Obama Tonight

[tzikeh]

You know, I don't like that there are some questions he avoided, and that because he's such a lovely, clever, intelligent speaker, he can do it without you noticing it til it's too late. And I don't like that he moved on from reporters so strongly when it was clear they had a difficult follow-up question.

HOWEVER.

DAYUM. The American President, you guys. ANSWERING. QUESTIONS. In full sentences, to boot! And, you know, with actual information that he actually understands. And he wanted everyone who had a question to get to ask that question, and he clearly did not get handed the questions beforehand, and he didn't rush through so he could go back to the residence and choke on a pretzel in front of the tube. And he was really forceful about not letting reporters reframe arguments when he was in the right--bipartisanship, stimulus bill, fiscal responsibility, oversight, long-term views, education, etc.

I did have a West Wing moment when one of the reporters asked "How do you feel about A-Rod testing positive for steroids?" All I could think of was the episode in which Josh gave the afternoon briefing, and he said in response to a reporter, "Seriously, you really want to waste your one question on that?"

(omg my president uses words properly and also understands them and oftentimes they have more than one syllable yay)

Comments

[tingler.livejournal.com]

I *know*! I kept going, "There's an actual, real *President* on the TV!!" And we *watched* it! Whenever that suit formerly masquerading as a president came on, we always turned it off.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

Hell, just watching his gestures, his eye contact, and that scowling-owl expression that said "These are real problems that demand real solutions and teamwork" was amazing. After eight years of a sock puppet, this is going to take some adjustment. I think I can adjust.

My wife and I could have gotten so wasted had we chosen to play the Drinking Game every time President Obama said "noo-klee-ar". HE CAN PRONOUNCE WORDS IN ENGLISH! *swoon* And the context - he's talking about green energy, not weapons and terrorists.

Which I think is another change we're seeing without fully realizing it: a shift in the Presidential Paradigm away from focusing on the destructive and divisive, and toward focusing on the constructive and cohesive.

Best impromptu words ever to emerge from a presidential mouth were spoken in Elkhart: "No, it's okay. It's a legitimate question." Surely the lady asking the question was upset about Tom Daschle, but at the same time how could she not admire the way President Obama took the time to answer her question thoughtfully?

ETA: I was reading this to my wife, and she interjected her observation that it was really radical to hear a president say "we have to work with Russia to reduce our nuclear footprint and SET AN EXAMPLE for the rest of the world". He gets the fact that amassing destructive capability does no one any good.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

My wife and I could have gotten so wasted had we chosen to play the Drinking Game every time President Obama said "noo-klee-ar". HE CAN PRONOUNCE WORDS IN ENGLISH! *swoon* And the context - he's talking about green energy, not weapons and terrorists.

I keep saying that, too! Nuclear! Pronounced correctly! I think he's the first president since Jimmy Carter (who, annoyingly, appears to have started the whole mispronunciation thing) who can say NUCLEAR correctly!

[iko.livejournal.com]

I was so impressed listening to the radio this morning. My partner pointed out that it was good but not "OMG IMPRESSIVE" the way I was treating it and that he thinks the reason why I was so moved was due to the contrast with this over the past eight years.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

I think it's highly significant that last night I had my first presidential dream since Bill Clinton was in office. I was hanging out with the Obamas at a party, engaging in intelligent conversation with them, and feeling very full of myself.

(The Bill Clinton dream, on the other hand, was somewhat more, uh, sleazy.)

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

That's OUR president. Whee!

[dexwebster]

ANSWERING. QUESTIONS. In full sentences, to boot! And, you know, with actual information that he actually understands.

And it's one thing to see it and be excited, and almost even better to see empirical proof. Put through the Microsoft Word Readability thing, Obama scores three grade levels higher than Bush.

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

The guy who asked about A-Rod was the fucking Washington Post reporter. Seriously, WTF. I sent them an email saying "That's your question? Seriously? You're not embarrassed?"

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

He sounded like a grown-up! :-)

[vickita.livejournal.com]

Yes! Yes! He can actually answer questions!

It was almost surreal.

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

Yes, but at the end of this press conference, we weren't left wondering if there was a secret plan to fight inflation. ;)