The question that flummoxed the great orator John Crace The Guardian, Friday 3 April 2009 larger | smaller Barack Obama, the World's Greatest Orator (™all news organisations), didn't exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis. Normally word perfect, Obama ummed, ahed and waffled for the best part of two and a half minutes. Here, John Crace decodes what he was really thinking ... Nick Robinson: "A question for you both, if I may. The prime minister has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis. France and Germany both blame Britain and America for causing this crisis. Who is right? And isn't the debate about that at the heart of the debate about what to do now?" Brown immediately swivels to leave Obama in pole position. There is a four-second delay before Obama starts speaking [THANKS FOR NOTHING, GORDY BABY. REMIND ME TO HANG YOU OUT TO DRY ONE DAY.] Barack Obama: "I, I, would say that, er ... pause [I HAVEN'T A CLUE] ... if you look at ... pause [WHO IS THIS NICK ROBINSON JERK?] ... the, the sources of this crisis ... pause [JUST KEEP GOING, BUDDY] ... the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to . . . pause [I'M IN WAY TOO DEEP HERE] ... a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that have taken place in the global financial system ... pause, close eyes [THIS IS GOING TO GO DOWN LIKE A CROCK OF SHIT BACK HOME. HELP]. I think what is also true is that ... pause [I WANT NICK ROBINSON TO DISAPPEAR] ... here in Great Britain ... pause [SHIT, GORDY'S THE HOST, DON'T LAND HIM IN IT] ... here in continental Europe ... pause [DAMN IT, BLAME EVERYONE.] ... around the world. We were seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and er ... pause [I'VE LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT AGAIN] ... the highly integrated, er, global capital markets that have emerged ... pause [I'M REALLY WINGING IT NOW]. So at this point, I'm less interested in ... pause [YOU] ... identifying blame than fixing the problem. I think we've taken some very aggressive steps in the United States to do so, not just responding to the immediate crisis, ensuring banks are adequately capitalised, er, dealing with the enormous, er ... pause [WHY DIDN'T I QUIT WHILE I WAS AHEAD?] ... drop-off in demand and contraction that has taken place. More importantly, for the long term, making sure that we've got a set of, er, er, regulations that are up to the task, er, and that includes, er, a number that will be discussed at this summit. I think there's a lot of convergence between all the parties involved about the need, for example, to focus not on the legal form that a particular financial product takes or the institution it emerges from, but rather what's the risk involved, what's the function of this product and how do we regulate that adequately, much more effective coordination, er, between countries so we can, er, anticipate the risks that are involved there. Dealing with the, er, problem of derivatives markets, making sure we have set up systems, er, that can reduce some of the risks there. So, I actually think ... pause [FANTASTIC. I'VE LOST EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF] ... there's enormous consensus that has emerged in terms of what we need to do now and, er ... pause [I'M OUTTA HERE. TIME FOR THE USUAL CLOSING BOLLOCKS] ... I'm a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.
And we wonder why the rest of the world wants to dump the Brenton-Woods agreement and go to a one world currency.
Uh, um, er, uh...because we knew uh, um, er, uh, that it was possbile....to er, uh...save the world. Ok.
And later aboard Air Farce One..... barry: "Dammit, who the Hxxx forgot to prompt me on my effing Bluetooth!?" Without some form of promting and guidance (ie. a teleprompter) The Pretender is totally lost!
Just like a normal politician, said a bunch of crap that did not amount to anything and avoided the question. POS
I'm not a worshipper and am not in that camp: But does anybody know the answer? If he spits out "why of course Nick it twas the American banksters; the er... wall street tychoons". What would the news look like the next morning" Obama blames U.S. bankers" listed below"for causing crash."what would the markets do? the news media won't even come out and blame anybody. Guys' gotta waffle ..."Mr. president; give us a reason Joe the plumber shouldn't wait outside these bankers estates with a big pipe wrench?" "Well Nick: Er... Assault is illegal?...homina-homina-homina..."
If I am not mistaken haven't all the DEm's said how he has an IQ of 160 or something like that ,well when it comes to common since he doesn't enough to pour piss out of a boot (pardon me if I offend anyone) . He does great as long as he think his answers through and puts the right spin on them and has his answers all ready for the questions that he knows will be ask. I've known many people who were book smart but figure their way out of a barn with both doors open. Our country has been sold a bill of goods that we can't afford,and it's our grandchildren that will suffer for it . It makes me so damn mad I could spit .
Hmm.. not so sure I buy the 160 claim. let's see what kind of company that would put him in; Stephen Hawking IQ Score 160 Albert Einstein IQ Score 160 Plato IQ Score 160 Ben Franklin IQ Score 160 Thomas Jefferson IQ Score 160 Bill Gates IQ Score 160 Barack Obama IQ Score 160 Hmm.... which one doesn't belong? How would that compare to other presidents? Andrew Jackson IQ Score 123 Bill Clinton IQ Score 137 George H.W. Bush IQ Score 98 George W. Bush IQ Score 125 George Washington IQ Score 118 Gerald Ford IQ Score 121 Harry Truman IQ Score 132 Jimmy Carter IQ Score 156 JFK IQ Score 119 John Adams IQ Score 137 John Quincy Adams IQ Score 175 Lyndon B. Johnson IQ Score 126 Richard Nixon IQ Score 143 Ronald Reagan IQ Score 105 Thomas Jefferson IQ Score 160 Ulysses S. Grant IQ Score 130 So he's one of the most intelligent presidents we have ever had? Yeah right! Sounds like a little resume padding to me. I call
