December 7, 2015

Is anyone praising Obama's Oval Office speech?

I'm hearing a lot of negative spin — Obama squandered the opportunity, etc. So I went looking to see if places that would be expected to support him are saying nice things.

I tried Talking Points Memo and the front page is cluttered with all sorts of things but the only Obama-speech-related items are: "Fox Guest On Obama: 'Such A Total Pussy, It's Stunning'" (top left) and (lower down) "Fox News Host: Obama ‘Could Give A Shit’ About The Threat Of Terrorism." That's nothing complimentary about Obama, just the direction to look elsewhere, at how nasty his critics are. 

The Daily Beast front page has that "pussy" guy...



There's also a column by Michael Tomasky, "President Obama’s Challenge to Muslim Americans":
This is the first time Obama has issued this challenge to Muslim Americans.... [I]f other Americans had some sense that Muslim Americans as a group were really working to ferret out the radicalism, then this stalemate might be broken. If anything Obama should have been more emphatic about this. He should now go around to Muslim communities in Detroit and Chicago and the Bay Area and upstate New York and give a speech that tells them: If you want to be treated with less suspicion, then you have to make that happen. That would be real leadership, and a real service....
Sounds like there's a big, daring, additional step Obama would need to take to earn Tomasky's praise.

Vox tried to keep it neutral: "Obama's rare Oval Office address to the nation: what he said and what he meant."

The NYT did put up "President Obama’s Tough, Calming Talk on Terrorism," as I noted last night.

Salon has: "Obama calls for reason: The president’s nuanced take on terror post-San Bernardino." The classic liberal buzzword. I've said it before:

58 comments:

Sebastian said...

Nuance. Just as Whoopi gave us rape-rape, maybe O can give us terror-terror.

Achilles said...

People are starting to see the writing on the wall. Buy stock in torch and pitchfork manufacturers.

Despite the media relentlessly covering for Obama the truth still gets out and the press is getting lumped in with the rest of the DC political class.

Jason said...

Some wag... I can't remember who... tweeted, "The big winner tonight is Carter's 'Malaise' speech."

Original Mike said...

Certainly not Andrew Malcom: Terrorism isn't scaring Americans; Obama is.

rhhardin said...

Obama doesn't fit the office. The lectern was to make the office look smaller, but it really needed styrofoam columns.

Alex said...

He had a big chance to declare what's happening to the Yazidi people GENOCIDE and he blew it. He just doesn't give a fuck.

YoungHegelian said...

I'm not surprised that Col. Ralph Peters on Fox just came right out & said Obama was a "pussy". He froths at the mouth at the mention of Obama's name, anyway, & he's repeatedly used politer terms that basically are equivalent to "pussy" in the past.

To quote Dennis the Peasant: "Oh! It all comes out now, it does!".

Michael K said...

"Round up the usual suspects."

William said...

I saw the picture of the terrorist bride clearing customs. She looks pretty grim and in no mood to compromise with the Great Satan of America.......I think Muslims should try to meet us half way. None of that religious garb is mandated by the Koran. The Koran says to dress modestly. There are ways of dressing modestly without going to such uncomfortable and unflattering extremes. I have never seen Hillary Clinton wear seductive or revealing clothes and yet she dresses in western clothes. Female terrorists and recent Muslim immigrants should endeavor to dress like Hillary Clinton. She should be their role model.........How come you can make fun of Mormon underwear, but Muslim headgear is sacrosanct?

damikesc said...

As one thing I saw online said, "If he skipped his LAST Oval Office speech (about the Iraq withdrawal), he might've been able to skip last night's"

Owen said...

"Nuanced." That's a good word. Right up there with "interesting."

Ralph Peters kinda delivered the walk-off home run, though.

Gusty Winds said...

This is the first time Obama has issued this challenge to Muslim Americans....

First time I've heard it. And Tomasky is right. Join the fight; or at a minimum be a little for vocal about Islamic opposition to Islamic terrorists. He's asking the profiled to do a little internal profiling.

A few publicized broken terrorist plots traceable to some type of internal cooperation would go a long way. Cops were able to get grade school kids to turn in their parents who were hiding a dime bag in the dresser drawer.

But I think their hands are tied. For their own health and safety, do we really think they're going to narc on somebody they overheard at the mosque without fear of retribution?

Skeptical Voter said...

Charles P. Pierce at Esquire liked the speech. Of course he's a jackass, and so is perfect for the donkey party.

Anonymous said...

Journalism died when Obama got elected, and the journalists swooned. They lie and cover up for him, and we all see it. I went from reading 4 newspapers a day to none. I can't stand the lies, and refuse to pay to read them.

Danno said...

Achilles you are behind the times. Today's torch and pitchfork uprising will show up with the latest AR-15s and humongous clips.

Titus said...

Fox News...where the pubes get their marching orders.

The ladies on that segment look like big sluts. Major gams.

Must rile up the old white flyover males who haven't gotten a hard on in 10 years.

Fritz said...

He just doesn't care anymore.

Birkel said...

There are paid Leftist shills. Go read them if you want to see Obama praised.

I was right in 2008 and remain so.

FleetUSA said...

I thought it was more than strange he spoke from a podium in front of his Oval Office desk.

Laslo Spatula said...

"The Daily Beast front page has that "pussy" guy..."

"Fox News Analyst: Obama is 'Total P*ssy'.

Why are we so quick to assume "P*ssy" means 'pussy'?

That asterisk could very well represent, say, the letter 'i'.

As in:

I find Obama 'pissy'.

Paul Lynde would find Obama 'pissy'.

Yes, I went to Paul Lynde.

Circle makes the Square, bitches.

I am Laslo.

avwh said...

PBS Newshour didn't dare find anybody from the Dem party to quote as critical of Obama's speech & position.

Tried their damnedest to make all those R Presidential candidates look like reactionaries and "frothing-at-the-mouth" critics of Obama - but even that gets a little lame & transparent when the WH occupant is that lame.

MAJMike said...

We've been waiting since 9/11 for the mythical moderate Moslems to denounce their co-religionist's activities. Still waiting. All they need to do is make videos for the media, hold national press conferences, and post bill boards in every metropolitan area denouncing violent jihad.

After 14 years, we're still waiting. Their silence speaks loudly.

J said...

Should they?

Michael K said...

The Muslim lawyers doubled down and explained it was all our fault. Trump, of course, trumped their bid (sorry) and said he would ban all Muslims coming in. I'm starting to like this guy even though I worry about him.

Remember, Reagan's "gaffe" with the open mike was deliberate to shake up the Soviets and it probably did some good. So did his firing of the air traffic controllers. That was also done for the benefit of the Soviets, The left, of course, needed a change of underwear.

Todd Roberson said...

Obama:

1. We got this
2. Don't be a racist

America:

Pussy

FIFY

Todd Roberson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Quaestor said...

Nuanced Shit? Shinola? Does it really matter which?

Quaestor said...

Pussy is a bit crude, so maybe Varney was right to demand a suspension for Peters. How about Obama is the vagina discharge of the West?

traditionalguy said...

Welcome to the real world.

Nothing about Obama makes any reasonable sense until you factor in that he is our enemy in deep cover and lies to us every time he speaks. Those beady black and glazed over loveless eyes are always there. The Obama Smile from the lower face down is faked.

Static Ping said...

Try the Daily News. The newspaper has gone full freak out so they may be down with it, assuming they have come down from whatever they are high on.

Chuck said...

WOW! I expected that I'd watch the video, and that I'd be embarrassed for Colonel Peters. Who could justify such language as part of a public debate?

BUT PETERS HAS A GREAT DEFENSE HERE! Stuart Varney's question -- sort of a weird one -- was basically, "What were you saying to your tv set as you watched the President's speech?" In other words, what were you saying, Ralph Peters, in the privacy of your own home? Please tell us. Now why Varney needed to know that I have no idea. But he asked it. And Peters answered.

It might have been more clever for Peters to have prefaced his answer by saying, "Oh Stuart, I am going to tell you what I said, and it won't be language that you normally entertain on your program; that is how angry I am! So here goes; what Peters says to his tv at home..."

As for Varney coming back a second time to demand a clear apology; we all know what happened there. What happened was that in between Varney's first mention of the offensive language and the second, a producer got in Varney's earpiece and said, "Stuart you have to very quickly demand a clear retraction from Ralph. Have him apologize or retract it."

And Peters, far from being out of control (after answering Varney's odd little question honestly), very politely apologized. I really think Ralph Peters is more balanced than Stuart Varney. Just like I'd say John Bolton is a lot more balanced than Bill "Falafil" O'Reilly.

mccullough said...

Let's start with barring all travel, work, student and fiancé visas to Saudis and stop taking refugees from the third world.

David said...

Some mucky-muck from the Council on Foreign Relations was on TV decrying the level of criticism and "partisanship." (He seemed to think that they are the same thing.)

Problem is, we indeed do reap what we sow. This includes presidents. Especially this President. He was the one, above all others, who had the platform to increase discourse rather than recrimination.It was the most attractive part of his campaign in 2008, but actually It wasn't his style. Ask the Justices of the Supreme Court, who had to politely endure his nasty attack during the State of the Union. Or ask Paul Ryan, whom Obama insulted in both the national televised bipartisan "summit" on health care. He did the same thing to Ryan in an early major speech on health care, as Ryan sat in the audience below the state in a deliberate attempt to show that he wished to listen to what the President had to stay.

Thank God for term limits.

Meade said...

"Thank God for term limits."

Amen.

rhhardin said...

What's wrong with "pussy?"

rhhardin said...

In Britain you can say Obama is a total cunt, which is a more just word. It drops out the cat possibility. Yet it's inoffensive.

MayBee said...

Remember when they brought the lectern for Obama to stand behind in someone's driveway?

J said...

Should they?Your answer to that question shows which side your on

traditionalguy said...

If Peters got a two week suspension for that language, then George T. Patton would have gotten life in prison for his normal talk with The Third Army rolling through the German Army like shit through a goose... Oh my God the most forbidden word shit was been uttered.

Trump will make him Secretary of Defense.

PackerBronco said...

Moderate Muslims disagree with the terrorists means, but not necessarily their goals.

Seeing Red said...

Bloomberg kissed his ass.

Anonymous said...

I usually don't listen to Obama speeches but did last night.
I can never get that time back again.

First, given the noise from the White House, the gun control stuff was just that .. noise. There had already been a bipartisan rejection of using the "no-fly' list in the House with 47 Democrats saying .. NO.

I really thought he would try to go further.

But what was really surprising was that I'm sure Progressives were equally disappointed .

This speech was completely devoid to any new ideas. It could have been delivered two weeks ago .. to an empty room .. with equal results.

We all know he doesn't want to get into a ground war, but the air campaign is completely lackluster. So lackluster that many Iraqis think the US is siding with ISIL. If he had any new ideas, I thought they would enhance the air campaign, perhaps by telling us that a dozen B-52s had just flattened Raqqa.

If you take the long view, it's actually easy to see that Obama hasn't had any new ideas since he (or Bill Ayers) wrote his last book.

Michael K said...

Good quote:

"Two things happen whenever Democrats talk about gun control: more people buy guns, fewer elected Democrats have jobs "

-- Sean Davis

Dan Hossley said...

Is anyone praising Obama's speech? Sure, that little voice in Obama's head that tells hi. He is right and the rest of the entire universe is wrong.

Anonymous said...

Vox tried to keep it neutral: "Obama's rare Oval Office address to the nation: what he said and what he meant."

Damn, even the Voxxies realize they're never the same thing.

Sammy Finkelman said...

The only people trying to build up that speech are the newspaper and television -mainly television reporters charged with reporting it. And hat mostly because it wss delivered by a president of the United States.

It was really disappointing, and he made two mistakes about the case. One everybody makes - that it was a holiday party.

The other was more serious, and the White House issued a correwction that had the effect of making him say something that almost made no sense and was probably not what he intended to say.

He said he was telling the State Department to review the visa waiver program, to maybe exclude people who had vosted conflict zones, and said this was the way
the female terrorist entered the country the first time. It was not. Pakistan is not on the visa waiver progra and she came on a fiance visa. Probably hiding he fact she had lived or still lived in Saudi Arabia. In the correction he struck out the word waiver instead of the phrase about the San Bernadino culprit.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Rich Galen was reminded of Jimmy Carter's 1979 "malaise" speech and that's maybe a good comparison, except taht less people paid attention to it.

Unknown said...

I was watching the "total pussy" moment as it happened this morning. It was delightful. I wish I had been watching when Stacey Dash said that O doesn't give a shit about terrorism. These are home truths. People are starved for straight talk. If Fox suspended them for saying pussy and shit then possibly that's how it must be, but if there was any element at all of concern about disrespecting the president in decision to suspend them then Fox is full of pussies who don't give a shit about speaking the plain truth. Stacey, I have to say, has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise in recent years. Peters is often full of crap but on this occasion every single word was on the mark.

Bob Boyd said...

Why did Obama stand for this Oval Office address?

Perhaps to differentiate this speech from his last Oval Office speech.
Remember? It was the one in which he took a victory lap announcing total troop withdrawal from Iraq thereby creating a power vacuum that led to the rise of ISIS and the necessity of giving this speech.

Carnifex said...

I'll continue to tell you people till the muzz stands over your bodies...there is no such thing as a moderate muzz. If they are your friends, they are apostate. If they are your neighbors, they are hoping you submit to them. If your daughters are seen wearing what they consider immodest clothing, then they are free to rape them. If they catch your wife alone in a dark alley, they are free to rape them. These are animals, and need to be put down. Every single one of them, and yes I am talking genocide.

They don't believe in compassion, they don't believe in respecting others, they don't believe in equal rights, being gay. They only believe what a 7th century pederast wrote in a book. And they are told if they DON"T follow the book, they are not muzz.

The only solution is to punish them so hard that they change their awful religion. And if they don't, I can live with them being dead.

Paul said...

Obama was in to big a hurry to go to his gala to give a decent speech.

But then that was his priority. Helping the country is way down that list (unless it's a 1000 dollar plate on 'Global Warming'.)

Unknown said...

Pussy as a slang term has two antecedents. I don't know where the vagina one comes from but the other is a shortening of pusillanimous [which I had to go to Miriam-Webster to remember how to spell]. It means "weak and afraid of danger," or, cowardly. When men are referring to pussies it is usually not about the poontang.

Milwaukie Guy [posting on my son's account]

harkin said...

If you can, find Michael Weiss immediately post-speech on CNN. I praise them for having him on because criticism of Obama is rare there but he lays out the failure and fraud of Obama's response to ISIS and Wolf Blitzer just sit there looking like he swallowed a bee. A truly great moment, followed quickly by Van Jones I think it was giving his messiah an A grade.

wildswan said...

Whenever I think of Obama these days Barney, (the dinosaur on the kid show) replaces him as an image. I imagine the speech last night and I see Barney at the podium. I see negotiations on nuclear arms going on with Iran and I see the US represented by Barney. Barney contains ISIS.

ddh said...

"Nuanced"? Nuance seems to be helping the President just as much as it helped John Kerry in 2004.

Bob Ellison said...

That clip keeps stalling on me. Bloggingweirdos should probably switch to a real video service like YouTube. I only clicked to see how the girl on the left resolves her cute hairdo. Didn't work.

damikesc said...

Progressives love nuance.

Unless it involves an American-born citizen and a gun.

Then they want to seize your guns.

Craig said...

The recidivism rate among suicide bombers is extremely low.