Gibbs: Obama acknowledges he's made mistakes

[The Northerner]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday President Barack Obama hopes to use his State of the Union message to "outline a hopeful track for our future."

Appearing on network morning news shows to preview Obama's address, Gibbs said the president will talk about some of the factors that led to Republican Scott Brown's upset victory over a Democrat in the special Senate election in Massachusetts.

"The president is going to explain why he thinks the American people are angry and frustrated," his spokesman said.

A member of the House Republican leadership, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, said in a separate interview: "The American people want to hear that the president has listened and that the president has learned about what has gone on here."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_state_of_the_union_gibbs

[babylonsister]

1. Idiot son never acknowledged anything; I wonder if Cantor

demanded he fess up to his mistakes. Why do I think he didn't. :eyes:

[dbonds]

2. This will be telling...

If he realizes he is loosing his base, or he thinks everyone took a strange right turn.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. "...why he thinks the American people are angry and frustrated...."

JOBS.



JOBS.



The economy.


which is




JOBS.



You tackle that issue, Mr. President, and you'll find all the others take care of themselves.


Seriously



Tansy Gold

[No Elephants]

5. That is not true for me. Sure, I wish that everyone who needs a job had one, but that is not my only

issue.

[Little Star]

8. Jobs are a big one but not the only big reason for loss of support.

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. Problem is that you are doing a poor job of discriminating what are actual mistakes

Such as hiring people like Geithner and Emmanuel.

But like candidate Obama, he'll leave enough ambiguity about what qualifies as a mistake to sound conciliatory while allowing others to project their own views.

[No Elephants]

7. I think we may have had a preview....

"If there's one thing that I regret this year is that we were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values," Obama told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview at the White House.

<snip>

"That I do think is a mistake of mine," Obama said. "I think the assumption was if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on this provision or that law or if we're making a good rational decision here, then people will get it."

"I think, you know, what they ended up seeing is this feeling of remoteness and detachment where there's these technocrats up here making decisions. Maybe some of them are good, maybe some of them aren't, but do they really get us and what we're going through?" he said.

<snip>

"I think that I can do a better job of that, and partly because I do believe that we're in a stronger position now than we were a year ago," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/president-obama-lost-touch-american-people-year/story?id=9613462

Then again, Republicans really criticized these statements, so maybe we won't hear them again. We'll see. But I think he does believe them and will talk to us more.

[Little Star]

9. After watching his actions/non actions for a year who

will believe him now? Believe his words in a speech, I don't think so. Actions in the right direction are the only things that will make people believe him now. And he has no one to blame but himself. He is the leader of our country and the buck stops with him.

[zipplewrath]

13. Exactly

It started with Rahm and Warren and virtually every step of the way his "speaking" has generally had me wondering what he really meant, and his actions pissed me off. The list is long. Talking now isn't gonna do it. He's going to have to actually do something. Right now, all I hear is alot of speaking with no action backing it up.

[whattheidonot]

17. white middle and upper middle

the white middle classes have to be taken care for things to work in present day America. Things were not working at this level. The squeeze was on. If this class is satisfied the other changes follow. Jobs and income is what it is about. Pay companies to hire. This happens already . Expand it. If it is all the same to companies you have created customers. Jobs 1st, then health care. Health care has racial wiggle room. When people are working, busy , not committing crimes, the middle is happy. The wars hurt as well. The way we are going about fighting them is expensive and not productive. not sure what the answer is but some though has to be given to another approach.

[Jefferson23]

10. When I read that the first time, I just thought, what gobbledygook.

My fear is he is headed further right, prove me wrong Obama.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. It's not really gibberish, it's "dancing with the one what brung 'im".

Ambiguous and allowing people to project their own expectations? Oh yeah.

"I've made mistakes, (insert placatory-sounding nonsense here which avoids any specificity) and I promise to do better in the future by (insert ill-defined broadly described aspirations related in play-nice terms)."

I propose SOTU bullshit bingo. Everyone partake of your vice of choice every time you hear "bipartisan" or "respected colleague".

[Jefferson23]

19. I see your point. I'm not looking forward to tonight, and I

can't believe I'm saying that!

[DJ13]

20. "values,"

I think that signals a shift rightward, as "values" is a conservative PR phrase.

I hope Im wrong, because if thats the direction he is headed he learned nothing over the last year.

[peace13]

6. "outline a hopeful track for our future."

Just reading that makes me tired. Any phrase with the word hope in it does not sit well with me these days. I understand that it has been a theme of Obama's speak but right now I need something more. I don't need his apologies either. Just, simply tell me what you are going to do and address the need for cooperation at this perilous time in our country. Stop talking about one term or two and do the best you can. His answer about being a good one timer was just plain awful. He should have said that his job is not to worry about one term or two but to do the best that he can for the American people. Good grief. If someone says your wife is fat you don't say that you like round people, you say...she is beautiful to me. Lead for god's sake and stop it already with trying to play the game. And for the record, there are so many in this country for which there is just no hope. The time for hope is over the time for food and housing and medical care is upon us!

[salguine]

11. The problem here is that apparently the President is going to

"explain why he thinks the American people are angry and frustrated," but somehow I doubt he's asked the right people. He's probably asked Geithner and Summers and Bernanke why the American people are angry and frustrated, and they undoubtedly told him the American people are angry and frustrated because not enough is being done to help Wall Street.

Why doesn't Obama invite a few dozen working-class Americans to the White House and ask them directly why they're angry and frustrated? Huh?

[kestrel91316]

12. Mistake #1: Abandoning healthcare reform. He'll lose me on this one.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Me too. It's a dealbreaker. n/t

[totodeinhere]

16. OK, that's a good start. Now work to correct those mistakes.

Or lose the next election I'm afraid.

[EFerrari]

18. That's what Mike Moore told him to do. Let's see if the talk is followed

by the walk.

[OneBlueSky]

21. well, duh . . . unfortunately, he very likely doesn't count his most egregious actions . . .

as mistakes . . . like siding with corporations instead of the American people at virtually every turn . . . or escalating the Afghanistan war ("and Lyndon Johnson told the nation, have no fear of escalation, I am trying everyone to please") . . . or abandoning the public option he promised to support during the campaign . . . or supporting even the worst aspects of the Patriot Act . . . and on, and on, and on, ad infinitum . . .

the reason I'm so disappointed with Obama is that I really like the guy . . . I like that he's the one representing the nation on the international stage, I like that he's intelligent and articulate, I like that he seems to acknowledge that the American people have at least a modicum of intelligence when he speaks to us, and I like that he's personable and seems to care about people . . . too bad his policies don't reflect that caring . . .

Obama's worst mistake has been surrounding himself with advisors who are, by and large, corporate minions who tilt their advice decidedly toward corporate health and welfare rather than the health and welfare of the nation and its people . . . why he chose this course is beyond me . . . but as long as he keeps listening to the Rahm Emmanuels of the world, we won't be seeing any substantive change on any issue of importance, and that's the real tragedy of this administration, imo . . .

I'm not giving up on the guy just yet, however . . . there's still time for him to reverse course and really create the kind of change we all hoped for and anticipated when we elected him . . . whether he has the balls to do that is an open question, and I'm not at all optimistic that real change is coming anytime soon . . . but I'll give him a little more time and hope that he sees the light and starts serving the people rather than the mega-corps on issue of importance . . . if he doesn't, I fear that the next presidential election will not be a pleasant experience for Democrats . . .

[Tansy_Gold]

22. absolutely

:yourock:

[Iowa]

23. I agree with your first paragraph, but I see no reason to "like the guy".

Actually, I don't like him or respect him... never have. He's Eddie Haskell in a nice suit. I spent many years working with cons, and this guy practically screams it. I don't like cons, probably because I was trained to see through their bullshit - and because the people I like value honesty and integrity. Many don't realize it, but there are cons in all walks of life... only the ones who are the worst at it end up in prison. The slickest cons end up in power.

That said, when it comes right down to it, I really wouldn't object to having a con in the WH as long as he's bludgeoning the other side (and this guy is doing the opposite). But when it comes to people I "like"... they tend to be highly principled, scrupulously honest, tough (as in spine), and progressive in ideology. I like Dennis Kucinich. I think I'm going to like Alan Grayson (given enough time to see if he stands up long-term). I have seen absolutely nothing that would cause me to like Barrack Obama. And whether I like him or not is irrelevant. I just want him to do his damned job by rolling back the disastrous crap foist upon the nation during the Bush administration, upholding the Constitution, and at least trying to fulfill his campaign promises. So far he has failed miserably.

[OneBlueSky]

24. point well taken . . . I probably would have been more accurate had I said . . .

I really want to like him . . . and I'm trying really, really hard . . . but another major FUBAR or two and I may stop trying altogether . . .