What did y'all think of Hillary's self admitted weakness?

paraphrasing: that she sometimes pushes things too hard or before there is a consensus? (I think that was it)

and a positive.

good that she recognizes it too.

Surprising in that I can't believe he would admit to being that disorganized. He sounds like me, and not in a good way. I'd like to think that the president would be more organized than I am. But on the other hand, i wish I had as many aides as the president has to keep me organized, so maybe it would be alright.

Obama seemed to be saying that he's disorganized when it comes to things - he loses paper, his desk is a mess. However, it is obvious that he is very organized in his thinking and his approach to problem solving - just listening to him talk, one can tell that he has a very clear thought process.

On the other hand, George Bush is known for being very neat, very fastidious. His desk is always immaculate (probably because he does very little actual work), his surroundings neat as a pin. But his brain is as addled as they come and his thought processes are a mess.

I'd certainly prefer a president who can't keep track of his paperwork - since there are plenty of people around him whose job it is to handle that sort of thing. But a president who can't keep track of his last thought is a dangerous thing - especially since no one else can get into his head to straighten things out.

I can totally relate to what he was saying about papers. I am highly organized and multitask very well, but there are times that paperwork comes in like a Tsunami. He just admitted that it is helpful if one of his aides give him papers (speech notes?) a couple of minutes before he goes onstage rather than a day before. Lots of great thinkers are similary organized like that. Please do not make a mountain out of a molehill on his "weakness".

At least he is not a dumbass bonehead like the chimperor.

none of them.

I must admit to a little short attention span during that particular answer.

considered a weakness the "real world". Nobody in their right mind would answer a question like that with candor/honesty.

That his weakness was that he cares too much about people - and then he launched into his stump speech about someone he cared about. It wasn't his best moment.

Obama was the only one who seemed to answer the question straightforward by sharing a real weakness, and not using the question as an opportunity to actually tout a strength.

patient, then went off topic to one of her talking points. I would say her weakness is staying on topic.

I hate those and I answer them the same way she did..lol

but how you say it. It is designed to rattle the interviewee. The suggestion given as to the best way to answer is to respond with a "weakness" that can be turned into a "strength". Suggested responses are of the type: "I am a perfectionist in getting details correct, which sometimes annoys my coworkers"; "I get so involved in my work that I sometimes forget to eat lunch", and other similar type answers. It is not so important what specific answer you give, as much as not getting flustered in your response.

These kinds of questions are standardized interviewing questions usually reserved for "lower level" kinds of jobs. They are designed to make the interviewee nervous and slip up in answering questions of more significance that relate to the job.

(I posted this in another thread, but seems appropriate here. Clinton and Edwards with an appropriate BS prepared answer for this type question and avoided the trap. No idea what Obama was thinking when he brought this up.)

The reason it is a poor answer is not that he has a messy desk (or a neat one), it is that he brought it up and characterized this trait as the "worst". His answer does give us a couple of clues about his personality, probably a lot more than he intended.

In the general population, people who are "clean" desk view "messy" as a failing, much like "morning" people view "night owls" and might fault them for sleeping later. (Here I am posting in the middle of the night and yes I have a messy desk.) Any "messy desk" executive has to have assistants to help
ensure that they are successful; while Obama said that he had good staff to compensate, his describing this as his worst fault suggests that he really doesn't have this under control.

Many of the most successful entrepreneurs and high tech executives are "messy desk" and thrive by creating environments that eliminates or delegates most of the bureaucratic functions, eliminates anything with low payoff, and frees them to leverage their talents to solve problems in new ways.

Seeing this as a fault also indicates some issues with self confidence, possibly that common trait of many very smart and successful people who still are afraid of somehow being found out as an imposter. Not enough info to really get into this at such a late hour.

At a minimum, every job applicant should expect this question and have a ready, if totally BS, answer. Otherwise, it shows they are unprepared and lack adequate care with information in a hostile environment.