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Posted: 7/27/2014 5:59:19 PM EDT
The degree to which Barack Obama is now phoning it in – sleepwalking perfunctorily through his second term, amid golf rounds and dinner parties – is astonishing View Quote President Obama has emotionally checked out of his job a couple of years early, it seems. How can one tell?
Candidates for president who brazenly assume they are the inevitable victor are sometimes accused of “measuring the drapes” for the White House. Obama, conversely, seems to be prematurely packing his bags in hopes for an early departure. View Quote Top priority? Barack Obama greets people in Delaware (AFP/Getty)
Just last week, for example, the Los Angeles Times reported that “The First Family is believed to be in escrow on a contemporary home in a gated community where entertainers Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby once maintained estates”. George Santayana observed that “Americans don’t solve problems, they leave them behind”. Perhaps the president is taking this to heart. For rumours to catch fire, an element of truth must typically be involved. The fact that the press would find relevance in speculating on Obama’s post-White House residence – and identify California as the kind of scene the future ex-president would want to hang out in when he leaves office – is perhaps telling. And, indeed, this comes on the heels of multiple reports from outlets such as The New York Times and Politico, detailing how Obama has increasingly been spending his time at trendy restaurants and fancy, late-night dinner parties with celebrities and various intellectuals. Rubbing elbows with the rich and elite is fine enough. Unfortunately, the work suffers. The degree to which he is now phoning it in – sleepwalking perfunctorily through his second term – is astonishing. And based on his recent handling of situations much more serious than a possible post-presidential move to sunny California, it seems as if “No Drama Obama” is no longer even worried about keeping up appearances; he doesn’t care enough to fake it. Consider this: In recent days, a) Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down, apparently by Russian separatists in Ukraine, b) In the Gaza strip, the numbers killed continued to mount as Israelis and Palestinians exchange rocket fire, c) a huge influx of children fleeing Central American poverty and gang warfare swamped America’s southern border, creating a humanitarian crisis. And, oh yeah, d) Christians living in Mosul were given the choice to either convert to Islam or flee the area they have inhabited for nearly two thousand years. You know what else has happened during this time? a) Obama played many rounds of golf, b) he attended numerous fund-raisers, c) he dined on barbecue in Texas and burgers in Delaware, and d) he almost appeared on the comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night television show in Hollywood. I say “almost” because the White House finally relented. “We ultimately elected not to have the president do that interview over the course of this trip,” the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, conceded. “And that is at least in part related to the challenges of doing a comedy show in the midst of some of these other more serious matters that the president’s dealing with in the international scene.” The irony is that Obama won election in 2008, partly based on his ability to demonstrate leadership (at least, rhetorically). And, despite a less-than-perfect first term, the public believed enough in his “hope and change” mantra to return him to office - a move reminiscent of Samuel Johnson’s observation about second marriages being “a triumph of hope over experience”. But today, one wonders if Obama even has the energy left to summon some of the old magic that got him elected. A souffle, as they say, doesn’t rise twice. While we tend to think of them as polar opposites, Obama’s predecessor had been similarly excoriated for similarly botching a few big moments where he should have been on the job. For President George W Bush, the images of Hurricane Katrina continue to haunt his legacy. He later regretted not going to there immediately after the hurricane hit. “I should have touched down in Baton Rouge, met with the governor, and walked out and said, 'I hear you. We understand. And we’re going to help the state and help the local governments with as much resources as needed’,” he confessed in 2010. Woody Allen famously said, 80 per cent of life is just showing up. He wasn’t wrong. But, in lieu of showing up, there is an even easier way to avoid looking quite so out of touch. If Obama were worried about bad optics – about appearing out of touch – he might play a bit less golf (another lesson he could have learned from his predecessor). During one unfortunate event caught on tape, and featured in the Fahrenheit 9/11 film trailer, the then President Bush was unfortunately filmed saying: “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you.” Then, holding up a golf club, he added: “Now, watch this drive.” This was a brutal blow. Fair or not, playing golf has a way of making one look simultaneously elitist and aloof. Obama tends to dismiss such cautionary tales. For example, the suggestion that while in Texas he should have gone to the border and addressed the growing humanitarian crisis (instead of attending fund-raisers) was dismissed as the suggestion he do a theatrical “photo-op”. This is at best unromantic, and, at worst, cynical. Words matter. Showing up matters. Was it a “photo-op” when Ronald Reagan spoke in front of the Brandenburg Gate and declared: “Tear down this wall!”? I suppose one could have made that argument. Obama’s not dumb, and he’s clearly capable of marshalling an effective propaganda campaign when he wants to. So what explains this series of bad optics, which might be described by PR professionals as political malpractice? The only thing that makes sense is that he is exhausted and, perhaps, has checked out of the job early. If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, then Obama is dining out, golfing, and raising money while the world collapses. Matt K Lewis is a senior contributor at The Daily Caller website in Washington, DC View Quote http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/10992654/Barack-Obama-has-already-checked-out-of-his-job.html |
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His job is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. He never fucking checked in to begin with.
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A.) Sounds good at first, but really..., absent at the helm for two more years ain't gonna be good.
B.) Something seems weird with the perspective in the golf pic; is a giant driving the cart? |
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His job is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. He never fucking checked in to begin with. View Quote Or, you could say that his job is to fundamentally transform the United States, and wreck our Constitution, and he's taking a well-earned victory lap after all his hard work. |
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Island work ethic coupled with coconut communism with a huge chip on shoulder
How could he not be a lazy pos? |
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2016 is going to be tough, gotta get out there and raise funds!
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Biden can drive for awhile.......... oh shit something worse than 0bama
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Maybe the plan is for him to resign and let old Plugs have a few years to try to see how bad he can screw things up?
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https://twitter.com/sassytbh/status/492142469703036928
can you not - @sassytbh No, he'll make me give a sip to everyone in the room that didn't pay for it.pic.twitter.com/KthB5oc2Ol |
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Good. Less time at the helm is less chances for him to fuck it up
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Good because everyday I can dog his ass like a overzealous schoolmaster in front of the obama voters at work and they won't say shit. Fuck that punk. The bitch didn't get his way about everything, so he took his golf ball and went out to play.
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I saw it in Romney debate #1.
His give-a-fuck meter needle is buried. |
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honestly I think he's realized that both sides of congress have had it with him, they'll deadlock him no matter what he does, he's looking ahead to post presidency and reminding the democrats what he's good at, campaigning and fundraising, which is likely what he'll make a career out of when he's out of the white house.
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Actively trying to destroy the finest country in the world takes hard work. He should vacation even more. The King has earned it.
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If he's checking out, his lackies and handlers will step up and fuck up things even more.
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If republicans win in 2016, can they use the same excuse that odumbo uses "I INHERITED A MESS, ITS NOT MY FAULT"
NOPE, the liberal media wont allow it. |
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Can he even break 80? View Quote He is probably like most dictators and scores himself a hole in one on every hole. So Im guessing he shoots 18 everytime. Rumor is, he never plays with anyone worse than him. That way he is always receiving strokes and never giving them (unless its to Reggie Love). So he is actually a golf FSA. Fucking Lib gonna Lib, I guess. |
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So he's going to leave running of the country and international affairs to twats like Holder, Psaki, Jarrett, and other shitbags who weren't elected...
Super. |
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I also find the lack of perspective in the picture disturbing. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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A.) Sounds good at first, but really..., absent at the helm for two more years ain't gonna be good. B.) Something seems weird with the perspective in the golf pic; is a giant driving the cart? I also find the lack of perspective in the picture disturbing. Whithouse can't even do a decent job with Photoshop before releasing pics. FBHO |
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... he isn't even trying, or care Impeach, now View Quote The White House has been talking a lot about impeachment lately. Makes me suspicious. 1. Behave badly enough to get impeached/prosecuted/removed from office. 2. Re-energize mass of supporters who voted him in in the first place for reasons other than his qualifications, and haven't paid attention to his performance since. 3. Generate massive sympathy for the leftist agenda and its vilified leader. 4. 2016 profit. Like it or not, we must not allow him to be politically martyred. |
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Quoted: His job is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. He never fucking checked in to begin with. View Quote That Kenyan piece of shit is the most worthless fucker I have ever seen in my 54 years. The fuckwit Peanut Farmer was 10,000 times more qualified to be President than this illegal alien the idiotic people voted in. Hope and Change? Fuck You, Fuck you with a rusty barnacle encrusted I===) anchor dredged from the Mekong and lubricated with the Ebola and Aids infected sewage of every 3rd world shithole from Angola to Guyana. May the Wookie lose it's temper and ram his Big Bertha 3 feet up his prolapsed anus and then beat Jug Ears about the face head neck and shoulders with it repeatedly until his looks improve enough that a Bull Elephant from Ringaling Bros Circus decides he looks fuckable and proceeds to impale the Halfrican on five feet of prehensile Bore Snake. FBHO
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And the running of the country will be left to unelected and unaccountable advisors like Jarrett.
And those people have nothing to lose. |
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