obama, both as a political being and as a human being.”

Such as these anecdotes. Whatdya know — President Bitter Clingers deals in stereotypes:

Woodward portrays Obama’s attempts to woo business leaders as ham-handed and governed by stereotype. At a White House dinner with a select group of business executives in early 2010, Obama gets off on the wrong foot by saying, “I know you guys are Republicans.” Ivan Seidenberg, the chief executive of Verizon, who “considers himself a progressive independent,” retorted, “How do you know that?”

Nonetheless, Seidenberg was later pleased to receive an invitation to the president’s 2010 Super Bowl party. But he changed his mind after Obama did little more than say hello, spending about 15 seconds with him. “Seidenberg felt he had been used as window dressing,” Woodward writes. “He complained to Valerie Jarrett, a close Obama aide. . . . Her response: Hey, you’re in the room with him. You should be happy.”

Or to put it another way, you should love him even more.