Obama to high school grads: 'Don't make excuses'

[Jetboogieman]

And yet again... everything politisized until it's nuts come off...

 

[Renae]

That's because there's never been a president with such a crappy predecessor.

Wait, a "Very Liberal" poster from Boston Mass. WOULD forget Obama's first term, it was 1976-1980. He was called Carter. And his 4 years were the four worst years of the 20th Century. I don't recall Reagan spending two years whining about how BAD Carter made things and how HARD it was to fix all the problems...

 

[Pal]

Wait, a "Very Liberal" poster from Boston Mass. WOULD forget Obama's first term, it was 1976-1980. He was called Carter. And his 4 years were the four worst years of the 20th Century. I don't recall Reagan spending two years whining about how BAD Carter made things and how HARD it was to fix all the problems...

I don't recall Reagan being a good president, so it's moot.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

Wait, a "Very Liberal" poster from Boston Mass. WOULD forget Obama's first term, it was 1976-1980. He was called Carter. And his 4 years were the four worst years of the 20th Century. I don't recall Reagan spending two years whining about how BAD Carter made things and how HARD it was to fix all the problems...

That is because Carter did not leave the US in as crappy a position as Bush did

US government debt was far lower as a % of GDP when Carter left office then when Bush left office.

Which allowed Reagan to go on a drunken spending spree which ended up causing the Debt to GDP % to sky rocket

As Government debt was already high under Bush, Obama did not have the same opportunity to engage in drunken spending spree's like Reagan did

 

[texmaster]

You say blame, I say context and perspective...

People who make excuses always have plenty of them. Thanks for proving that,

I challenge you to find one instance of W. uttering the words: "I take full responsibility for..." (when he's talking about a mistake or shortcoming)

"As president, I'm responsible for the decision to go into Iraq."

Bush: Iraq invasion my responsibility


Finished embarrassing yourself Hazel or would you like to continue to do so?

 

[Orion]

Even though the message is coming from a politician, I don't see how you could paint this in a negative light.

 

[Zyphlin]

Good on Obama for giving a positive message that is much needed and the youth of the nation would be good to realize it. Stop the passing the buck, its always the other guys fault, mentality and own up to your mistakes so you can better embrace your successes and learn from the situations.

Now does anyone have a video of this so Obama can watch himself and take some notes? What next, George Bush giving a speech about the importance of having proper grammer and articulation?

 

[VanceMack]

I am defending the message, clearly. Are you saying it is a poor message?

You dont think kids are smart enough to see the hypocrisy? Which means they will either laugh at him...accept it as a do what I say and not what i do...or become a card carrying member of the kneepad mafia and swallow it blindly...

 

[zimmer]

Link
Obama to high school grads: 'Don't make excuses'

Pot(us) calling Kettle black.

Interesting timing.
"Don't make excuses"... That was one of John Wooden's keys passed down to him from his father. (ok and every good parent)
Now it's in a speech by Obi's telepromteur. It must have been skimming Wooden and thought AHA! That's good.

LOL... not to clever his teleprompteur. In all its excitement, it forgot the past 18-months.
The telepromteur might have added "do as I say, not as I do."
.

 

[Ikari]

Why are you people so easy to let people like Obama play the "Do as I say, not as I do" routine??

Was this somehow different for past presidents? They all do **** they claim they won't. Hell, Bush ran on a non-interventionist platform the first time....we saw what happened there. Did you call him a hypocrite? Or are you just going after Obama because he has the D next to his name? Dollars to donuts, it's the latter.

 

[digsbe]

I think Obama delivered a good message that deserves applause. However I think he needs to take it to heart himself. sometimes when the blame is legitimate it is ok to point fingers, but you can't excuse your behavior on "the other guy." The Obama administration has blamed Bush for almost everything and the point fingers at the Republicans who have no power at the moment. What they don't realize is that to point at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you

 

[Erod]

Excellent message from Obama. Right on target. I just wish it didn't require teleprompters. This is a high school class for goodness sake.

 

[zimmer]

Excellent message from Obama. Right on target. I just wish it didn't require teleprompters. This is a high school class for goodness sake.

True.

Too bad he doesn't lead by example.

.

 

[CrazyMcCool]

What he said is 100% true...Its like him saying to someone happy birthday but being bashed cause there is an oil spill and its sad...
Give me a brake :roll: What he said is epically true

 

[Goobieman]

That's because there's never been a president with such a crappy predecessor.

And THAT is nothing but abject partisan bigotry.

 

[Your Star]

Excellent message from Obama. Right on target. I just wish it didn't require teleprompters. This is a high school class for goodness sake.

Did you really just complain that he was using a teleprompter?

 

[Ockham]

Did you really just complain that he was using a teleprompter?

Well he uses them exclusively almost all the time. The ONE time he didn't use it was when he talked to the kids - when he talked to the Press AFTER talking to the kids, he did use them. Dunno - just seems he uses them to an excess. But hey, if that's the only way he can communicate effectively - It's better than not using them.

 

[Your Star]

Well he uses them exclusively almost all the time. The ONE time he didn't use it was when he talked to the kids - when he talked to the Press AFTER talking to the kids, he did use them. Dunno - just seems he uses them to an excess. But hey, if that's the only way he can communicate effectively - It's better than not using them.

It seems like a pointless complaint. What do people expect him to do, read his speeches from paper?

 

[Ockham]

It seems like a pointless complaint. What do people expect him to do, read his speeches from paper?

I guess the complaint is less about the teleprompters and more about why every time he speaks it's a "speech". How about just talking with the Press or American people. Why does everything he say have to be a written speech requiring a teleprompter?

When he has to give a speech - then use a teleprompter.

 

[webrockk]

Funny, I lost count of the number of times President Obama embraced the Truman 'doctrine' of "The Buck Stop Here." by saying the words: "I take full responsibility for this" or "this was my fault." I'm sure the hyper-partisans believe he was being disingenuous with all those instances, but his actions say otherwise, IMO.

I can't seem to remember W. ever saying that.

Obama's willingness to actually carry the burden of this office and take responsibility for various shortcomings is impressive.

Were the previous POTUS to say that at a graduation, you might have a point.

Beautiful!! What took so long!

I'm actually suprised it took 17 post to arrive at the classic derail / deflect tactic the left is so fond of employing when the topic is indefensible or uncomfortable....moral equivilence.



Mr. Pavlov meet Hazlnut.

 

[VanceMack]

Excellent message from Obama. Right on target. I just wish it didn't require teleprompters. This is a high school class for goodness sake.

Eh...a speech is a speech. Dude is pretty busy...its NOT unreasonable for him to use a temeprompter to recite a speech...especially one he didnt write. I get the criticsm about the teleprompter...its sort of embarassing responding to press questions while someone is feeding you answers...but any prepared speech...a teleprompter is pretty logical...

 

[Ockham]

Eh...a speech is a speech. Dude is pretty busy...its NOT unreasonable for him to use a temeprompter to recite a speech...

So I had to think about this a little... I'm going to have to nit pick on possibly semantics... I think Obama is busy doing the wrong things. Busy making speeches, busy being a figure head at awards, presentations, etc... I see him doing this same thing when he's out and on the speaking circuit. He's also been very busy playing golf, basketball and having concerts at the White House. Partisan hack statement right? Well --- Obama's golfed 32 times since taking office - 8 more times than GW Bush golfed in 8 years.

I know what you're going to think if not say: "So what! Let him golf - he's under pressure! He's the President for gods sake - let him golf if he wants to golf you GOP Hannity clone!"

I guess busy is a subjective term. How about concerts at the White House? According to reports - 27 concerts with food, booze, security. Foo Fighters, Smokey Robinson, McCartney apparently to the tune of 10 million dollars of tax payer money --- but only 2 State dinners. Historically? No real precedent here though FDR did some entertaining during WWII.

How many vacations? He's gone a few times - Martha's Vineyard, Chicago, a few other times but this wasn't a valid argument when Democrats complained about Bush being "on the Ranch" so much either. Presidents never really go "on vacation" as they're on the clock all the time. They're always in touch and always on the job and get briefings, reviews, etc. So not a valid argument then nor now.

There is an argument to be made that he's busy - but the perception may not be the same and he's done lots of entertaining. So some valid concerns regarding the tax money he's spending on that entertainment in a down economy, when there's 9.7% unemployment in the country, when we're still fighting 2 wars, a huge natural disaster where he's showing little leadership and bad method acting... it's not looking good.

 

[ReverendHellh0und]

You would think he'd let go of that teleprompter for this one. :ssst:


RealClearPolitics - Video - Obama Addressing High School Graduates With Teleprompters

 

[VanceMack]

So I had to think about this a little... I'm going to have to nit pick on possibly semantics... I think Obama is busy doing the wrong things. Busy making speeches, busy being a figure head at awards, presentations, etc... I see him doing this same thing when he's out and on the speaking circuit. He's also been very busy playing golf, basketball and having concerts at the White House. Partisan hack statement right? Well --- Obama's golfed 32 times since taking office - 8 more times than GW Bush golfed in 8 years.

I know what you're going to think if not say: "So what! Let him golf - he's under pressure! He's the President for gods sake - let him golf if he wants to golf you GOP Hannity clone!"

I guess busy is a subjective term. How about concerts at the White House? According to reports - 27 concerts with food, booze, security. Foo Fighters, Smokey Robinson, McCartney apparently to the tune of 10 million dollars of tax payer money --- but only 2 State dinners. Historically? No real precedent here though FDR did some entertaining during WWII.

How many vacations? He's gone a few times - Martha's Vineyard, Chicago, a few other times but this wasn't a valid argument when Democrats complained about Bush being "on the Ranch" so much either. Presidents never really go "on vacation" as they're on the clock all the time. They're always in touch and always on the job and get briefings, reviews, etc. So not a valid argument then nor now.

There is an argument to be made that he's busy - but the perception may not be the same and he's done lots of entertaining. So some valid concerns regarding the tax money he's spending on that entertainment in a down economy, when there's 9.7% unemployment in the country, when we're still fighting 2 wars, a huge natural disaster where he's showing little leadership and bad method acting... it's not looking good.

Wow...thats far more of a response than my post deserved. I simply meant that it is PROBABLY unrealistic to expect a president to memorize a speech to students when we have this wonderful thing called a teleprompter. Frankly I would rather he spend more time 'pluggin the hole, daddy.' Or at least golfing so he can let go of some stress and be more efficient.

I recently attended my wifes (3rd) graduation. ALL of the speakers used a teleprompter. The teleprompter is a part of speech giving. I agree its idiotic for him to use a teleprompter at a press conference...how much more proof do people need that when left to think on his feet that he is another woodenhead than to have someone feed him answers via a teleprompter...but for speeches? COme one...I think we have FAR better reasons to bang on the guy...

 

[Ockham]

Wow...thats far more of a response than my post deserved. I simply meant that it is PROBABLY unrealistic to expect a president to memorize a speech to students when we have this wonderful thing called a teleprompter. Frankly I would rather he spend more time 'pluggin the hole, daddy.' Or at least golfing so he can let go of some stress and be more efficient.

Well my response was more for me I think than directed at you. But I agree - he could skip the H.S. deal and start pulling people and company's on the carpet and talking straight with the American people and the folks who are directly affected.

I recently attended my wifes (3rd) graduation. ALL of the speakers used a teleprompter. The teleprompter is a part of speech giving. I agree its idiotic for him to use a teleprompter at a press conference...how much more proof do people need that when left to think on his feet that he is another woodenhead than to have someone feed him answers via a teleprompter...but for speeches? COme one...I think we have FAR better reasons to bang on the guy...

The art of "talking straight" to people is getting lost. It has to be a written speech now. Sad.