Just for you, Mr Proud:
President Obama throws a tantrum at press conference – compares his opponents to hostage-takers and deadbeats
I’ve just watched Barack Obama’s press conference at the White House, where the president has been talking about the government shutdown and the possibility of a US default over the debt ceiling. It wasn’t a pretty sight. The most powerful man on earth, the leader of the free world, lashed out at conservatives in Congress (whom he labeled as “extremists”), accusing them of “ransom” and “extortion,” even comparing them to a “deadbeat” who doesn’t pay the mortgage.
This was a childish, as well as unpleasant, display of petulance by Mr. Obama, who treats elected officials as though they were puppets who should dance to his tune. It was followed by an embarrassing set of hand-picked questions from a largely subservient liberal-dominated media, none of which seriously challenged the president’s policies or his handling of the shutdown. In the UK, a British prime minister would never get away with this kind of performance without a barrage of relentlessly tough questioning.
Barack Obama’s approach today was imperial in style, both arrogant and condescending, and deeply partisan in outlook. There was not a hint of humility on show from the president, against a backdrop of declining poll numbers and mounting disillusionment with his presidency. The United States is facing the prospect of a default overwhelmingly because of Obama’s big spending, big government programmes, which have added a staggering $6 trillion to the national debt. The shutdown has been prompted by the imposition of a hugely unpopular health care reform, forced on the American people despite the fact that the Democrats no longer control the House of Representatives. This is a president who is incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions, who refuses to listen to any criticism of his policies, and is more willing to negotiate with a state sponsor of terrorism in Tehran than sit down with Republicans in Congress.
Read more by Nile Gardiner on Telegraph Blogs |
