Pounding The Podium

It was rather bizarre to watch President Obama’s initial reaction to the Fort Hood tragedy.  Not only did he give a shout out to a Congressional Medal of Honor winner who wasn’t (see the story elsewhere on this blog) but he also made reference to the pending Health Care legislation before speaking about the deaths.

Critics say that through both the tone and brevity of his remarks, Obama “did not appreciate the gravity of what he represents,” said Brad Blakeman, former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush

“It was uncomfortable to watch,” he said of Obama’s comments on Thursday.

“He should have begun his official remarks with the tragedy. The fact that he used colloquialisms like “shout out” — and was so cavalier at the beginning of his remarks — was a reflection of his inability to be presidential,” said Blakeman, though he stressed Obama’s comments were not “ill-intended.”

“He’s not comfortable enough in his role yet,” he said.

Blakeman cited the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, during which Bush was roundly criticized for his immediate reaction to the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Critics blasted Bush, who was visiting a Florida elementary school, for waiting seven minutes to excuse himself from a classroom of students after then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told him a second hijacked jetliner had hit the World Trade Center.

“He didn’t have all the information to make a statement,” Blakeman said in Bush’s defense.

If you watch Hannity, odds are you have been driven crazy by Bob Beckel, who consider’s Obama the most brilliant president since FDR – and the most fisically responsible – Hookay.

But others, like Democratic strategist Bob Beckel, whoo managed Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign, said Obama handled the Fort Hood tragedy with the right presidential instincts.

“He was eloquent in how he talked about it,” said Beckel. “It was a difficult situation.”

Beckel blasted conservative critics, saying, “Republicans would criticize Obama on how he took a shower in the morning.” Probably not, but God knows the Main Street Media would LOVE a video of it that they could publish to futher prove their unmitigated love for the ONE.

“This is a guy who went to Delaware to see bodies brought back from Afghanistan,” demonstrating a compassion for fallen soldiers and their families that Bush lacked, he said.”  What???  Bush lacked?  Maybe Bush didn’t view visits to the families of fallen soldiers ‘photo ops’ Bob – you giagantic boob.  And what about the fact that Bush made the trip to Fort Hood ahead of Obama but with a lot less publicity?

The sad fact of this matter is that for all the left’s talk about Obama’s cereberlism and charm and book writing ability and overall brilliance he cannot seem to get out of his own way.  Perhaps it is all the focus on “me, me, me” that is so troubling as in his saying “I want all of you to know that as commander in chief that there is no greater honor but also no greater responsibility for me than to make sure that the extraordinary men and women in uniform are properly cared for…”

You would think that with all the Czars or advisors or prophets or whatever you want to call them that President Obama surrounds himself with that someone would give him some clue as to how to act.  Admittedly it is a lot tougher to act “Presidential” off the cuff that with the friendly teleprompter providing guidance, but the additional five minutes wait that would have ensuied from telling the President what to say would have been time well spent.

For more on this story see:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/06/obamas-response-fort-hood-shooting-scrutiny/