…and while Colonel Whathisname continues to slaughter the people over whom he rules, the president is focused on the serious things:
Via Mike Allen’s newsletter, we see in the first line how the leader of the free world will spend his day during this awful crisis:
President Obama is taping his NCAA picks today, and they’ll be revealed tomorrow on ESPN.
Okay, that’s not all he’s doing. “Obama will tape interviews from the Map Room with KOAT Albuquerque, KDKA Pittsburgh and WVEC Hampton Roads on education reform and the need to fix No Child Left Behind.”
Japan faces an almost unparalleled crisis, Libya is in civil war, and we’re having another budget showdown after running up a $222.5 billion deficit in the 28 days of February. And after last week’s bullying summit, Obama is spending this week talking education reform.
I have to say, though, that I actually agree with this comment:
I’m not sure if it is more dangerous for America that he do nothing or do something. Generally, if you have a dysfunctional child who lights fires all over the neighborhood, it makes you happy when he is just sitting in the corner scribbling on paper. Maybe we should just leave little Barry in the corner with his pencil and bracket sheet and count ourselves blessed.
In case any of you are wondering about my bracket, I don’t have one. Basketball is evil. On this there can be no dispute.
High school B-ball was fun. Especially sitting in with the band even though I didn’t play an instrument with all the teachers looking the other way. I fooled no one.
You are absolutely right… …about basketball. There really can’t be any dispute about basketball.
Japan faces an almost unparalleled crisis, Libya is in civil war, and we’re having another budget showdown after running up a $222.5 billion deficit in the 28 days of February.
Well, even if he was super-competent, what should he be doing?
I mean, if we assume that as the sort of Democrat he is he doesn’t much care about the deficit, well… what’s missing?
All the jaw-jaw in the world won’t help Japan more than they’re already being helped, since they asked for US aid immediately, and I recall reading that the Pentagon started looking into sending ships and the like equally fast, and presumably they’ve got the OK to Just Do It.
Likewise on Libya; unless he’s willing to actually use military force, talk’s just a front in this case. And, despite being a giant hawk in general, I’m uncertain as to whether that would be good in the long run, so I can’t really blame the President for neither talking big talk nor sending in the Navy.
So, on this particular case, for those things, he gets two passes and a “yeah, what did we expect?”.
…and while Colonel Whathisname continues to slaughter the people over whom he rules, the president is focused on the serious things:
I’m not sure what we could do about Libya, but I’m certain that there is nothing we _should_ do about Libya. It’s a null, it’s void, it’s not our problem.
Let the man do his picks – if he starts thinking hard about this stuff we’ll have no end of problems.
Glad Bob has a sense of humor. I was wondering. Congrats!
I agree with Sigivald and Brian Dunbar about Libya. Qa-Daffy isn’t threatening us nor our friends so I don’t see a need to send in the Marines.
If the Euros think this is so important, they can do it themselves. As for the United Nations, good luck with that. I understand Russia will veto any resolution in the Security Council.
Personally, I think Qa-Daffy is just a figurehead and his sons are running the government behind the scenes.
I have to agree with the other commentators. Clubbing the O about Libya may be fun, particularly after all the libs of the oughts complained about Uganda and Rwanda. However, it is probably best we don’t play a role in Libya. The US has an interest in keeping the Suez Canal open. The US doesn’t have much interest in Libya, except for oil. We could probably replace that interest by just lifting the administrative red tape blocking drilling off US shores.
Happy to see “Colonel Whathisname” having a hard time maintaining control. He hasn’t exactly been the kindest to us over the years.
Do something do nothing? Initially, it would have been nice if we had taken a more aggressive approach to getting Americans out. Now that Americans are out, I don’t really care too much about the outcome of the civil war in Libya.
If we were to do anything, the time has long passed. It looks like the rebellion is largely crushed.
For Obama, the problem is that his actions are not backing up his rhetoric. There is a pattern of serious events unfolding and Obama giving a speech then throwing a party, going golfing, or taking a vacation.
Whether or not Obama should or shouldn’t do anything about anything, he just doesn’t appear to take his job seriously. Maybe that is an unfair criticism but Obama should at least be aware of the perception of fiddling while the world burns.
It really looks like Obama spends a small amount of any given day doing “work” but his schedule is packed with media events.
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/potus-tracker/2011/03/15/
From Wodun: It really looks like Obama spends a small amount of any given day doing “work” but his schedule is packed with media events.
I would say this is a good thing. The more media events he attends, the less stress he will feel from all of those untidy world distractions.
Well, if you’ll remember. Ol’Biden did say (numerous times) “He will be tested. This administration will be tested.”
Looks like the best test answer so far is to play some golf and record his March Madness bracket picks. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to not do it.
Sigivald,
Perhaps then he should kept his mouth shut. Rather filling the “rebels” with false “HOPE” by saying kaddafy must go.
Sigivald,
Perhaps then he should have kept his mouth shut. Rather filling the “rebels” with false “HOPE” by saying kaddafy must go.