Heh. I loved David Letterman’s Reaction to that Statement; it was like “Oh man… where do I go from here?”
Quote:
Addressing suggestions that recent criticism of his health care reform efforts has been grounded in racism, President Obama this afternoon quipped, “I think it’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election.”
The comment, which the president made in an afternoon taping of CBS’ “The Late Show,” promoted laughter from the audenice and this response from host David Letterman: “How long have you been a black man?”
Mr. Obama said the notion that racism is playing a role in the criticism, which has been voiced by former President Jimmy Carter and others, is countered in part by the fact that he was elected in the first place – which, he said, “tells you a lot about where the country’s at.”
“One of the things that you sign up for in politics is that folks yell at you,” the president said, noting that “whenever a president tries to bring about significant changes, particularly during times of economic unease, there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up.” He pointed to the experiences of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan as examples.
I have to give the President a little credit. He does have a good sense of humor; and he did handle the question of racism in a very classy manner. He also said something that I thought was very true and that was when you get into politics, you do sign up for people to yell at you. So, I think he knows what he got into and at least he is honest about it.
He also expressed some honesty, which is a bit of nice change:
The appearance was not all jokes; Mr. Obama said that the economy was improving but that employment was lagging behind.
“Unemployment is still going to be a big problem for at least another year,” he said, though he insisted the economy would emerge “stronger than before.”
On Afghanistan, the president said that he will not make a decision whether to send more troops until he decides on a strategy following a comprehensive review. The top commander in Iraq has warned that more troops are needed for the U.S. to have a chance to emerge victorious.
Asked by Letterman about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama said, “because Saddam Hussein is not there, that’s a good thing. He was somebody who certainly had aspirations to cause a lot of trouble.”
Mr. Obama added, however, that “that given the enormous stakes we had in Afghanistan, we should have finished the job there.”
I cannot honestly find fault in any of what I quoted. The President is not making any rapid fire decisions. He is taking his time with the situation and that is a change of pace. As I wrote before; the whole Iraq and Afpac War is a huge challenge and making off the cuff decisions is not a wise move. I just hope he does not lose his nerve to fight.