Obama: It's the Salesman, Not the Gimcracks

The president of the United States of America tells 60 Minutes that he really needs to do a better job convincing Americans just how wonderful his policies have been:

I think that, over the course of two years we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that, we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn't just legislation. That it's a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone.

Making an argument that people can understand, I think that we haven't always been successful at that. And I take personal responsibility for that. And it's something that I've got to examine carefully … as I go forward.

Looks like understanding might take a while.

Comments

[Johnny Longtorso]

Given that as the end result of millenia of human moral and intellectual Progress, I am always right and the cattle are always wrong. My defeat is just more proof that the cattle are wrong.

George Will said it better

[rctl]

Speaking of someone being right, and you sweet boys (almost)always wrong

http://rctlfy.wordpress.com/20.....-decision/

[?]

George Will said it better

"Unwilling to delay until tomorrow mistakes that could be made immediately, Democrats used 2010 to begin losing 2012."

Indeed. Great lede.

[35N4P2BYY]

Good stuff, normally I see Will as the ascot-wearing yacht-sailing real life caricature of the "country club" republican, but the argument is pretty well grounded and not too pretentious. Bye the bye the comments are pretty entertaining. Check this gem out, eloquently stated with the rhetorical skill of Wayne and Garth:

HopeForAmerica wrote:
NOT! We support Pres. Obama. We think he's been too nice to the republicans, and we're a bit annoyed at him for that. Secondly, the races between republicans and democrats were very tight. Had we had a bigger turnout by Dems... we probably would have won.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yeah, the new (old?) meme is that Obama was too conciliatory and that he should REALLY show the Republicans that he's going to pass his agenda whether they like it or not.

What a conundrum--if Obama was so weak that he couldn't accomplish anything (according to these Marxists) with super-majorities in the House and Senate, what's he going to do now that Team Red's got hold of one house of Congress?

Funny, I remember just a few short years ago these same individuals getting the vapors when Bush resorted to rule by fiat through executive orders. Proof yet again that its not the *process* that progressives disagree with, it's the political affiliation of the person in charge that matters to them.

[Cyto]

I'll add to your point, it isn't process or outcome, it is political affiliation.

They were apoplectic over wiretapping under Bush. But Obama increases wiretaps... nah, they're not so worried. End the war? Nah, following the Bush plan doesn't sound so bad as long as Obama is leading. End deficit spending? Well yeah, as long as Bush is in charge.... now that we have our guy in the office, we're all for quadrupling the deficit!

And on and on... I've been trying to make this point for at least two decades with almost zero traction. If you have to check to see who's idea it is before you know if you are for/against, you are part of the problem. Strike that... You are the problem.

[PapayaSF]

You got it. The classic example is sexual harassment: just a horrible, terrible thing, especially when Republicans do it, but when Democrats do it, well, what's the big deal? She's probably a slut, anyway.

[MikeP]

Implicit in such an attitude is that people who agree with him are simply brighter than those who don't because they understand the policies without needing the dumbed-down communication.

[Bronwyn]

Funny... apparently I'm not sharp enough to understand his policies, but I'm certainly sharp enough to understand the insult.

[marlok]

I love how condescending his line about "making an argument that people understand."

Here's a simple version of every argument he's ever presented: "SMART DEMOCRATS MAKE GOOD GOVERNMENT PROGRAM. YOU LIKE IT."

[Anonymous Coward]

It is the authoritarian tendency to pathologize the opposition. It's not enough that an opponent merely hold contrary (and therefore wrong) opinions. To the authoritarian, anyone who opposes them must be fundamentally defective in some way.

[CoyoteBlue]

Does this mean he'll be on tv more, being "Perfectly clear" to us slack-jawed yokels? Cuz no gets tired of that.

[R C Dean]

I find Obama's speeches remarkably easy to avoid. Thank Tivo, from whom all blessings flow.

[TX Limey]

Maybe he'll do a Hugo Chavez and get his own show.

[?]

"Leadership isn't just legislation. That it's a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone."

In other words, he failed, with most of the major media outlets--nay, the entire western world--on his team, to be an effective propagandist. That takes a special kind of loser. A Nobel Prize-winning loser.

[gaijin]

Agreed...with as many stars aligned as he seemed to have, it's quite an achievement to have failed...though I guess failure is always in the ego of the beholder.

[?]

Sideline reporter: You've just lost the House! What are you going to do now?

Obama: I'm going to India!

[JohnD]

Maybe he will stay in India!
We should be so lucky.

[Indian]

We have enough problems, thank you.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

But think of all the jobs that will be created or saved by his $200 million a day stimulus!

[East Bay Jay]

B+

[PapayaSF]

The guy's an empty suit and unqualified affirmative action action hire who's been hanging with leftists all his adult life. It's not a surprise to me that he blew it.

[my left nut]

I am and will continue enjoyin' the lulz of observing all those fools who published books, renamed roads and public buildings and awarded international prizes to a two-bit political agitator who has never exhibited any leadership ability and has never done, said or written anything suggesting originality.

[Joe M]

"Making an argument that people can understand, I think that we haven't always been successful at that. And I take personal responsibility for that."

In other words, he apologizes for being too smart for us average schlubs.

[Rich]

OTOH, he could mean "My Administration has not spent enough on educating the American people".

[Obama]

And by "educating" I mean flogging.

[Barack Obama]

That's right, Rich! From now on, televised speeches every day instead of every other day!

[alan]

Read the headlines where the coconuts are being removed to avoid one offending the Chosen One's pristine head. Good Gawd, when he decides he wants to hike they deforest a national park before He arrives?

[smartass sob]

Read the headlines where the coconuts are being removed to avoid one offending the Chosen One's pristine head.

It isn't that. Their problem is if one were to drop and knock his head off, they wouldn't know which to put back on his shoulders.

[my left nut]

+1

[VoteMuslimNoPork]

And libs wonder why some of the country consider him an elitist. He should have said something like, "Americans don't like the Health Care Reform. They see it as a negative and part of my job as President is to listen to their concerns, work with Republicans and Democrats to address their concerns, and hopefully we can turn that negative into a positive." Basically the same core message, making people "understand" but he doesn't sound like a pretentious douche when making it.

[Joe M]

He's constitutionally unable to not sound like a pretentious douche.

[Christine O'Donnell]

Oh, yeah? Show me where in the Constitution!

[Citation unavailable]

The witch made it disappear.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I wonder where this ranked on the "Obamanometer" scale? 7 Obamas? 8 Obamas?

http://isteve.blogspot.com/201.....-jett.html

[Red Rocks Rockin]

A taste:

"One of our classmates once famously noted that you could judge just how pretentious someone's remarks in class were by how high they ranked on the "Obamanometer," a term that lasted far longer than our time at law school. Obama didn't just share in class - he pontificated. He knew better than everyone else in the room, including the teachers. Or maybe even he knew he didn't know, but knew that the leader of the free world had to be able to convince others that he did."

[PapayaSF]

This is even more amusing because it's written by the former Jackie Fox, bassist for the Runaways.

[James Ard]

When you make shit up out of whole cloth, such as 17 billion of 1099 savings, of course it's hard to explain it to us average folks.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Or 3 million jobs "created or saved."

[Brian]

I feel sorry for him. It must be hard to be so smrt all the time.

[Not an Economist]

I really wonder if he has ever considered the possibility that public doesn't like what he is selling and not that the sales pitch is bad. I mean if your trying to sell ice to Eskimo's and failing it may mean they don't need ice and not that you need to try a different sales pitch.

[The Ghost of Albert Einstein]

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

[J sub D]

Quantum mechanics. Have a go at it.

[mad libertarian guy]

And any physicist will tell you that they too do not understand quantum physics.

Anyone who says that they have a firm grasp of it is a liar.

Besides, the only thing "quantum physics hard" with health care is trying to find a way to convince us rubes that we're not being fucked when we know we are.

[my left nut]

Thermodynamics, General Relativity, Multilevel Marketing, American Foreign Policy ...

[my left nut]

Thermodynamics, General Relativity, Multilevel Marketing, Am er ikan_ For-eign Poli_cy

[prolefeed]

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
reply to this
J sub D|11.5.10 @ 10:15AM|#

Quantum mechanics. Have a go at it.

Energy and matter can exist as both waves and particles simultaneously, similar to how energy and mass are really the same thing, as explained in Einstein's equation E=mc2.

Or, rather, our intuitive understanding of what is a wave or a particle at large scales -- say, a ripple in a pond when you throw a stone in it -- doesn't quite match up with what happens at really small scales. They kind of blend together and are both.

These wave-particles don't have infinitely fine gradations of energy levels and whatnot -- they can only exist at certain discrete levels, or quanta.

And a bunch of other stuff involving higher math you don't really want to know about.

[wylie]

Where's the thread where we all bitch about the new donation pop-up? That's the thread I'm waiting for.

[capitol l]

Freedom isn't free, wylie. It's a buck o five.

[wylie]

Can they cut back on the print-edition and their multiple office locations, and bring it down to like $0.65?

[capitol l]

Those multiple office locations are the nefarious tentacles of the Kochtopus. I'd be quiet about all this, unless you want to end up as just another ink-stained corpse.

[wylie]

Oh, never mind, I'm totally Pro-Tentacle.

[mad libertarian guy]

And apparently anti-modern browser and adblock.

[capitol l]

I updated adblock this morning, and still had a pop-up. I have the updated firefox browser as well.

[Timon19]

Exactly. What popup?

[smartass sob]

I, for one, like the ads. Makes it look more like a magazine.

[Shannon Love]

Ever since the 30s, American leftism has been sliding into elitism and the process accelerated in the 60s. It would be impossible today for people like Al Smith or Harry Truman to become Democrat Presidents.

Everything in contemporary leftism is predicated on the idea that highly intelligent people are vastly better decision makers in all domains than average people. They view politics as a conflict of elites. They are the good elites and the bad elites are higher echelon business people. Leftists think that 80% of the population are just sheep that have to be managed by their betters. This is why they attempt to centralize so much power in the state and to move that power upwards within the state to reduce the direct influence of the people.

Under such a mindset, leftists cannot see elections has a feedback mechanism that communicates to the political class how well their policies are actually working. Instead, leftists see elections solely in terms of conveying legitimacy on this or that group of elitist. In other words, in the leftists view, elections are a moral institution, not a practical one. Leftists believe that ordinary people have the moral right to choose their elites but they don't believe that ordinary people should be involved in the actual decisions those elites make.

Therefore, Obama cannot view electoral failure in any other terms than the intellectually inferior majority of the populace not understanding his brilliance and not granting him the moral authority to continue to govern. The idea that tens of millions of American have a much better understanding than he of the on-th-ground reality of his programs never enters his mind.

[Mike]

I believe that Lenin termed this group the "Vanguard of the Proletariat".

Go back to Obama's take on things, and you'll find all sorts of Marxist-Leninist concepts woven throughout his explanation.

He could have just as easily said: "Marxism is clear on the fact that the proletariat suffer from the effects of a 'false consciousness'; this is why a vanguard of elite intellectuals is required to ferment the anger of the masses and channel it to the achievement of concrete steps to achieve Communism. What I have learned is that the false consciousness that afflicts the American proletariat is deep, and must be extirpated by re-educating the masses and eradicating the counter-revolutionary elements who feed Trotskyite tendencies threatening the progress of the Revolution."

[President Obama]

Let me be clear: I have not been clear enough.

[Prez]

Let me be clear: I have not been clear enough.

[Rich]

+1

I'm looking forward to some great Obamaese in the 60 Minutes interview.

[mad libertarian guy]

You're actually going to watch that shit?

[Cyto]

There are those who would say that I have been unclear....

[Timon19]

...to them I say (and let me be clear)...

[my left nut]

(reading from teleprompter) this is not part of my prepared remarks, but ...

[ Stolen, of course, from the People's Cube ]

[Rachel Maddow]

"[W]hat did Democrats do? What did Democratic politicians do? What did the Democratic Party do with these last 21 months? What did they stand for? What were they made of? It turns out what they were made of was historic."

[And she continued ...]

What are they gonna say about him? He was a kind man? He was a wise man? He had plans? He had wisdom? Bullshit, man! And am I gonna be the one that's gonna set them straight? Look at me! Look at me!

[And then she said...]

Hey, man, you don't talk to the One. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet warrior in the classic sense

[Cyto]

You could say the same for a lot of people. Idi Amin was made of historic stuff. That's hardly a recommendation.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

And to top it off, apparently they are not in any way responsible for the period from 2007 to 2008 when they held both houses of Congress. Nope, that was ALL Bush, baby.

[generic Brand]

But Republicans NOT controlling either house of Congress from 2009-2010 are responsible for most of what wasn't done during the first half of Obama's presidency.

[PapayaSF]

And they're still blaming Reagan for things. At least they've let up on the Nixon and Hoover comparisons.

[Anonymous Coward]

You know who else was made of "historic stuff"?

......

[my left nut]

John Glenn

[?]

I mean if your trying to sell ice to Eskimo's and failing it may mean they don't need ice and not that you need to try a different sales pitch.

Nope.

Big Patio Heater and the Church of Apollo have so distorted some Eskimos' minds that they're unreachable by even the greatest of ice salesmen, but they need ice, and if they won't take it...new Eskimos.

[-]

Opaque as always. Thanks, cent.

[Barack Obama]

As an articulate person, I found it rather eloquent.

[capitol l]

And toss the cumbrous hoes, or task the soil
you felt for once the full meaning of unanimity. No one was at a
the sails set, when I heard the swish and flick of gaskets being cast
before serving, make a very desirable addition. A most delicious dish
to pass the night in the garden pavilion, in preference to remaining
our safari scattered by rhinoceroses in the former district,

[wylie]

Are those the actual words to "Ode to a Haggis"?

[capitol l]

It's off of one the game cards from my version of Vogon or British: The Game.

[capitol l]

And, yes, I am convinced that cent is a Vogon. In character, in biology.

[J sub D]

It's not the rainbow and unicorns message, it's the offal and excrement messenger.

[P Brooks]

And I take personal responsibility for that.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Gilbert Martin]

For another massive does of self of liberal self delusion check out the editorial by MS Katrina of the "Nation" in today's Wall Street Journal.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The new edition of The Nation on the magazine rack shows them going back to that standard leftist hobby-horse, "people are voting against their best interests!"

These guys haven't had an original thought since 1918.

[me]

I remember well when Obama won and the Dems took over Congress most of us of all political persuasions were so sick to death of Bush and the GOP and the way they drove this country to the brink that we felt marginally hopeful and gratified. Maybe it was Obama's pledges to stop the costly and pointless wars and his supposed respect for the Constitution and the rule of law. In two short years Obama managed to turn that all around. Most of us, even libertarians, wanted to give Obama a chance and hoped he might return some small amount of sanity to American foreign policy. Instead what we got was the worst of Bush combined with the worst of the progressivism. With the exception of the hardcore right, most of us felt some small amount of hope that we might at least have a rational person in the White House. Obama really had to work to turn that around.

[alan]

Maybe it was Obama's pledges to stop the costly and pointless wars

Obama ran on expanding the war on Afghanistan. For some reason people ignored that fact, and heard what they wanted to hear. Recall the 'wrong war?' Well, what would the right war be then? To be fair to Obama, he never hid that fact. People chose not to listen.

[Anonymous Coward]

it was Obama's pledges to stop the costly and pointless wars...

Stopped reading here, mainly because the writer has no clue as to what the fuck he or she is talking about.

[Tolly]

The sooner we hurry up and federally subsidize the newspapers in this country, the sooner we can start devoting the front page of every edition to a simple, easy-to-follow infographic about how everything the president does is really wonderful, in fact.

[Obama, simplified]

I shouldn't have to explain shit to anyone. The American people just need to shut the fuck up and let Democrats do everything they want.

Fuck all y'all.

[Liberals]

Yeah! What OUR President said!

[No Name Guy]

What...a...fucking...douche...idiot.

Hey Mr. Fuck-tard President - we understand PERFECTLY what it is you're doing. We simply don't like nor want it. Now shut the fuck up and quit. Just quit, go the fuck back to Chicago and be your corrupt self there where you only bother those idiots who want to be around you.

[COMMANDER]

Repost this if you agree, IS communist obama ONE , Because of its secrecy and refusal to issue news releases, the Bilderberg group is frequently accused of political conspiracies. This outlook has been popular on both extremes of the ideological spectrum, even if they disagree on what the group wants to do. Left-wingers accuse the Bilderberg group of conspiring to impose capitalist domination,[21] while some right-wing groups such as the John Birch Society have accused the group of conspiring to impose a world government and planned economy.Obama's India trip really an Emergency Bilderberger Meeting ?THE COMMADER //////// 1. .Is Barack Obama pushing forward dangerous policies that are bringing the United States closer to a socialist dictatorship. Are you even aware?

2. What is the major proof of the Bilderberger influence over many of the world events in the last decade!

3. Is it really true that the recent global financial collapse was engineered by the Bilderberg Group. Why was their 2010 annual meeting held in Greece? 4, The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of around 130 guests, most of whom are people of influence in the fields of politics, banking, business, the military and media. The conferences are closed to the public.
5. "to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self."

[COMMANDER]

Bilderberger influence ,TO THE WEAK-KNEED REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRAT?..TO ALL THE COMMUNIST IN THE IG,FBI,CIA,AND U.S. Senators and the left wing media outlets?..Wake up america!!!! This goverment is the most corrupt we have had in years. The good old boy network is very much in charge.Mr. obama and pelosi are the puppet masters.How many of their good friends benefited by the agreement " what a farce. All of the u.sSenators voted for this. I am ashamed to say I voted for the these corupted self serving politicians.With good reason they picked an out of towner to be president.All u.s departments need an overhaul. We need to rid ourselves of the puppet masters and the dept heads that bow down to obama and pelosi.I am sick of the lip service I have been getting from these dummies over violations, their friends are getting away with.in the goverment . Barack Hussein Obama , threatens friends and bows to Mmslim.
INPEACH OBAMA ,GOD OPEN YOUR EYES.///For us there are only two possiblities: either we remain american or we come under the thumb of the communist Mmslim Barack Hussein OBAMA. This latter must not occur.//////// I love communist obama.will you ,thank you,the commander.ps aka red ink obama.//////// Repost this if you agree, IS communist obama ONE , Because of its secrecy and refusal to issue news releases, the Bilderberg group is frequently accused of political conspiracies. This outlook has been popular on both extremes of the ideological spectrum, even if they disagree on what the group wants to do. Left-wingers accuse the Bilderberg group of conspiring to impose capitalist domination,[21] while some right-wing groups such as the John Birch Society have accused the group of conspiring to impose a world government and planned economy.Obama's India trip really an Emergency Bilderberger Meeting ?THE COMMADER //////// 1. .Is Barack Obama pushing forward dangerous policies that are bringing the United States closer to a socialist dictatorship. Are you even aware?

2. What is the major proof of the Bilderberger influence over many of the world events in the last decade!

3. Is it really true that the recent global financial collapse was engineered by the Bilderberg Group. Why was their 2010 annual meeting held in Greece? 4, The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of around 130 guests, most of whom are people of influence in the fields of politics, banking, business, the military and media. The conferences are closed to the public.
5. "to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self."