Obama Quotes - and other gems from Democrats

[Amelia]

Do you have any idea how many "speeches and remarks" there on from Obama at whitehouse.gov?

Something like 340 just for 2011.


(I'm paging back through trying to get to his 2010 State of the Union and I'm paging and I'm paging and I'm paging ........)

 

[Amelia]

Obama, January 27, 2010:

"That is why jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010, and that's why I'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight."



Then he spent two more months pulling every trick in the book to get his unconstitutional healthcare bill to pass and then how many more months on tour telling us how if we were bright enough we'd realize what a good thing he did by cramming it through in spite of the majority of the nation being against it.

 

[Amelia]

Obama, July 22, 2009:

"Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."

 

[Amelia]

Obama, September 8, 2011:

In fact, this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everybody’s money, and let everyone write their own rules, and tell everyone they’re on their own -- that’s not who we are. That’s not the story of America.

With his typical partisan strawman, completely misrepresenting conservative ideals, and making me choke at the hypocrisy about people writing their own rules as he tells millions of people who are here illegally that they get to write their own rules while he keeps bashing legal Americans who are standing up for law and order but against the government taking over every aspect of their lives -- that is not statesmanship, Mr. President, and that is not an honest effort to accomplish a bipartisan goal.

 

[Amelia]

Jay Carney, September 2008, about Mike Huckabee:

He gives a good speech, but he’s loose with the facts. He called Abraham Lincoln the “founder” of the Republican Party. Nope. Lincoln was not the founder of the party; he wasn’t even the first Republican nominee (John Fremont was, in 1856). Lincoln was, of course, the first Republican to be elected president.

Obama, September 2011:

We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party. But in the middle of a civil war, he was also a leader who looked to the future -- a Republican President who mobilized government to build the Transcontinental Railroad -- (applause) -- launch the National Academy of Sciences, set up the first land grant colleges. (Applause.) And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set.

 

[Amelia]

Judy Woodruff, January 20, 2001, right after the inauguration ceremony. The closing prayer was over. The Star Spangled Banner had played. And here was Judy's commentary on CNN:

We have a new president. There he is, George Walker Bush. He's there with his dad, President Bush; his mother, Senator Clinton and others.

As Jeff Greenfield said, the speech lasted 14 minutes; not quite as short as they said it was going to be. I think we might agree it was not a stirring speech. It wasn't a speech full of applause lines, but it was a carefully-crafted speech. I think, a well-delivered speech with some language that I think we can spend some time talking about.

CNN Transcript - Special Event: Bush Sworn in as 43rd President of the United States - January 20, 2001


That's when I starting tuning out CNN. I watched a little longer for shows like Crossfire. But Judy Woodruff - now at PBS - had no business making commentary like that. She and her buddies behind the CNN mics might have all agreed it wasn't a stirring speech, but I found it inspiring. I was proud and uplifted and ... I can't really explain my feelings during the speech since it was so long ago but I know I was stirred ... which is why Woodruff's comment was such a surprise and so memorable to me to this day. It was a slap in the face. It was not worthy of someone who claimed to be a journalist at a station which supposedly held itself above the partisan commentary.




And now she is at PBS massaging the news there.

 

[Amelia]

This one is a little obscure but I'm a mathematician so it stood out to me.

Obama, March 11, 2011:

The Democrats have put forward spending cuts, many of them pretty painful, that give Republicans already half of what they were seeking. Because they're the right thing to do.

Facts: At that point in time, the Republican request was for $61 billion in cuts. The Democrats' counteroffer in the Senate was for $4 billion in cuts. The White House had offered an additional $6.5 billion.

So Obama thought half of 61 was somewhere between 4 and 10.5 In a time of serious economic challenge it looks like we have a mathematically illiterate president.



.

 

[mudwhistle]

Abraham Lincoln.....the founder of the Republican party.

Well I guess all these folks speak Austrian.

 

[mudwhistle]

Obama's friends know the Tea Party consists of average Americans who want to have a future for themselves and their children and their Grandchildren........so they're obviously terrorists.

 

[Amelia]

Michelle Obama, February 18, 2008, Milwaukee:

"For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."

Then the Obama campaign claimed she never made that remark in Milwaukee. Finally it was clear that she did. But every now and then I still hear people say it didn't happen.

 

[bill5]

Post 'em if you got 'em!



Obama, July 3, 2008:

The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.

Thanks for not putting this in the politics forum where it belongs

 

[logical4u]

Obama, July 22, 2009:

"Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."

You thought he would have mentioned that Anthony Weiner "acted stupidly", but crickets.

 

[Cuyo]

Obama, July 22, 2009:

"Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."

Oh, I didn't realize this was a "Obama quotes that are obviously spot-on" forum. But thanks for pointing that one out!

 

[Amelia]

Post 'em if you got 'em!



Obama, July 3, 2008:

The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.

Thanks for not putting this in the politics forum where it belongs

I started it in the politics forum. Someone moved it to the general forum.

 

[bill5]

My apologies then (and what the.....?)

 

[Amelia]

Obama, August 11, 2009, trying to make the case for the government taking charge of health insurance:

"... UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

 

[Amelia]

Obama, March 19, 2009:

"No, no. I have been practicing...I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something."

 

[Amelia]

November 06, 2008:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yeah, well, you know what? I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work, and I think that --

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Is that your job? You just talked about being a journalist!

MATTHEWS: Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country.

SCARBOROUGH: Your job is the make this presidency work?

MATTHEWS: To make this work successfully. This country needs a successful presidency.

 

[Amelia]

Al Gore, March 9, 1999:

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

 

[Amelia]

Obama, Sept. 22, 2011:

"We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad, ...."