MSNBC's Wolffe Suggests Obama 'Reasonable' & 'Grownup,' GOP 'Irresponsible Children'
On Friday’s Last Word on MSNBC, as host Lawrence O’Donnell brought up his belief - explored more thoroughly earlier in the show - that President Obama had succeeded in a strategy to appear to be the "reasonable man willing to make compromises" without actually having to make those concessions, MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolffe at first seemed to buy into O’Donnell’s "cynical" theory of Obama’s true intentions, but the MSNBC analyst also suggested that Obama was indeed being "reasonable" and "the grownup in the room." He went on to suggest that Republicans were not being "responisible’ or a "serious party about deficits," and that they were behaving as "irresponsible children."
Wolffe asserted: " the TThe White House has planned this out for many months, not just weeks here. First of all, they wanted to do the deal. They wanted to be reasonable, not just look reasonable. They wanted to reach out and find the common ground and deal with deficits because it's the right thing to do."
He added that Obama had managed to "test the proposition that Republicans have laid out that they were the serious party about deficits, to see whether they could actually have any kind of leadership, be responsible," and concluded:
But, yes, in terms of being the grownup in the room, he's there. If a deal had gone through, I would argue that actually being a grownup in the room doesn't help you because irresponsible children know that there's always someone to bail them out. In this case, the collapse of the bigger deal actually in some short term - and it is just a short term aspect - helps the President. The long term, of course, it hurts all of us.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, July 22, Last Word on MSNBC:
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Richard Wolffe, I’ve been suggesting for the last couple of weeks that there were just too many incentives to get nothing here, and that nothing was a very likely outcome under the circumstance. The President has successfully portrayed himself as the reasonable man willing to make compromises that were very painful for him, and, in the end, he doesn’t have to make any painful compromises at all because John Boehner walks out, the deal’s blown up, and there’s the President, the last man standing asking to be perceived as the reasonable man. I think he’s won that perception. How does it look to you?
RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, you know, the White House - by the way, it’s very cynical and it also turns out quite realistic of you to think, by the way - yeah, look, the White House has planned this out for many months, not just weeks here. First of all, they wanted to do the deal. They wanted to be reasonable, not just look reasonable. They wanted to reach out and find the common ground and deal with deficits because it’s the right thing to do. But, in the event of failure, which they kind of suspected would happen, this was the most favorable outcome for them, which is to test the proposition that Republicans have laid out that they were the serious party about deficits, to see whether they could actually have any kind of leadership, be responsible. There’s one more hoop for them to jump through in terms of responsibility, of course, because we do still have this whole debt ceiling crisis to get through. But, yes, in terms of being the grownup in the room, he’s there. If a deal had gone through, I would argue that actually being a grownup in the room doesn’t help you because irresponsible children know that there’s always someone to bail them out. In this case, the collapse of the bigger deal actually in some short term - and it is just a short term aspect - helps the President. The long term, of course, it hurts all of us.
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Comments
If I were a 'grown-up' (which
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 10:26pm.
If I were a 'grown-up' (which I am), and I had any kind of IQ (which I do), and I had any kind of self-respect (which I also do), there is no way on this green earth that I could parrot these absolutely juvenile talking points that are repeated ad nauseum by the MSM............it's a friggin' joke what goes on here!!!
How do these guys look in the mirror??? Maybe by holding their paychecks in front of their faces???
that guy is the real
Submitted by jkwtrading on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 10:30pm.
that guy is the real geekazoid...Wolfe Woof, woof..
Ya know, James............I
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 11:17pm.
Ya know, James............I really didn't want to get into the physical appearance thing......but when you combine it with the idiotic copycat crap that this twerpy tilley says, it's not easy to avoid!!! I think that he could put on some 'cool' school clothes, and pick up Boy Barry's current press spokesman (whatever the hell his name is), and even drive by Howdy Doodie Geithners house, and they could show up at the nearest junior college and fit right in.............
Oh, Give It a Rest...
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 10:33pm.
Their spin (of Obama as the adult and the GOP as the children) always clearly unbelievable is now going really, really stale. If they ever had a chance on selling it to the public, they're losing it by beating it to death. I think even non-partisans get tired of having the media pound their biased drums over and over until everyone has a headache.
Bingo
Submitted by GregE on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 10:47pm.
To Obama, none of this is about the debt. No no no, to everyone else it is, but to him, its opportunity. Debt schmedt. He doesn't care. Literally doesn't give two craps about the substance.
O'Donnell and Wolfe both said it. He's created the "perception" that he is the grown up amongst children. And that is all he's after. The bigger the crisis, the better he likes it, because the crisis itself is a backdrop to the bigger and more important issue - his image and his election. Period.
Obama is not a leader. He doesn't know how to lead. He's never lead. Everyone knows this. Even Democrats. But they have to cover for him and talk about him as if he's a messiah. To them, he is. The rest of us know better. His image is his major concern. The bigger the crisis, the more people are paying attention, and the better the perception of him will be when he manipulates the process in order to continually build his image amongst the sheep who know no better.
Bigger crisis = bigger stage for Obama to play his image games. America be damned. Except for the "responsible adult" perception he can create, the situation literally doesn't matter at all to him, regardless of its significance to the prosperity of America.
Now is the time for all of us
Submitted by Van Halen on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 10:40pm.
Now is the time for all of us to start banding together and demanding that Obama resign before he does any more damage. He sees the writing on the wall and knows he has no chance of winning 2012. Leave now before you make it worse and take the whole Democrat Party down, Mr. President.
Gold, just opened and jumped to $1,620.00/oz.. Thanks O'bama
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 11:13pm.
And this doosey is a year old.
Dodd-Frank’s Fannie Trap
One year ago today, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Ironically, about the only two firms Dodd-Frank doesn’t touch are the two most responsible for the crisis: the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Yet Fannie and Freddie are bigger than ever, securitizing nine out of ten home mortgages and receiving unlimited guarantees from the taxpayer, thanks to the Obama administration’s Christmas Eve bailout of 2009. And one provision of Dodd-Frank has not only slowed the momentum of reforming the GSEs, but threatens to make them even bigger..
Gov Motors................. Gov Electric......................... now Gov Banks..
Who are the kids?
You Didn't Build That.
Child
Submitted by grammajane on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 11:18pm.
Speaking of a child....do folks remember the picture of Barry on a girls bike with a head helmet on? Now, that is a child. Old fox, tigar wolf or wahtever is name is might consider the folks who he calls children are in much larger numbers then his radical lib society.
Responsible adults know how
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 11:42pm.
Responsible adults know how manage money and pay their bills. Sorry but obama isn't an adult in any sense of the word.
They're all children
Submitted by Chris Norman on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 2:08am.
The voters who thought the shallow slogan of "hope and change" was enough to elect an inexperienced uber liberal as president
Obama, who acts like a spoiled, petulant, and narcissistic child who plays at being president (in between playing golf)
An administration full of childish amateurs
The Democratic Party who buy votes like a rich kid buys his friends and answer criticism by name calling
A media who act like childish teenage groupies for Obama
All of them who think government should be Santa Claus giving out goodies paid for by some "magic credit card"
The libersal propaganda
Submitted by jdhawk on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 3:24am.
The libersal propaganda machine is in full operation. The facts are that duhbama proposed a budget plan. It was voted on in the Senate. It failed 97-0.
That plan increased spending, increased deficit spending, increased the debt, and increased taxes. Even the dimocrats couldn't vote for it!
Meanwhile, it has been over two years since the Senate came up with a budget plan. The didn't propose one for fiscal year 2011 nor for fiscal year 2012.
So collectively, the dimocrats which control the presidency and controll the Senate have come up with zero, zilch, nada when it comes to a plan.
The above is not about being grown up or not, it's about power. With the media on their side, the socialists will do whatever they can to maintain and, if possible, increase their power. Presently they are winning!
And here's how CNN is portraying o'bama
Submitted by ThisnThat on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 8:17am.
Is Obama seizing the political center?
Last week, the "Gang of Six" in the Senate came forward with another compromise. As House Republicans hemmed and hawed, Obama immediately took the opportunity to enthusiastically embrace the plan as the basis for a resolution to this crisis. And on Friday, Boehner walked out of the debt talks.
If a deal comes together, Obama will be able to claim that he was an enthusiastic partner, one who helped shape the parameters of the debate. If a deal does not come through, he can blame the Republicans for refusing to compromise.
And that's how CNN lies to the public, and claims they represent the centrist, unbiased viewpoint.
__________
“Didn't win the Medal of Honor? Didn't even serve? Then lie about it. We'll support you." — 9th Circuit Court
How about them Indies?
Submitted by jon_torlin on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 8:52am.
Saw on FoxNews.com this morning that the resident socialist Bernie Sanders is accusing Soetoro of drifting towards Republican principles. I knew the guy was nuts, but dang.....
Bernie wants Soetoro to face Primary Challenger
His reasoning is that DuhOne's not living up to his campaign promises (there's a shock) but I guess he forgot when Pelousy said that that was when he was campaigning(not that he ever stopped).
I sure would never had made that assumption that I-meme was drifting to the Republican side, wow......
Them libs and socialists really are unhinged.
-Jon
By ignoring Obama's unending petulance, Wolffe confirms how..
Submitted by Thalpy on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 9:08am.
vacuous his contributions are. Obama's behavior is anything but adult. It is he who is the child in all of this. Democrats could have railroaded this through many times while they were railroading other legislation through. Of course, they would not have Republicans to blame.
our child president
Submitted by ohio granny on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 10:08am.
Our child-like president is having a tantrum just like a child. If I can't get my way I will take my toys and go home. What a boring, incompetent, irresponsible person. Maybe he should be sent to "quiet room" so the REAL adults can get some work done.