Let's be honest here. Didn't your teeth just cringe when you heard Obama's response, the other day,

[IsItJustMe]

when he was responding to a reporters question about the Blog situation, and Obama basically said that he could not respond because this is an ongoing investigation.

To be frank about it, I was having GWB flash backs when he said that. I was like OMFG.

My first thought was, is Obama taking lesions from GWB on how to be a president.

Obama needs to hire some public relations and crisis management people. Seriously.

I am pulling for him big time, but he is in the big leagues now and if wants us to believe that real change is coming, he just simply can't be saying stuff like that anymore.

[marylanddem]

1. Yes, I did cringe.

[countingbluecars]

2. He is smart to wait until

he has vetted his staff. His statement the next day was more detailed, and I expect that his next statement will be even more detailed. Let the vultures circle.

[IsItJustMe]

9. In the long run, I am sure that he will deal with this situation just fine. After 8 years of

obstrution by GWB using the same exact phrase, all I am saying is that damn, Obama needs to find another way of saying this.

[countingbluecars]

16. The Bush administration

did hide behind that phrase quite often.

[elleng]

3. No.

He said what he should have said, imo.

[gblady]

4. no, I did not...

nt

[sundog]

5. Yeah, it's just you

[IsItJustMe]

10. So I have been told.

[bridgit]

24. .......

:hi:

[sundog]

28. .......

:hi:

[terrya]

71. Hey!

Nice to see you around here, sundog!

:hi:

:hug:

[Onlooker]

6. No, that was his first response

The story had just broken, and I really think he didn't have the facts at that point and wanted to make sure that it was okay for him to talk and that there wasn't something he didn't know about, especially from his staff, like Axelrod, who had worked for Blogojevich. I think so fare Obama has handled this situation very well.

[BanzaiBonnie]

7. I don't see anything wrong

with that answer. It seems entirely appropriate and is the answer given all the time when there is an ongoing investigation.

Bush was entirely different. PE Obama does not sound like Bush in any way. Just remember, Bush lied about everything. It was so regular, that when he said something, I could count on it being exactly opposite of what he claimed.

[man4allcats]

8. I didn't see it then, but yes

my teeth are cringing now. Cringing teeth are bad enough. I hope I don't get any of those lesions. }(

[elkston]

11. He was caught off guard by the scandal and he HATES surprises.

Obama likes being supremely prepared for all contingencies. So he fell back on the "damage control" response this time.

You bet he's going to come back in a few days with all the exact details and a pitch perfect response.

[IsItJustMe]

13. That is what I was thinking. I could not think on my feet like he does and I really don't know how

people do it. I have to think for quit some time to give a thoughtful response.

For future reference, when he is confronted with something like this again, I hope he says something to the effect that, You know, I don't have the facts at my disposal to give you an intelligent answer, but when I do, I will get back to you on that.

And this is basically what he is now doing.

[Kahuna]

30. Look. Obama KNOWS that it is inappropriate to comment on an ongoing

investigation. That's just a fact. No matter what he says, there will be some details that he cannot divulge. And the media will have a fit because of that. But ask yourself. Where were they when bush outed Plame? Nary a question about that.

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. It's a lawyer's answer. He's a lawyer.

It concedes nothing.
It claims nothing.
It's consistent with and respectful of the process of the law.
It doesn't leave an opening for an appeal on the basis of not being able to find an unbiased jury.
And it's unparsable.

I'd be shocked if he hadn't said what he said.

[democrattotheend]

14. Yes, but not for the reason you said

I cringed because I thought he was putting the focus on whether or not he had talked to Blagojevich as if there would have been something wrong with it if he had. That helped create a firestorm about what he knew and when, even though the prosecutor gave him a clean bill of health. I thought he handled it perfectly on Thursday but I wish he had said on Tuesday what he said on Thursday. If anything, this scandal could make him look good, but I don't think he handled it that well in the first 48 hours and kind of acted like he had something to hide even though he didn't.

I do have a theory about why he did not think it was "appropriate" to comment though, one that has not been mentioned in the press. As president-elect, he will soon become Fitzgerald's boss and have to make a decision about whether to replace Fitzgerald with one of his own people, as presidents usually do, or keep him in his post. So anything he says about the Blagojevich case could theoretically influence a US Attorney hoping to keep his job by giving clues about how his new boss wants it handled, and that could be considered interfering in the case. I am not saying Fitzgerald would be influenced or that Obama would remove him if he does prosecute this aggressively, but theoretically, anything Obama says could be influential on Fitzgerald and other people working on the case, and that might be why Obama did not consider it appropriate for him to weigh in.

[chimpymustgo]

32. Agree with your assessment. Good post.

[geckosfeet]

15. The law is the law. It is illegal to make public statements that could be

construed as an attempt at influencing the proceedings.

What is your problem? You want Obama to be charged with the same bullshit? You're not, a false flag artist - are you?!?!

Or are genuinely that naive?

[IsItJustMe]

25. I am not sure exactly of what a false flag artist is and while I am not a sponge brain, I do

consider myself to be relatively intelligent.

But this much I can tell you. I really came to dislike GWB very very much during the Libby ordeal, because all Bush would say was that he could not comment on it because it was an ongoing investigation.

And every time he said that, the words would go off in my head saying, you bull shit fcking lier.

I just really dislike this phrase.

[geckosfeet]

74. I dislike the phrase as well. But there are times when it is accurate and appropriate.

I think this is one of them.

[ClassWarrior]

17. He and Bush** both said "cup" and "dog" and "and" too! The bastard!!

Obama needs to hire some public relations and crisis management people. Seriously.

:rofl:

NGU.

[RC]

18. My teeth didn't cringe.

Half kinda hang around and the rest just set there waiting for something to do.

[Zuiderelle]

19. Ew. Obama's taking lesions from Bush?

And how do teeth cringe anyway? And what "Blog" situation? I'm so confused.

[sundog]

31. the "Blog" situation

is dlc trying to snuff the left wing blogs

[Vinca]

20. No. For all we know Fitzgerald has asked them not to comment. nt

[IsItJustMe]

50. That could very well be true and something I had not considered.

[Brazenly Liberal]

21. not at all

For one, the man just tends to speak that way, carefully choosing his words as he goes. It's unfortunate that the current occupant of the White House has done that as a way of obfuscating the truth, but Obama does it as a way of being careful to tell the most exact truth he can. It's a little surprising if you've mostly only heard his speech speech, but you get used to it and the public WILL get used to it. Hiring a bunch of flaks to make him LOOK honest would, imo, backfire in a nasty way.

For another, it would have been foolish of him to bullshit. He didn't know off the top of his head whether or not someone from his campaign had spoken to someone in Blago's office. The GOP - and some Democrats - is lurking about, desperate to catch him at something, anything, and make a big deal of it. They'd love,love,love to be able to link him to the Blago mess and saying one thing that turns out to be a mistake is really all they need. Actual wrongdoing by the PE is not required.

[CitizenPatriot]

22. very real difference

while the words were the same, Obama also pledged to cooperate fully in any way necessary and he is doing so.

Unlike the ignored subpoenas, destroyed evidence, and stone-walling of the Bush Years.

Take a deep breath -- our guy is solid, he means what he says, and he's going to operate with more transparency and accountability than we have seen in a very long time.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, what happened to the Cheney emails re the DoJ investigation? Why isn't the media talking about Palin's very real ties to Ted Stevens, who launched her career? What about her govt emails that she illegally conducted on several private accounts in order to avoid transparency laws? Why is she allowed to say she will charge 65,000 dollars due to the collection process of having to go through her personal email accounts? What about Norm Coleman being investigated? Why aren't these folks being held to any standard?

[IsItJustMe]

57. True that. Just a gut thing when he initialy said that. But during the same interview, he went on

to more clarification. I guess I am so burnt out the Bush years, that I have a natural avoidance reflex to anything that even comes close to a Bushism.

Time to take a chill pill I guess.

[bridgit]

23. Someone made the considerable point, that once republicans get you to say, "Our policy is to not...

"...comment on ongoing investigations" they've already won the game. Time will tell. But that's the way they play the game. And as was seen with Clinton, they'll play the game for decades till they do. By then 'the left' has long since packed it up and gone home.

[saltpoint]

26. I thought he said what he ought to have said.

Blago gets a fair trial, same as anybody else. Even if I never liked him much, he gets the same shot in court as the rest of us.

The investigation BETTER be ongoing, because the stakes are high. I'm kind of delighted that despite what ya hear on FOX News, Valerie Jarrett would not stoop to the pay-to-play conditions allegedly set forth for that appointment.

I like that turn of the plot awfully well.

[Kahuna]

27. Absolutely not. He did not cave to the witless DC parlor games the

media wants to play. He basically told them to cheney themselves. They're just too dense to get it.

[LaydeeBug]

29. Not at all. Because this isn't an ongoing investigation that implicates *him* at all.

Look, at the end of the day, Obama's people and/or Obama himself HAD to talk to Blagojevich's people/staff/office/person. *Someone from one camp HAD to talk to someone from the other. Otherwise, how'd Blagojevich's people know Obama wouldn't play ball? :shrug:

Everything else about this fiasco has MUCH MORE to do with the Obama brand selling (papers, news media et al) than it ever did about Obama himself.

But I do think he is a bit 'word mincey', and that gives some of us plain folk some pause.

:hide:

[creeksneakers2]

33. No matter what Obama does

He risks having the GOP call it obstruction of justice. I'm even worried about Obama questioning his staff to look for contacts. When Clinton's White House did something like that, the GOP claimed it was a plot to keep their stories straight, or a plot to find out who to shut up, etc.

Remember, the GOP doesn't need evidence or even an accusation. They only need to whip up public distrust to a point where they can force Democrats to start an investigation. Then the witch hunts and charges of cover up commence.

Obama has no choice but to play this extremely carefully.

[lamp_shade]

34. Cringe? Seriously?

[IsItJustMe]

62. Yes, I have been tramatized by eight years of hearing that phrase from GWB as a non-response to

things he just did not want to talk about. How bout you?

[HEyHEY]

35. No. It's the legal system. No one ever comments. For good reason.

[Tarheel_Dem]

36. I thought his response was perfect. This is just more trying to connect

Obama with some "ANY" disreputable figure to erode his image. Remember "Rezko-gate", "Pastor-gate", "Bill Ayres-gate"? For the next four years, anyone even remotely connected with Illinois politics will be tied around the neck of Obama by the press and the GOP.

The problem, however, for the media & the GOP is that Obama enjoys a greater level of support than any other PE in recent history. Because Obama enjoys this level of support, in the end, it will further reduce the GOP presence in Congress. With the aid of an all too compliant media, GOP millionaires invested small fortunes, in an attempt to destroy Bill Clinton.

You sound as if you expected Obama to have some prepared answer for a situation like this. The fact that his Senate seat came with a price tag, obviously took him as much by surprise, as the rest of the country. I have faith that he'll get to the bottom of this, and will respond appropriately at that time.

[louis-t]

37. If he comments on it, they will twist it anyway.

He's screwed either way. Besides, when stupidface did it, they were investigating HIS own people.

[FrenchieCat]

38. When George Bush says anything I cringe.....

When Barack Obama says anything, I listen.

What is strange is that when Bush said it, the press fucking shut up.
When Obama says it, you and the press don't believe it is good enough.

Sounds like a double standard to me....and that makes me cringe more than anything
Obama could ever say.

If someone had called Bush a motherfucker repeatly on tape, and had stated that Bush didn't want to give anything but his appreciation, that person would be under the jail, and Bush would be a fucking hero.

What do you think about that? Doesn't tht make you cringe a whole lot more? :shrug:

[jenmito]

39. He never said it again after that one time. He took questions and didn't use that line once. n/t

[HopeFor2006]

40. Nope.

It was the appropriate thing to say under the circumstances.

[WI_DEM]

41. Not at all.

[Hamlette]

42. As a lawyer, he did exactly what he should have

And it was right when Bush said it.

You don't want to try cases in the press. The nightmare, and it has happened before, is they find they can't try Blago because someone has said too much to the media. ("Blago can't get a fair trial because the Prez of the US has said he's guilty or said his people did or did not do something or whatever and how can Blago get a fair and open minded jury when the Prez has already decided this?" As a lawyer, I know that and so does Obama.)

He should take some time to talk to his ppl, find out what the prosecutor wants, release what he can and then shut up until the case goes to trial.

[Overseas]

43. No. Even though Rachel Maddow cringed at that too,

I'd already heard clips of Blagojevich cussing out the Obama team for not going along, so his statement just sounded true to me. More like his being careful as he has admirably been on many topics. It has been a pleasure to hear him choose his words precisely.

So when Rachel Maddow expressed the same angst about his phrasing, I thought it a little overblown, because it is an ongoing investigation and I know Obama and his team wouldn't make deals with an unstable, widely distrusted governor. So I took his statement at face value.

Obama is so different from the Bush Cheney gang in his ethics that the standard, true declaration didn't bother me.

[IsItJustMe]

49. I think I just have a serious adversion to the phrase, after hearing GWB make it so many times for

the not so honest purposes. I know Obama is different.

[WolverineDG]

44. No, because I'm tired of playing "Media Gotcha" games nt

[Hippo_Tron]

45. "Obama needs to hire some public relations and crisis management people"

This reminds me of the overly concerned people during the campaign. Obama's PR and crisis management people handled McCain/Palin just fine and they can handle this non-story just fine without your advice.

[IsItJustMe]

48. You make an excellent point.

[morningglory]

46. He could have said "Chill, I got this motherfucker..." (insert graphic) but

it was a family-hour show and the rest of the country hasn't been through what we have seen for 2 years. TYhey will find out.

[CreekDog]

47. no because even though he said he wouldn't he actually did comment in that same presser

[ecstatic]

51. There were only 2 other options:

1) Talk out of his ass and end up being wrong about a minor detail, hence giving the MSM and conspiracy theorists months and years worth of ammo to hit him with.

2) Put on a performance of extreme outrage to please those who like drama

Either way, he is not allowed to discuss the investigation and it doesn't help to insert minor frivolous facts that might turn out to be wrong. The only thing that's making me cringe is the way the media and RWers are trying to tie Obama to the governor.

[IsItJustMe]

60. It's not gonna work. You heard Blog call Obama a m f'cker. Not what I would call terms of

endearment.

[firedupdem]

63. You summed it up perfectly... n/t

[Teaser]

52. Didn't care. Don't care.

.

[phleshdef]

53. No because he didn't continue to repeat for weeks on end...

Even with GWB I understood why he first made those kinds of statements when the Plame situation first broke. But after months and months and months, I got sick of it.

However, Obama has thus far began giving more detailed answers to the Blago questions. I think he wanted to be sure there wasn't anything he didn't know first so that when he did speak, he could do so honestly.

[lunatica]

54. lesions? Is he taking lesions from GWB?

I don't doubt that Bush would love to give him lesions. After all, he's into torture...

[treestar]

55. Why should he talk about an ongoing investigation that has nothing

to do with him? A phrase isn't always wrong just because Chimpy used it!

When Chimpy used it, it was not justified, that was the problem.

Just because Obama is from Illinois does not make him responsible for the governor's activities. That's a right wing attempt.

[sampsonblk]

56. Yep. Very unfortunate (nt)

[TankLV]

58. Nope. Not at all. Not even for a nanosecond. Never crossed my mind.

You see, bush* has ALWAYS LIED - EVEN ABOUT THE SMALL THINGS!
So naturally we would cringe at EVERYTHING he said.
Also, by the time bush* got to his LIE, we ALREADY KNEW WHAT THE TRUTH WAS FROM THE FACTS THAT COULD BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED.

On the other hand, we've had nothing but the TRUTH from Obama. Nothing.
EVERYTHING that Obama has said or claimed has eventually turned out to be TRUE. Everything.

So to somehow try to make false equvalencies of this are just insane...

[IsItJustMe]

64. That is what 8 years will do to you. LOL

[EFerrari]

59. I just thought he was being careful and that seemed fine.

But I'm not exactly neutral. lol

[firedupdem]

61. Not at all...

I was wondering why in the fuck he needed to address that shit in the first place. It was made clear that he was NOT part of any investigation. I never cringe when I feel the person talking is being truthful. These folks that can roll bullshit off their tongues rather easily make me cringe.

[ShortnFiery]

65. No, not at all. But thanks for your concern. I think. :( eom

[Whisp]

66. i didn't cringe at all.

if there is an investigation, you just don't go blabbing off about it.

the only reason to cringe is because of what Bush did with the phrase, not how Obama meant it.

please don't compare that the two of them are using it in the same way, that's repugnant.

[rvablue]

67. Nope. i did not cringe, or wince or even furrow my brow. n/t

[AtomicKitten]

68. yes and no

It reminded me that BushCo hasn't answered to or for anything, but I await Obama's promise of transparency being fulfilled throughout his presidency.

[Hansel]

69. No. n/t

[ClarkUSA]

70. No, because he was also much more forthcoming than anyone in BushCo has ever been.

Full context (via a transcript) would be helpful in illuminating just how forthcoming Obama was.
Not sure what more you expect of him, given the legal circumstances.

:shrug:

[gravity]

72. Obama is just protecting his ass

It is a apart of public relations, and the comments Obama uses to talk about the situation can be used against him, even though he is completely innocent.

In investigations like these, the Obama team still has to sift through ALL the facts before making any statements. You could easily say something that isn't true, just because you didn't know all the details involved at the time.

[nsd]

73. No.

His answer was fine. GWB flash backs? Come on, don't be ridiculous.

[Douglas Carpenter]

75. I felt reassured by President-Elect Obama's initial response.Of course it would have been down right

idiotic if he had tried to wing it with some silly, unprepared answer before he and his staff had gotten a reasonable grip on the facts of the situation.

Many a politician have found themselves greatly weakened and shamed by unprepared remarks made prior to ascertaining all the facts.