By Rebecca DiFede — Is Obama smarter than a fifth grader? If you saw his less-than-impressive nationally televised press conference (his first in five months), you might not think so.
At 1:15pm yesterday, with a nation on baited breath, our illustrious president took the stage in the Brady Press Briefing Room. And for the next forty-five minutes he proceeded to say…
Nothing.
Hardly anything of substance was uttered for the entirely of the affair. It was actually kind of boring. It was as if Obama was a lost tourist and native people were asking him how to get to the nearest McDonalds.
It was as if, in an attempt to avoid scorn from Republicans for possibly making a mistake, our Commander in Chief stumbled his way through a nearly indistinguishable series of “buts” “ums” and “uhs” in response to the barely sophomoric questions posed to him by the press.
His questions wouldn’t give a kindergartener a second thought, and yet he reacted like Forrest Gump in a police interrogation. He seemed confused by the mere fact that spoken words were being uttered in his direction, and his inability to speak a cohesive sentence was Muppet-level ridiculous.
Guess he’s not so smooth without his trusty teleprompter. His hands were practically shaking with withdrawal.
This hilariously unscripted conference was supposed to show that the President was taking an initiative to be held accountable for his actions and promises, and hopefully be asked some questions that would require, oh, I don’t know, a complete rational thought.
Hard questions that Americans want answers to such as “what is your response to calls for the resignations of your recess appointees?” or “what are your plans regarding new forms of energy in light of the bankruptcies of taxpayer-subsidized green energy companies like Solyndra and Ener1?” were dropped, in favor of vague softball questions lightly tossed in his direction.
The rage and despair Americans are experiencing in this economy was glazed over like a bump in the road to re-securing the White House. Instead, he was asked several similarly worded questions about Israel and their possible war with Iran, a quick Super Tuesday plug where all Obama did was sarcastically wish Romney luck, and a few other assorted time wasters.
And when he was finally asked a question centered on gas prices, he danced around the issue like an out-of-time vaudeville performer.
He first acted as if he was unconcerned about the issue, saying that no president wants to face rising gas prices on the brink of reelection. But then he began evading the heart of the problem with buzz phrases such as “clean energy”, “increase in production” and “reduce oil usage”. This he calls his “all of the above strategy”.
I call it unprepared, ill-advised, and frankly just completely inadequate. Rapidly rising gas prices is one of the most pressing issues facing our country at this point in time, and for our president, the leader who we look to for solutions to these problems, avoided the answer like a student who was called on in class in the middle of a nap.
Obama said, in reference to worrying gas price hikes, that “we go through this every year.” That is just blatantly untrue. According to the Census Bureau, the price shocks we’re noticing in the past few years are the worst since the crises in 1973 and 1979 — otherwise prices have been steady.
It’s not something that is common place in our country, to have to hemorrhage our bank accounts just to get from point A to point B. However, in this “new” normal that Obama has created for us, one can never be sure what is going to happen. And this facsimile of a sham that he called a press conference was no help.
When asked to comment on the sincerity of Rush Limbaugh’s apology in light of his recent slip-up, our president declined to comment except to say that “all decent folks can agree that the remarks that were made have no place in public discourse.”
Whew. Really dodged a bullet there, didn’t you?
His comments on foreign policy were also uncomfortably vague. When asked about Israel and his words of reassurance to Benjamin Netanyahu, he said he wouldn’t comment on that. Once again he hop, skipped and jumped around the question, and only stated that when dealing with Israel he believes we should be “mindful of historical precedents” and that “it’s clear” he’s “always had Israel’s back.”
A final question about immigration rounded out this vague and seemingly pointless stint where Obama did say something slightly peculiar. When asked, in relation to the Hispanic vote, what he was going to do about immigration reform, Obama responded with the following head scratcher, “We should want them [the illegal immigrants] here, but the legal issues get in the way.”
Yeah, it’s such a shame we have those pesky laws in place, making it difficult for people to just trundle on into the country like hillbillies into the local Walmart. Who’s idea was that?
Oh, that’s right. At one time in our country’s history (it’s difficult to remember that far back) rational, sane thoughts were an integral part of the job of the president. But in this administration, Obama and his minions felt that spending forty-five minutes at a podium mumbling about random issues that don’t really mean anything in un-specific and indeterminate ways was a good way to show the country he cares.
News flash, Barack. We all know why you did this, it’s time to just come out and admit it.
The timing of the press conference was obviously supposed to try to steal some spotlight from Super Tuesday, the big primary day for the GOP. But after watching it in its entirety, I don’t think it could have stolen attention away from a YouTube video of a cat sleeping.
Probably the best part of the entire ordeal was when Obama very briefly addressed the current state of our economy. However what he said didn’t seem to match what we have all come to know as “reality”. He stated, “we are in the middle of a recovery”, and then proceeded into a side bar ramble about gas prices.
Dictionary.com defines ‘recovery’ as “restoration or return to any former and better state or condition.” Yet on the same day Obama was proclaiming the recovery was at hand, the Dow dropped over 200 points, the largest drop of the year so far.
That doesn’t seem to show a recovery of the economy, but rather proves that we are still sick and need someone who is actually going to try and find an antidote, rather than blathering on like a sock puppet in a suit.
All in all, this blatantly failed attempt by the president to bring attention to himself only proved that he is an utterly incapable leader, has little to no idea what he is going to do to further the future of our country, and simply cannot have a day where he is not in the spotlight.
Also, he has a crippling addiction to his teleprompter. Expect a televised press conference addressing the issue next week.
Rebecca DiFede is a contributing editor to Americans for Limited Government.
