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AmSpecBlog
Obama Claims He's Responsible, Then Blames Other People
President Obama has mastered the art of employing rhetoric that makes it sound as if he's doing something uniquely virtuous and heroic when in reality he's doing stuff that political leaders often do. We've seen this with the way he touts bipartisanship while being unwilling to offer real compromises or the way he proclaims he isn't hiring lobbyists when he actually is. But he took this practice to more absurd proportions today when his big Harry Truman "buck stops here" moment was woven together with other statements blaming everybody but his administration for the handling of the AIG bonuses and the broader financial mess.
"Ultimately, I'm responsible, I'm the President of the United States," Obama declared.
But, instead of taking responsibility, he continued, "We've got a big mess that we're having to clean up. Nobody here drafted those contracts. Nobody here was responsible for supervising AIG and allowing themselves to put the economy at risk by some of the outrageous behavior they are engaged in. We are responsible though, the buck stops with me."
Asked about the performance of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Obama said: "Tim Geithner didn't draft these contracts with AIG. There has never been a Secretary of the Treasury except maybe Alexander Hamilton right after the Revolutionary War who's had to deal with the multiplicity of issues that Secretary Geithner is having to deal with, all at the same time." He followed up by explaining, "He is making all the right moves in terms of playing a bad hand."
If Obama wants to say that he inherited a mess, that's one thing. But to simultaneously cast blame elsewhere, ask to be graded on a curve, and act as if you're being a bold leader is quite another.
Nonetheless, he got his intended result, with headlines such as UPI's: "Obama: 'Buck stops with me'"
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Angel| 3.18.09 @ 7:03PM
Well, obviously, the teleprompter was confused today. Don't blame Obama.
Pingback| 3.18.09 @ 7:40PM
Obama Claims He’s Responsible, Then Blames Other People — But As For Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Alan Brooks| 3.18.09 @ 7:46PM
sorry, i do not agree,
i'm a conservative not a Republican and in no way a libertarian.
O. did inherit a bad hand going back to LBJ, ameliorated by Reagan, but probably exacerbated by the neoliberalism/futurism (heave, retch) of Gingrich/Clinton and the empty compassionate (smarmy) 'conservatism' of Bush 43.
bad hand, yer AYE
Mary| 3.18.09 @ 7:47PM
O/T, I know, but you have to read this.
Did I miss Amspec's tribute to Ron Silver?
MT| 3.18.09 @ 7:51PM
He might have inherited a bad hand, but he's also proving that he sucks at Presidential poker big time. Dude's way in over his head.
Alan Brooks| 3.18.09 @ 9:15PM
the hand he has inherited is so bad there's not much wiggle room.
I'm starting to completely agree w/ the Derb, "cloth eared, moon booted" Bush. The GALL of the little mediocrity: "Obama deserves my silence"; "I care more about my country than politics"
He cares more about himself than he does his country, the Superhack afterbirth from his father's presidency.
All the greats are dead: Reagan, Goldwater, WFB.
Now we're left with public relations and high powered attorney-politics.
I'll issue a press statement to AS as soon as my attorney beats his latest rap.
MT| 3.18.09 @ 9:18PM
TOTUS--Teleprompter Of The United States--the real POTUS!
Cris Angelini| 3.18.09 @ 9:33PM
It is virtually impossible to be more disingenuous. Obama has push the definition of Con-Man to levels never before postulated or even imagined. In fact, any other political figure in history would have been forced out of the arena 50 times for at least 50 ridiculous to the point of absurd thing he has said and done, just in the last year. The media has successfully hijacked the sensibilities of our Nation.
Alan Brooks| 3.18.09 @ 9:51PM
yeah, Cris, it's jes a good darn thing we have Repuglicans to protect us from liberals.
And libertarians! jes think how low morality would descend without libertarians.
Dick| 3.18.09 @ 10:14PM
I don't know Jack DeVine but he should be read everywhere. He is a South Carolina businessman
Jack DeVine has done it again. He should be on the national circuit.The following appears in the Aiken Standard today.
Was fundamental change in our nation part of the plan?
3/18/2009 3:52 PM
By JACK DeVINE
Guest columnist
Last year's election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency was enthralling, magical, historical - it will be regaled for years to come.
But it was hardly a slam dunk. Obama won by 53 percent to 46 percent, a solid victory margin - but even so, nearly half of the electorate voted for the other guy. And the race was neck and neck until the economy imploded last fall - only then was it a lock for Obama.
My point is not to diminish Obama's victory, just to restore a bit of perspective. Because I don't see anything in the election of 2008 that gives Mr. Obama license to fundamentally transform our country into a socially, economically and philosophically different place than the land of our heritage - let alone to do so unilaterally and overnight.
The United States of America has been on the steady course set by our founders 230 years ago - not flawless, but a profoundly successful course. Is there a greater nation on earth?
Yes, Barack Obama ran under the campaign slogan "change," and we can credit him now for his supercharged efforts to deliver on his promise. But that campaign change theme was vague and undefined, an intentionally blank sheet. And it seems obvious that many, perhaps most, of those who voted for Obama did so because he is an immensely attractive candidate, bright, energetic, inspiring, and they trust him to lead us in fixing the things that need fixing, whatever they are. But did they intend to give him a green light to redesign our nation? I don't think so.
Since his inauguration, Obama has signed the $700-plus billion stimulus plan and a $400-plus billion omnibus spending bill. He has unveiled proposals to greatly expand nationalized health care and education, a plan for a carbon cap-and-trade scheme and other dicey changes in energy supply policy, a massive and unprecedented homeowners mortgage relief plan. He's issued orders revising our policy and practice in dealing with suspected terrorists. His budget proposal would pay for staggering costs by steady reduction in the years ahead in defense spending - a scary idea in this dangerous world, by adding further tax burden on those who already shoulder most of the load, and of course by borrowing or printing money.
Individually these have enormous implications and each deserves careful consideration. In composite, they are in fact transformative, in ways that we can't even comprehend and I suspect will not like very much. Certainly, they will saddle future generations with enormous debt. They will diminish our defensive capability and national security. They will make the federal government proportionally larger and more powerful than ever in our history. They will increase substantially the dependency of many Americans on government entitlements. They will "redistribute wealth" (much more than it is currently redistributed by our properly progressive tax structure), arguably rewarding failure and punishing success.
Each of these has its proponents. But interestingly, we've tried some similar tacks in the past (reduced defense spending and expanding welfare, as examples), found them ineffective and worked hard to get back on track. And other nations have gone down this road - the jury may still be out on the long term fate of Western Europe but many signs are bleak. When and why did we decide to be a France?
I am not shocked or surprised to find out that Barack Obama is very liberal, that he has vastly more faith than I (and most Americans) in government as the solution to every problem, and that he wants to make a clean break with the last administration. Yes, he promised change. But he also promised transparency and bipartisanship. We gave him a ticket to lead. We did not give him a ticket to ignore the views of half the electorate and to abandon much of our heritage.
This is way beyond "yes we can." We're dealing with the future of the nation we love and we'd better do it carefully, collectively and openly.
The writer is a businessman who makes his home in Aiken.
Alan Brooks| 3.18.09 @ 10:19PM
"is there a greater nation on earth"?
yes, it's called Vatican City. it contains virtue-- unlike the Roman Empire.
Pingback| 3.19.09 @ 3:16AM
Ed Driscoll » Risky Business links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Country Boy| 3.19.09 @ 4:57AM
Yup, zeroBoy is completely clueless.
I used to work in project management (software development). PM is the skill and art of collaborative work. It takes years of practice, and you still will get "skull screamer" headaches. It is not a good place for OJT.
I'll bet zeroBoy is starting to get the headaches . :)
Pingback| 3.19.09 @ 5:03AM
Thursday’s child . . . | And Still I Persist links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Don L| 3.19.09 @ 5:42AM
Shifting the blame? Playing the victim? It all started when Adam responded to God with, "It was that woman YOU made for me."
So Obama blames Bush, Dodd blames capitalists, the media blames conservatives, the GOP blames social conservatives, the social conservatives blame secularism, and Pogo - well he blames ourselves. Now that would provide for real hope and change.
"Pogo for president 2012"
Robbins Mitchell| 3.19.09 @ 6:35AM
"The buck stops here"
~Harry Truman~
"The shuck starts here"
~Barack Obama~
Pearl| 3.19.09 @ 7:10AM
Every time Obama says he inherited this mess, I want him to be asked to show his Senate vote against the law passed that created the mess!
I bet he really voted for it. Or, if he missed the vote, why wasn't the issue important enough for him to make the effort to "Do the right thing"?
Daniel| 3.19.09 @ 8:56AM
For CountryBoy ... by the way ... many times Obama say ... need a rational plan for .....
You know RationalPlan?
It's a nice project management software: http://www.RationalPlan.com
I'm wondering about your opinion about it.
Thanks,
Daniel
Joe The Plumber| 3.19.09 @ 9:20AM
Aww! Poor mis-interpreted messiah. He didn't outright lie to the American public. He just misspoke, like Clinton. Or he didn't recall. Hate it when that happens. You lemmings have gotten this country into a helluva mess.
CH| 3.19.09 @ 11:13AM
We are all in this mess together.
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