Sdiver
01-19-2012, 19:35
.... the press.
*SIGH* ..... :rolleyes:
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/obama-blames-press-for-his-cold-and-aloof-image-111489.html
Obama blames press for his 'cold and aloof' image
President Obama blames the press for creating the image that he's aloof and disconnected from the rest of Washington, insisting in a new interview that he's just more interested in spending time with his family than in exchanging pleasantries with strangers.
"My suspicion is that this whole critique has to do with the fact that I don’t go to a lot of Washington parties and, as a consequence, the Washington press corps maybe just doesn’t feel like I’m in the mix enough with them, and they figure, well, if I’m not spending time with them, I must be cold and aloof," Obama said in an interview with Time Magazine released Thursday.
"The fact is, I’ve got a 13-year-old and 10-year-old daughter. And so, no, Michelle and I don’t do the social scene, because as busy as we are, we have a limited amount of time, and we want to be good parents at a time that’s vitally important for our kids."
Jodi Kantor touches on the same theme in "The Obamas," published last week, which depicts the first couple as more interested in spending time with their family and inner circle than with in schmoozing with Washington's power players.
And, Obama said in the interview with Time, it's not like socializing with congressional Republicans has done anything to boost his legislation and attempts at bipartisanship.
"In terms of Congress, the reason we’re not getting enough done right now is because you’ve got a Congress that is deeply ideological and sees a political advantage in not getting stuff done," he said. "John Boehner and I get along fine. We had a great time playing golf together. That’s not the issue. The problem was that no matter how much golf we played or no matter how much we yukked it up, he had trouble getting his caucus to go along with doing the responsible thing on a whole bunch of issues over the past year."
Brendan Buck, Boehner's press secretary, challenged Obama's assessment. "The problem hasn't been getting our team to do what is responsible. It has been that the president honestly believes his agenda is responsible, and we -- led by the speaker -- know it's actually making the economy worse."
*SIGH* ..... :rolleyes:
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/obama-blames-press-for-his-cold-and-aloof-image-111489.html
Obama blames press for his 'cold and aloof' image
President Obama blames the press for creating the image that he's aloof and disconnected from the rest of Washington, insisting in a new interview that he's just more interested in spending time with his family than in exchanging pleasantries with strangers.
"My suspicion is that this whole critique has to do with the fact that I don’t go to a lot of Washington parties and, as a consequence, the Washington press corps maybe just doesn’t feel like I’m in the mix enough with them, and they figure, well, if I’m not spending time with them, I must be cold and aloof," Obama said in an interview with Time Magazine released Thursday.
"The fact is, I’ve got a 13-year-old and 10-year-old daughter. And so, no, Michelle and I don’t do the social scene, because as busy as we are, we have a limited amount of time, and we want to be good parents at a time that’s vitally important for our kids."
Jodi Kantor touches on the same theme in "The Obamas," published last week, which depicts the first couple as more interested in spending time with their family and inner circle than with in schmoozing with Washington's power players.
And, Obama said in the interview with Time, it's not like socializing with congressional Republicans has done anything to boost his legislation and attempts at bipartisanship.
"In terms of Congress, the reason we’re not getting enough done right now is because you’ve got a Congress that is deeply ideological and sees a political advantage in not getting stuff done," he said. "John Boehner and I get along fine. We had a great time playing golf together. That’s not the issue. The problem was that no matter how much golf we played or no matter how much we yukked it up, he had trouble getting his caucus to go along with doing the responsible thing on a whole bunch of issues over the past year."
Brendan Buck, Boehner's press secretary, challenged Obama's assessment. "The problem hasn't been getting our team to do what is responsible. It has been that the president honestly believes his agenda is responsible, and we -- led by the speaker -- know it's actually making the economy worse."