Monday, March 09, 2009

President Obama Overwhelmed, Weary, Irritated, Fails to Fake Interest in Foreign Policy



Cross posted at The Next Right

After only six weeks in office, the President is overwhelmed, weary, irritated, and not much interested in foreign policy. Maybe the PC/environmental crowd should let the poor guy smoke. That would at least ease some of his tension.

From the Sunday Telegraph:


“Barack Obama's offhand approach to Gordon Brown's Washington visit last week came about because the president was facing exhaustion over America's economic crisis and is unable to focus on foreign affairs, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.

“Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been ‘overwhelmed’ by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.”

. . .

“Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

“A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to ‘even fake an interest in foreign policy’.”

. . .

“The Sunday Telegraph understands that one of Mr Obama's most prominent African American backers, whose endorsement he spent two years cultivating, has told friends that he detects a weakness in Mr Obama's character.

“‘The one real serious flaw I see in Barack Obama is that he thinks he can manage all this,’ the well-known figure told a Washington official, who spoke to this newspaper. ‘He's underestimating the flood of things that will hit his desk.’ A Democratic strategist, who is friends with several senior White House aides, revealed that the president has regularly appeared worn out and drawn during evening work sessions with senior staff in the West Wing and has been forced to make decisions more quickly than he is comfortable.

“He said that on several occasions the president has had to hurry back from eating dinner with his family in the residence and then tucking his daughters in to bed, to conduct urgent government business. Matters are not helped by the pledge to give up smoking.

“‘People say he looks tired more often than they're used to,’ the strategist said. ‘He's still calm, but there have been flashes of irritation when he thinks he's being pushed to make a decision sooner than he wants to make it. He looks like he needs a cigarette.’”



Hat Tip: Andrew Bolt

2 comments:

OregonGuy said...

We need to be doing more community organizing in the world.
.

T. D. said...

President Obama could have used a little more high level executive experience (like Governor Palin had) before he became president. Running a campaign (which other people really run and which does not deal with substantive policy issues) is not executive experience--despite what the MSM says.