Helen Thomas: Obama lacks courage (In conversation with Helen Thomas at the Commonwealth Club)

Helen Thomas: Obama lacks courage

In conversation with Helen Thomas at the Commonwealth Club

It's one thing when the Financial Times says Barack Obama "seems to float like a butterfly -- and sting like one..."

Even if the gently biting British criticism does come from one of the few publications that successfully charges for some of its content -- journalism is all about commerce platforms these days -- we're still talking the Brits here. Hey! Who won the war? as White House press lioness and legend Helen Thomas once said to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in her bawdy and distinctly American style of directness.

But it's another thing entirely when Ms. Thomas herself says that Mr. Obama "lacks courage."

There was a gasp in the crowd when the veteran reporter, who's covered and stuck her thumb in the eye of 10 presidents from her front row White House briefing room seat, made that comment yesterday at a San Francisco Commonwealth Club Q&A.


I was the interviewer and it rocked me a little, even though I'd read that Ms. Thomas' close friend, Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby") had once said, "No one is to the left of Helen Thomas."

We all know the Left is pissed at the President these days for everything from warmongering in Afghanistan to great gay rights speeches without action.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bronstein/detail?entry_id=49470&tsp=1#ixzz0Tr7GiyOu
Posted By: Phil Bronstein (Email) | October 13 2009 at 12:27 PM

Maybe if we had 70 Senators?
Send in your donation today!

We will see the elected Dems kick some butt!

need 80.

425 in The House.
So send in those donations....TODAY!~
Until then, its "Reaching across the aisle" and "seeking bi-partisan consensus".
Don't want to take ANY chances.
Must keep the powder dry.


I have sooooo come to hate those words, "Seeking bi-partisan consensus".





"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

be corporate flunkies we could still not end BBV, pass public financing end the lie of corporate person hood or pass ANY real progressive initiatives

you'd think his biscuits would be burning by now.

Makes sense to me!

Karl would be proud...

Everyone knows that it takes more courage to say what Helen says than to be Obama.

Some don't recognize true courage anymore.


"But Thomas also had some tough words for the new Obama administration, including the accusation that Obama “lacks courage … to do the right thing,” a charge that drew a gasp from some members of the audience. Thomas, author of the just-released Listen Up, Mr. President, had a few partisan words of advice: “There is no such thing as bipartisanship.... Stop catering to the Republicans, because they're not going to help you!” she insisted.

To Helen Thomas, the goal of journalism has always been clear. “Seek the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bronstein/detail?en...

the guy has had a target on his back for 2 years now and everytime he steps outside the White House he is at risk.

with Secret Service protection, a president has been shot or shot at in 1981, 1975 and 1963. two of those incidents the president was hit.

now, i'll let you go back to arguing how Obama has no courage.

that have been made,I wouldn't be surprised if threats were not made to shut her up. Some have explicitly stated she should die soon. WE don't know about threats to her as she isn't as much of a public figure as the president and to compare them is a false equivalency. Helen might be in more danger as she is a private citizen, elderly and has no secret service protection.Who knows?

we are not arguing that Helen Thomas doesn't have courage. we are not arguing how much courage either of them have.

Thomas (whom I like a lot!) argued that Obama does not have courage. If he has 1% courage, her argument is false.

thus, whether he is the most courageous man that ever lived for doing his job in the face of massive death threats, an amount far exceeding any other person in the world in all likelihood (although he has excellent security).

or whether he simply has some courage, perhaps not even a lot.

she argued he lacked courage. something so laughably easy to disprove it's almost funny.

which may be why you are trying to change the argument because the one Thomas set up has already been dispensed with as patently false and you did nothing to provide evidence it was true.

oh well.

it's clear that Thomas is talking about political courage, not personal courage.

you think Obama might have taken that into consideration before he applied for the job. How much slack do we give him because he receives more death threats than Helen Thomas?

you are talking about another question.

i thought i'd point that out. :D

All presidents have some degree of courage, or at the very least are risk takers to even apply for the job. But not all presidents have had the moral courage to stand up to the political good old boy club what is right for ALL Americans.

i recommend pushing and pushing for him to demonstrate that he does.

it would be unsatisfying (or it should be) to find out that he doesn't have courage because where does that get you? you win an argument. your or her argued that he basically doesn't.

however, if he does the right thing out of courage or some other motivation, i'm not sure i'm going to be upset either way, i just want these things to happens.

Unlike the silly tag team ,The president respects Helen. I am sure criticism from Helen Thomas is far more effective in motivating the President to stump for a real public option than ALL the silly worshipful defense threads posted on the internet.

and we spent a bunch of posts arguing whether he has any.

when all we want is for him to act in courageous ways.

but before you pigeon-hole his supporters/defenders, i know lots of people, as far to the left or further than me who think our expectations of what he should have accomplished in 9 months are unrealistic. they are right.

so, keep pushing, but before you make it personal, give Obama some time. hell, almost every other president had more than 9 months to fix problems much smaller than what Obama is facing.

his critics could at least acknowledge that.

instead i see post after post suggesting all the things wrong with him and somehow you think such a person you see as so flawed is going to give you what you want? why bother. and that's my personal frustration with you.

it's not like you supported better candidates back in the primaries. yours were human politicians too, but i never heard the scrutiny of them i hear about Obama.

as for me, i spent countless posts defending many of our candidates, Hillary, Obama, Edwards, and Biden knowing that they weren't angels, just human beings.

If he doesn't ask for it, he won't get it. Period. Helen is pointing out that he has been cowering away from demanding comphrehensive coverage. He wants to be all things to all people and pursues a bipartisanship that does not exist. And he is risking health care for all on bipartisanship.He already threw out the single payer. Now he wantss to give the states an opt out. All thats happening so far is concessions.Schumer said the president could get whatever he wanted and some of us are asking if this is true, why doesn't he ask for 100% coverage?

Don't ask and ye shall not receive.

Obama never even tried to explain why we needed single payer. He gave up without a fight, probably in February of this year when he began meeting with health insurers and special interests. He did not bother to engage the public in a discussion about health care until too late.

and even pushing him to deliver more if he didn't promise enough.

I just don't like the broadsides against his character.

Helen is a woman in a man's field. She has been fighting prejudice her entire career.
So let's not start talking about courage like Obama has the corner on it--Helen has consistently shown courage longer than he has been alive.

unsolicited opinion when the crime-family Bush administration was in office??? If so, I don't remember.

Helen Thomas is so sadly right.

Helen has now twice been put on the "LIST" of those that dare to question.Helen is a brave and valiant women. She has called every president out on their failings including the current one. Helen is the living definition of speaking "Truth to Power".

spew crap about "Obama defense squad."

What squad do you belong to: the Obama sucks squad?

Are you gonna add Helen to the LIST again? This is her second time!

and you're bitter.

and a host of others.I stand with helen and I am proud to be in her company.
I have always said ther is no such thing as bipartisanship. Helen is right. Someone has to say it publicly and she did.

of substance?

"But Thomas also had some tough words for the new Obama administration, including the accusation that Obama “lacks courage … to do the right thing,” a charge that drew a gasp from some members of the audience. Thomas, author of the just-released Listen Up, Mr. President, had a few partisan words of advice: “There is no such thing as bipartisanship.... Stop catering to the Republicans, because they're not going to help you!” she insisted.

To Helen Thomas, the goal of journalism has always been clear. “Seek the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bronstein/detail?en...

Obama lacks courage because their is no such thing as bipartisanship?

He lacks courage because Republicans are not going to help him?

This is criticism in search of a reason.

There is no such thing as bipartisanship and Obama needs to take a stand and tell the GOP to shove it. But he won't cause he is afraid and insists he needs them.

and now lacks the courage to go it alone.

Besides the complete idiocy of that notion, what exactly is he supposed to be going alone on?

:rofl:

And I will only celebrate if it includes everyone.

I think it depends on how it is defined to tell us whether we have an oxymoronic moment or something of real substance. I hope Obama leads us to something of the latter, but an interest to get "something done" and staying with the *mythical* goal of "bipartisanship", we are just as likely to get the former. "Reform" in that case will be meaningless legislation that will delay REAL reform and may actually make things worse, and will also give us severe consequences in 2010 and 2012 elections!

This time, people won't just accept name dropping marketing drivel any more to accept calling CRAP "reform"...

I just hope for the sake of not letting the Rethugs back into power, that Obama exercises some leadership over the Dems to follow the right path, or we might never get this opportunity again!

At least three DU'ers have made me realize that notion isn't at all beyond the realm of possibility, and have me leaning toward the belief that it's not only possible, but happening here.

We seem to be missing one though... maybe she hasn't seen the thread yet?

Brilliant!

:rofl:

keep on following that yellow brick road.And pay no attention the the man behind the curtain.

Your hit and run retorts are so very telling.
BHN

Sometimes you and your group, which includes a certain European feline, one-third of a Cuban dance, and a few other posters (one whose name implies some kind of mental wrongdoing and the other whose name was surely the result of a lack of proofreading skills) are almost frantic in your defense of President Obama and vicious in your attacks on anyone who would disagree with his policies, choice of appointments, or anything you consider to be putting him in any kind of negative light whatsoever.

A case in point: How many posts concerning his Nobel Peace Prize have you started since Friday? It's almost like you think someone is going to take it back.

You seem to be, along with a few of your friends, the most likely to be candidates for the term "paid shill". Much more so than anyone who criticizes President Obama.

Hey, that's my opinion. Live with it.

Do you REALLY think we have not seen this before?
It's BORING.
Trust us.
BHN

yesterday- the truth post.
Tis here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x388060
Enjoy!
BHN

If I had chosen to breed, I would have raised it/them on George Carlin (with some Sam Kinison) so they would have a chance at recognizing truth.

Carlin would be proud of that post you contributed yesterday.
"They" DON'T give a shit about us- and all else is "magical thinking."

BHN

You and some other posters (you should be thinking "you and your group") seem like birds of a feather, the way you flock together.

There is a small group of posters here, including yourself, who seem to think any and all criticism and/or disagreement with President Obama should be met with as much force as can be mustered, given that this is a message board and your message needs to be heard above all others, right or wrong.

their usual bullshit, Lillimuffins.

"national treasure" by anyone of worth, including those that do not agree with her.

Obama over McCain as early as the last weekend in October 2008.

You're a real asset to the party.

while having reservations about him. And I am in fact a real "asset" to the Democratic Party. I have been a Party loyalist but never a "blind" loyalist.

"Despite that fear and despite the potential consequences of giving tough questions to presidents, Thomas maintains that reporters have a duty to hold presidents accountable for their actions. “We were afraid of being called unpatriotic, un-American for asking the tough questions,” Thomas recalled, referring to earlier in this decade. “I don’t think any of us ever entered journalism expecting to be loved… I don’t think we’re superior – I think we’re dedicated to truth.”

Thomas charged that truth was conspicuously absent from the information put forth by the former Bush administration. Bush "hung the albatross of torture around our necks,” she lamented. “I felt deception was a terrible thing. The American people can take the truth, but they can't take lies."

But Thomas also had some tough words for the new Obama administration, including the accusation that Obama “lacks courage … to do the right thing,” a charge that drew a gasp from some members of the audience. Thomas, author of the just-released Listen Up, Mr. President, had a few partisan words of advice: “There is no such thing as bipartisanship.... Stop catering to the Republicans, because they're not going to help you!” she insisted.

To Helen Thomas, the goal of journalism has always been clear. “Seek the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bronstein/detail?entry_id=49470&tsp=1#ixzz0Tr7GiyOu


I agree with her 100%.

Which I'm sure someone from the apologist wing will point out.

Must be occupied redbaiting someone else right now.

Still love her, tho.

Hello, you. :hi:

I'm hardly here lately.

On both accounts.

:)

President Obama "lacks courage".

She likes to throw that out there as catnip for the perpetually disgrunted but her credibility on the President leaves much to be desired.

"Shocking": Helen Thomas slams Obama over secrecy"

rawstory.com — Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas said the Obama administration's way of handling questions from the press and pre-scripting of town hall questions is "shocking." She says in all her years in the White House she's never seen anything like it.

In all her years she's never seen anything like it?!..get a fucking grip, Helen Thomas, and complain within the realm of reality.

Helen can continue snipping away in her disrespectful way but President Obama will go about turning the country around from the nightmare of the last 8 years.

Was she also really pissed that he was given the NPP?

She's never seen anything like it? WTF?

awhile back and I lost my confidence in her ability to fairly criticize PO.

She's being disrespectful and disingenous, imv.

It's their job to "keep them honest" (to borrow one of Obama's favorite phrases).

I don't recall anyone here complaining that Helen was "disrespectful" of Bush.

:rofl:

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on this.

Get some gawd damn reality, Helen Thomas..

HopeOverFear (1000+ posts) Tue Oct-13-09 06:17 PM
Original message

"President Obama is tough. Just not our kind of tough."

http://mutantpoodle.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/the-power-... /

The Power of the Soft Martial Arts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxxb2ctulEs

I’m done with pundits on the left saying Barack Obama needs to get tough. (Since folks on the right claim he’s creating re-education camps, they, at least, haven’t jumped on this idiotic bandwagon.)

If people haven’t figured out Obama by now, I don’t know what to tell you. He will never play the boisterous, in your face, my way or the highway character that some liberals dream about.

Last fall, Maureen Dowd loaned Aaron Sorkin her column inches, and had him channel Jed Bartlett to give Obama advice. Unsurprisingly, it was to take the gloves off:


OBAMA: What would you do?

BARTLET: GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say ”thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said ”Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word ”patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library….I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!


Obama, of course, didn’t go that route. How’d that work out for him?

Look – the first problem with people who want Obama to morph into the Incredible Hulk is, quite simply, that’s not who he is.

The second problem is that people too often equate bluster with strength. But ask anyone whose worked in bars before – the guys to worry about aren’t the blowhards – it’s the guys who say nothing but don’t back down.

After a full election campaign where Obama deftly let his opponents trip themselves up with their own momentum – just as Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba does in the clip above – Obama’s methods should be totally clear. He allows his opponents to propel themselves, with whatever combination of hyperbole and hysteria they choose to offer, past reasonableness, and then gives them a little effortless nudge – all the while leaving the door open for conversation and, dare I say it, bipartisanship, with those on the other side.

In short, he lets his opponents use up their energy attacking, and then steps in and finishes them.

The irony is that we are a culture that values toughness and yet fails to see it when it’s right in front of us. Ta-Nehisi Coates nailed it a year ago:


This is a war, and you don’t lose wars because of abstract principles, but because of hard immovable facts. Is your army bigger than theirs? Are you attracting more recruits? Are you deploying in the right places? Who has more resources? Who has the technology edge? These are the reasons I voted Obama in the primary. I didn’t think he was “more principled” than Clinton, nor did I really care. I thought she was tough, but I knew he was tougher. I thought her campaign was smart, but I thought his was smarter. I thought one person was talking about being a fighter, and another was out there actually being a fighter. The general is bearing all of this out, because right now, Barack Hussein Obama is beating John McCain like he stole something–from Toot, no less.


I’ll admit, the process with health care reform hasn’t been pretty. But the Senate Finance Committee – maybe the most reactionary committee in the Democratic supermajority Senate – just passed a health care reform bill 14-9. Those who screamed the loudest over the summer have largely run out of ammunition (after all, once you go down the Death Panels road, you’re bound to hit a dead end). There’s a long way to go, but no one’s gotten this close in nearly a century. All this from someone who people don’t think is tough enough.

I don’t know what form health care reform is going to take at the end of this godawful process. But whatever it is, I think Obama will have gotten as much as possible out of a pivotal group of recalcitrant Senate Democrats. I am just as convinced that trying to beat people up to get more would not only fail to do better, it would probably wind up with less. And finally, I think that given that this is how Obama operates, and how skillfully he does it, asking him to adopt strategies and techniques at which he’s less skilled is dumb – it’s like picking up a girl because you have a thing for swimmers, and then being upset because she can’t play softball.

Obama’s mastery of his style is what made him an effective – and winning – candidate, and it’s his best hope for success as a president. LBJ wasn’t on the ballot, folks. Move on.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8700538

Complete with OP comments!You really are ignorant.

:thumbsup:

LOL!
:hi:

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but I'm starting to suspect she's right.

Both sides attempt to convince a lamentably uninformed electorate to grant them the "power" to do whatever the heck they want. A cadidate sees an opening and goes for it.It takes a lot of money and confidence but not "courage".

you equate money and and excellent self promotion with "courage". And then you would have to concede that any candidate for president had equal courage.

He didn't even put up a fight.

politcal campaigns are NOT about courage. Skill, and money are what the races are about.

And, I don't know which is worse. No, wait. Actually selling out is worse then lacking courage, so Helen was kind.

about President Obama. You'd have to be paying attention.

especially one of Obama's potential. There's nothing wrong with what she said because of the context that came immediately after her words.

I think President O gets a lot of the blame for B*sh's failures, and I hope, and pray for him, and that when this public option (fingers crossed) goes through, he soars to great popularity even amongst Repubs and we start pushing through great liberal programs.

who delivered this administration the biggest mandate since Reagan. giant brass balls, i'd say.

Actually, the reason you hate him is your own defects as a person.

she probably won't care though and that is exactly what I like about her...

Nuff said.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/63624/may-02-2006/stephen-for-press-secretary

I LOVE Helen.

BHN

:rofl:

Thank you for posting.

:rofl:

I posted some of the George Carlin videos of "It's bad for you" today.
You might like the "No one questions things..." clip.
Goes hand in hand with the service Helen has done for the
citizens of this country.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x388060

BHN

cheney had no qualms at all about pushing ramming his agenda thru.

if obama actually had some guts- we'd be on the verge of single-payer health care.

if obama actually had some guts- we'd be leaving afghanisatn, iraq, and gitmo. for starters.

if obama actually had some guts- he could be remembered and even revered by history for a LONG LONG time. as it is- he's headed toward being remembered as a steppin fetchit for the corporati.

Look where 8 yrs. of bush/cheney "guts" got us!! I rest my case.......

He hasn't played his hand yet. We need to be more patient. I believe he knows what he's doing, but that's just my opinion. I trust THE man.

and didn't worry about 'bi-partisanship'.

what we need is someone with the guts and the courage of their convictions on OUR side.

and we don't seem to have that in obama. at all.

I guess you can claim universal health insurance. Of course with co pays deductibles and crappy wage slave jobs large percentages won't be able to afford to use it but when your courageous those details can be shrugged off. What were these people called, the folks that will fall through the cracks ...deadbeats, drains on the system.

The majority of Americans bow down to corporate power and will make any excuse for a president who does the same, validating their cowardice.

It's a mandate. You are taxed whether you like it or not.

What level of taxes? A level that doesn't include private overhead and profit? Sounds good to me and has to be cheaper than forcing folks to pay industry fat cat salaries through mandates, copays, deductibles and taxpayer subsidies.

This is about keeping the industry alive and profitable for investors on wall street. Just one more massive siphoning of generations of taxpayers dwindling wealth to the top.
The vast majority don't oppose mandates for medicare coverage through taxes, mandates for social security through taxes and the vast majority don't oppose mandates for health care. Mandates paid to the GOVERNMENT as an investment in our collective health as a country.

Mandates and subsidies paid to private for profit insurance companies as an investment in their growth is insane. They don't know how to provide access to care for all. Never have never will. They do know how to kill people and will continue to do so because therein lies the profit. Now everyone gets the privilege of contributing to their criminal behavior.

I'm sorry you can't tell the difference between a mandate to a private for profit criminal enterprise and a mandate to a government made up of our elected representatives but that is your problem.

Neo-liberalism depends on people who don't know the difference.

Nobody who makes it through the Hillary Clinton, John McCain and crazy wingnut gauntlets that doesn't have courage.

And anyone with the middle name "Hussein" who mounts a serious campaign for president AND WINS lacks courage.

Obama's got more courage than Helen Thomas had or will ever had. He puts up with more shit on a daily basis than a reporter who hangs out in briefing rooms.

If she doesn't like Obama, perhaps she'd be happier with the last president, who stuffed her in the back of the room.

Now you may flame away.

she was.

The two are very different. I'm sure Obama has basic physical courage.

But his weakness is wanting to be liked, I suppose. He does not come out and give us 'straight talk', does he? He hasn't told us why he abandoned single payer and hasn't talked to the America people why he changed his mind. Obama gives good rhetoric instead of honest explanations.

I worked hard for Obama and contributed money I didn't have. I'm a bit disappointed because he's not the man I thought he was. He appears to be caving to special interests.

He should be 'bigger' than to cast Fox News as his enemy. He should reach out and talk to the people who watch Fox, like my mother-in-law and several family members. But his administration won't reach out to ordinary people. They won't deign to communicate with people where they are. He's in danger of isolating himself as an elitist.

"He should reach out and talk to the people who watch Fox,"

Oh my.


:rofl:

Bill Clinton shares my opinion. Obama is making rookie mistakes.

Who failed to get health care reform passed?

Where is Bill?

Prosense, I won't make excuses for Bill. But he fights back, doesn't he.

As for health care it was a different era, a different economy.

You're holding Obama to a double standard.

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it as The Truth and I totally disagree. Furthermore, I didn't say she called him a liar. I said she's just as Rude as Mr. You Lie.

An opinion isn't rude just because one may disagree with it. Wilson directly adressed the president and accused him of lying in front of Congress breaking hundreds of years of protocol. Helen gave her opinion on the Presidents handling of HCR.She thinks the President plces too much emphasis on bipartisanship and lacks the courage to come out strong for a 'solid" PO. She wants him to come out stronger.Health care is really important to her and she spoke her mind.That does not meet any definition of "rude"

"Obama then sat next to Thomas, a columnist for Hearst Newspapers, to pose for a picture. Before leaving, he told the assembled reporters that Thomas wished for "world peace, no prejudice -- but she and I also had a common birthday wish: she said she hoped for a real health care reform bill."

But at least you now say it is an opinion and that we can agree on. My opinion is some move so far to the left they start behaving in the nasty manner of the far right. I do understand her point on Obama's bipartanship emphasis but to me that is far different than a blanket assessment of someone's character.

Joe Wilson broke two centuries of decorum in the US House of Representatives. He spoke out of turn. Helen Thomas has done no such thing. You are comparing apples to oranges.

Thomas in my opinion is rude for making blanket characterization in this instance. That's all.

bipartisanship.

president I believe is not an act of cowardice. We'll see how it shakes out soon enough but getting down and nasty is turn off to me, no matter what side does it.

up a storm. But, she's a spectator, not a player.

in the United States.She is still holding Presidents accountable at the age of 89.And you do what? Funny , when she was the "Only" one questioning Bush, folks thought she was a goddess and sent her roses but if she questions the current president she is a "whiner".Not a player, Really? Then why did Bush try to marginalize her? Why don't you do some research on who Helen really is and her contributions to the word before you attempt to marginalize her too?

is calling it like she sees it. She stood up to Bush when no one else would and that took guts. I respect her opinion and her right to state it.

I wouldn't say that Obama lacks courage, but I can't explain his lack of leadership or follow through on issues like health care, and I cannot understand why he wants to add troops to the morass in
Afghanistan. I also don't understand why he just sits there while all of the issues he championed during his campaign go quietly down the toilet because he won't do anything to support them in an environment where the majority of the people are practically begging him to do so.

I don't think anyone should be thanking him for that. We trade Bush and elect the invisible man? Anyone is better than Bush, but a strong advocate for the issues which need to be addressed would be a lot better than floating with the current while the crocodiles circle waiting to eat us up.

needs to STOP. The behavior in this thread is shameful. Crap like this reminds me why the number of independents in this country is growing.

And I say that as a personal friend of one of the two people being discussed.

want to go directly into battle on major issues. He needs to strike while the iron is hot (and while we control congress).

Not that I haven't wondered the same myself but he was the best of what we were offered and has already come through, in a short time, on some of what he has promised, I am not giving up hope.

That said, I feel that pressuring him to live up to his promises and show courage is appropriate and necessary. Remember, FDR begged people to pressure him so that he could push needed items through Congress.

He goes to work everyday figuring out how he do the best job for the American people. I'm going to wish him the best in this task, instead of sniping at him every waking moment.

Getting tired of the BS on this site. Especially the stupid and dismissive one-liners from a poster called CUE-SEEE.

Really, do you have any emotions in your soul other than hatred of Barack Obama?

She a waste of her intelligence, or is she looking for the limelight again!

But everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I can't help but wonder if Helen's idea of courage would be for him to take steps to sanction Israel for their nuclear weaponry; at his first press conference, she was pressing him on a question along this line.

One doesn't become the first black president purely by one's own merit by lacking courage. Personally, I think that's an unfortunate comment of Helen's, but she's entitled to it.

(It would have been helpful if the writer of the article had asked her the follow up question "Why do you think that?")

Apparently so do a lot of DU'ers.

And spare me the false "we are advocating for policy." The numbnutz recommending this thread are disparaging Obama's character because they hate him.

Good thing you losers are irrelevant.

and 8 presidents including this one, have had respect for her.She was considerd such athreat by the Bushies they tried eliminate her from the Press corp.They didn't like her questions either and that is who you reflect.

on public policy. Just like your home Capital Hill Forum did.

impact bringing truth to the world about DC politics than any other reporter.


Who Helen Thomas is ( For those who term her irrelevant)
Edited on Wed Oct-14-09 07:43 PM by saracat
Helen's list of accomplishments as not only a reporter but as the first "woman" to do many things in the male dominated world of journalism is far to lengthly to post.I suggest that those who dismiss her, and do not understand why this woman is considered a "National Treasure" look her up.A link to only a partial biography follows the quote:

"Regarded as the dean of the Washington, D.C., press corps, reporter Helen Thomas (born 1920) has served as White House bureau chief for United Press International (UPI) since 1974.

To those who regularly watch presidential press conferences, Helen Thomas is a familiar figure. Usually dressed in red (a tradition dating back to the administration of Ronald Reagan) and always seated in the front row, she is invariably the first or second reporter the president calls upon. It is an honor she has earned by virtue of her long and distinguished career in Washington, and it is one she relishes. Besides, it affords her the perfect opportunity to do what she does best-bluntly challenge the president (and other public officials) to tell the plain, unvarnished truth. "We (reporters) are not there to curry presidential favor, nor can we respond to efforts at presidential intimidation," she asserted in her memoir, Dateline: White House. "Our priority is the peoples' right to know-without fear or favor. We are the peoples' servants."

http://www.answers.com/topic/helen-thomas

http://www.aeispeakers.com/Thomas-Helen.htm

We have yet to see if it is correct or not. Perhaps. Perhaps not.

She could also be saying it in order to goad Obama to taking stronger stances.

But my feeling is that Obama's method is different from most politicians but it will prove
to be effective in the end. Partly because other politicians aren't used to it and
can't defend themselves from it as well as usual.

:yourock:

to the back of the room the way the crime-family Bush Administration did.

since Kennedy. I think she knows what she is talking about, and I have to agree with her.