“Look, the American people have a right to feel this is a tough time right now. “I don’t expect them to be satisfied,” Obama said. He did get several questions about health care and the economy, and he did say he feels the pain and understands the frustration of the American people. He got no questions about Iraq or Afghanistan where American troops continue to fight and die, because those countries are not the flavor of the day. Direct intervention? Ground troops? Forget about it. What is Obama really going to do about Iran? His options are limited. Obama is not of the “run about, scream and shout” school of political activism that often dominates talk TV. After the news conference, you could remove the “almost.” Before the news conference, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said he was “almost debonair” in his manner. He wants to go big with a 1.9 trillion spending plan. Wearing a tie that was an icy shade of lavender, Obama remained, as always, unflappable. ATHENS US President Joe Biden, facing the great challenge of stimulating his country’s economy for the post-pandemic era, and haunted by then-President Barack Obama’s tepid stimulus in the face of the Great Recession a decade ago, has decided to err on the side of overshooting. This did not disturb the White House press corps, which is used to being stored in a cool, dark place. The news conference was supposed to be held in the Rose Garden, but when temperatures rose into the 80s, it was moved inside to the White House Briefing Room. And when NBC’s Chuck Todd asked why he would not spell out the consequences for Iran if the rulers there did not clean up their act, Obama said, “I know everybody here is on a 24-hours news cycle. Only I’m the president of the United States.” “We’ve been entirely consistent.”Īnd when another reporter asked if he was responding to the criticism of John McCain and other Republicans who implied he had been “weak and timid,” Obama said: “What do you think? I think John McCain has genuine passion about many of these international issues. Barack Obama took credit for Donald Trump's economic success saying it came from the 'stability and the growth that we initiated' and said Joe Biden is 'essentially finishing the job. Track what I’ve been saying,” the president said. Obama said he was “appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments of the last few days” in Iran.īut even when presidents try to follow the Goldilocks strategy of being “not too hot and not too cold, but just right,” they find they get held to an even higher standard: Why weren’t they just right sooner?Īfter Obama said he was “appalled and outraged,” Major Garrett of Fox News asked him, “What took you so long?”Īt this, Mr. But just a little, like a master chef looking for just the right temperature to cook the dish without burning it. So at his news conference Tuesday afternoon, Obama turned up the heat a little. They want to see some passion, some (bloodless) blood and guts. He doesn’t pump his fists in the air and whoop when things go well, and he doesn’t holler when they don’t.”īut these days - with repression and rioting in Iran - Obama’s critics want to see some pump and whoop and holler. The president who said on his 100th day in office, “Things are never as good as they seem and never as bad as they seem.”Īs David Axelrod, his chief adviser, once put it to me, “One of Barack’s strengths is that he is never too high and never too low. The not-too-cold part seems to be the tougher role for him. It doesn’t look like Trump’s tax cuts will pay for themselves.He can’t be too hot - there can be incredible repercussions both at home and abroad regarding anything he says and how he says it - but he can’t be too cold. Trump’s first three years, Trump’s deficits will be almost $1 trillion greater at $2.47 trillion versus $1.51 trillion for Obama. If, and more likely when, there is another recession the deficit could easily top $2 trillion.Īnd when you compare the last three years of Obama’s Presidency vs. This would be a 74% increase in just four years and going forward the Federal deficit could escalate to $1.7 trillion in 2030. In 2017, his first year in office the deficit grew to $666 billion, was $984 billion last year and is projected to top over $1 trillion in 2020 at $1.02 trillion. President Trump on the other hand was handed an economy that was growing. As the economy recovered the deficits shrank to a low of $442 billion in 2015 and was $585 billion his last year in office. Not surprisingly, the deficit exploded from $459 billion in calendar 2008 to over $1.4 trillion in calendar 2009. President Obama entered office in early 2009 in the teeth of the Great Recession.
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