Obama Complains He Can't Get His Message Out -- Then Talks About Chili and Doodling

July 16th, 2012 8:42 AM

Monday's Obama campaign story in The Washington Post underlined how it's continuously comical that the president would claim he's having trouble getting his message out.

The AP story the Post reprinted is short on policy and very long on Obama claiming he can cook "a really mean chili," likes to doodle in meetings,  and how he'll miss his daughters as they go to camp for a month:

In a separate interview, taped Friday and released Sunday, the 50-year-old president said the food and unfamiliar mattresses are downsides of the campaign trail.

“When you’re on the road, you end up eating a lot of stuff that tastes really good at the time but later on in the day can catch up with you, and I’m now getting to the age where being in my own bed as opposed to some other bed, is not always great for my back,” he told WJLA-TV [the ABC affiliate] in Washington.

Obama also revealed, when asked what voters don’t know about him, that he “can cook a really mean chili,” though his wife will claim that “I haven’t cooked it for about 10 years, so I really shouldn’t get too much credit for it.”

And one more: “I’m a surprisingly good pool player, so if you ever see me in a pool hall, don’t just think that you can ...”

“Don’t walk up and throw down money is what you’re saying?” interviewer Scott Thurman asked.

“That’s what I’m saying,” the president said. “I might end up cleaning your clock. That’s a possibility.”

The president also described himself as “a pretty good doodler” of faces, people and other things.

“Sometimes when I’m in a big important international meeting and you see me writings stuff down it might be that I’m just drawing some folks,” he said.

On last night's 6:30 pm newscast, WJLA's Scott Thuman apparently thought a tough question would be asking Obama about Romney: "Do you think Romney's being dishonest with the American public?" Obama said Romney should know you have to take responsibility for your actions...from the man who implicitly blames the media for failing to get his message out.

The AP story also underlined the soft-soap talk from Charlie Rose on CBS:

Reflecting on more than 3 ½ years in office, Obama said, “I think there’s no doubt that I underestimated the degree to which in this town politics trump problem solving.”

On a lighter note, he said the White House will be a quieter place this summer because his daughters, 11-year-old Sasha and 14-year-old Malia, will be in sleep-away camp for a month. The president, meanwhile, will be campaigning for re-election, spending lots of time outside Washington.

“We’re going to be experiencing the first stages of-empty nest syndrome,” he said. Asked if he’s prepared for that, the president said, “Well, I get a little depressed.”

The first lady said the Obamas will find a way for “family time, because any time the girls are out of school, that’s important time for us to spend as a family. We’re still parents where you have to juggle your time around when they’re free and summer time is that time.”

So it's important to get "family time" in the summer months, so you send the girls to camp for a month? The daughters deserve a chance to get out of the White House, but it's odd you would claim this is how you achieve some important family time.