CARVILLE, MAY 27, 2010: The president, if he comes down here and does this right, he's going to see that people have not been candid with him, that BP has not been candid with him, that certain people on his staff and maybe people in his cabinet are not being candid with him. He needs to go investigate this and find out what it is, and when he does, I think we're going to get a lot of action. I think it's a man who cares.
COOPER: You think the president is not getting the real word of what's happening here?
CARVILLE, MAY 27, 2010: I don't think so. No, sir. It's inexplicable that this man -- as smart as he is, as talented as he is -- would have the real world saw -- we saw today and not be furious and not tell people to get into action now.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX: This administration, A, cares about this.
CARVILLE: This is a man who cares.
PLAQUEMINES PARISH PRESIDENT: I truly believe he cares.
DIANA SAWYER: ...to show that he cares.
DAVID GERGEN: President Obama clearly cares.
But, what does he care about? Our honored War Dead? Nope, skipping Arlington Memorial Day Ceremonies and hanging out in the hood in Chi-town. VACA, everybody! Does he care about the oil leak? Well, he did have a presser about it. But, what else? Check this out:
Asked if this was the president’s Hurricane Katrina, (Chief Deputy Whip Kevin) McCarthy (R-Calif.) responded, “It very well could be.”
He explained that Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who represents the district in which the BP explosion occurred, said he tried reaching the president last Thursday to discuss possible solutions.
“He was called back by a staffer on Friday who said that the president was too busy to talk to him. He understood that until I turned on the TV and saw that he was golfing and went out to California to do a fundraiser. He said — six days now and he’s never even spoken to him,” McCarthy said.
Obama cares about all that malfeasance and craziness over at the Mineral agency that was partially in charge of inspecting the oil wells, right? Um, does this sound like someone who was ready to "rule" on day one?
After two years of Hope and Change, America has grown accustomed to President Obama’s crisis face: eyes glazed over.
At his first press conference in 308 days, Obama fielded questions about the Gulf oil spill, immigration, the war in Afghanistan and the mounting outrage over Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak’s job-trading allegations with a sluggishness bordering on geriatric. His aplomb was a bomb.
The commander-in-chief’s mumbling, diffident tone contradicted the “I CARE” message of urgency that drifted across the teleprompter screen and rolled languidly off his tongue.
“I am angry and frustrated,” he heaved. Rather unconvincingly. He was “singularly focused,” he asserted. Rather distractedly. The president did manage to work up enough energy to condemn BP and then turned to a moment of obligatory self-aggrandizement: “I’m confident that people are going to look back and say that this administration was on top of what was an unprecedented crisis.”
How “on top” was he? Well, not enough to take the time on Thursday morning before his much-hyped appearance to nail down the details of how and why his Interior Department Chief of the Minerals Management Service Liz Birnbaum was no longer in office. “You’re assuming it was a firing,” Obama told reporters. “I don’t yet know the circumstances.” He explained that he was preoccupied with other matters and couldn’t get ahold of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
When pressed to elaborate, he heaved again: “I don’t know.”
And I guess he cared about the Christmas Day Bomber, but it was hard to tell from his wardrobe or his tone as he gave a hastily prepared summation from VACATION in Hawaii:
Obama doesn’t bother to wear a tie. He hastily reads a belated statement describing the incident like a small-town sheriff’s deputy rather than the leader of the free world. He ticks off investigative steps in a perfunctory, plodding, bloodless manner. “We will continue to every element of our national power to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat the violent extremists…anywhere where they are plotting attacks against Americans.”
Eyes down on his paper the whole time — not looking at the camera and directing his statements at our enemies.
He talks about “resilience” as a foreign concept, not something he believes in in his heart.
Rushes through the end of his statement with a postscript about the violence in Iran.
Couldn’t get off the podium fast enough.
Inspiring.
“We will not rest.” Now, back to his vacation…
This vacation over Memorial Day is Obama's 2nd since the oil leak. I guess fielding those tough questions from his daughter are really draining...and all that caring...of course, it could be this as well:
Long, slow rounds. A lot of time hunting for balls in the woods. All dished up with a dollop of trash-talking.
The First Golfer brought his duffer’s game to Martha’s Vineyard this week. By Thursday, Mr. Obama had logged three golf games in four days, appearing at one island course after another. He spent five hours on Monday afternoon playing 18 holes at the Farm Neck Golf Club here, two and a half hours on Tuesday playing nine holes at Mink Meadows Golf Club in Vineyard Haven, and several hours playing Thursday afternoon at the Vineyard Golf Club in Edgartown.
Yep, five hours on the links, and only a 3 hour tour of the oil spill damage....I guess Obama cares about something...Governing and getting things done does not appear to be one of them.
