>> This is the first I've heard of such an account.
The first you've heard of what account?
>> And its at least second sourced if not worse because Woodward was not in the meeting.
Yes, well, sources are part of the news business. But as newsmen go, Woodward is just about as reputable as you can get.
>> Was that 'leaked' by some of your R sources?
I don't know who they got it from. More choice tidbits:
As debt negotiations progressed, Democrats complained of being out of the loop, not knowing where the White House stood on major points. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, is described as having a “growing feeling of incredulity” as negotiations meandered.
“The administration didn’t seem to have a strategy. It was unbelievable. There didn’t seem to be any core principles,” Woodward writes in describing Van Hollen’s thinking.
…
Larry Summers, a top economic adviser to Obama who also served as Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, identified a key distinction that he said impacted budget and spending talks.
“Obama doesn’t really have the joy of the game. Clinton basically loved negotiating with a bunch of pols, about anything,” Summers said. “Whereas, Obama, he really didn’t like these guys.”
…
Woodward portrays a president who remained a supreme believer in his own powers of persuasion, even as he faltered in efforts to coax congressional leaders in both parties toward compromise. Boehner told Woodward that at one point, when Boehner voiced concern about passing the deal they were working out, the president reached out and touched his forearm.
“John, I’ve got great confidence in my ability to sway the American people,” Boehner quotes the president as having told him.
…
With the nation facing the very real possibility of defaulting on its debt for the first time in its history, David Krone, the chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, told the president directly that he couldn’t simply reject the only option left to Congress.
“It is really disheartening that you, that this White House did not have a Plan B,” Krone said, according to Woodward.
>> .you thought and continue to think GW was the best thing since ice cream.
GWB was a great president. But his greatness may just be an illusion resulting from comparing him with this midget currently running the show.
I am very pleased to see irrefutable facts starting to come out that basically back up what I and others have been saying for the last four years. |
