Yes, it’s an election year, and no, he’s not the first president to pander to the press, but his predecessors did it with more subtlety. But then, they were more serious, more intelligent and had more politically savvy advisers.
What has he done, now, you ask?
In a cringe-inducing video interview with Bill Simmons of ESPN, the quintessential guy network for quintessential guys, Obama, in his best imitation of the put-upon husband (going, presumably, for the huge put-upon – none dare call them hen-pecked – husband vote) uses one of the most deplorable clichés imaginable, while also pandering to ESPN and its guy-viewers. Here’s what he said, beginning his statement with an out-of-the-park whopper:
“Well, first of all, I don’t watch network news or cable news. So in the morning, when I’m working out with Michelle, it’s on SportsCenter. This is the one thing that she allows me,” Obama told Simmons.
Obama says he is also able to “sneak in” a game while he is reading his briefings.
“I usually have to stay up until midnight or 1 a.m. reading stuff. And every once in a while I’ll sneak in a ball game as I’m reading my briefings,”
Well, that certainly makes him sound like Mr. Average Joe. Also reassuring that he can’t get through a briefing book (part of his actual job) without “sneaking in” a ball game. If you’re running for reelection, wouldn’t you want to give the impression that you’re focused on your briefing books and not looking for moments when you can “sneak in a ball game as I’m reading my briefings”?
He already sneaks off to play golf whenever he feels like it, and sneaks off to Martha’s Vineyard every summer and sneaks back to Hawaii in the winters. For a guy who says he wants to be president for another four years, he sure does a lot of sneaking around during this term.
Of course, this ESPN interview wouldn’t be an Obama interview without the characteristic preening and condescension we’ve come to loathe and expect from him. He doesn’t disappoint:
Obama boasted to ESPN’s Simmons that he “knew about Jeremy [Lin]” before anyone else did and that he has “been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while.”
“And I knew about Jeremy before you did, or everybody else did, because Arne Duncan, my Secretary of Education, was captain of the Harvard team. And so way back when, Arne and I were playing and he said, I’m telling you, we’ve got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard. And then one of my best friends, his son is a freshman at Harvard, and so when he went for a recruiting trip he saw Lin in action. So I’ve been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while,” Obama said.
Again, he really knows how to appeal to the guys having a beer at the sports bar.
He is such a self-absorbed, clueless hack, he can’t even get pandering right.
When I wrote the headline, “too odious for words,” I forgot one word that sums up one woman’s reaction to this dreadful fool: AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
You can quote me on that.
Considering his quantity of Golf Outings, this interview he gave to ESPN just doesn’t withstand the Smell Test!
I’ve heard or read that he sleeps late. A bit unusual for a savior of humankind and the planet. Now we know why: he fears his wife and loves to watch games.
Corrected:
“Well, first of all, I don’t watch network news or cable news. AND LORD KNOWS I DON’T BOTHER WITH THE PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF WHICH IS A MUCH MORE ACCURATE SOURCE OF NEWS. So in the morning, when I’m working out with Michelle, it’s on SportsCenter.”
“One of these days Barak. BANG! ZOOM! Straight to the moon!”
That’s it. That’s his weakness. He actually believes in his own greatness. And that can be used against him, fairly easily.
Of course, the GOP is too stupid to do so. But it could be used.
Real Clear Politics has him comparing himself to Mandela and Gandhi. We really need to get out that hook and yank him off the stage.
@ #5 Sun Tzu: “[Obama's belief in his own greatness] can be used against him, fairly easily. Of course, the GOP is too stupid to do so. But it could be used.”
Then I certainly hope you’re going to share your plan with those in a position and with the inclination to carry it out.
“with those in a position and with the inclination to carry it out.”
Are you familiar with something called an orthogonal set?
and they used to worry about the guy who was a heartbeat from the Presidency………..
Wow, what a manly man…. “This is the one thing that she allows me“. I guess that is why he throws the ball like a girl.
Can someone please, please link to the video from Big Bang Theory where Penny the waittress from fly-over country has all her friends over for the big game, and then the nerds invade and claim to understand what is going on?
So that the poor man can see what normal really looks like?
OTOH, how does Michelle “make” him not watch. And why does he see this as normal? If he’s friends with Bill Ayers- can’t you just see Bernardine Dorhn with a choke chain, or a stick of dynamite, saying ” go ahead- watch the game- go ahead, you sexist pig?”
Does this man have an office pool? If so, how big is the erased they let him use each week, so he can keep claiming to be a genius? It’s right up there with being born on rainbow mountain, like the Kim family kids.
And why is not one single comedian in America making “midnight basketball” and “police” jokes? They were thick on the ground when clinton was in power. the distaff half is secstate, and the plowman is giving speeches….it shouldn’t be this hard to get decent, non- partisan comedy in this country. We’ve got a Bill of Rights guaranteeing we don’t hang Thomas Paine or Miss September. Why are the comedians so chestless?
seriously, I’m still back and Kumar and Barack go to White Castle…..Throw in the west coast burger fight, if you need bi-partisan hacking, but I’d love to see that movie.
I think this is an unfair attack. There is plenty to hit him on. We don’t need to hit him on this.
This is not a pander. This is him being him.
“The one thing his wife allows him?” I rather believe that. Don’t you?
“Sneaks in a game while reading his briefs?” Again, I believe that. Lots of guys catch up on work in the evening, and have the ball game on.
“He was on the Lin bandwagon before there was one?” Maybe… but it’s not the point whether he was or not. This is just the kind of thing some (loudmouth) guys, who are big sports fans, say.
He is most at ease when talking about sports. He falls into his patterns of it. I do not think he is pandering at all. I think he really is like this. He really is the hen-pecked schlub, who is at the bar to watch the game and get away from his wife for the evening.
I mean, the dude is married to Michelle. Cut him some slack.
Are you just a Democrat or what? This man (Obama) doesn’t sound like a mature adult. He sounds like a teenager. I love teenagers. I’ve got four of ‘em myself, but to defend the CIC and the president of the United States for behaving like “a lot of guys” is just lame. To think that we’ve survived for three years with this jerk at the helm is testament to God shedding his light on us.
Let’s not run on luck and God’s light until 2017. This president is the worst anyone has ever seen, except you. Keep defending him. You’re only covering yourself with his scrum.
Rehearsed, very unnatural delivery of (As you said Belladonna) a sitcom cliche, and that is how it landed. It could have come right off the set of Carol Burnett.
“And I knew about Jeremy before you did, or everybody else did, because Arne Duncan, my Secretary of Education, was captain of the Harvard team. And so way back when, Arne and I were playing and he said, I’m telling you, we’ve got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard. And then one of my best friends, his son is a freshman at Harvard, and so when he went for a recruiting trip he saw Lin in action. So I’ve been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while,” Obama said.”
I think the failed pandering is in that paragraph. Arne Duncan, captain of Harvard team… One of his best friends sons a freshman at Harvard… How many average joes sneaking down to watch a ball game can afford the tuition to Harvard? I don’t think I even know anyone that went to Harvard though I did go to Boston once, maybe I passed by there.
I got to go with Marc Malone on this one. If there’s anything I would question more about than Barack Obama’s fiscal sanity, gross incompetence, and dearth of leadership and character, it’s his judgment in the decision to marry that thing he’s sleeping with.
You ever been around one of these angry, black woman with a sense of entitlement and a chip on their shoulder? They are insufferable. You would rather be waterboarded than be in their presence.
There’s a hellavu lot to criticize this farce and narcissist for President we’ve got. Wanting to get the hell out of the house isn’t one of them.
Wait, I thought they always had CNN, MSNBC, and Al-Jazeera on at the White House!
I can’t get enough Belladonna Rogers
Fun read
thanks
Affirmative Action meets Self Esteem Education meets Daddy Issues. He’s the complete package.
And you just know, with mathematical certainty, that being kicked out after one term (fingers crossed!) is going to have him infecting media outlets (with their full cooperation) like Jimmy Carter on steroids. It’s going to be brutal, people, and a lot of us will never see the end of it till merciful death – ours or the networks – stops the stammering and the yammering.
So… allowing Barack to watch Sports Center is the one thing she allows him to control? Is he saying his wife is actually in charge of deciding what happens to the nation?
I could almost believe that. Barack Obama has been dominated by women his entire life, and between Michelle and Valerie Jarrett, he casts a very small shadow. That must be why he brags on himself so much.
He sure does cast a very small shadow, and does he ever brag on himself. After four years (the campaign plus three) his schtick has gotten on everyone’s nerves. Does anyone believe a word he says? No one but Marc Malone, Tex Taylor and maybe Valerie, although she probably knows that he’s 100% pure, unadulterated BS, too.
Belladonna Rogers: I am puzzled by the paragraph you cited: ” ‘And I knew about Jeremy before you did, or everybody else did, because Arne Duncan, my Secretary of Education, was captain of the Harvard team. And so way back when, Arne and I were playing and he said, I’m telling you, we’ve got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard. And then one of my best friends, his son is a freshman at Harvard, and so when he went for a recruiting trip he saw Lin in action. So I’ve been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while.’ Obama said.”
First – Did he know about Lin from Duncan or from his anonymous friend? Second, the statement, “I’m telling you, we’ve got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard” suggests that Lin and Duncan (or Lin, Duncan and BO) were playing at the same time, a clear impossibility. As I read this paragraph, it sounds as incoherent as is this whole Administration.
I couldn’t agree more. That was why I quoted the paragraph at such length: to express, far better than I could by paraphrasing the president, the deeply troubling incoherence of his “thought” processes. Harvard Law School doesn’t have varsity teams. No professional school does. They’re the purview of undergraduate colleges.
And another thing: since when is any Cabinet member “my” Secretary to the President he or she serves? What an odd way of saying, “the Secretary of…”
Oddly possessive. I can’t imagine Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots, referring to Tom Brady as “my quarterback,” although Brady, unlike Duncan, is a private employee, not a public servant like every member of the executive branch of the federal government.