Srsly, you didn't think they wouldn't be talking about tonight's Q&A with the Republicans, did you?
More on the flip.
Now, being the movie geek that I am, this is what came to my mind after seeing President Obama take on 142 Republican Congresspeople in Baltimore tonight:
If nobody gets the comparison I'm making between a modern-day President and two female characters from relatively recent films (one based, albeit loosely, on an actual historical character), the River character in the Serenity movie and Cate Blanchett's rendition of Queen Elizabeth I possess quiet resolve, clarity, and courage that becomes crystal-clear to those around them only--and some might say, especially, when their characters are truly tested. Though their allies might lose faith in them and their foes underestimate them (both parties mistaking their understatedness for weakness), they roar out of the chaos kicking ass when all is said and done at the end of the day.
And thus it was tonight with President Obama, as he, in the words of HuffPo's Sam Stein, mauled the GOP lions after they encircled him in their own den.
As for the usual suspects who make up the GOP's base?
Predictable reactions from the Freepi included denial, delusion, and downplay:
As others have noted, the speech very much seemed to be an attempt by the president to show that he is bipartisan, friendly, and open to GOP ideas - no matter how the facts might appear to you. Both sides took the opportunity to play to the cameras of course, with long questions centering on deficits and broken promises, and well-rehearsed answers about the trillions in deficits inherited from President Bush.
Obama looked like a bumbling, uninformed, phony moron. Now if the press wants to spin it another way, who cares? This event will be forgotten before the end of the weekend. However, some of Obama’s answers will be saved on tape forever.
The House GOP did a very good job grilling Obama. Quit being frightened by Obama.
Take him down with his own words and arrogance.
Glenn Beck does it daily.
(One moment while I wipe the soda from my monitor after snorting it through my nose in laughter. Oy, what a visual...)
More reactions included anger at their own party--and they call US a divided party?
It appears the perception is that Obama skillfully reached out to the STUPID Republicans.
Whoever set this up needs to be voted out this November.
Goodbye 2010 elections.
Will these ignorant fools ever learn? You turn out your base and the independents follow.
Does this party love being the permanent minority?
Did they learn nothing in 2006 and 2008?
The elections is all but being handed to them on a silver platter and they wish to throw it away.
Some of the commenters were downright vicious, and directed their vitriol at Obama--spitefully, which is SO uncharacteristic of them (NOT):
Hit Obama hard and really tear him apart.
Look how the democrats bashed Bush and it worked.
Republicans have to stop being courteous.
Obama is loathsome to say the least.
He's trying to destroy our Republic, so state exactly that and point to his deficits, his big government solutions and his unprecedented spending.
(Ummmm...were the Republicans EVER that courteous to him? I mean, when it wasn't directly to his face...)
Weird, I thought he looked like a tyrant dictator who was lying, and absolutely intends to squash any dissent at every opportunity.
Karl Rove said this was nothing but a photo op for the impostor...just a political gimmick...
Because everything that comes out of Karl Rove's mouth has been so reliable, what with him and THE math and all...
And here's a true Tea Party "revolutionary" type, spouting out his wisdom on how he feels it should be done:
Too many seem to think their mission is to settle for providing a kinder, gentler form of despotism. Those politically active people who truly want smaller government and greater freedom must understand they are in a war without bloodshed against an implacable enemy. The town hall meetings and Tea Party movement seem to indicate some folks (but not the Republican leadership) are willing to acknowledge (for now) the existence of a long standing declaration of war by liberals/progressives. Politics must be populated steadfast leaders who have a genetic predisposition to freedom equivalent to the men who wrought the Miracle in Philadelphia. There just don’t seem to be enough of them.
Ummmm...by "genetic predisposition," do you mean Caucasian?
But lo, a bit of cogency...
Obama did not look "bumbling", rather he looked like a lion tamer who walked into the cage before 140 Republicans and proved that he can master them without a Teleprompter. Obama looked fully in command. The Republicans did not do a good job of grilling him, they were pathetic. He walked into their trap but he sprung it on them.
To the contrary, we should be very afraid of Obama because he is one of the best mechanics and craftsman among politicians alive today. The only two good things that can be said of this performance: First, no self-respecting observer will ever again say that Obama cannot operate without a Teleprompter and we will cease deceiving ourselves, at least in this respect; second, you are quite right, the event will soon be forgotten because the people are not interested in this kind of give-and-take which has not been hyped; they are interested in jobs and their mortgages.
Funny how Republicans only think about these bread-and-butter issues when it's their political asses on the line...and only as a way to distract from having the sunlight shine as a disinfectant on them. Figures.
He continues--his argument, from a right-wing perspective, is actually so good I was thinking perhaps a stealth liberal was sneaking in as a zombie troll or something...
The proper lesson to take from this is not the tangle with Obama by going into a gunfight with a knife. If you want to grill someone you do not do it the way it was done today. You have one interlocutor who asks follow-up questions and cross examines the subject in a coherent and systematic style. It does no good in the perception game if your only achievement is to give some of your Republicans a chance to stand up and show the folks back home that they had an exchange with the president of the United States. You cannot succeed by asking unconnected questions. Cross examination must be planned affair with every alternative anticipated. Most of those Republicans in that room were lawyers but not a damn one of them acted like it.