Actually, knowing this administration, I wonder if somebody got fired for it:
It was a remarkable moment in President Barack Obama’s press conference Thursday: just hours before, the head of the Minerals Management Service had left the top post at the agency that oversees offshore oil drilling.
And yet, the president said he didn’t know whether Liz Birnbaum had resigned or been fired.
If he or she didn’t get fired… well, the First Commandment of the White House Staff has always been Thou Shalt Not Make The President Look Like A Blithering Idiot* In Public. It would be positively uncivil of me to try to encourage the executive branch of government to regularly transgress said commandment, at least until we get a President from my party in the Oval Office again.
Moe Lane
*Seriously, read the whole article: the President and his own Interior Secretary are contradicting each other over how Liz Birnbaum (Obama appointee, by the way) left MMS. The word used to describe reporters’ reaction was ‘flummoxed.’ You don’t want to see the word ‘flummoxed’ used in this situation, particularly when you’re the President and it’s your first press conference in almost a year.
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
Steve Maley
Moe Lane
Caleb Howe
Dan Spencer
Neil Stevens
Obama doesn't need his staff
Cargosquid (Diary) Friday, May 28th at 8:12AM EDT (link)to make him seem like a blithering idiot. He only has to start talking. Without a teleprompter.
God forbid that the man actually has to deal with an unscripted question. He’s actually worse than Biden. Biden usually speaks, at least what he thinks to be, the truth.
Hey, that was my line!
throwback59 Friday, May 28th at 8:46AM EDT (link)I must be getting predictable.
I like this quote even better
mriggio (Diary) Friday, May 28th at 8:27AM EDT (link)from the Politico article:
An administration official explained after the press conference that Salazar told the President Wednesday night that he had decided to replace Birnbaum at the Minerals Management Service after the President told the Secretary to make sure that every person under him was “capable of doing the job he or she had.”
Maybe making sure every person is capable of doing their job is something to examine BEFORE appointing them? You know, kind of like the way it’s done in the private sector….
mriggio
SMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Precinct Committeeman (R)
Tazewell County, Illinois
Save the
CheerleaderParty, save the World! (Heroes, ed.)My thought too
wilfranc Friday, May 28th at 9:11AM EDT (link)It was an odd statement. Even odder is that in light of the previous day’s conversation with Salazar, was that the President knew two hours before the press conference she was gone and didn’t bother to find out why or how.
He is not decisive nor apparently very well informed especially on things that don’t fit his preplanned agenda. It took him months to pick out a dog for heaven’s sake.
He makes George Bush’s storytime response to 9/11 look split second.
Defenders think because he is so intellectual he has a lot to think about, and other defenders say because he is so intellectual he speaks before his mind completely forms the words. Kind of like the Bush is a genius/idot theme.
He is an ordinary man in an extrodinary position.
Obama is responsible, but not accountable
BA Cyclone (Diary) Friday, May 28th at 11:01AM EDT (link)I certainly don’t expect Caudillo Obama to know every detail about the administration’s efforts in the response or cleanup. Some things are left to those charged with the execution of their roles and responsibilities.
However, one would think that actually knowing details about the Director-level HR decisions would make the cut of being on Obama’s radar. Sure it may be Salazar’s decision, but Obama knows nothing?
After he spent and hour telling us how it’s the admin’s top priority, that he is PERSONALLY involved at the highest level possible?
I think it’s totally a Clintonian moment – Obama spent all this political effort laying out how “the buck stops here” with “responsibility” – but that owes nothing to the administration being accountable for anything bad. Obama will claim any and all credit, but all blame will comfortably be assigned elsewhere. And if you call him on it, he will disgustedly blame the “political filter”.
“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions.” — James Madison
“Electing Republicans who don’t have the courage of their convictions may be easier in some circumstances, but it won’t save our country.” — Jim DeMint
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Obama is responsible, but not accountable
BA Cyclone (Diary) Friday, May 28th at 11:01AM EDT (link)I certainly don’t expect Caudillo Obama to know every detail about the administration’s efforts in the response or cleanup. Some things are left to those charged with the execution of their roles and responsibilities.
However, one would think that actually knowing details about the Director-level HR decisions would make the cut of being on Obama’s radar. Sure it may be Salazar’s decision, but Obama knows nothing?
After he spent and hour telling us how it’s the admin’s top priority, that he is PERSONALLY involved at the highest level possible?
I think it’s totally a Clintonian moment – Obama spent all this political effort laying out how “the buck stops here” with “responsibility” – but that owes nothing to the administration being accountable for anything bad. Obama will claim any and all credit, but all blame will comfortably be assigned elsewhere. And if you call him on it, he will disgustedly blame the “political filter”.
“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions.” — James Madison
“Electing Republicans who don’t have the courage of their convictions may be easier in some circumstances, but it won’t save our country.” — Jim DeMint
BA Cyclone’s blog
BA Cyclone on Twitter
And I thought O was a good liar.
johnt Friday, May 28th at 10:00AM EDT (link)I’m crushed.
Just what does this person do right? Liberals[?] assume if you want huge government you must be smart. Not quite.
“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville
"Blithering Idiot"
Return to Revolution (Diary) Friday, May 28th at 11:09AM EDT (link)Not just our president… but also a fine beverage.
Out of hand Constitutional fetishist
Is it possible that...
misty Friday, May 28th at 12:35PM EDT (link)The reason Obama did not know whether she had been fired or resigned is because Obama told Salazar to get rid of her, offer her a chance to tender her resignation or fire her. And at the time of the press conference, he knew she was gone, but did not know if she had accepted the offer to resign or whether Salazar had to fire her.
When you look at it that way, his answer makes sense.
So was it also Obama’s idea to get Clinton to talk with Sestak? More questions to that one too. They think it will go away once they officially throw us that bone, but it only begs for more questions. Why did it take so long to come up with the response? How many advisors did it take to come up with their story. The truth would not require all that time and advisors.