The epitome of double talk.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/19/aig.fallout/index.html
"I know Washington's all in a tizzy and everybody's pointing fingers at each other and saying it's their fault, the Democrats' fault, the Republicans' fault. Listen, I will take responsibility. I'm the president," Obama said Wednesday at the town hall meeting in Costa Mesa, California.
But the president's mea culpa wasn't all encompassing.
"We didn't draft these contracts," he said. "We've got a lot on our plate. But it is appropriate when you're in charge to make sure stuff doesn't happen like this. So for everybody in Washington who's busy scrambling to try to figure out how to blame somebody else, just go ahead and talk to me, because it's my job to fix these messes even if I don't make them."
I'm sorry, what? What was that last part? Even if you don't make them?
Those comments, said economist Peter Morici, were hardly apologetic.
"I think frankly it's a disingenuous comment because he isn't doing very much about the problem, and after all it was the White House that leaned against Sen. Dodd regarding that amendment in the stimulus package," said Morici, a professor of international business at the University of Maryland and the former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Stephen Hayes, a CNN contributor and columnist for the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, also wrote off Obama's words as "phony."
"He tried to take responsibility for it, but then he followed that up immediately by saying, look, we didn't write these contracts. I didn't create this mess. So, it felt a little bit like phony responsibility to me," he said.
Obama's remarks followed denials from Dodd that he had anything to do with the controversy and assurances from Obama's economic advisers that they had no control over AIG's bonuses.
Now, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is facing criticism from some Democrats and calls from some Republicans to step down, and the Obama administration is left with yet another bump on the road to restoring public confidence in government.
In Obama's case, "blame me" is political code for "move on," said Candy Crowley, CNN's senior political correspondent.
Right, of course. That's the alma mater of the left side. If it's the right side, aka Bush, attack him until you are blue in the face, get your lynch mobs and pitchforks and call for his ousting. But if it's Obama......just move on.
Posts
