Where's my "Chill the fuck out, I got this!" & "...so I know whose ass to kick" President?

Tonight I got the "NASA scientists have confirmed the asteroid's path and the cameras will now cut to a waving American flag while 'Amazing Grace' is played on bagpipes in the background." President.

Every time I watch tonight's speech I become a little more puzzled.

Any speech which wraps up with “Even if we're unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don't yet know precisely how to get there. We know we'll get there.” should be shot by the secret service, the typewriter that typed it tossed into the Potomac, and the speechwriter shown both of the preceding events to encourage them to do better.

PB

What a waste of an Oval Office speech & setting although it's a great place of SNL sketches.

This massive disaster is the equivalent of a direct attack on the shores and waters of America, and our country should have reacted as if we had been put under attack - because WE ARE UNDER ATTACK.

The President should declare that the military will defend our shores and take full control of the offending oil rig and freeze all BP funds in the US banks and financial institutions.

...speech-givers: Action, grace, intensity & self-deprecating humor. I saw very little of that tonight.

PB

and have no clue what you are talking about when you say "chill the fuck out" and "whose ass to kick".

Obviously you know that he can deliver so why are you acting like he messed up on this one? It was 18 minutes, he had a plan, he knew what he was doing. He knows how to write speeches, he knows how to give one, what he said tonight is exactly what he wanted to say.

Do you guys remember what he said about the media and their demand for him to emote? I believe he said that the media is demanding things of him that Americans aren't. This applies here. The media and the rest of the political blogosphere had the whole speech written in their heads. writing articles about what he should say and telling you what to look for. The major hitch is that Obama didn't want to talk to you or me or the pundits. He was talking to people who just wanted a basic understanding of what was going on. Hell, the media sure as heck wasn't doing the job.

That's exactly what he was doing.

I think people sometimes forget that not everyone is a political junkie.

yes?

they think the President should only always talk to them. We are kind of arrogant
that way. in reality, he's been talking to us for some time now, but half of us haven't been
listening. Tonight, it was time to talk to the millions of Americans who don't get Cable,
or don't watch the cable newsshow, or only read headlines from the paper that the other guy
is holding in the metro, or the bus, etc.......and there are a whole lot of those folks out there;
in fact, there is way more of them then there are of us.

I thought his speech was OK, sort of short, but...... I detected something in his eyes I had never seen before..... maybe a touch of fear. What does he know that he is not telling us.....

...all of the things he said and much much more. If he's going to give the "There has been a problem in the Gulf of Mexico" speech, that should have been 2+ weeks ago at least.

I am keenly aware of how well Obama can speak, how articulate he can be even in off-the-cuff comments. Which is why I am puzzled at this delivery and the material chosen to deliver.

After my third viewing it became apparent his hopefulness and course of action were not going to become any less-vague, or his boat-blessing story any less cheesy. His speech was a fumble not because it didn't play to over-informed DU sensibilities, but because the people who were counting on that speech for security and direction received the same plate of unsalted crackers that I did. It was not entirely a loss, his comments about holding BP's feet to the fire were reassuring but, just like in the rest of the speech, I want specific things to hold on to.

My opinion, the pundit's opinions- those don't matter so much. But be sure to give a little more weight to the responses from the folks who are living with this crisis because their opinions and responses are going to start rolling in very soon and I don't think they viewed this a whole lot differently than I did.

PB

It's not a secret that there's been a huge fucking oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and that it happened when a BP oil rig exploded, or that every action taken since the spill to contain or shut it off has been one giant clusterfuck after another.

Just what exactly do you think YOU know that the "average American" DIDN'T know that Obama clarified in his sermon speech? More importantly, what plans did Obama specifically lay out to FIX this mess, besides suggesting that we pray to god to make it go away?

What really disheartens me is that we see so many people here who invested themselves emotionally and intellectually on Obama's campaign rhetoric and then, we get to watch them defend it while expressing dismay at the many valid criticisms that are related here.

I see some people express anger and claim that Obama is being attacked and torn apart when it is only a matter of calling his current policies out based on his promises and platform.

That's what I call cognitive dissonance and I try to just overlook the avid defenders of the "Change we can believe in!" brand name elected.

I am not at all puzzled by the speeches when I simply consider that they are written by an expert or a group of them in a way that is carefully considered and designed to mitigate the actualities before us, or if that fails, leave people puzzled. Yeah, that works, too.

Many are starting to see that corporate policy and the bottom-line prevail and, more and more, the Office of the President is just a brand name for the official mouthpiece of the corporate fiction,(as a veil for the players held harmless) that now rules the country by manufactured consent, or force, if needs be.

Represented? Ha!

of Exactly what's going on - No one knows how to fix this and everything is being thrown at to do so. He did say "stopping it has tested the limits of human technology," because a leak of this size and at that depth has never happened before. This is what it is. That is the wrap as of now.

...is over. It was over weeks ago. I'm not hating on his speech but, geeze, he needed to do better on this. There has been so much detailed information given to the public on this via the nightly news, via newspapers, etc., it makes him look uninformed to give such a general speech. And I know he's not. I want him to get that point across and give people, especially in the Gulf region, details about how he's going to help make this better (within the limits of what is possible) and what's going to immediately be done to make sure it doesn't happen again.

PB

Seriously: Prayer? Praying is what people do when they have no reasonable hope to solve a problem.

...there are few alternatives left. Part of my beef is that Obama is not traditionally a "We don't have the answer but faith is going to get us through. Somehow." kinda guy. It's one of the reasons why I voted for him: He's an intelligent, articulate, naturally-curious individual. He is intellectually autonomous in a way Bush (and frankly other presidents) were not.

Honestly, I don't care whether there's an answer or a solution or not. Politics isn't always about knowing the way out: It's convincing everyone you know the way out. That you have a plan. I don't think he was convincing in giving us the impression that he knew the way out.

I am hoping that his speech today, in an hour and a half or so, after meeting with the BP folks helps put some clarity on what's going on and what he's going to do. I don't mean what the nation needs to do over the next 10 years, I mean what he's going to do and what he's going to demand we do right now.

Someone posted an energy speech by President Carter, given from office, in the late 70's ('77?). THAT is an example of the kind of speech he needs to give. You can check it out here, BTW.

PB

Obama needs to stop trying to tie this event in with any issue except regulation. This disaster isn't about anything but the failure of deregulation and the failure to reestablish a sane regulatory environment. And, primarily, he needs to talk about how THIS specific disaster will be stopped. Even talking about who should pay for the damage is largely beside the point, I think--the major, #1 issue is stopping the damn thing 1st.

And you're right, the fact that Obama isn't the type to hearken to prayer as a mainstay in every speech tells me they really have no fucking idea how to stop it. He is holding back because he doesn't want anyone replaying clips of him promising to stop the leak in November, when it will in all likelihood still be flowing. Ugh.

...it was conspicuously absent from last night's speech. It should have gotten some mention, especially since it's (presumably) where Obama and his Republican counterparts would differ in their opinion.

PB

In fact, the President suggested that is exactly what he intended to do. No wonder so many of us are disappointed. He didn't deliver any "ass-kicking" last night.

:dem:

-Laelth

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x342196

"BREAKING-BP agrees to put $20 billion in escrow for claims"