President Obama pledged to "listen" at the outset of his much-ballyhooed bipartisan health care summit on Thursday. Turns out he meant he'd be listening to his own voice.
By the end of the televised event, Mr. Obama had spoken for 119 minutes - nine minutes more than the 110 minutes consumed by 17 Republicans. The 21 Democratic lawmakers used 114 minutes, giving the president and his supporters a whopping 233 minutes, according to a "talk clock" kept by GOP aides.
From the beginning, no one could agree on anything, even how much time each side had used. When a miffed Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, pointed out early on that Democrats had controlled 52 minutes to Republicans' 24, Mr. Obama jumped in to dispute even that.
"I don't think that's quite right," he said.
But then, with a twinkle in his eye, he added: "You're right, there was an imbalance on the opening statements because - I'm the president." Half the room laughed. "I didn't count my time in terms of dividing it evenly."
The two sides faced off in the Blair House's Garden Room, with members of Congress, grouped by party, sitting across from one another in a large square. Throughout the six-hour bloviating blabfest, no fences appeared to be mended and no hatchets buried.
In fact, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed so intractable that neither looked at Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee as he delivered the opening statement for the Republicans. Every time the C-SPAN 3 camera panned to the pair, they were looking straight ahead, expressionless.
Throughout the event, Mr. Obama, a former professor, looked, well, professorial. He listened attentively, his head cocked, his chin raised. He narrowed his eyes in attentiveness at a point here or there, blinking often; he jotted notes in a small book as Republicans spoke; he rested his head on his hand, giving full attention to the speaker.
But each time a Republican sought to break in to rebut a point made by the president or a fellow Democrat, Mr. Obama looked a bit frustrated and made clear who was in charge of the bipartisan discussion.
9 comments:
The meeting was to try and get one or two Republicans to join the Democrats on their bill.
The outcome was a forgone conclusion.
Obama to Republicans:
Join us and do it our way or we'll do it without you.
Obama said he was there to listen to the Republicans and instead he just lectured them all day, what a complete narcissist
I'm hoping the Republicans hold their ground
Obamas problem is that he believes he is the smartest person in the room.
But, as my old daddy use to say "Son you are going to learn a lot more listenting than you are talking.
I hope people took the time to view atleast a portion of this themselves without recieving the information 2nd or 3rd hand through the media filter. There were some good ideas thrown around and some key points of contention that were clarified. Both Dem and Rep showed where they have been fudging the numbers and falsely stirring up fears. And I think we saw the actual crux of where the strategies differ the most.
They ALL kept saying "their constituents want this" I honestly dont believe their listening to the majority of the people. We need ways to keep them from lying, a way the people can VOTE on issues like this. Internet would be fast but wont be long before it was hacked and compromised....what a shame we have so many dishonest congress persons.
It was a good meeting, watch it for yourself. All the BS talking points were called out and dismissed for what they are..crap. It's amazing what can happen in the way of truth when both sides are in front of the public at the same time.
10:35....BS it was an entire waste of time, most of them lied, distorted the facts, numbers and essentials....and ended with a threat. This will cost everyone working double what you pay this year and increase drastically every year after. They now have every American by the throat...literally!
It was a story-telling contest. Like a spelling "B" except they take turns seeing who can tell the biggest fib in the longest amount of time. I know big O took the prize for the most....not sure about the biggest....
"this will cost everyone working double". Talk about distortions. Where you get those numbers straight shooter?
If you thought it was:
-A waste of time
-A bunch of lies
Then let me go ahead and welcome you to the United States Government.
I thought Obama did great.
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