This is a pretty kick-ass press conference. He's GOOD.

[nolabear]

I am eternally impressed with not only what President Obama says, but how he says it. By standing there and giving long, thoughtful answers to a string of questions, right after Boehner has walked off, he gives a stark contrast. "I'm here. They're not." And he uses brilliantly selected, GOP supported factions of the citizenry (soldiers, border guards) and the pain they will face to illustrate just who is being abandoned.

I don't know how this will play out, but I admire the man's mad skills, even if he did conflate Star Wars and Star Trek.

[highplainsdem]

1. Agreed.

[dkf]

2. He's great at campaigning.

He needs improvement on forming a governing coalition. And if we conclude its all the Republicans fault then nothing will get done and we need to resolve ourselves to it.

[nolabear]

4. I get your point but I see it through a marriage counselor's eyes.

There are a few things that predict the failure of a marriage unless they change. One of the biggest is stonewalling, the absolute refusal to even open up the possibility that you aren't completely in the right and might have to give some. People do it in all kinds of ways, moving the target in a discussion, trying to gaslight their partner into believing they didn't say what they said, lying, acting without consideration of its affect on the partner, undermining the partner's efforts, etc. Honestly, this is the GOP in a nutshell. And at this point since no one can divorce anyone he is in a bad place as to forming a coalition. Seems to me he is at least there and talking, and yes, doing some wraparound for the sake of the party. But I can't think of a damned thing that the opposition is doing to form anything.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Like the lie that "both parties are always to blame when a marriage fails."

Not true. Not if one person stonewalls and refuses to admit that they are not perfect.

Like when they nag you and don't respect you, and withhold all emotional support and affection, and then wonder why you finally get fed up and leave.

The jerk I was married to was so paranoid and self centered that he thought I did everything I did just to piss him off. That never entered my head.

We did leisure time activities that I enjoyed, like flying. He had a single-engine pilot's license. So he stopped doing that to "punish" me. Without telling me of course.



I've been there.

[MyOwnPeace]

12. Wait - what?

You mean that just because they lost and do not have any kind of majority (other than nut-cases), they should be expected to "give some?"
Oh, just another typical bleeding-heart commie pinko liburl tryin' to defend the Muslim commie facist (I'm out of things to say - see "Faux News" for the rest of the words)!

(boy, I wish I could find that "SARCASM" thingie right now!)

[nolabear]

14. MSNBC just used my marriage counseling line, LOL!

Nothing like media validation.

[DFW]

8. He's real sharp one a one-on-one, too

I was with him in a small (less than 20) group for an hour going over lots of different topics, from the environment to taxes and the economy to foreign policy to health insurance/care to election strategy (this was last July). He was completely conversant on every subject and had no notes with him, and no assistants to consult.

VERY impressive!

[nolabear]

15. I envy that. I'm smart, but sometimes my brain is a seive.

Must have been a great thing to be a part of!

[DFW]

20. It was!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125170848

[1StrongBlackMan]

13. How do you propose THIS president ...

form a governing coalition with a body that one half of which does not want to govern, only obstruct?

[dkf]

18. Constant communication, confidence building, knowing the limits and not asking for more than can be

Delivered...

Bill Clinton was a master at this.

Of course if you don't like what Bill did then this solution won't be to your liking.

I do think there is not enough focus on common ground...more base pleasing on both sides that leads to stalemate.

[1StrongBlackMan]

19. With all due respect ...

Bill Clinton did not have one half of a Congress that stated on day one, "If you are for it; we will say no!" And that is exactly what they have done. Even you must admit that. And no amount of constant communication, (remember when us Democrats got soooo upset that President Obama was talking to the gop and not his fellow Democrats?), confidence building (remember when us Democrats got soooo upset that President Obama really sucked at negotiating because he aimed way too low?), knowing the limits (remember when ... well ... ditto), or looking for common ground (ditto, again).

No, when your opponents definition of "working together" is "everything for me and nothing for you", that strategy fails.

[Vincardog]

22. I believe there is too much " focus on common ground" indeed too much common ground between

PBO and the GOP. The problems we are facing require POPULIST solution that are not on offer from the current conservative representatives on either side.

[WinkyDink]

3. When was this? I found nothing anywere at 12:32.

[nolabear]

5. It's probably on social media by now. I saw it at about 8:30 PST.

[Ian_rd]

6. I think one of the reasons he's good at this is because he knows this is all theater, and derides it

as such. Politicians more susceptible to living in this bullshit universe wouldn't be as effective as he is at communicating to the world outside of this bullshit universe. I imagine dueling press conferences, one where Republicans are accusing the president of ignoring the Yeti Threat. Some presidents might counter, saying that they are not ignoring the Yeti Threat, but are taking it very seriously. But Obama knows there is no Yeti threat and therefore communicates more effectively to the general public.

[amuse bouche]

7. I am so impressed too

Especially thinking back at W up there. Damn he was such a scary, creepy fool

[Hekate]

9. Kick for the Prez

Seriously.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. I liked it when he threw the question back at the reporter.

A woman asked him what he would do next, and he asked her "What would you have me do?"
.....crickets.....

Another one asked him if he could lock the Congressional leaders in a room and not let them out until they came to an agreement, and he said "I'm not a dictator. I'm the President. If one of them has a plane to catch, I can't make the Secret Service keep them from leaving."

When they asked him if he knew who Snooki was, he should have quoted Lyndon Johnson: "What kind of a chickenshit question is that to ask the Leader of the Free World?"

[nolabear]

16. I have been chuckling at the social media jumping on his Star Wars/Trek flub.

Says he lost nerd points. True dat. But I bet he gains them back with defense of education. Nerds are wicked smart on education issues.

[frazzled]

17. I was relieved to know that he was not a serious Trekkie

Anyone who spent enough time with the tube to remember the difference between Vulcans and Jedis is probably not devoting enough time to the study of law, policy, and other issues that are necessary to being a serious president.

[freshwest]

21. Good stuff... Hope to see the video here soon!