Does Obama enjoy being president?
Watching the president grimace his way through the restrained back-and-forth reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a friend in Democratic politics, who posited that Mr. Obama simply doesn’t love being president. Not that he doesn’t want the job or believe he should have it, or that its challenges don’t give him plenty of cause for stress or solemnity — just that he doesn’t appear to actually enjoy the daily business of running the country…
The problem for Mr. Obama isn’t that he seemed indifferent or peevish on stage, though he did. The problem is that it underscored what has too often been his countenance in office.
He came to Denver with no larger theme he wanted urgently to get across, no story to tell, no apparent passion for the chance to make himself understood and make his opponent look silly. He was there to defend his policies, but he wasn’t going to get all needy about it, and no one was going to make him have an ounce of fun.
In contrast, Mitt Romney seemed eager to make his case, exhibiting some amount of apparent desperation, like the teenage suitor who has 10 minutes to convince his girlfriend’s father to bless the marriage. That desire to be understood counts for something.
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It’s good to be king.
vityas on October 5, 2012 at 9:18 AM
Loves the perks. Despises the responsibility.
NavyMustang on October 5, 2012 at 9:19 AM
I sure hope he does. Why the hell else would he be running? He certainly doesn’t seem to enjoy debating, he says he hates campaigning… if he hates governing then what exactly is the point?
Caiwyn on October 5, 2012 at 9:19 AM
Once we put him out of office, he can run around having all the fun he wants.
Farmer_Joe on October 5, 2012 at 9:19 AM
He likes the prestige and perks of the office. But the actual work if tough abd beneath him.
Flange on October 5, 2012 at 9:20 AM
What debate was he watching? I saw a lot of things in Mitt Wed night, but desperation wasn’t one of them. C’mon.
rcpjr on October 5, 2012 at 9:22 AM
I for one would enjoy him being ex-president.
aunursa on October 5, 2012 at 9:22 AM
They can never just complement Romney and be done with.
As far as Obama goes, why should he enjoy being president? It’s a tough job and he has enough to retire and live as a millionaire for the rest of his life now. Once he is out of the WH, he will be offered book deals and seats on various boards where he is paid big bucks to do absolutely nothing. His kids will receive scholarships to the best schools. And he can give a speech here or there to keep Moochelle in ribs and lobsters.
He likes his golf games, he can keep his golf games…
Blake on October 5, 2012 at 9:29 AM
He enjoys being president.
He despises doing the job.
KingGold on October 5, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Moochelle enjoys being First Ball-n-Chain, 4sh0
Jeddite on October 5, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Well, Valerie says, “He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.”
Fallon on October 5, 2012 at 9:34 AM
Thread winner.
rhombus on October 5, 2012 at 9:36 AM
Presidentin’ is a drag. The dude doesn’t want to be accountable for his record…that was the first time he’s been confronted like that with it, and he didn’t like it. He couldn’t even maintain eye contact with Romney. Not sure he has the stones to really go on the attack like the Left wants him to in the next one, because-unlike at a rally-Romney will be there to respond and return fire.
changer1701 on October 5, 2012 at 9:39 AM
There. That’s better.
bigmacdaddy on October 5, 2012 at 9:42 AM
The reason he despises doing the job is that he’s completely out of his depth and has no clue about how to do the job.
Trafalgar on October 5, 2012 at 9:45 AM
He certainly enjoys spending the hell out of my money.
Washington Nearsider on October 5, 2012 at 9:46 AM
He loves the trappings; he loathes and shirks the duties.
michaelo on October 5, 2012 at 9:47 AM
No
mrscullen on October 5, 2012 at 9:47 AM
A great line from Romney in the debate was when Lehrer pointed out that they’d run way over time on the first segment and Romney shot back with “It’s fun isn’t it?”
Trafalgar on October 5, 2012 at 9:49 AM
Barry is a fraud.
albill on October 5, 2012 at 9:53 AM
I’m guessing when he and Michelle left the stage after the first debate he said to Michelle, “I hate this job”.
albill on October 5, 2012 at 9:54 AM
When he signed on for the gig with Axelrod, the deal was he wouldn’t have to work — Obama would simply say what pet liberal program he wanted, Harry and Nancy would get ‘er done, any opposing voices would be branded as racists and written out of the political conversation, and then the Democrats and the big media would give Obama all the credit, to heighten his Sun King aura even more to begin the cycle to the next pet liberal program.
Obama was always simply a vessel which the left thought they could best get their pet programs passed. He was never there for the work he could do and he never went into the White House expecting to have to work. Everyone else was to do the work for him, which is why his debate performance was such a miserable failure, because the Dems and the media were supposed to spin whatever the president said into an Obama win and a Romney disaster.
jon1979 on October 5, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Fallon on October 5, 2012 at 9:57 AM
Obama doesn’t want to govern. He wants to rule.
ZK on October 5, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Wanted the lifetime of acting like a king, the unlimited money that comes with being a Democrat ex-President, but has no particular interest in the job or work in general, and absolutely no idea what he’s doing.
Retire, a$$wipe. You have what you wanted. Let us clean up your socialist mess now. You’ve given away enough of our money to your adopted race victims.
Jaibones on October 5, 2012 at 10:05 AM
I still suspect he may be sub-consciously self sabotaging. That mansion in Hawaii and golfing every day vs. having to perform a difficult job for which he is not prepared? It must be a powerful struggle somewhere in his mind. Now, if the legacy media would just get out of the way and let him eat his waffle…
TedInATL on October 5, 2012 at 10:06 AM
Obama loves all the trappings that come with being president, but none of the actual responsibilities of being president.
ButterflyDragon on October 5, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Three words – Air. Force. One.
He loves the trappings of the office and hates the actual work of the office.
crazy_legs on October 5, 2012 at 10:22 AM
Should really hit “refresh” before I respond…
crazy_legs on October 5, 2012 at 10:22 AM
Has something to do with proving to mommy and daddy that he’s special and didn’t deserve to be tossed aside.
There’s a reason why Barry first started dreaming of being President of the United States (and Prime Minister of Indonesia!) when he was a very young child.
AZCoyote on October 5, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Obama enjoys very much Being President.
It’s when people expect him to Do president that he gets annoyed.
jaydee_007 on October 5, 2012 at 10:33 AM
The consensus is he loves the power, the plane, the perks, the partying and the playtime. It’s the first real job he’s ever held, even though he never actually does the job and easily gets away with slacking off. Ultimately he’s in it so that he can retire to a beautiful mansion in paradise that someone else is paying for and he’ll never have to work another day in his life which is just fine with him. And oh, 6-figure speaking gigs aren’t work cuz this man-boy luuuuvs the sound of his own voice.
Afterthought: He doesn’t see this job as governing–he thinks he’s the freakin’ king.
stukinIL4now on October 5, 2012 at 10:35 AM
You, sir (or ma’am) have hit the bullseye. Pick up your Kewpie doll on the way out!
NavyMustang on October 5, 2012 at 10:38 AM
Liberals like Matt Bai will never admit the truth. Barack Obama is a phony, a cipher, a Chauncey Gardiner who was not ready to be President and still isn’t. The Democratic party plucked Obama from obscurity, gave him the DNC keynote in 2004, and pumped him up to be “The One” for 2008 — all because they knew they had no chance of winning an electon again unless they could get 95% of the black vote and 60%+ of the latino vote.
They never cared about whether Obama was fit for the job or really even wanted it. It was all about his skin color. I think Obama himself wanted to wait until 2016 or 2020 to run for President, after he had some time to burnish his credentials in the Senate.\
He is in over his head and he knows it. Valerie Jarrett is the one who is actually running the country, which is why she has Secret Service protection.
rockmom on October 5, 2012 at 10:52 AM
All Obama has done throughout his life is collect fancy titles and move on to the next one. He likes the prestige of being called the President and feeling powerful, but he absolutely hates actually doing the job.
OxyCon on October 5, 2012 at 10:53 AM
He likes the perks of being president. He doesn’t like the heavy lifting.
rickv404 on October 5, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Work is hard.
Hard work is out of the question.
The Rogue Tomato on October 5, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Being President of China would be so much more enjoyable.
Left Coast Right Mind on October 5, 2012 at 11:14 AM
You guys are all missing the point. Bai’s is telling us that we out here in regularville need to make the job of presidentin’ more palatable for the supreme intellect. Is this so hard for you rubes to understand?
Lost in Jersey on October 5, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Last summer I predicted that he wouldn’t run for re-election. He’s never seemed to want to *be* president.
I think he’s running for re-election in order to be vindicated and affirmed, not because he’s enjoying the job.
Bill Clinton, on the other hand, is hoping and praying for a constitutional change that will allow him a third term.
Abelard on October 5, 2012 at 11:30 AM
You know, Penny Pritzker buying him that mansion in Hawaii may be the best thing that happened to Governor Romney this election season.
Maybe the RNC should take up a collection for his membership in the finest golf course in that community, starting January 2013.
slickwillie2001 on October 5, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Obama is like the kid who goes out for high school football,
not to practice, or God forbid ever actually play in a game.
He just wants to be able to wear the jersey to class on gameday Friday.
mrt721 on October 5, 2012 at 11:59 AM
True — but there’s an open question of whether or not Mooch will want to keep him.
My guess is that they’ll keep up appearances, like Bill ‘n’ Hill, but stay apart as much as humanly possible. A 31-room mansion has more than one bedroom, after all.
Mary in LA on October 5, 2012 at 1:21 PM