Obama phones NYT, tries to reassure them he’s not a socialist
posted at 4:41 pm on March 9, 2009 by Allahpundit
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Or, more precisely, that he’s no more of a socialist than George W. Bush was. Aim high, Barry.
I don’t think the Times needed any reassuring. On the contrary:
“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.
There is, of course, something wrong with saying yes, which is why The One’s straining so hard to rebrand hard-left statism as non-ideological, centrist “pragmatism,” driven by nothing more than a desire to find common-sense solutions to the problems of the day even though he was campaigning on these “solutions,” like health-care reform, long before there was any economic problem. That was the takeaway from his SOTU — that he doesn’t believe in big government, a claim that’s had pundits from George Will to Christopher Buckley laughing ever since. Riddle me this: If Obama’s intervention in the market is such anathema to his worldview, why do sinister, Snidely-Whiplash-ish comments about the crisis being such a wonderful opportunity for the left’s agenda keep popping out of the mouths of people in his cabinet? If Dick Cheney called an economic catastrophe an opportunity for the right, Pat Leahy would want to hold Senate hearings on it. Good grief.
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DON’T FEED THE TROLL!!
PappaMac on March 9, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Witness NASA’s first experiment in creating artificial gravity in space through centrifugal force via extremely high RPMs.
TheUnrepentantGeek on March 9, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Seriously…how much is Kos paying you?
bluelightbrigade on March 9, 2009 at 5:45 PM
So is he agreeing, at least, that government-run banks and massive entitlements are socialist?
JohnJ on March 9, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Yep. People are being WAY too optimistic about this. Hillary clinton is a Marxist; Obama is not. Obama was trained to be a radical – and that’s all. He’s not trying to “restructure” anything; all he’s trying to do is throw as many monkey wrenches into the works as fast as he possibly can.
The liberals will gladly help him with that. They blythely assume he has some sort of master plan to create the “Worker’s Paradise” they’ve spent the last eighty years pining for.
But… nope. That’s above his pay grade.
logis on March 9, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Why would the POTUS even want to phone the NYT? Is he that insecure about what he wants us to see him as? Hey Prez O! You’re not wearing any clothes.
BoSox_or_Bust on March 9, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Perfect.
Kensington on March 9, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Q:Why the delay?
A: It took 24 hours of practice to speak extemporaneously.
moxie_neanderthal on March 9, 2009 at 5:50 PM
By the post, it appears.
Snowed In on March 9, 2009 at 5:51 PM
“We’ve established what you are, now we’re just negotiating the price”
moxie_neanderthal on March 9, 2009 at 5:53 PM
You are 100% correct. I am growing increasingly concerned for our National safety.
At this point, I am honestly beginning to believe that there is something truly sinister going on here. Especially in light of the Bloomberg article link posted above.
This is getting really, really unnerving.
P.S. How’s survey business over in Texas?
Key West Reader on March 9, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Lets see, he could let them fail like some in the gop propose.
He could fully nationalize but the Treasury Dept. has no employees.
Or he could stay the course with the Paulson plan.
Tough choices.
getalife on March 9, 2009 at 5:54 PM
No one of any seriousness has called it a depression. If one comes, it will be on Obama’s watch. The buck stops there, remember.
Chuck Schick on March 9, 2009 at 5:55 PM
I think the explanation is why he kept mentioning Hannity during the campaign. Obama perhaps (this is a shocker) sees that the tactics he has used successfully are the best tactics and they scare him the most for swaying public opinion. He is a media and teleprompter creation. If he can use those tools to get all the way to POTUS would he not see those tools as incredibly powerful tools he needs to manage? I think he would.
Q: Why does Obama fear labels?
A: Who have you ever seen get farther on labels?
He would have to respect their power logically.
Conan on March 9, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Right, why fix the problem when you can start passing legislation that has no relation to the problem.
Banks failing? Cap-and-trade carbon auctions.
Stock market plummeting? Nationalize Health care.
House on fire? Mow the yard.
Wife have a heart attack? Check your tires for proper air pressure.
Obama needs a sign on his desk, “The Buck Starts Here”.
gekkobear on March 9, 2009 at 5:59 PM
He is a liar.
Barack Obama is a Fabian socialist. I should know; I was raised by one. My Grandfather worked as a union machinist for Ingersoll Rand during the day. In the evenings he tended bar and read books. After his funeral, I went back home and started working my way through his library, starting with T.W. Arnold’s The Folklore of Capitalism. This was my introduction to the Fabian socialists.
Arnold taught me to question everyone–my president, my priest and my parents. Well, almost everyone. I wasn’t supposed to question the Fabian intellectuals themselves. That’s the Fabian MO, relentless cultural and journalistic attacks on everything that is, and then a hard pitch for the hope of what might be.
That’s Obama’s world.
He’s telling the truth when he says that he doesn’t agree with Bill Ayers’ violent bombing tactics, but it’s a tactical disagreement. Why use dynamite when mass media and community organizing work so much better? Who needs Molotov when you’ve got Saul Alinski?
- Jerry Bowyer
Barack Obama, Fabian Socialist
Who needs Molotov when we’ve got Alinski?
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:00 PM
The octomom would have more creditability if she said she didn’t believe in large litters.
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Hopefully by impression and not by click
neuquenguy on March 9, 2009 at 6:03 PM
An AP post: Like a summer rain to a parched lawn. I can go make dinner now feeling refreshed. Thanks.
Dusty on March 9, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Top Ten.
.
.
.
.
5) I am a full blooded Indian.
- Ward Churchill
4) I love Jews.
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
3) I believe no woman should have more than 2 children.
- Octomom
2) I got myself convicted so I could go to prision in Nevada to search for the real killer.
- OJ
1) I don’t believe in big government.
- Barack Obama
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:08 PM
I have been concerned with this physical and mental stamina from day one. And with the media telling us that he is the first president since Washington to have to “step down” from his position of visionary leader into the Oval Office, I would be concerned about how much of the job is beneath him to bother doing.
neuquenguy on March 9, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Just enough work trickling in to keep us going. We don’t have a backlog like we’ve had for the last few years.
Are you in surveying or real estate?
txsurveyor on March 9, 2009 at 6:11 PM
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:08 PM
6) I never had sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
-Bill Clinton
Disturb the Universe on March 9, 2009 at 6:15 PM
Husband is in surveying down here.. Slow, but thankfully he’s with a company that values its employees and is keeping them on board with fewer hours.
I heard Houston was boom town again for pipeline work? Any truth to that?
Key West Reader on March 9, 2009 at 6:16 PM
7) I never really looked at any of those FBI files.
- Hillary Clinton
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:21 PM
8) I love the troops.
- John Murtha
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Hannity played the tape of Obama calling the NYT reporter. I have to say it was sad.
Never has a president sunk so low. Absolutely un Presidential.
3 1/2 years to go people, God help us until then.
FireBlogger on March 9, 2009 at 6:25 PM
10) How much money a woman has means nothing to me.
- John Kerry
9) I have always fought corruption and I always will.
- Barney Frank
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:25 PM
ET phones home…
Gohawgs on March 9, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Reminds me of the guy who asked if Obama is going to take his guns away.
John Doe: “If you become president, can we trust that you won’t take away our guns.”
Obama: “Look, if you like hunting, I’m cool with that. You can rest assured that I won’t be taking your guns”
[crickets]
Obama: No, really. I won’t take your guns.
[so awkward that the cricket stopped cheeping]
Obama: “Uhhh… teleprompter out of batteries. Must go. Can’t make complete sentences alone”
Glenn Jericho on March 9, 2009 at 6:33 PM
How could anyone mistake Obama for a socialist? That’s just plain silly!
petunia on March 9, 2009 at 6:34 PM
I’m afraid it’s only been six weeks. That means 3 years and 10 1/2 months to go. How time flies when you’re having fun.
petunia on March 9, 2009 at 6:35 PM
That is only because you agreed with the decision to invade Iraq, but to someone of another opinion, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Bushco seized on the opportunity presented by 9/11 to implement long desired policies that they wished all along to implement, but knew that the nation would never have agreed to those policies if it had not been in the wake of the crisis. They stoked fear and sold us on Iraq.
Likewise Obama is taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the credit meltdown to implement long desired policies (socialism) that he wished all along to implement, but knew that the nation would never have agreed to those policies if it had not been in the wake of the crisis. He stoked fear (of economic calamity) and sold us on socialism.
We are just sheeple.
tommylotto on March 9, 2009 at 6:43 PM
The Obama/dem recession has got the economy heading down the toilet. To be expected of children.
Johan Klaus on March 9, 2009 at 6:49 PM
I’m really tired of Obama and his adoring fans protesting that he is not a socialist/Marxist/Communist. I’d like to see them explain the differences between his beliefs and those. How hard could that be?
Star20 on March 9, 2009 at 6:49 PM
I find it difficult to disagree.
MB4 on March 9, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Only since the children have taken charge of the kindergarten.
Johan Klaus on March 9, 2009 at 6:54 PM
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…….
Johan Klaus on March 9, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Wasn’t it another liar in chief who used this line?
Oh, yeah, Bill Clinton. And wow, all the same people feeding Bill his lines are feeding them to Obama. SOS different skin color.
Jvette on March 9, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Ask the wrong question, get the wrong answer.
Heh, they should have asked, “Are you a Communist?”
Or maybe, “Are you
allowingpromoting the market crash and measures to deepen the recession to equalize wealth, undermine capitalism and pave the way for Obamutopia?”petefrt on March 9, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Obama spins just like the water in the toilet that he is trying to take this country down.
Johan Klaus on March 9, 2009 at 7:20 PM
Who ever heard of fire melting steel?
–Rosie O’Donnell
Jvette on March 9, 2009 at 7:22 PM
I think that we (citizens) did not know the whole story on Iraq. After all, plenty of dems voted to go to war.
Johan Klaus on March 9, 2009 at 7:26 PM
The Precedent: “I’m not a socialist, damn it! I’m a marxist … which is what the really smart people in the cafes are … So, see how smart I am.”
progressoverpeace on March 9, 2009 at 7:33 PM
Did anyone else catch Richard Gere on CNN this afternoon?
He claimed that Obama will use this financial crises to recalibrate the kind of country America is and then something about the planet. Tried to see it again online but nothing has been posted. Yet another tool of the left crying that we all need to be global citizens, universal citizens, taking care of each other.
Hey Richard, I got one kid in college, another going in the fall, my cars are each over 20 years old, had to tear out the carpet because a hose behind the washer sprang a leak and soaked the whole house, my dog needs medical care and I haven’t seen my poor sick mother in nearly two years.
How much money did you make on your last film? Think you could spare a little? I know you want to care for me.
Jvette on March 9, 2009 at 7:34 PM
Whatever it is, it’s too much.
ddrintn on March 9, 2009 at 7:38 PM
He couldn’t think how to deflect that so he waited until after he landed and got back to the White House. Then he had his flunkies draft up a response in a Word document he could read off his computer screen to the NYT over the phone.
In other words, poor lil’ Barry doesn’t want to be a radical socialist, he’s just been forced to be one by circumstances. Lucky for him he’s had longtime associations with hordes of radical socialists his whole career to prepare him for just such an emergency.
Unlike any other president before him, poor lil’ Baby Soetoro’s been forced to worry about the financial system! As if a president should be burdened with such a thing! Can’t you people see he has more than enough to do?!?
Crusty on March 9, 2009 at 7:40 PM
Present
(signed)
BHO
mytralman on March 9, 2009 at 8:30 PM
“Bu-bu-bu-but Bush started it!”
O’Reilly just played the audio of the call… What a f-ing POS this guy is. I am so furious with everyone who put this evil socialist bastard in the White House and signed this nation’s death certificate.
RightWinged on March 9, 2009 at 8:55 PM
Of course the reason he had to call later is that he didn’t have the Axelrod’s words put in his mouth via teleprompter. He had to confer with
Axelrodhis brain before he got his do over.casel21 on March 9, 2009 at 9:21 PM
Obama, among other sterling attributes, is a pathological liar who lies just to see what he can get the gullible press to accept. “I yam not a socialist.”
Yeah, right!
He is also a sadist. He is enjoying the loss of money and assets among the cursed middle class.
Dhuka on March 9, 2009 at 10:35 PM
” I have more than enough to do without having to worry the financial system”
Like cramming his Socialist Programs down America’s throat?
Oh, and there’s the really important meetings with Brad Pitt & George Clooney. Snubbing visiting PM Brown. Checking out the grounds at Camp David.
TN Mom on March 10, 2009 at 12:18 AM
And then, in the next breath, crowing about how “capitalism has failed.”
Jim Treacher on March 10, 2009 at 12:46 AM
Bull’s-eye.
progressoverpeace on March 10, 2009 at 1:12 AM
What’s he worried about? The morons that voted for him either don’t know what a Socialist is or if they do they think it’s a good thing.
Besides, he’s a Marxist.
Dr. ZhivBlago on March 10, 2009 at 1:49 AM
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
scottm on March 10, 2009 at 8:53 AM
When do we get an Oslime-a movie called “Death of a President”?
I don’t usually use Wiki because it can be edited by idiots like DTMH and other liberal moonbats. But I refuse to link to the distributors website.
csdeven on March 10, 2009 at 8:58 AM
This is gasp-worthy. Obama’s vision is so bold, sweeping, important, Greek-column-like, that to him, fixing the financial system is an annoyance! I’m just beginning to fathom how clueless he is. You see, the financial system crisis is crimping his style! LOL! I mean, now he’s got to go to the trouble of manufacturing a whole new bunch of glib rhetoric to talk about our financial crisis! What a pain in the butt for HIM! Hey! What about the COUNTRY?
Paul-Cincy on March 10, 2009 at 10:48 AM
That fat bastard Rush Limbaugh is still on the air for one, the Brits still need taken down a peg for two, I’ve got some tax cheats to load up Treasury with for three… man I’m just too busy to worry about the market.
Priorities.
gekkobear on March 10, 2009 at 11:51 AM
“He’s telling the truth when he says that he doesn’t agree with Bill Ayers’ violent bombing tactics, but it’s a tactical disagreement.”
Ayers’ has been much more successfull tactics in Academia.
davod on March 10, 2009 at 12:05 PM
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