Krauthammer: You forgot Door Number 3, champ
posted at 3:45 pm on January 26, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
Charles Krauthammer jumps onto Barack Obama’s one-term, two-term choice like a backsliding vegetarian on a filet mignon — but that’s just the appetizer. Noting that Obama left out a third option in his “I’d rather be a good one-term President than a mediocre two-term President” quip to Diane Sawyer, Krauthammer says that thus far, Obama’s mediocrity would mean not getting that second term:
Krauthammer then goes after Obama’s excuse-making from last week (also on ABC), in which he claimed that his sliding poll numbers came from a lack of explaining himself to the voters. Obama only had 21 days of his Presidency in 2009 in which he didn’t give a speech, make a public appearance, or offer televised or recorded comments on political issues, and most of those were during his Christmas vacation.
The final minute is a good analysis of where Obama and the Democrats will go on ObamaCare. They’ve been boxed into a corner, and right now the only sure play is to throw in the towel and try fighting on jobs instead.
Blowback
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ya gotta love Dr K
cmsinaz on January 26, 2010 at 3:49 PM
I’m just so glad that Dear Liar gave me my invisible ghost unicorn, Thunderbolt.
rbj on January 26, 2010 at 3:49 PM
I’d like to see him throw in the towel on his whole presidency and just go away.
SHARPTOOTH on January 26, 2010 at 3:49 PM
It’s a dumb quote when you think about it. Barring illness or tragedy, a good one-term President is an oxymoron. If the voters don’t reelect you, it means you sucked at the job.
Doughboy on January 26, 2010 at 3:49 PM
I saw this last night. How about the crack that Obama’s been on TV more than Regis?
BuckeyeSam on January 26, 2010 at 3:50 PM
i luuuuuvv me some Krauth!!
sandlin71 on January 26, 2010 at 3:50 PM
HA! maybe ogabe can get some of the online subscribers to Newsday to boost up his poll numbers…oh wait, there are only 35! (via Drudge)
lukespapa on January 26, 2010 at 3:50 PM
‘Mediocre’ is an awfully generous way to describe President Obama’s first year.
BadgerHawk on January 26, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Dr. K is not a shy child, he tells it like it is! I love him.
L
letget on January 26, 2010 at 3:51 PM
The Precedent would have to ace the rest of his term just to rise to the level of mediocrity.
That said, the fact is that the US will not survive a full term of The Precedent. Nature is going to start closing in on a defenseless US (as we are with the Indonesian imbecile at the helm) and between that, and unbearable internal strife, this nation will crack and split.
The Precedent reminds me of students I had who would come up to me, after having failed the first two exams with scores in the 30′s and 40′s, asking what they can do to get an A, or even salvage a B, for the class. My answer to them was the same as for The Precedent:
“If you could manage to get 100′s on the rest of the tests you would still barely skate by with a D average, but seeing how little understanding you have of the basic information thus far, the chances of you getting even passing grades on the coming tests seems to be about 0. Do us all a favor and drop the class now.”
neurosculptor on January 26, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Note to conservatives: Don’t stay home next time.
Narutoboy on January 26, 2010 at 3:51 PM
I would have asked him right then and there, “Do you believe you are doing a good job?”
El_Terrible on January 26, 2010 at 3:51 PM
It’s Hammer time!
ladyingray on January 26, 2010 at 3:51 PM
this is OT, but anyone else see James O’Keefe was apparently arrested yesterday for trying to bug Mary Landrieu’s senate office in Louisiana.
ousoonerfan15 on January 26, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Chuck K is a national treasure.
Excellent analysis, Dr. K.
ted c on January 26, 2010 at 3:52 PM
I’d like to see him throw in the towel on his whole presidency and just go away.
SHARPTOOTH on January 26, 2010 at 3:49 PM
Oh and ah Don’t go away mad, just go away…..Motley Crue.
SHARPTOOTH on January 26, 2010 at 3:52 PM
Mediocre=B+
ted c on January 26, 2010 at 3:52 PM
I usually like Krauthammer, (and not just because his name is fun to say) but to say Obowma is a mediocre President is giving The Won waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much credit.
The guy’s not mediocre, he’s a socio-marxist nightmare…
Battlecruiser-operational on January 26, 2010 at 3:53 PM
I’ll say it again…. Hillary primary challenge in 2012, if he even runs again.
davek70 on January 26, 2010 at 3:53 PM
I foresee president poopie pants just not showing up for work someday…. just says, “the hell with it.”
ted c on January 26, 2010 at 3:53 PM
Krauthammer…
BOOM SHAKALAKAAAA!!!
Seven Percent Solution on January 26, 2010 at 3:53 PM
There is no one on TV like Krauthammer. So glad were on the same team.
brewcrew67 on January 26, 2010 at 3:53 PM
Remember, asked and answered. A solid B+.
Cindy Munford on January 26, 2010 at 3:54 PM
After Obama’s crack about the Special Olympics, I wonder what term he uses for Dr. K. The K-man really does a great job of carving up Obama every chance he gets. But then Obama is an incredibly easy target.
BuckeyeSam on January 26, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Are you kidding me? We should thank those who stayed at home. Yes, it is going to get bad. But the progressives are in power and the people are seeing how corrupt they are. How their ideology runs totally counter to what the people want and they do not like it.
Those who stayed home gave the independents and moderate dems the best lesson they could ever get.
Holger on January 26, 2010 at 3:55 PM
Never before in my lifetime have I witnessed such mind-boggling incompetence and bungling by supposedly intelligent human beings as is painfully obvious in our current government. And I was an adult during the Carter administration.
The only way this is bearable is the knowledge that it’s at least as bad or worse everywhere else in the world. It’s no consolation, though. We need to elect people who have even the slightest clue what they’re doing.
Eichendorff on January 26, 2010 at 3:55 PM
In the tradition of mediocre-to-bad one-term Presidents, Obama will take his place beside Tyler, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ford, and Bush 41.
Adams and Polk were good one-term Presidents; Benjamin Harrison, Coolidge, and Hoover did okay ( Hoover faced an impossible situation ). Tyler, Fillmore, and Ford were never elected to national office, so had no mandate whatsoever.
Obama will set a New Standard; The worst, most unqualified and inexperienced, most inept and ineffective one-term POSUS evah….
Janos Hunyadi on January 26, 2010 at 3:56 PM
You and me both! It’s gonna happen, but it won’t help the DEMS. The upheaval would be tremendous.
Oink on January 26, 2010 at 3:57 PM
So basically, I’m going to pass laws you don’t like, because I owe special interest. Gee, thanks Mr. President.
I also bet he be a jerky ex-President. What a Joke!
Oil Can on January 26, 2010 at 3:57 PM
OMG you LARP? LOL!
/s
alohapundit on January 26, 2010 at 3:58 PM
I like Kraut and respect his intellect (he is a truly smart guy – a rare find among pundits) but he has been pulling his punches with the Indonesian imbecile and still is.
neurosculptor on January 26, 2010 at 3:58 PM
Obama: Klaus Kinski
lorien1973 on January 26, 2010 at 3:59 PM
What a second! Do we work at the same place?! HA
Oink on January 26, 2010 at 3:59 PM
I can’t agree because the cost is too high. Some lessons are too harsh and expensive and harmful; learning does take place, but they’re not worth the damage they bring.
Janos Hunyadi on January 26, 2010 at 3:59 PM
Where is Carter in your analysis?
Mirimichi on January 26, 2010 at 3:59 PM
J_Crater on January 26, 2010 at 4:00 PM
It will take two years for the media to pick sides. There will be lots of dirty laundry, lies, and videotape. Ah, it almost gives me chills.
Oink on January 26, 2010 at 4:00 PM
So naive, Ed. What has Allahpundit done to you.
RightWinged on January 26, 2010 at 4:00 PM
I foresee president poopie pants just not showing up for work someday…. just says, “the hell with it.”
ted c on January 26, 2010 at 3:53 PM
//
I can just see it,holding onto michelle my belle and saying,I don’t want to play anymore,can I stay home with you?And Michelle,like any good woman,will say,get your butt out of here and get to work.
ohiobabe on January 26, 2010 at 4:00 PM
–Thank You–
Boxy_Brown on January 26, 2010 at 4:01 PM
Classic Krauth. He holds no punches… and absolutely no prisoners.
TXUS on January 26, 2010 at 4:02 PM
Quiz – Name the last TWO really good one term presidents?
EliTheBean on January 26, 2010 at 4:02 PM
Height of stupidity.
Oink on January 26, 2010 at 4:03 PM
And the only reason he had any appearances during his vaca is because he was inconvenienced by the Eunuch-bomber. I’m not sure who was inconvenienced more, now that I think about it–Obama for having to come down from his mountaintop to speak to his lowly subjects, or us for having to listen to his crap. YMMV.
nukemhill on January 26, 2010 at 4:03 PM
Obowma: “I’ve been too busy to get my message out.”
Well then, I guess you have a lot of catching up to do during the State of the Union speech…
… Don’t ‘ya, Champ?
Seven Percent Solution on January 26, 2010 at 4:03 PM
If only I didn’t do software for a living…
unclesmrgol on January 26, 2010 at 4:04 PM
“If there’s one thing I’m clear on…”
Strange – an admission by Obama that he is NOT clear on so many, many things.
LASue on January 26, 2010 at 4:04 PM
before the History Purists pounce, Tyler and Fillmore were elected as VP, which is a national office, but Fillmore was unknown and Tyler was actually well-known as being openly opposed to the views of William Henry Harrison. Neither had a mandate, and neither operated as Prez with any expectations
Obama had a Phantom Mandate which vaporized within a year.
Janos Hunyadi on January 26, 2010 at 4:04 PM
Dr. K is my favorite pundit, hands down.
OmahaConservative on January 26, 2010 at 4:05 PM
That makes me nervous. The GOP and conservatives are against jobs and the Dems know it. /sarc off
WashJeff on January 26, 2010 at 4:05 PM
Hadn’t heard that. Huh. Apparently Breitbart hasn’t heard either. Nothing about it on BigGovernment.com. It’s prolly just an oversight.
Robert Flannagan was arrested with him, he’s the son of William J. Flanagan, acting U.S. attorney for western Louisiana.
So this could have legs!
Akzed on January 26, 2010 at 4:05 PM
Prediction: KSM will not be tried in New York. Obama will overturn Holder’s decision.
Same for the others.
Military trials.
Sorry Andy.
SteveMG on January 26, 2010 at 4:05 PM
John Adams and James K Polk. John Q. was either very good or very bad, depending on which historians you read
Janos Hunyadi on January 26, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Is that o’keefe the pimpster?What a bonehead thing to do!
ohiobabe on January 26, 2010 at 4:07 PM
Heh. Haven’t done anything like that in decades.
Note to GOP: Run good candidates next time.
rbj on January 26, 2010 at 4:07 PM
Ted Kennedy in essence stopped socialized medicine.
Irony on irony.
RobCon on January 26, 2010 at 4:08 PM
Grover Cleveland. He had two single terms.
WashJeff on January 26, 2010 at 4:09 PM
If only the average American voter would pick “Door #3″ in 2012!
Dark-Star on January 26, 2010 at 4:10 PM
Agreed. He’s awesome. Saw the following in an article by Ruben Navarratte in talking about the interview the President gave with George Stephanopoulos.
Nice to see that more & more people are standing up to say that the Emperor has no clothes.
mctowler on January 26, 2010 at 4:10 PM
When I heard the Obamanation say that my first thought was that he wasn’t going to make either of those lists. I figure him as a Lame Duck President on a lower rung than Carter! Or possibly a fourth option………
Or his fourth option is impeachment for trying to destroy the country!</
SgtRed on January 26, 2010 at 4:11 PM
This lesson is worth it. And it is a very mild lesson compared to the crap that went on in the Roman Empire and Greek Dictators like Dionysius I of Syracuse. This a slap on the wrist compared to the rogering the Germans when they gave power to the Nazis.
Holger on January 26, 2010 at 4:14 PM
Actually I think that the dems are going to push a porked up, stimulus type “jobs bill” then dare Republicans to vote no in an election year.
farright on January 26, 2010 at 4:17 PM
Spot on as always
jdsmith0021 on January 26, 2010 at 4:20 PM
Hmmm. Englishmen sometimes ‘roger’ others, but Americans don’t.
This is the US of A circa 2010, not a Greek colony in Italy, the Roman Empire, or the Not-Sees. Your examples make my point about the cost of the lesson being too high.
Janos Hunyadi on January 26, 2010 at 4:20 PM
What about a “one term medicre”?
…and during the Ft. shooting…during the X-mas crotchbomber…not as simple as just “being on vacation”.
Schadenfreude on January 26, 2010 at 4:20 PM
medicre = mediocre
Schadenfreude on January 26, 2010 at 4:22 PM
SMART Power!
I’m just so thankful that the adults are in charge now.
jukin on January 26, 2010 at 4:24 PM
Tey probably will. The GOP message needs to be strong here since people still buy into the government spending equals jobs crap. IMHO, the GOP should show that stimulus done in 2001, 2007, and 2009 all failed to achieve their goal. The only thing that did not fail was the tax cuts of 2003 (I think some Dems are starting to get nervous about those tax cuts expiring).
WashJeff on January 26, 2010 at 4:27 PM
You know what is going to be funny :) Tomorrow night. It is going to be such a dog and pony show. I hope Dr. Krauthammer is on the discussion panel after the Oboobma Lie-A-Thon.
nwpammy on January 26, 2010 at 4:28 PM
What’s amazing is the unbelievable smugness with which 0 avers his purported highminded preference for excellence over longevity. As if he’s even remotely in the ball park of adequacy! Recall, this guy is chin-deep in Chicago machine politics and influence peddling, and yet project his air as if it is true. Conclusion: Obama is suffering from profound narcissism, with a epically overinflated self-regard. It’s scary to think of what would happen should his balloon ever burst.
paul1149 on January 26, 2010 at 4:34 PM
barry throws out a false dichotomy; Dr. K spots it, says there is a third option and Ed says:
Awesome thread title Ed.
Geochelone on January 26, 2010 at 4:39 PM
Don’t forget The Present Dunce of the Socialist State of America gave himself a B+ for doing his best to kill capitalism. Wonder what he thinks he has to do to earn an A+?
chickasaw42 on January 26, 2010 at 4:44 PM
Yes most of those 21 days when Obama wasn’t available for public comments occurred during Christmas vacation. It was lucky for the nation that nothing of a national security nature happened during Obama’s Christmas vacation to warrant speaking to the public in a reassuring and instructive manner, say, like an attempted terror attack on a national airline with PETN in the terrorist’s undies. Oh, wait, never mind.
eaglewingz08 on January 26, 2010 at 4:44 PM
That might be the smart play and in the end, it may be their only option but given the chance, I think they’re still looking to ram it through regardless.
jnelchef on January 26, 2010 at 4:46 PM
How about Door Number 4, Be the worst President ever and get run out on a rail!
Christian Conservative on January 26, 2010 at 4:47 PM
Obama can’t throw in the towel because that would be admitting defeat. Admitting that he is wwrrrrong. He is going to go down with the Titanic, I mean Health Care Bill.
The House and the Senate just don’t understand his awesomeness.
PappaMac on January 26, 2010 at 4:50 PM
He still has a week or two to nail down that 2nd Nobel prize nomination
– maybe for Economics this time? Green Physics? Rhetoric?
tomg51 on January 26, 2010 at 4:53 PM
I’m torn between wanting good americans to have jobs and wanting them to do nothing and piss off the people even more. I guess I can take consolation in the fact that any job creation they do will be of the marxist variety and not actually create jobs like tax cuts would.
Haunches on January 26, 2010 at 5:00 PM
I love this man.
DrStock on January 26, 2010 at 5:06 PM
Hey B.O, don’t let door #3 hit you on the way out!!
tommer74 on January 26, 2010 at 5:17 PM
Janos, right up there with Carter. Hell, even Carter will be smiling when this Precedency is over.
elclynn on January 26, 2010 at 5:18 PM
Champ? Heh
elclynn on January 26, 2010 at 5:21 PM
He’ll follow the line of the current ex-democrat presidents. Both jerks.
4shoes on January 26, 2010 at 5:22 PM
And I love Krauthammer. I will probably post this clip to my fb page.
4shoes on January 26, 2010 at 5:23 PM
But you forget “The Obama Factor”. It’s HIS ‘signature’ program (even thought he never wrote one bit of the legislation). It’s about HIM. It’s about HIS legacy.
HE won’t let it go.
GarandFan on January 26, 2010 at 5:24 PM
It’s not FAIR! ( sniff! ) I didn’t get my unicorn! (blubbered in a typical whiny statist’s voice)
ya2daup on January 26, 2010 at 5:26 PM
Without a doubt, Economics, for “providing definitive, clear and convincing evidence that implementing liberal / statist / socialist / marxist economic policies will transform a thriving economy into a moribund one faster than you can say, ‘Yes we can!’”.
ya2daup on January 26, 2010 at 5:30 PM
” good one-term president”
Because he’s gonna do things that need to be done, for the good of the proletariat whether we like it or not.
In other words he has contempt for the average citizen of the US. We’re too dumb to appreciate the socialist utopia he as in store for us.
Partisan on January 26, 2010 at 6:00 PM
And, the moral of the story is, never understate the term, “We the People”.
Speakup on January 26, 2010 at 6:26 PM
Barry is going to have to significantly improve his performance as president to even get up to the “mediocre” level. At the rate he’s going, he’ll be lucky if history judges his one-term presidency as mediocre.
AZCoyote on January 26, 2010 at 6:32 PM
There’s no one else even close.
LastRick on January 26, 2010 at 6:45 PM
“Mediocre” does not mean utter failure which is the administration bama and his bums have hatched! This idiot “president” would have to “pivot” 180-degrees to even approach mediocricy.
jgdp on January 26, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Chairman Bao, how can we miss you when you won’t go away?
The Precipice Precedent
a/k/a O’Willi Vanilli:
AMSCRAY, EASEPLAY!!!
Sweet_Thang on January 26, 2010 at 7:08 PM
a/k/a O’
WMilli Vanilli:sorry, the Zero-meister gives me the the willi’s
Sweet_Thang on January 26, 2010 at 7:11 PM
Hopefully most Americans heard the narcissism in Obama’s voice. “I would rather have a really good first term.”
I wish he had a really good first term too. Instead he’s a disaster on every single issue!
Even on issues where he continued the obvious competence of the Bush administration policies he won’t give Bush credit for being right!
It will be interesting to see what the numbers are for the State of the Union. I haven’t missed one in years. But I’m not very interested in another Obama self-lovefest speech.
Unless we can get half the room to stand up and shout, “You lie!” But how likely is that?
petunia on January 26, 2010 at 7:11 PM
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