Obama press conference thread

by desmoinesdem, Thu May 27, 2010 at 02:37:19 PM EDT

I wasn't able to watch President Obama's press conference today, but wanted to put up this thread to discuss it. The consensus on Twitter seems to be that the White House press corps didn't ask very good questions. Read the Daily Caller's liveblog and judge for yourself.

Before taking questions, Obama confirmed changes in administration policy on offshore drilling reported earlier today:

President Obama also is expected to announce a suspension of upcoming lease sales in the western Gulf of Mexico, after receiving a 30-day review of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion that caused an ongoing massive leak.

The White House also will propose more rigorous oil development regulations and oversight as part of an effort to boost its response to the disaster as criticism has mounted of its handling of the worsening crisis.

Obama plans to extend the current moratorium on new deepwater drilling, put in place after the Gulf leak began, until the independent commission created to investigate the spill and to make recommendations for improvements can complete its work.

Any applications for exploratory drilling in the Arctic will be suspended until 2011, sources said. That includes suspending preliminary permits that had already been given to Shell to drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off Alaska, which had been scheduled to start in less than 35 days.

A lease sale 50 miles off the coast of Virginia planned by 2012 also will be canceled.

Most of the questions related to the BP oil spill in the gulf. Obama said he was in charge and took responsibility for the damage caused and for not changing the culture at the Minerals Management Service quickly enough. He did not confirm whether that agency's head, Elizabeth Birnbaum, resigned or was fired.

Asked about our Afghanistan policy, Obama defended our military involvement. Responding to a question about Arizona's new immigration law, Obama said it's "the wrong approach" but didn't endorse any boycotts. He confirmed that the Department of Justice is reviewing the law. Fox News reporter Major Garrett asked about the allegations that the administration offered Joe Sestak a job to get him out of Pennsylvania's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Obama said, "“There will be an official response shortly on the Sestak issue, which I hope will answer your questions, [...] I can assure the public that nothing improper took place, but as I said, there will be a response shortly on that issue."

The floor is yours.

Tags: Barack Obama, oil spill, offshore drilling, Joe Sestak (all tags)

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geez

Seems like a non-event. I wasn't even aware that a presser had been scheduled.

I am still fuming over his war on drugs. Like with all things Obama, he says one thing and does another. So while it's great that the Administration is treating drug addiction as a medical issue and not a criminal justice one rhetorically in reality there has been no change in policy. Americans are still having their homes raided and we continue to fumigate across the world destroying everything in sight.

Come 2012, I won't lift a finger for Obama. 

by Charles Lemos 2010-05-27 03:29PM | 0 recs
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RE: won't lift a finger?

 Oh, yes you will. Your middle finger. You know, the one you've been lifting all along.

Not that I wouldn't smoke some of your pot if it were legal.

by QTG 2010-05-27 04:28PM | 0 recs
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Over THAT

Gee, you guys are fickle.

by DTOzone 2010-05-28 10:02PM | 0 recs
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BP is withholding information

 

I've been watching CNN's John King. He's been making a huge deal out of the fact that BP stopped pumping the so-called mud through the pipe at about midnight last night and didn't tell anyone. I must say I agree with him that it is a big deal. To make matters worse, a high-ranking BP official was on Wolf Blitzer two hours earlier when he was asked about such rumors. He went on record to say that he was unaware of it. He honestly thought we were all stupid enough to believe it I guess. The rumor was later confirmed by BP to be true. Meanwhile, you have Obama trying to assure the public, and getting considerable criticism from both political parties, and some of it deserved. However, Obama is paralyzed as long as BP is lying and or withholding important information from the government and the public.  But, on CNN, all John King and the other so-called journalists can do is fan the "Obama isn't doing enough" flames. Why not ask Anderson Cooper to get out of the oil-soaked marshes and ask all of the experts about what the government can do about BP when it is clearly interfering with the government's ability to assure the public? By the way, maybe somebody can tell me. What CAN the government do about BP lying to them?

I've been watching CNN's John King. He's been making a huge deal out of the fact that BP stopped pumping the so-called mud through the pipe at about midnight last night and didn't tell anyone. I must say I agree with him that it is a big deal. To make matters worse, a high-ranking BP official was on Wolf Blitzer two hours earlier when he was asked about such rumors. He went on record to say that he was unaware of it. He honestly thought we were all stupid enough to believe it I guess. The rumor was later confirmed by BP to be true.

 

Meanwhile, you have Obama trying to assure the public, and getting considerable criticism from both political parties, and some of it deserved. However, Obama is paralyzed as long as BP is lying and or withholding important information from the government and the public. 

 

But, on CNN, all John King and the other so-called journalists can do is fan the "Obama isn't doing enough" flames. Why not ask Anderson Cooper to get out of the oil-soaked marshes and ask all of the experts about what the government can do about BP when it is clearly interfering with the government's ability to assure the public? By the way, maybe somebody can tell me. What CAN the government do about BP lying to them?

 

by zenful6219 2010-05-27 08:04PM | 0 recs
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RE: BP is withholding information

Is it clear that BP withheld the information from the government, as opposed to the public?  What is their incentive to do so?

by Steve M 2010-05-28 01:17AM | 0 recs
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Gum up enough public outrage

to force the administration to take over plugging the leak and cleaning the mess up, which has the added positive effect for BP of either A.) politically damaging an administration that's not friendly to Big Oil if they can't fix it or B.) Force the government to pay for the fix and the cleanup instead of BP and then when the government seeks to get reinburstment from BP, drag litigation out in the courts for years.

or both.

 

 

by DTOzone 2010-05-28 10:09PM | 0 recs
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Our war?

Asked about our Afghanistan policy, Obama defended our military involvement.


It's the Bush military strategy regime on having 100,000 troops or more stationed in the ME without end. Nothings changed. Obama is defending Bush's military strategy.

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-28 07:20AM | 0 recs
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Oh Jerome

I know you're a moron, everyone's told me, but even you're not stupid enough to know Afghanistan is not geographically in the Middle East, but rather Central Asia.

So when Bush said 100,000 troops in the Middle East, you and I both know that was Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. But if you think he meant Afghanistan, yeah, you're right, he is defending Bush's military strategy, always was since the moment he announced his run for President.

and so did the other candidates. Would have been nice to hear you speak up on that, oh, I don't know, TWO years ago.

But this is not about Afghanistan, we know that.

by DTOzone 2010-05-28 10:06PM | 0 recs
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you got your two bit role in the war down at least

"Would have been nice to hear you speak up on that, oh, I don't know, TWO years ago."

http://mydd.com/dna/posts/48853

Would have been nice to see you try to google before making yourself look like a fool.

 

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-30 12:02AM | 0 recs
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Oh sorry, page you were looking for cannot be found

because it doesn't exist. You're silence on Afghanistan was well noted during the primaries and general Jerome.

by DTOzone 2010-05-30 03:37AM | 0 recs
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you should try some silence to stop looking foolish

Here's the post I linked to:

http://mydd.com/2008/7/14/obama-my-plan-for-iraq

by Jerome Armstrong 2010-05-30 10:27AM | 0 recs

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