While Barack Obama was touring Western Europe to convince the world, and American voters, that he's ready to get serious about diplomacy, foreign oil, and handshaking, he fell into the same trap that Jesse Jackson, George W. Bush, and CNN anchor Kyra Phillips have all fallen into: getting too close to a live mic.
While meeting with British opposition leader David Cameron at the Houses of Parliament in London, the pair spoke a little to close to a ABC News mic. Which was on.
And, boringly, recording nothing scandalous.
Cameron:“You should be on the beach. You need a break. Well, you need to be able to keep your head together.”
Obama:“You’ve got to refresh yourself.”
Cameron:“Do you have a break at all?”
Obama:“I have not. I am going to take a week in August. But I agree with you that somebody, somebody who had worked in the White House who - not Clinton himself, but somebody who had been close to the process - said that, should we be successful, that actually the most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking. And the biggest mistake that a lot of these folks make is just feeling as if you have to be . . .”
Cameron:“These guys just chalk your diary up.”
Obama:“Right. In 15-minute increments . . .”
Cameron:“We call it the dentist’s waiting room. You have to scrap that because you’ve got to have time.”
Obama:“And, well, and you start making mistakes, or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel . . .”
Cameron:“Your feeling. And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions.”
Obama:“That’s exactly right. And the truth is that we’ve got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know 10 times more than we do about the specifics of the topics.
“And so if what you’re trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you.”
Editorial Director
Umm, I'm still trying to determine exactly what was inappropriate or salacious about any of those remarks? Personally I found it refresing to hear some frank discourse about the reality of holding public office.
I agree, Johnny. Seemed like an interesting, intelligent conversation about how to handle the pressures of public office.
I didn't find anything wrong in that conversation, I think Bush takes those big chunks of time but to get stoneeeed, haha sorry I just watched Harold and Kuman go to Guantanamo Bay.
Barack obama & John McCain both are scraping the bottom of the barrel on candidates, IF YOU WANT THINGS TO STAY THE SAME VOTE FOR MCCAIN, IF YOU WANT THINGS TO GET 1OO TIME WORSE, VOTE FOR OBAMA
But both candidates are pretty worthless, by far,
The only difference is Barack Obama has CNN & Msnbc doing its propaganda for barack obama, You got to admit its pretty bad with the news media, barack has taken off, barack has landed, barack is eating a sandwich, Barack just took a shit, barack just wipped with twice with 2 ply toilet paper, but they are not being unfair according wolf blitzer, Anderson cooper, keith oberman, are working together, with barack obama, simple minded people who are in to these reality TV,, that has nothing to do with reality, They follow who is favored, what ever News Media want them to win, people in america can not think for them self,, they have to see highlights, who going to win, who ever make the most money or looks good on camera is all that matters, Of course Not who is better for this country, American do not think that way not at all they follow who ever famous,
Refreshing to see they were discussiong how to stay capable of governing in the midst of the pressures of high-level government instead of muttered racist remarks, casual abuse of staffers, or embarrassingly juvenile threats.
And what's up with all the proselytising in the comments?
Whenever I think I can't love this guy anymore…"sigh"
…and I wonder what all the neighsayers, who complain about how "incompetent" he is imagine a competent candidate would look like? Is Bush competent looking? Who's competent to you pointless boneheads spewing endless irrelevent criticism?