Thread: Obama makes Oval Office call to reporters

Obama makes Oval Office call to reporters

Joe Curl (View Blog)
POSTED March 08 2009 9:48 AM BY Print

President Obama was so concerned that he had appeared to dismiss a question from New York Times reporters about whether he was a socialist that he called the newspaper from the Oval Office to clarify his policies.

"It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question," he told reporters, who had interviewed the president aboard Air Force One on Friday.

Opening the unusual presidential call to reporters by saying that there was "just one thing I was thinking about as I was getting on the copter," he said it wasn't he who started the federal government's intervention into the nation's financial system.

"I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch. And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed a massive new entitlement -– the prescription drug plan -- without a source of funding. And so I think it’s important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we’ve actually been operating in a way that has been entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word 'socialist' around can’t say the same."

The New York Times asked, "So whose watch are we talking about here?" but Obama wouldn't name names.

"Well, I just think it’s clear by the time we got here, there already had been an enormous infusion of taxpayer money into the financial system. And the thing I constantly try to emphasize to people if that coming in, the market was doing fine, nobody would be happier than me to stay out of it. I have more than enough to do without having to worry the financial system. The fact that we’ve had to take these extraordinary measures and intervene is not an indication of my ideological preference, but an indication of the degree to which lax regulation and extravagant risk taking has precipitated a crisis."

He concluded the brief call by saying, "I think that covers it."

The phone call came after the president was asked aboard his plane: "Are you a socialist as some people have suggested?"

He was clear in his first answer: "You know, let’s take a look at the budget – the answer would be no."

"Is there anything wrong with saying, 'Yes'?" a Times reporter pressed.

"Let’s just take a look at what we’ve done," Obama said, ticking off efforts his administration has made to stabilize the economy. But he acknowledged that, as he told Joe the Plumber, he plans to try to spread the wealth around.

"If you look on the revenue side what we’re proposing, what we’re looking at is essentially to go back to the tax rates that existed during the 1990s when, as I recall, rich people were doing very well. In fact everybody was doing very well. . . . We said that we’d give a tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans. That’s exactly what we have done."

-- Joseph Curl, senior political correspondent, The Washington Times

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/joe- ... reporters/

God help us all.


It wasn’t on my watch.


Well if that line is good enough for the president of the United States I guess it's good enough for me to use every chance I can. At what point is it his fault??? Six months? One year? One term? I already feel doomed under his administration.

He ain't going to get away from this socialist label. Even SNL had a skit last night where someone asked him about being a socialist.

Originally Posted by fedupinwaukegan

God help us all.

It wasn’t on my watch.

have you noticed they use this phrase ALOT !?!?

Obama is not a Soicalist, he is a Communist!

Originally Posted by ELE

Obama is not a Soicalist, he is a Communist!

But they call themselves Progressives.

Dixie

I did not spell the word "Socialism" correctly in my last post.

"I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch

Great leaders do not pass the buck, they take ownership of the problem and try to fix it. I'm getting sick of this guy and his increasing need to seemingly deflect reponsibility for the problems we are facing by reminding us that it's not his fault!

Stop saying it not your fault and atleast pretend to be a leader!

Originally Posted by NoBueno

"I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch

Great leaders do not pass the buck, they take ownership of the problem and try to fix it. I'm getting sick of this guy and his increasing need to seemingly deflect reponsibility for the problems we are facing by reminding us that it's not his fault!

Stop saying it not your fault and atleast pretend to be a leader!

Believe me he is going to be saying it all the time because this economy and this country is on a roller coaster ride......... a fast paced one and he is not one for accountability.

Originally Posted by April

Originally Posted by NoBueno

"I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch

Great leaders do not pass the buck, they take ownership of the problem and try to fix it. I'm getting sick of this guy and his increasing need to seemingly deflect reponsibility for the problems we are facing by reminding us that it's not his fault!

Stop saying it not your fault and atleast pretend to be a leader!

Believe me he is going to be saying it all the time because this economy and this country is on a roller coaster ride......... a fast paced one and he is not one for accountability.

Yea, I know April! You can bet your last dollar that we are going to be hearing this from not only Obama, but those who support him as well. Get used to hearing, it's not his fault, he inherited this mess! This will be how he and his supporters will avoid any accountability over the next four years.