Michelle Obama full of shit

[Embar Angylwrath]

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm ... 807a3.html

I see the sadness and worry that's creasing his face," she said to a crowd of about 500 at the Pasadena luncheon organized by the Southern California Women For Obama. She described his worth ethic as “tireless,” according to pool reports.

"He reads every word, every memo, so he is better prepared than the people briefing him," she said. "This man doesn't take a day off."

Now, I don't begrudge the Pres from taking timne off. Its a stressful position and he/she SHOULD take time off so he/she can't tackle issues with a fresh mind. But that statement by Michelle is so off the mark.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/p ... Bqb3OzBsnN

When it came time to unwind, Obama relaxed with six vacation trips that spanned all or part of 32 days. In 2009, he took four vacations over 58 days, according to Knoller.

And that's just 2009/2010. Unless you're working for a public services union, I'm betting none of you get close to 60 days vacation per year....

[Jarochai Alabaster]

From your NYP link:

Obama kept a busy schedule, appearing in public on all but 24 days of the year, but still managed to find plenty of time to unwind.

Can we honestly count days that he worked on official business as "vacation days?" I thought we went over this during the Bush era in response to the complaints of his frequent vacations - the Prez is quite capable of working from virtually anywhere in the world. Conversely, if you or I or any other average working american takes vacation time, we do nothing work related (Well, as a business owner I'm sure you at least remain on call for communication, but I think you get the point).

I don't see the issue here. If he's doing his job, why does it matter if he's doing his job while "on vacation?" Comparing the President's "vacations" to actual time off that the average American takes is silly. A President is never truly on vacation, and any time spent unwinding is mixed with time spent working. If we were talking about 32 and 58 days that were individually uninterrupted, or spanned 3-5 day blocks of uninterrupted vacation time where no work was being done, you'd have a point. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Embar Angylwrath]

I don't see the issue here. If he's doing his job, why does it matter if he's doing his job while "on vacation?".

Unemployment rate high.

Economy frozen for most of Main Street.

Foreclosure abatement failed.

1.9 million people out of work compared to pre-recession.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

[Jarochai Alabaster]

Yes, because recovering from a massive recession occurs overnight. Non-sequitur. Also, as I said, he's not taking "vacations" as an average American would, and your refusal to acknowledge as much is dishonest. You keep up with your righteous Obama-hate.

[Lurker]

Typical Embar.

[Embar Angylwrath]

Tell me Jaro... how long does it typically take to recover from a recession? You might want to do a little history search before you answer.

[Jarochai Alabaster]

How "typical" is this recession? At what point was it known that this would be a jobless recovery, and how will that impact the length of the recession? How many of the factors that brought about this recession can be justifiably blamed on Obama? And again, how do Presidential vacations compare to the average American's vacations?

[Ddrak]

Tell me Jaro... how long does it typically take to recover from a recession? You might want to do a little history search before you answer.

Well, given this is the worst recession since WW2, probably a long time.

chart-of-the-day-the-scariest-jobs-chart-ever-june-2011.jpg

[Embar Angylwrath]

This recession "officially" was over sometime in 2009. Since that time job growth has been anemic. The administration's policies have a direct effect on job growth. Arguably, the most important aspect of an administration's policy efforts that will affect job growth is removal of uncertainty from the market. By all accounts, the Obama admin has failed in this effort. Sending mixed messages on economic policy, tax policy and debt policy (shared by Congress), is keeping money on the sidelines. This is the failure I'm talking about. No coherent economic policy. No working policy for forclosure abatement. No real attempt at prosecuting the people who helped cause this mess by fraudulently marketing high-risk MBS as triple A investments. (State AGs are doing what the Obama admin should be doing).

How's that whole Gitmo thing?

How's that promised lower unemployment? Remember.. he made the statement that unemployment would drop if we spent trillions of dollars. He own's that statement. What did we get for all that tax payer money being spent? Not much, if you ask me.

[Jarochai Alabaster]

Now you're at least being more honest by criticizing the policies, whereas before you were drawing the connection between poor economic recovery and the Prez's vacations. As matters of policy, I'm not in much of a position to argue because I'm simply not knowledgeable enough of economics to do so. But your attempts to criticize Obama's "vacations" as part of the problem were dishonest political posturing, and you know it. Can you at least admit as much, or are you unwilling to own your own statements?

[Embar Angylwrath]

No Jaro... I seriously have an issue with a Pres who takes as much vacation time as Obama with the US in the shape that its in. I understand the need to decompress. But from a purely public relations issue, he shouldn't be so visible about it while almost 2 million people are out of work compared to pre-rescession times. It smacks too much of the "Let them eat cake" attitude. It makes him sound hollow when he says he's working tirelessly towards improving the employment situation. Remember that was going to be his number one focus after the Dems got drubbed in the mid-terms. Now it looks like his number one focus is shaving a couple strokes off his golf game.

[Jarochai Alabaster]

*Sigh*

From your article:

As President Barack Obama’s second year in office comes to a close, an unofficial compilation of his activities in 2010 released Friday saw him signing more bills, taking more flights on Air Force One, giving more speeches and statements and yet taking more vacation trips than he did during his first year in office.

So he's working harder. Makes sense he'd need more unwind time.

Obama kept a busy schedule, appearing in public on all but 24 days of the year

In 2010, Obama met with 61 foreign leaders, delivered 491 statements and speeches and gave 107 interviews.

172 flights he took on Air Force One, Obama held 17 town hall meetings and seven backyard chats across the country.

signed 203 bills into law

Interesting that you find an average .56 rounds of golf per week unacceptable (I'd be willing to bet this isn't terribly out of line for most golfers, and has nothing to do with "vacations": this is barely more than one game every other weekend - hardly his "number one focus"), yet refuse to asknowledge that actual work is being done. Partisanship must just taste good or something.

Again - How do presidential vacations compare to the vacations an average American would take?

Edit: Speaking of weekends, how many of those do Presidents get off?

[Embar Angylwrath]

You're missing the point Jaro, and you're also reading some things in to the article that aren't really relevant.

So what if Obama "appeared in public in all but 24 days of the year"? I appear in public 365 days out of the year. You do too unless you're holed up in a cave somewhere. So he signed 203 bills. Big deal, signing a bill takes no time at all. Its just a signature. I sign my name at least that many times every month. And a whole lot more if you count check signing for my business. He met with 61 leaders.... what's that about 60-80 hours worth of time? Double that for prep time maybe? He flies on AF-1... of course he flies on AF-1, that's how he gets around, and each time the wheels touch down, that's a flight. He could do several flights in a day, depending on where he's going.

I'd be more impressed if he did more than just a paltry 17 town hall meetings (which, by the way, are now carefully scripted and are nothing more than marketing for his image... people who disagree with him are generally not allowed in those events. And I have no idea what a backyard chat is.

Be that as it may... Obama stated that his number one priority is jobs and the economy (after the Dems got trounced in the mid-terms). Remember that statement? Remember the statements about reducing national debt? It was in his last state of the union address. He made statements about transparency, about reducing government spending, about being more fiscally responsible.

But nothing substantial has happened since then. Nothing.

So when we hear reports of yet another Obama vacation, regardless of whether or not its warranted, it makes him appear to be out of touch, incompetent, or just a flat out liar, pandering for votes in the next election. That's the point I'm trying to make.

Let me ask you this Jaro... if the place you worked was seriously fucked up, and a lot of stuff needed to happen that only you could fix, would you think it responsible of you to take a vacation. Or several vacations actually. Or would you think its the more responsible action to delay your vacation until the shit that needed to be fixed actually got fixed?

We hold the President to a higher standard, as well we should. If he can't handle the work load, or deliver on his promises, he should get the fuck out of the way and let someone else more competent do the job he signed up for.

[Jarochai Alabaster]

How do presidential vacations differ from vacations taken by the average American?

[Embar Angylwrath]

For one thing, most of it is paid for by the taxpayer. And I'm betting the President gets to go to the head of the line at any Disneyland ride he wants.

What's your point...

[Jarochai Alabaster]

You know my point - I've made it in literally every post in this topic, yet you continue to dodge. Don't be daft.

[Embar Angylwrath]

Jaro -

Has Obama accomplished what he promised? Has he made any significant headway at all? If not... what do you think is a better use of his time? Skiiing? Golfing? Shooting hoops? Or maybe, just maybe... fixing the fucking issues he said he was going to fix?

[Minute]

Embar, you're seriously starting to sound a lot less objective & more like a Limbaugh. I'm all about some different views on politics but that isn't even remotely what this is. To suggest that the presidents job isn't difficult because he isn't out busting concrete in the hot sun is willfully ignorant.

[Jarochai Alabaster]

just maybe... fixing the fucking issues he said he was going to fix?

Demonstrate that he isn't attempting to do so. This is still a non-sequitur.

You still dodged my initial question.

[Lurker]

Embar, you're seriously starting to sound a lot less objective & more like a Limbaugh.

Starting to?