Why There's Still Hope: Reporters Openly Laugh at State Dept. Flack
Via Hot Air's Erika Johnsen comes this clip of reporters laughing at State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki's attempt to valorize President Barack Obama's foreign policy record.
A partial transcript:
JEN PSAKI: I would argue the president doesn't give himself enough credit for what he's done around the world, and that's how the secretary feels too. We would not be engaged in comprehensive negotiations with Iran, which is where the program is stalled and is rolling back, if it were not for the role of the United States, along with the P-5 plus one partners, certainly. Ukraine, we've been engaged more or as much as any other country in the world in supporting the elections process and supporting the government and supporting their efforts moving forward. Yes, there's more work that needs to be done. The point is, we need to continue to stay at it. …
REPORTER: Credit for what? I'm sorry, credit for what?
Bonus clip (via Free Beacon via Hot Air again): NBC's Richard Engel being whether there are any countries with whom relations have improved under President Obama.
"I think you would be hard pressed to find that," Engel said…."I think the reason is our allies have become confused."
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"I think the reason is our allies have become confused."
Well, no wonder. The President rarely says "Let me be clear" anymore.
He isn't clear when he draws "a red line"?
Well no...I guess not.
Seriously, they sincerely believe it is all a communications problem. Specifically that the people they're communicating to are too stupid to get what the Administration is telling them and believe it uncritically.
You just defined socialism.
Was the reporter a Faux News reporter?
P-5 plus one partners
+6 what the eff?
5 countries ruled by penises with a strap-on dictatorship thrown in for diversity.
Now it makes sense.
Wait:
United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France, plus Germany. P5+1 is often referred to as the E3+3 (or E3/EU+3) by European countries.[3]
So, is this the headache-inducing crap that SIV was alluding to if one takes the Foreign Service exam?
Diploshit Babble Deciphered (DBD):
United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France:
HasNukes1, HasNukes2, HasNukes3, HasNukes4, HasNukes5.
plus Germany.
Could have (really fucking good) nukes; bankrolls HasNukes5.
Leading to:
P5+1
Where is India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel?
Opps forgot China....
Also how much better is a really fucking good nuke vs the others?
Now I understand. The real problem is that President Obama is just too damned humble about all of his great foreign policy accomplishments.
And that's just the lede of this convenient pre-written article handout from the press conference!
Hugh, where you been? 2 sausage fests without you thus far. Fun, but sausage fests.
It takes more than a bunch of throbbing dongs jostling and jousting against one another to get me out of the house these days.
This dinner was only 33.333% gay.
Lots of meat, though (the food kind).
IT WAS A $20 BET!
Makes sense. He's always sure to avoid making things about himself.
Well, that ended up being weirdly placed. The comment was about Obama, not Hugh Akston.
That's okay. I certainly never try to make myself the focus of attention either.
I've been told, that in business, you have to toot your own horn on your accomplishments, or you won't climb the ladder.
I have always been reticent to do so because the people who do seem to be such massive douchebags.
Nothing wrong with being a cheerleader for yourself, but you'd better be able to back it up.
Seriously, what the fuck did people expect when they elected a community organizer as President of the United States?! The man has not had a real job his whole life and has never proven himself to be a responsible leader and manager in his career up to this point. It's sad when the best president we've had in recent memory was an actor.
At this point I miss Bill Clinton.
Wow. They can't even find a competent liar to get in front of the cameras for Obama anymore. That looked like an internship for a freshman mass comm major.
You could tell she didn't buy into it either as her incredulity was written all over her face.
All the smarter and senior ones have left. The ones remaining are putting on as good a show as they know how as auditions for the next democratic admin or senator's office that needs some loyal staff.
This admin is falling apart even quicker than I had anticipated in its second term.
The Econ staff jumped early first term. 3 of my Econ professors at Berkeley worked for the administration, and they jumped ship pretty quickly. Orszag, Tyson, and Romer (who all poked fun at Krugman in the late 90s) saw the writing on the wall, and wisely got the hell out.
There was a certain deer in the headlights expression there...
It really is amazing that Obama bothered running for reelection. If he didn't have his head (or his clique of sycophants) so far up his ass he would have realized the decline he was facing, groomed Hillary to succeed him, and blamed all the subsequent failures on her mismanagement and Republican obstructionism, while sipping on a mai tai on the beach in Hawaii.
At least she didn't use "Dude" in her reply.
Obama authorized the operation that killed Osama!
Obama does deserve credit for the Iran talks. That's a big fucking deal. I'm glad they're happening and I hope they eventually end the cold war between the two countries. With that said, the rest of his foreign policy has been pretty much a failure and in many cases I'm grateful for that.
The Iran "talks"?
Seriously?
You know the Iranians laugh about this stuff on TV right? There is nothing that will stop the inevitable Iranian nuclear device from appearing aside from their own incompetence or Israeli military actions.
Sanctions won't stop them, and nothing President Not My Fault has done/will do will either.
Yup. The best we can do realistically is stall for time (STUXNET may have been the most effective at that) and hope that by the time Iran has nukes it no longer has the political will to wield them aggressively.
So will they expect Obama's will or the Mullah's will to give out first. Or should I say, should they expect Allah's will to give out before "Red White and Blue Line" Obama?
I smell an awful lot of "if" coming off this plan.
They cut the video before she had the chance to say, "Now shut the fuck up. Next question?"
Welcome to Slippery Rock University model U.N. debate 2014.
For the blue team, let's welcome Jen Psaki!
Apparently she's gotten quite a reputation.
I hope the reporter's taxes are all in order.