Obama Too Busy To Be Effective

Does one admire Bob Woodward for his undying loyalty to Obama or pity Woodward for being such a fool?

Yesterday on Face the Nation, Woodward tried to make the case that Obama is struggling because he's so busy. His "day is crazy."

That's right. Obama is so busy that he has time to get a busted lip playing basketball.

Video.



Transcript

BOB SCHIEFFER: Bob Woodward, let me ask you this. What happened to Barack Obama after the campaign? It was one of the most effective campaigns I’ve ever seen and somehow after that it seems like he can’t catch a break, whether it’s his fault or not. Somehow he seems to have lost his groove.

BOB WOODWARD: That’s true. And I think it’s this ambivalence that he has. He-- he understands things. There is-- intellectually, but there is not that slogan from the campaign yes, we can. There is all-- he seems to be holding back. I mean you’re talking about silence and the power of silence. In the CIA they often talk about let the silence suck out the truth. And you know as a journalist if you just sit there sometimes and let there become silence, people will fill it up with answers and in many ways you-- you get some of your best answers in that silence. I-- I think Obama, there is an uncertain compass in him that he is communicating to people and the-- the political opposition is taking advantage of it. And the general populous senses it. And so he’s going to have to come out and come-- he has to come out with a clear program in statements on all the pressing issues that are on his plate which are many.

EDMUND MORRIS: Of course, he’s not writing his own speeches anymore, which I think he did in the campaign. And he doesn’t sound like Barack Obama anymore whereas when he was campaigning he sounded really authentic, passionate and extremely articulate.

BOB WOODWARD: I think he gets involved in the speeches but if you look at--

BOB SCHIEFFER: Hm.

EDMUND MORRIS: Presidency.

BOB WOODWARD: --his day. I mean, the day is crazy. And there-- there are so many meetings. There are so many outings. There are so many handshakes. There are so many trips to Ohio and here, you know, the-- as Roosevelt you always point out would read a book or two a day, right?

EDMUND MORRIS: Yeah, but presidents-- presidents have plenty of spare time. They-- they waste a lot of time grouping and grinning. But I know even from when I was in the White House with Ronald Reagan, he said to me, you know, I meet eighty new people every day but he still had plenty of time to write his letters by hand and to compose some of his strongest speeches.

"[T]he day is crazy. And there-- there are so many meetings. There are so many outings. There are so many handshakes. There are so many trips to Ohio and here, you know."

Woodward has to be kidding.

So many outings?

So many handshakes?

So many meetings?

So many trips to Ohio?

Good grief.