Bill Clinton said President Obama was "luckier than a dog with two d---s" for catching lucky break after lucky break during the 2012 presidential race while Republican challenger Mitt Romney crashed and burned in his campaign.
"Romney's ineptness staggered Clinton," according to a new political tell-all about the contest, "Double Down," by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Politico reported.
"He really shouldn't be speaking to people in public," Clinton said, according to the book, citing Romney's oratory weakness and embarrassing 47% comment that helped derail his bid.
You know I don't think I would have chosen exactly those words to describe the President's fortune with the Romney nomination, but I cannot fault Clinton's assessment of Mitten's constant stumbles and gaffes. At times it did almost seem that Romney was attempting to sabotage his own campaign.
I think I may have to buy this new book by Halperin and Heilemann, just like I did the last one. It seems clear that it contains some very interesting nuggets for political junkies like me.
There was no LUCK in President Obama winning 2 elections - with two majorities voting for him. Vulgar phrases do not a statesman make and luck was not what created those majorities.
ReplyDeleteMuch of what has been printed from the book is hearsay and gossip - you will have to search hard any truthful "nuggets"
I think Clinton is repulsive.
DeleteApparently, even PBO said he can only take Bill "in small doses".
I concur.
Agreed. Luck is often *created* by someone in their being prepared for a potential opportunity unforeseen by others beforehand. Mental flexibility and the ability to multitask without losing efficiency and productivity are gifts that allow some to react quicker and more decisively than those who feel the need to stop and test the wind's direction, speed, etc to determine how a plan needs to be tweaked in a dynamic situation which is fluid and requires changing gears for dissentient altitudes, terrain, and weather conditions, in consideration for what is anticipated in the present and near/term as well as the unknown down the road a ways.
DeleteLike a quarterback who is seldom sacked because he had "instinct" when to bail out of the pocket and either improvise or decides to just throw it away, go huddle and call another play based on a tendency or a read he learned on the throw-away play.
Although our POTUS has proven he's an awful bowler, if he were a quarterback, I think I would want him running the two-minute drill at the end of a game when its outcome is still in doubt. He is thinking in layers about the current situation with personnel, past plays and tendencies exhibited, and using those to plot a set of future tactics that with exploit the weaknesses of his competition while being unpredictable in his tactics. When the opposition seems to have predicted his response to the conditions at hand, he has added a wrinkle not seen before in anticipation of the opposition's expected movement.
Bill was an effective president for the most part, but had to use his charm factor to help himself through tough situations, whereas Obama has to outthink his opponents. It is much like the chess game metaphor, except that the game isn't played on a board and there are people, not game pieces. The plan is executed by the people he puts in place for certain objectives, and they help him "get lucky".
It sounds condescending in a way, but I think that Bill's ego keeps him from being truly appreciative of Obama skill sets. In this regard, I think that Bill is using hindsight to evaluate the decisions that the President has made that might be a different tack that Clinton might have thought would be optimal.
With just a turn of a phrase, I can see him applauding Obama for recognizing how best to exploit Romney's gaffes when they were made under in action and under live fire., and that Obama was "lucky" because he chose the right conditions to be prepared for. In that case, luck is really proper preparation and trusting his gut to know when to pull the trigger and when to save the ammo for a later charge. I could've squeezed in a few more cliches but I'm already rolling my eyes at myself here. Bottom line, I don't think that Clinton is dissing, he's just giving a limited compliment, thinking himself to be the superior politician ("Man, if I had been that lucky, I would've taken the House too and had the Senate at 60 for the Dems." Or something like that. Just a thought.
Yeah, luck had nothing to do with it. If Obama was such a weak candidate, then why did no one from the GOP A team decide to take him on? How come the GOP challengers were a one-term governor and previous presidential loser, a former Speaker of the House who hadn't been in office for 16 years and a loser ex-senator famous for his name being turned into a byproduct of anal sex. Oh...and a guy who was a CEO of a pizza company no one heard of before he ran for office. I guess you could say that Rick Perry was on the A-team...that is...until he opened his mouth. No, all the heavy hitters and people with REAL potential to win sat out 2012 -- BECAUSE THE PRESIDENT IS AWESOME...either that or because Georgie Boy left the country in such a mess that no one wanted to finish the clean up. (I think that's more likely the answer...although the prez is a formidable campaigner...)
ReplyDeleteThey had nothing. They still do.
DeleteFrom one born and raised in the South, the expression is "proud as a pup with two peckers".
ReplyDeleteI escaped from the South and fled Northwest, more than a few decades ago - but there are a few things I will remember fondly about the South: fried green tomatoes, wild dogwood in bloom and Southern Idioms.
I like your saying better
DeleteHey, Gryph, speaking of our President....thought of you!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/03/campaigning-mcauliffe-obama-defends-science-you-argue-facts.html
O/T but important to note. Check out Malia's blog in blogroll on left about Billy Graham's Birthday Party--which he is too old and infirmed to attend:
ReplyDelete"Thus this birthday party, to be attended by Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, is not an intimate gathering of the old man’s closest and dearest friends, to reminisce about the old days. Instead it will be a spectacle of 800 people who won’t even say “hello” to Billy Graham. Instead it appears to be a political rally of conservatively minded
people who are happy to exploit an old man who worked hard during his life not be become involved in politics.
It is Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham who is planning the party. He has been accused of injecting his father into politics in ways that the elder Graham was careful to avoid. Franklin Graham aligns himself politically with religious conservatives in a way that Billy Graham would not.
Franklin Graham has admitted that some of the people invited to the party don’t even know his father. "
Someone above mentioned 'repulsive'.
DeleteFranklin Graham is repulsive, and uses fau xtianity to revile others.
He is no credit to his father, who also fleeced the flock, but not this way.
The B.
Don't believe ole Billy wasn't political.He always supported republicans and conservative causes.If I remember correctly he was at the white house praying with Nixon.He also scrubbed his website of Mormon Cult status for Mitt Romney.Now he may not be as big an asshole as his son but the apple didn't roll too far away from the tree.
DeletePresident Obama won in 2008 and again in 2012 because he was the far better candidate.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Yes! 'Nuff said, end of the debate. Goodnight conspiracy theorists and teabaggers!
DeleteLove Billos crassness. It's actually charming coming from him. Real. Now if he would be publicly honest about how much he truly hates Obama, I could respect him. Sighhhhhh
ReplyDeleteObama: proof an unaccomplished, inarticulate (without a script) privately temperamental hack can become president
Palin: proof an unaccomplished, inarticulate (without a script) privately temperamental hack can become the governor of one of the least populated states in the country. Oh, and then bail on those citizens half way through her term to become a professional grifter! Only in America!
DeleteAww.
DeleteYou're stupid.
Sarah: proof an unaccomplished, inarticulate (with or without a script) privately temperamental hack can not become more than a red meat thrower for people that are confined by their conservative values. Your Sarah who hates Obama and her crassness has never been charming or honest. I could never respect her. Sheeeeez
DeleteRJ in Brownbackistan
Sarah: proof that fools and their money are soon parted.
DeleteRe: Mittens. I think Egg wanted the presidency more than he did.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I don't care what anyone says about Bill Clinton...yeah, yeah, he really 'screwed' up with his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky...I'm a die-hard Democrat, and I was really furious at him over all that stupidity at the time..however, no one can dispute the fact that Bill
ReplyDeleteClinton is a brilliant politician...he just is. So take that, mAnn Coulter!
Clinton's speech last year at the Democratic Convention was outstanding, and he hit it out of the ballpark. Thank you, Mr. Clinton, for your years of service to this country and for recognizing another brilliant politician (Barack Obama) and helping Mr. Obama whenever you were called upon, and helping getting him elected by emphasizing and highlighting the ridiculousness and the hypocrisy of the Republican Party...
Word.
DeleteI have to smile whenever a conservative calls President Barack Obama "inept" or "weak" or "an unaccomplished, inarticulate (without a script) privately temperamental hack"
ReplyDelete...because he quite handily won.
...TWICE.
So... if those gibes at the President are true, then what does that say about the conservative candidates?
They couldn't win even with rigged voting machines, voter intimidation, gerrymandering and hours-long lines at the polls.
DeleteAnd it's not looking good for 2016 either even though they've added voter suppression and blaming the other party for their own 8 years of obstruction, government shutdowns and the threat of default.
Remember the GOP assclowns that Candidate Obama was up against? What Luck? And Romney appears on David Gregory's program to diss Obamacare (ironically modeled after something called "Romneycare"). The depth of his ineptness can only be matched by the depth of his hubris.
ReplyDeleteWhat about John McCain? He shot himself by picking that retarded turd from the last frontier.
ReplyDelete