I had a seat in the audience yesterday for former Vice President Richard Cheney’s speech on the threat to the United States of terrorism, on methods used to interrogate captured terrorists during the Bush years and on the Obama Administration’s release of documents detailing those methods. It was at the American Enterprise Institute here in […]
You may recall that President Obama recently referred to certain Chrysler creditors as “speculators” because they expected more for their investment in the troubled automaker than the 29 cents on the dollar the Administration was offering. Most of those creditors have since given up their legitimate claims, rather than face continued tongue-lashings from the president. […]
Politico‘s speechwriter correspondent, Carol Lee, profiles one of the non-celebrity members of President Obama’s speechwriting staff, foreign policy wordsmith Ben Rhodes. For those of us looking to pin blame for the president’s European and Latin American remarks on Mr. Rhodes, not so fast: Some Republicans said the president’s Europe speeches showed he was there on […]
What’s with conservatives getting all bent out of shape over humor? Last week, after Wanda Sykes told a few Rush Limbaugh jokes at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, several commentators on the right tut-tutted. “He needs a good waterboarding,” she said, and she claimed “I think he was the twentieth hijacker. But he was […]
Maybe Veridian Dynamics was right after all. Last week President Obama verbally spanked Chrysler creditors who didn’t want to take the government’s offer of 29 cents for each dollar of debt they held. “Speculators,” the president called them, insisting that they were holding out for “an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout.” Despite the presidential tongue-lashing, the creditors initially […]
When President Obama requested prime network time yet again last week, it meant some TV shows got bumped. Among them, Better Off Ted, a new ABC comedy struggling for ratings. Better Off Ted is a funny look inside the fictional Veridian Dynamics, a mega-industrial company in the GE mold, but with highly questionable ethics. Each […]
Yesterday’s auto announcement from the White House highlights why it’s imperative that private-sector companies doing business with government-backed enterprises employ a well-calibrated public message strategy. In announcing that Chrysler would enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, President Obama praised various stakeholders – unions, management, creditors, etc. – for making “sacrifices” to keep the company out of court. […]
According to Nielsen, the ratings company, nearly 29 million people watched President Obama’s prime time press conference to mark his first 100 days in office. Pretty impressive. But compared with his own earlier star power, Obama’s wattage appears to be slipping. His second prime time presser, in March, drew 40.4 million people. His inaugural foray […]
President Obama today urged his Cabinet members to find $100 million in savings from their departmental budgets. It’s easy to harass the president about such a miniscule figure compared with the kind of spending he’s enacted and proposed of late. But he rightfully recognized that $100 million is a “drop in the bucket” compared to […]
Sorry for the long post, but I had some thoughts on the Obama Administration’s release of previously classified Justice Department memos on the treatment of detainees, a move that resulted from a lawsuit by the ACLU. On balance, I think it may be a good thing. As the president said in his statement accompanying the […]
Arizona State University apparently has the toughest standards ever for being awarded an honorary degree. So tough, in fact, that President Obama doesn’t qualify. The Huffington Post writes: Universities typically confer an honorary degree on commencement speakers, particularly those who have reached the pinnacle of their career or achieved the top of their field. Arizona State […]
April 10, 2009 – 12:57 am
President Obama may have bowed to Saudi King Abdullah at the G20 meeting last week. Or maybe he didn’t. It’s not clear because the footage doesn’t indicate conclusively what happened. Here’s White House press scold Robert Gibbs telling a reporter that he’s stupid for even asking the question. But petty White House press secretaries aside, […]
Who knew President Obama had one more rockstar welcome up his sleeve? AP reports the president was “cheered wildly” today when he spoke to and met with U.S. forces in Iraq. Much better than being fawned over by Europeans, right? About six weeks ago, the president delivered what I thought was a very impressive speech […]
The Awesomeness Tour continued today, with President Obama traveling to Germany and France, where, the Associated Press reports, he was “welcomed with thunderous cheers.” I’m sure it’s fun for the president to be in a place where people just L-U-V luv him! But it’s painful for me to listen to his kow-towing to liberal European […]
I’ve written before about the struggle for comedians to find a funny trope to rely on when sending up President Obama. So far, the winner seems to be that he’s just awesome — perhaps too awesome, and perhaps too aware of his own awesomeness. As Vinca pointed out, even Joe Biden advanced the legend that the president has […]
