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"This is my last election"

Cleon

King of the Pod People
Cleon
Joined
Aug 28, 2001
Messages
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I'm surprised I haven't seen a thread about this yet.

In a private conversation about the planned U.S.-led NATO missile defense system in Europe, President Barack Obama asked outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for space on the issue.

"This is my last election," Obama told Medvedev. "After my election I have more flexibility."
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Am I the only one who thinks this was a remarkably stupid thing for Obama to have told Putin's avatar, much less get caught saying it?

I'll bet money this shows up in a campaign ad as we get closer to November.
 
Cleon said:
I'm surprised I haven't seen a thread about this yet.

Am I the only one who thinks this was a remarkably stupid thing for Obama to have told Putin's avatar, much less get caught saying it?

I'll bet money this shows up in a campaign ad as we get closer to November.
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I am not surprised there was not a thread.
I would bet it will show up in campaign ads and it should.
As I mentioned in the etch-a-sketch it was as if President Obama told him and inadvertanly the voting public that when the election is over he can shake the etch-a-sketch.
 
I think this falls under the gaffe definition of "politician telling the truth".
 
RandFan said:
Obama's open mic moment with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev demonstrates that he is making these kinds of political calculations.
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I'm not sure how many people don't know that politicians make these kinds of calculations. I do think ideologists on both sides of the aisle will seize on such a gaffe though.
 
It's funny that everyone jumps to the conclusion that he meant it. I think he said it as a way to buy time. Instead of having to deal with the issue now, he's put it off half a year. And then there can be another excuse to buy time. Isn't 90% of diplomacy polite excuses?
 
I'm having a hard time understanding what the gaffe is. Didn't George Senior say the same thing to Gorbachev? Isn't the context that Russia is asking for movement on missile defense and Obama is basically saying "nothing much is going to happen this year, guys, because any mention of compromise or room for negotiation in an election year will be met with opportunistic howls of 'gotcha' and..."

Oh, right.

Carry on, Mr. President.
 
"This is my last election," Obama told Medvedev. "After my election I have more flexibility."
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Cleon said:
Am I the only one who thinks this was a remarkably stupid thing for Obama to have told Putin's avatar, much less get caught saying it?
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I'd have a hard time believing the Russians weren't already well aware of that basic fact of American politics, that second-term presidents have a flexibility that first-term ones don't.
 
Obama himself has already made jokes about this. And yeah, it was careless to let it get caught on open mike, but really not surprising, as many have pointed out. But there's one other thing. This is the outgoing president of Russia. He'll have not much power, and Obama is not going to have to tell him the truth, or even tell him everything, much less honor a remark in a off-the-record conversation.

I think one reason that foriegn leaders respect Obama in a way that they didn't Bush is that he doesn't just spout rhetoric with them. He talks to them like one politician might talk to another.
 
Unabogie said:
I'm having a hard time understanding what the gaffe is. Didn't George Senior say the same thing to Gorbachev? Isn't the context that Russia is asking for movement on missile defense and Obama is basically saying "nothing much is going to happen this year, guys, because any mention of compromise or room for negotiation in an election year will be met with opportunistic howls of 'gotcha' and..."

Oh, right.

Carry on, Mr. President.
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Are you the same person who said
Has there ever been a more brazen admission that a politician is just pandering and will say whatever he thinks will get him elected?
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when an aide to Romney made the Etch-a-sketch remark?
 
eeyore1954 said:
Are you the same person who said

when an aide to Romney made the Etch-a-sketch remark?
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You don't see the difference between the two? I'll let you take a moment. Twisting into that pretzel shape has got to hurt.

....

Ok, on the one hand, you have the President saying he has no flexibility in an election year to take up the contentious issue of missile defense. This is obviously true. Obama isn't telling the public he supports missile defense while telling Russia he doesn't. It's an issue Russia wants to resolve and so does the President, but he told them he can't do it in an election year.

Romney's guy, who I grant you isn't Romney, was giving voice to what we've all witnessed. Romney has swapped sides of every issue and then lied about it.

Whether it's Planned Parenthood and abortion, or health care, or taxes, or pretty much anything, he's swung "severely" to the right. His strategist says that he'll pretend none of this ever happened and they'll claim they never held the views in the first place. That's different from agreeing to compromise. That's lying. When Romney changes positions again on an issue he's already changed on, what should our reaction be? I'm not talking about George Sr.'s "evolution" to becoming anti-abortion after being pro-choice or Obama's "evolution" on same sex marriage. I'm talking about a person who jumps around on an issue 3 times in one year. I can't recall any politician ever doing this.

How does that compare to what the President said about waiting to negotiate until election season was over?
 
eeyore1954 said:
when an aide to Romney made the Etch-a-sketch remark?
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I get the comparison, but is it fair to accuse Obama of saying anything? I don't think Obama has the track record of prevarication that Romney has. I don't think it is even close. Romney hasn't simply changed his mind on things over the years. He has a pattern of changing back and forth effortlessly. And looking into the camera and saying what is obviously untrue comes so easy to him.
 
Its amazing. We complain about lack of transparency in government. However, when we do see the ugly reality of politics (either in this case or the Romney Etch-A-Sketch) we howl with indignation.

Yes, America does seem to get the government that it deserves.
 
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