Why Is President Obama So Lazy?

[CaptainChatham]

- Any objective observer would admit that Barack Obama was the least qualified in terms of relevant experience of any major party presidential candidate in modern US history in 2008.

- Many observers would also argue that his performance in his first term suggests not only inexperience but incomptence since he has come nowhere near accomplishing any of the first term goals he set on the campaign trail and has made the difficult economic, fiscal and foeign policy hand he inherited even worse with inept and arrogant and self indulgent play.

- Now, not only his experience and competence are being questioned but also his industry and work ethic.

- Is BO lazy?

- Well, he himself certainly thinks so as he observed in an interview with Barbara Walters. The president attributed his self indulgence and laziness to being brought up in the laid back state of Hawaii. (He didn't mention to Walters that a contributing factor in his case might have been that he, according to his own autobiography, spent much of his high school days in a drug induced daze.)

- Hilariously, Obama apologist Soledad O'Brien was caught this week on tape taking issue with the head of FOX News when he rightly noted that Obama was a lazy president and then quickly changing the topic and "moving on" when it was pointed out to her that it was Obama who first described himself as lazy.

http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/cnn-panelists-call-out-soledad-obrien-for-taking-roger-ailes-lazy-quote-on-obama-out-of-context/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DonIrvine+%28Don+Irvine+-+Blog%29

[BubberMiley]

Actually, in context, when asked what he most deplores about himself and others, he said laziness. He said that "deep down, underneath all the work I do, I think that there's a laziness in me."

Absolutely shocking, and perfectly good material to take out of context and run with, in the hopes that it will at least be more successful than the many other out-of-context snippets Obama has made.

No wonder he won.

[waldo]

ya bubber... apparently, the OP has never heard of self-deprecation!

[Moonlight Graham]

I can't imagine a president ever having the time to be "lazy". The guy has so many gray hairs now and a tired/weathered look, he looks like he's been through hell...not exactly lying on a beach in Hawaii every weekend.

[CaptainChatham]

I can't imagine a president ever having the time to be "lazy". The guy has so many gray hairs now and a tired/weathered look, he looks like he's been through hell...not exactly lying on a beach in Hawaii every weekend.

- MG ... Since the cost of Obama's two week Christmas vacation in Hawaii was $26 million and change, it is certainly a good thing for the beleagured taxpayers that he doesn't lie on the beach in Hawaii every weekend.

- He does, however, take more holidays and play more golf and basketball and hang out with more Hollyweird big stars and big donors and do more TV and radio appearances and hold more costly White House entertainment events and generally do more fun celebrity type appearances and at far more cost than any POTUS ever.

- What he does not seem to do according to pretty much everyone is to buckle down in the White House and do the hard work behind the scenes that real and effective executives do which includes building relationships and alliances with political heavyweights on both sides of the aisle, preparing and negotiating and compromising and coming up with budgets and legislation that has some bipartisan support and can get through congress, and building and molding and effectively directing a cabinet team of the best qualified executives to lead the complex and giant departments of the US government.

- And prior to becoming president, there is little evidence to suggest that Obama ever worked hard for any sustained period either in academia or politics or community organizing. There is a mountain of evidence on this score, albeit most of it is not readily available through the worshipful MSM. A good place to start is with BO's academic records, all of which are sealed in greater secrecy than the nuclear codes or how you get the caramel into the cadbury bars. Doesn't the sealing of all of BO's academic records smell fishy considering that he is an inveterate and consumate self promoter?

- He is well known to be a night owl and not a morning person which is great for being a party animal but is a limiting factor for one who aspires to lead in a town where the movers and shakers usually start between 6 and 7 am.

[Shady]

I don't know if I'd characterize him as lazy. But you're right in that he does take more holidays, play more golf, etc than other presidents. And he starts his day later than most presidents have too.

[waldo]

But you're right in that he does take more holidays, play more golf, etc than other presidents. And he starts his day later than most presidents have too.

you and the new guy aren't entitled to your own facts:

1. Obama has played more golf than any president in history

This isn't even close to being true. Now, there's no question that he plays on a regular basis: 104 rounds from January 2009 through Aug. 4 of this year, the last time he played, according to Mark Knoller, the longtime White House correspondent for CBS Radio. That puts him about in the middle when compared with other duffers-in-chief. It's less than Bill Clinton, and a lot less than Dwight Eisenhower, who played more than 800 rounds over eight years — four times as often as Obama plays.

And why is it an outrage if the president, who heads one of three branches of government, golfs 104 times in three-and-a-half-years, but the head of another branch of government, the Speaker of the House, plays four times as much? You heard correctly: John Boehner once told Golf Digest that he plays upwards of 100 rounds a year. Seems like a double standard, no?

2. Obama has taken more vacation time than any president in history

This isn't even remotely accurate either, but first, some context from Nancy Reagan: "Presidents don't get vacations — they just get a change of scenery. The job goes with you." The responsibilities, the pressure, the officer with the "nuclear football" — it's all with a commander-in-chief at all times. No exceptions.

But how much time away from the White House has President Obama spent, and how does this compare with predecessors?

POTUS Tracker, compiled by The Washington Post, shows that from January 2009 to October 31, 2012, Obama spent all or part of 72 vacation days in a variety of places, mostly Hawaii in the winter and Martha's Vineyard in the summer. That's about 10 weeks away in three-and-a-half years, hardly extravagant. Through May 18, according to data from CBS's Knoller, he also visited Camp David 22 times, spending all of part of 54 days there.

What about his predecessors?

· In 1798, President John Adams left the capital for seven months to care for his ailing wife Abigail; his enemies said he practically relinquished his office.

· Thomas Jefferson and James Madison routinely went away for three- and four-month stretches.

· Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, was blasted for spending about 25 percent of his time away from the White House.

· Dwight Eisenhower took long summer breaks in Denver and spent almost every single weekend at Camp David.

· John F. Kennedy rarely spent a weekend in the White House, staying at family homes in Palm Beach, Hyannis Port, and the Virginia countryside.

· Lyndon Johnson spent 484 days in five and a half years at his Texas ranch.

· Ronald Reagan was away for 436 days, usually at Rancho del Cielo (his mountaintop retreat in California) or Camp David.

· Bill Clinton, who didn't own a vacation home, loved to party with his elite friends in Martha's Vineyard and the Hamptons.

· George W. Bush spent 32 months at his ranch (490 days) or Camp David (487 days) — an average of four months away every year.

Time off doesn't mean goofing off. President Bush, for example, met with a variety of foreign leaders at his ranch. President Obama held a G-8 summit at Camp David. Just like you might check your email while sitting on the beach (you fool, you), presidents never really unplug. But if anyone deserves a vacation, it is the person who serves in the world's most stressful and demanding job.

[waldo]

- And prior to becoming president, there is little evidence to suggest that Obama ever worked hard for any sustained period either in academia or politics or community organizing. There is a mountain of evidence on this score, albeit most of it is not readily available through the worshipful MSM. A good place to start is with BO's academic records, all of which are sealed in greater secrecy than the nuclear codes or how you get the caramel into the cadbury bars. Doesn't the sealing of all of BO's academic records smell fishy considering that he is an inveterate and consumate self promoter?

channeling Donald Trump isn't necessarily the best way to begin your MLW posting history!

[Moonlight Graham]

- MG ... Since the cost of Obama's two week Christmas vacation in Hawaii was $26 million and change, it is certainly a good thing for the beleagured taxpayers that he doesn't lie on the beach in Hawaii every weekend.

Link?

[WWWTT]

Hi Captain Chatham.

You sound a lot like Shady????

Are you also Shady?

You both have a very similar wrighting style and approach in debate.

WWWTT

[roy baty]

On the contrary, Obama is far from being lazy. His goal to socialize the USA at any and all costs even if it means bankrupting his own country in the process is a job he is very serious about and is working very hard at accomplishing.

Edited March 10, 2013 by roy baty

[waldo]

On the contrary, Obama is far from being lazy. His goal to socialize the USA at any and all costs even if it means bankrupting his own country in the process is a job he is very serious about and is working very hard at accomplishing.

under Comrade Obama, U.S. corporations have seen profits soar 171% to their highest post-war levels - twice their peak under Reagan, and the highest growth rate since 1900... as a share of the U.S. economy, corporate profits have never been higher, and workers' wages have never been lower. Obama... one lousy/lazy socialist!

[roy baty]

So what is your point? Are you honestly trying to convince us that Obama and his Democrat cronies are somehow extreme capitalists now? I am sure if you asked him, Pelosi and Reid personally they'd disagree. Since you're all about charts, show us some national debt growth charts since he took office while you're at it. You evaded responding to US national debt and the bankruptcy risk associated with it in favour of showing us how much more corporations are making as a part of the economy there. It's obvious by his own statements what he'd really love to do to those profits and average wages should he have congress again in 2014. He is far from being a capitalist and hell-bent on social justice and wealth distribution regardless of personal effort, responsibility, or what you may think.

Edited March 10, 2013 by roy baty

[Wayward Son]

- Any objective observer would admit that Barack Obama was the least qualified in terms of relevant experience of any major party presidential candidate in modern US history in 2008.

1) Perhaps you could find evidence that relevant experience is correlated with performance for Presidents.

2) Obama had more relevant experience than Abe Lincoln. Neither Roosevelt had a whole lot of experience. Same goes for Wilson. All 4 of them are generally ranked pretty high experts.

3) The 3 presidents who had previously spent 8 years as VP were Nixon, Adams and GHW Bush. Did not seem to help them out much.

4) However, electoral-vote.com ranks the 3 Presidents who had the most relevant experience as Buchanan, LBJ and Ford....no thanks.

[waldo]

So what is your point?

again, Obama is a lousy socialist. Your latest reply is a hoot! Setting aside the recession, stimulus, the direct mess inherited from Bush, 2 Bush wars financed on borrowing, if your measure of a "socialist" is increased debt-to-GDP, where does Sir Ronny Reagan fit on your socialist scale? Do you have any other metrics for your socialist scale/labeling?

[Pliny]

waldo, on 09 Mar 2013 - 23:29, said:

again, Obama is a lousy socialist. Your latest reply is a hoot! Setting aside the recession, stimulus, the direct mess inherited from Bush, 2 Bush wars financed on borrowing, if your measure of a "socialist" is increased debt-to-GDP, where does Sir Ronny Reagan fit on your socialist scale? Do you have any other metrics for your socialist scale/labeling?

Yes, Obama is a socialist. No, increased debt-to-GDP is not a measure of a socialist.

Socialists in a free market economy gradually take it over, they aren't communists, who are revolutionaries, but they

have the same end goal. They know full well that the totalitarian state would not be embraced by the citizenry so Socialism has to be a creeping, progressive ideology. The socialist in the video expressing the political views he does would never get elected President of the US, would he? He would have to pretend to be a liberal. Obama doesn't have a problem pretending.

Socialists say they don't like Obama because he isn't socialist enough - he is as socialist as he can be and still

survive politically in the US. I think he is given even a little more leeway than he should have because he is Black and attacking his policies will be turned into charges of racism.

As for your graph of corporate profit, of course quantitative easing is going to show up somewhere and new money usually

shows up in the hands of where the money is already, not in the hands of the poor and middle class. It has to get to

the banks first. Makes for boom times on Wall Street and in DC. By the time it gets to the poor it has already produced

the symptoms that inflation of the money supply creates, higher prices and wages. The middle class will eventually see

some of that new money which makes the higher prices and wages somewhat more palatable to them but the poor who will see little of that money and those on fixed incomes are just made marginally poorer by the decrease in their purchasing power.

I really laugh when "socialists" say that Obamacare is not socialist at all. Does it increase the powers of the State?

Of course it does.

George Bush, in fairness, did his share of increasing state power as well, with homeland security and the Patriot act.

No one would call him a socialist unless they meant fascist - a right wing form of the same disease - socialism.

Establishment Democrats and Republicans today complement each other in the growth of State powers and it seems any call to restrain them is seen by the media and the left, which clamors for economic manipulation believing there to be some

gain for them in it all, as some kind of extremism.

[CaptainChatham]

Hi Captain Chatham.

You sound a lot like Shady????

Are you also Shady?

You both have a very similar wrighting style and approach in debate.

WWWTT

- I don't actually have a wrighting style but you have cleverely caught me out here! Yes, I am Shady and Pliny and August1991 and every other articulate poster of a conservative persusasion on this board. Except for me and all of my sock puppets, everyone else here is a left wing, public sector union and big government loving type just like yourself who sincerely believes that the union delivered municipal services in Toronto are fantastic values and that Barack Obama's extensive executive experience, accomplishments and skills superbly qualify him to head the most complex and costly organization in the world and also to lecture the private sector on wealth and job creation. Happy now?

Edited March 10, 2013 by CaptainChatham

[roy baty]

again, Obama is a lousy socialist. Your latest reply is a hoot! Setting aside the recession, stimulus, the direct mess inherited from Bush, 2 Bush wars financed on borrowing, if your measure of a "socialist" is increased debt-to-GDP, where does Sir Ronny Reagan fit on your socialist scale? Do you have any other metrics for your socialist scale/labeling?

All of your replies are a hoot. Now you are twisting things into me saying debt to GDP is some metric I am using in measuring/guaging socialism to meet your own end. At least you agree he's a socialist (albeit lousy). Give the man some time Waldo. He's certainly trying to improve his socialist skills by taxing and spending the $$ he needs to get there. Bush's debt in his full 2 terms pales in comparison to Obama's spending madness (which you conveniently set aside) in just 5 years. So give us all a break and stop keep blaming the Bush administration for the mess they are in today. Just when exactly will the left admit Obama's responsibility for the almost 7 trillion HIS administration and failed economic policies added to the national debt since 2008?? Obviously not until he bankrupts them because they seem to have no problem with his lousy leadership since they handed him another term to finish the job.

BTW, of course he's a lousy Socialist. Like I said before, he still working very hard to change that.

[Smallc]

Bush's debt in his full 2 terms pales in comparison to Obama's spending madness (which you conveniently set aside) in just 5 years.

Actually, that isn't even remotely true. Most of the current accumulation of debt (the deficit) comes not from Obama era policies, but from policies enacted under the Bush administration. Obama has, in reality, increased spending at a rate that is far lower than that of most POTUSs

[waldo]

I really laugh when "socialists" say that Obamacare is not socialist at all. Does it increase the powers of the State?

Of course it does.

but... isn't single-payer the 'real' socialist measure - again, Obama - "the lousy socialist"!

by the by, have you ever mapped out what parts of the evil you're actually down with? What parts of the creeping socialism you accept ignore as you go about your day-to-day existence using/availing yourself of... "the evil"?

[Shady]

Actually, that isn't even remotely true. Most of the current accumulation of debt (the deficit) comes not from Obama era policies, but from policies enacted under the Bush administration. Obama has, in reality, increased spending at a rate that is far lower than that of most POTUSs

Complete nonsense.

[waldo]

Now you are twisting things into me saying debt to GDP is some metric I am using in measuring/guaging socialism to meet your own end.

hey... it was your example - I only work with what you give me!

[Shady]

You guys are getting off topic. This was suppose to be about whether Obama is lazy.

[waldo]

You guys are getting off topic. This was suppose to be about whether Obama is lazy.

try to keep up - thread survey says he's not! You trotted out and failed with the ole reliable, 'golf and holidays'. Anything... else?

[Smallc]

Complete nonsense.

Completely true in fact.

Adjusted for inflation, spending under Obama has actually decreased:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/may/23/facebook-posts/viral-facebook-post-says-barack-obama-has-lowest-s/