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.
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