Bloomberg sees Bobo’s lunch plan and raises him:
“The president’s got to start inviting people over for dinner. He’s got to play golf with them. He has to pick up the phone and call and say, ‘I know we disagree on this, but I just want to say — I heard it was your wife’s birthday or your kid just got into college.’
In the age of Google calendar alerts, the White House has no excuse to forget Paul Ryan’s wife’s birthday. None whatsoever.
Martin
Yes, because a shitty cupcake is all that stands between the American people and their social safety net.
Zifnab
So this isn’t a policy debate? It’s about someone’s fee-fees? I’m sure Boehner and Cantor will roll right over on oil subsidies and Gitmo prisoners as soon as Nancy Pelosi gets them in a big group hug.
Served
The President needs to be more like an insurance salesman! Time to start printing return address labels for members of Congress.
patroclus
The suggestion that one should always remember their political opponents’ wives’ birthdays is bracing and moves the debate about utterly and completely destroying Medicare onto more earnest ground.
JonF
Anyone remember the HBO series Rome, and the scene where Caesar, Anthony and Posca are trying to come up with a reason to refuse Pompey’s offer of truce. And the best that they can come up with is “he refuses to meet me!” And the war continued on unaltered…
aimai
Look, Paul Ryan and Bobo:
Its like they are the flip side of the pro-Obama campaign during the 2008 election when you could click on a link that would tell you that Obama was outside fixing your bicycle or crossing your grandma over the street safely. I actually think that aside from a form of obvious ratfucking this kind of Boboplea is the result of Obama’s intense charisma, even for his enemies.
aimai
Comrade Javamanphil
Let’s be fair, without the occasional birthday card or lunch date with Obama, guys like Bobo, Ryan and Bloomberg won’t be able to accurately claim they have black friends anymore.
Dee Loralei
Look, the Obamas hosted a series of cocktail parties, early in the administration inviting members of both parties. Obama has gone above and beyond the reaching out to the opposition stage. He’s been nothing but gracious to them all. Yea, there were times when he was snarky, or less concerned with their feefees. He fucking prayed with that ratbastard Frankling Graham, and Graham doesn’t know if he’s a Christian?!!!
Fuck them all, and Fuck Bobo and Bloomburg with a thousand rusty pitchforks!
Poopyman
@Comrade Javamanphil:
Well, there’s Allen West ….
Poopyman
I wonder if Bloomberg is serious, or if he’s just throwing red meet to the clueless MSM, ’cause that’s a right stupid suggestion to give a POTUS.
Senyordave
@Comrade Javamanphil:
Great post! Maybe they will go the route George went in the Seinfeld episode where he invites the guy who fumigates Jerry’s apartment to lunch so he can show his boss, who is black, that he has black friends.
kdaug
So if Bloomberg were elected President, we could look forward to four years of him making personal phone calls to 300 million Americans on their birthdays?
I thought President’in was supposed to be harder than that. (Although, I’d get tired of being on the phone for that long, so there is that).
Chief
“In the age of Google calendar alerts, the White House has no excuse to forget Paul Ryan’s wife’s birthday,” he said, tongue in cheek.
Uloborus
Wow. ‘The Village’. Man, they’re everything they’re rumored to be. God forbid the man should prefer to do anything else besides hang out with the pundit class like the rest of the politicians.
Cat
Watching privileged elites whine and whine about how nobody respects their feelings enough to invite them over for a catered lunch that costs more then I make in a week lunch and a round of golf that costs more then I make in a month seriously makes me want vomit and/or kick them in the nuts. And by nuts I mean… oh hell, its basicly all men, forgive me for not being PC.
What happened to that rugged American individualism where you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and damn what anyone else thinks of you?
Steve
The odd thing about all this is that President Obama actually seems to have no trouble whatsoever being personally friendly with his political adversaries. That, and maybe Mike Bloomberg isn’t the guy to be giving lessons in people skills.
danimal
Schmoozing would work if the GOP pols wanted to make a deal. They don’t, and the reason they don’t is that their supporters don’t want them to make a deal. Change that dynamic and then Obama can (and will) fill his dining schedule to include a lot of Republicans. Until then, it’s fruitless.
This is not a particularly difficult analysis.
piratedan
i just love this dichotomy… one one hand we have the Republican arguing passionately about the debt to the point where they are ready to sell the retirement and health care of the elderly off to the highest bidder, thanks for all of inspiration pops, sorry things didn’t work out for ya, sorry you raised us to be such a bunch of uncaring fucks and on the reverse, the President is supposed to show some compassion to the same bastards that have been doing everything but standing in the corner shouting “nigger, nigger, NIGGER” at him for the last two years, suggesting he needs to be impeached and aiding and abetting millions of folks into the belief that his presidency is a sham at best and illegal at worst.
I wish that instead of healing the country he had simply cauterized the wound and gone all medieval on the Bushies, prosecuting them for Gitmo, closing it down. Perhaps if he had done that and set the “tone” he would have found a much more willing governing body to work with. Then he could have moved to pulling our asses out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Then reforming the living shit out of health care into single payer, by this time, the Rethugs would have been so busy on the retreat repealing DOMA and DADT would have been seen as a way of slowing him down while they were busy covering their corporate asses and burning memos and busy disassociating themselves from the heinousness of the previous administration.
BGinCHI
This is why Fonzi lived alone in an apartment above the Cunningham’s garage.
If you don’t understand that, you just don’t understand the Obama Presidency.
AnotherBruce
So is it wrong that I would feel more comforted if he actually hated these guys guts so much that he would send them gift wrapped boxes of dog crap?
Comrade Javamanphil
@Senyordave: Of course the obvious flaw with my above post is the assumption that any of the people named give a damn about the accuracy of what they say.
Tim Connor
Brad Delong deserves to be quoted again:
Robert Green
Obama has to start having the ryans of the world over for lunch? for sure. and the halperins for dinner? absolutely. and should he maybe weekend at the ranch with jim inhofe? yes, that would be great. perhaps at bloomberg’s place!
that’s all well and good, and hopefully at some point every single meal including high-at-two-a-m-at-taco-bell fourth meal will be held with a political opponent, as villagegod so decreed, but none of this goes where i (speaking on behalf of everyone in washington, who themselves stand in as synecdoche for everyone in america, itself metonomy for greatness, so you do the transitive math) think it is desirous that it go: obama needs to do what these people want him to do.
sure, they’d like him to put a liberal patina on it, just a hint of gloss so that it goes down smooth like a cool mountain breeze for your average independent vote, but at the end of the day all this social eating is about obama eating something as well: a big bowl of village approved, right leaning turds.
Jay C
Yeah, right: social-etiquette tips from Mike F*cking Bloomberg? One has to wonder how many nice lunches at the Four Seasons or elegant cocktail receptions at Gracie Mansion he throws for his political opponents? Or how many of them get chitchat calls for their families’ birthdays? Oh, that’s right: Mayor Mike is Mayor of New York City: a virtual elected dictator (though with his money, the “elected” part is merely a formality) – he doesn’t have serious opponents.
Putz.
maus
And they should also be Facebook friends!
loretta
@piratedan: Yes, perhaps we should create a fantasy video game of what we all hoped Obama would do: prosecute the Bush regime, say no to Wall Street, prosecute Wall Street bankers, hire all fresh people who never served in Clinton’s administration or were ever lobbyists; dumped $1T as stimulus money into the economy, helped his majority pass single-payor health insurance, closed GTMO, ended warrantless wiretapping…
I could go on and on.
Did it ever occur to you that he’s doing exactly what his handlers want him to do? That he’s a puppet? I long ago gagged on this very bitter, very large pill. Take my advice – it’s much easier to watch him now that my illusions are destroyed.
Legalize
The President has to be Michael Scott.
steviez314
How about a game of 3 on 3?
Obama, Reid and Pelosi vs. Ryan, Boehner and McConnell?
Winner gets the budget!
ruemara
@loretta:
It must be nice to live in a world where there’s no Congress, and no separation of powers and we elect a benevolent dictator every 4 years.
BGinCHI
@loretta: And now you’re making me gag.
piratedan
@loretta: granted, he is who he is, a politician. Despite that and despite my disappointment, he’s better than McGrumpy would have been and its incredibly frustrating because it does seem (at times) that there is an opportunity to do more. Perhaps that is unrealistic when factoring in those folks that are entrenched in power behind the scenes and how effectively they wield both their the influence and ideology.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Yeah! That uppity negro should also eat some cake and play guitar while a major U.S. city turns into a watery hell.
Jesus B.A.S.E jumping Christ. And if Obama DID Make The Call the media would be a-buzz over the PotUS’s shameless flirtation with Ryan’s wife.
Maude
@loretta:
He’s worse than Bush.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@Maude: He slapped HRC in the face and threw her under the bus!
Nutella
If only the Obamas would install a tire swing on the White House lawn!
dollared
@Comrade Javamanphil: FTW!
Omnes Omnibus
@loretta: Good lord. Parody?
ottercliff
I can just see our citrus-hued Speaker on Fox News: “It is inexcusable for our president to further increase the deficit by purchasing cupcakes when the country is broke. He seems to find plenty of time for snacks with elite government bureaucrats, but no time to eliminate unemployment.”
The Dangerman
Next, they’ll be asking for hookers and blow; slippery slope.
El Tiburon
@Poopyman:
At first reading I though Bloomberg was being snarky. Was he being totally serious? If so, these people are just different than the rest of the world.
So, policy decisions that affect millions of lives are dependent on a lunch date? Dear God, what if Obama uses the wrong fork?
Tom Hilton
Also, Bill Clinton might have had a successful presidency if he had just schmoozed with Gingrich on Air Force One.
Maude
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
I had forgotten that. Thanks for the reminder.
After I wrote the comment, I had hoped no one thought I meant it. It’s just that she forgot that complaint.
loretta
C’mon, you cannot be serious if you believe Obama is going to fulfill any of the promises he made during the campaign. Some of you are like abused spouses constantly defending the abuser. I get it. I understand. I was a big Obama supporter – donated money, campaigned for him in horrible weather, attended rallies, volunteered to GOTV, you name it. I even have a framed “HOPE” poster, for crying out loud.
It pains me beyond words how disillusioned I have become, and it’s a much worse betrayal than Bush, for whom I had no expectations.
I agree that McNutcase and Moosellini would have been much worse. However, I argue that the only reason the Republicans are crazy right now is not because of their disagreement with policies (because they are virtually interchangeable in most respects), but because they want the White House and the majority. See also: Clinton, William Jefferson.
Southern Beale
Matt Drudge photo fail. Hilarious!
BTW, I do think Nashville does Philly soccer fans one better. If you haven’t watched this video I took last night of the fans cheering our 1st round win, check it out! By the way, we yell “you suck!” at the opposing team, not our own players.
Southern Beale
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
Thanks for sharing. I needed a good laugh.
Jay in Oregon
I’m starting to hit the point where the completely asinine shit that Bobo or Bloomberg or any of these talking head assholes spew forth is making me stabby.
It’s more of the hard-wired assumption that Republicans are in charge and that Democratic control is an exception. There is no way, if the roles were reversed and Obama was the senator putting forth a budget proposal, that Bobo would be telling President McCain that he needs to call Michelle and compare cupcake recipes or whatever.
Uloborus
@Omnes Omnibus:
I doubt it. Even on the liberal side there are Narratives stronger than facts. Disprove every single element of the Narrative and they’ll go back to believing them all in seconds because the Narrative proves they’re true and they prove the Narrative.
For pity’s sake, after the ass-whupping he gave the GOP on the budget negotiation you’d think ‘Obama Always Caves’ would be dead. But it’s not.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The real political instances in which Obama (and congressional Dems) have bent over backwards to “include Republican voices”, from health care to the recent nuke treaty with Russia to repealing DADT, of course, never happened, ’cause it wasn’t last week, and Republicans aren’t talking about it.
On this very silly topic: Do any of them remember that Obama tried this? Remember the White House cocktail parties from early ’09? They got him “death panels”, ‘government takeover of our industry!” and calls for hearing into White House ‘czars’
Scott
I will buy a pizza for the first pundit who will tell Bobo to his face on TV that he’s a howling nincompoop who should shut up and never speak again.
I will buy a complete pizza party for the first pundit who will hit Bobo with a plank of wood on live TV.
Maude
@loretta:
I feel your pain.
pk
Maybe Obama should have a candle light dinner with Paul Ryan and David Brooks with romantic music in the background. Then after a night of passion Obama will finally agree to screw the rest of the country.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Uloborus:
The Professional Left’s version of “Get government out of my Medicare” is (or was, before the 2010 midterms) “We don’t need the Blue Dogs! We have huge majorities!”
Josie
When I first read the post, I thought it was a joke. Then I clicked through to Benen’s post and realized it was serious.
Who needs the Onion, Colbert and Stewart with such silliness in the msm?
Omnes Omnibus
@Uloborus: You can’t read this and believe she is for real. You just can’t.
catclub
@piratedan: I agree. If large numbers of GOP operatives were spending large time with their lawyers, trying to avoid indictments for crimes of the Bush administration, the healthcare law would have passed more easily.
BOSS BITCH
Loretta, according to people like you, ALL politicians have the same puppet master – CORPORATIONS. Please explain why Obama has such a fierce opposition from his co-puppets?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@loretta:
and something tells me you will
Tom Hilton
@loretta: I feel your pain. No, wait–that’s not quite right. I laugh at your pain, is more accurate.
Nutella
@Josie:
I’ve never been able to read the Onion. Real life is much weirder than any of their funny stories.
Gustopher
I really think that Bloomberg was joking. Or at least I want to think that.
Come on, he’s Jewish. The Jews have a great sense of humor. Nearly all American humor comes from the Jews.
jibeaux
Well, we had some tornadoes a couple of weeks ago — we’re not a big tornado area — that really took us by surprise and killed a couple of dozen people. The manager of a Lowe’s saw one coming, gathered his staff, and shepherded every employee and customer of that gigantic store into the safe concrete-reinforced rear of the store, before the tornado took the front and roof off that building. No one was seriously hurt. That guy got a call from Obama, and if the president is going to take time out to make symbolic gestures to people, those are the folks I’d like him to do it for.
Triassic Sands
I couldn’t disagree more. With Ryan engaged in formulating policies that will ruin the lives of millions of people, expecting him to remember his wife is downright unfair. Instead of a birthday gift, Ryan will make sure his policies don’t affect her — now there’s a real birthday present.
Valdivia
@Tom Hilton:
Actually this meme started back in October with Republicans telling the Village that Obama was a bad politician who did not know how to schmooze unlike Bill Clinton. That if only he called them on the phone everyday things would be better. The Village ran with it and so did a bunch of people who just wanted an excuse to hate on the black guy in the WH.
Citizen_X
Yes, by all means the Kenyan Marxist Muslin
NiggPresident should have Ryan for lunch, and Boehner for dinner, and we would trust him slightly more. (Ha! KIDDING!) Why, he should even put out a book dedicated to his Republican friends called To Serve Real Americans, but then once we translated it from the Elitist Kenyanese we would probably discover that OMG IT’S A COOKBOOK! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!Dr. Squid
If he has to be social with them, he should just treat them like fish at a poker table.
Dr. Squid
Oh crap, the word pronounced like “soshul” by itself trips the mod filter?
aimai
@Valdivia:
Of course in reality it was just the opposite. I mean, they complained bitterly, as they did about the Clintons,that the Obamas weren’t going to the right parties and that they had brought their own entourage of outsiders to Washington (as though every president since Adams had’nt done the same) but the truth is, I think, that every time Obama has reached out to the Republicans (frankly) I think he has seduced them–one on one I mean. I think that’s the real reason Boehner is always so cagy about meeting with Obama. The journalists who dined with him early on fell for him like ninepins and I think the right wing ones had to be forcibly brought to heel by their employers before they de-glamorized themselves.
aimai
Fred
@Dee Loralei: I think you are being too soft on them. “Fuck them with a thousand rusty pitchforks” just doesn’t go far enough in capturing the amount of contempt I have for these clowns!
benintn
Of all the petty, micromanaging BS coming from the Village, this has to be the most inane thing I’ve ever heard. What this is really about: special favors, special access, and special treatment. Rich people are used to having their collective asses kissed.
bkny
i wonder if during a white house lunch, they’ll discuss the food programs that have been butchered by those bottom-line boyz….
Cain
@loretta:
The problem is that you’re somewhat projecting onto Obama your hopes and dreams. Because ultimately, you feel powerless and feel that someone like Obama can ultimately wave the hand and do the right thing.. but the office has a number of limitations based on politics and of course the even bully pulpit right wingers seem to have due to their control of the media.
When I hear that the guy who leaked military secrets is being held and possibly being tortured I consider that a failure on my fault. The question you need to ask yourself is what can you do to get congress to ultimately be forced to react.
1) call your representatives, get your friends to call their representatives.. call them. tell them you’re concerned ask them what they plan on doing about it. Make them show to you that they are leaders.
2) write to your paper “to the editor”.
3) turn off 24 hour news. They are not contributing anything as far as I’m concerned. Case in fact:
Studies have shown that in Portland, crime is way way down, in fact the lowest since the 60s. When they asked citizens about crime, they think crime is increasing and it’s like a crime wave.. it’s because the media scrutinizes crime much more than tehy used to.. so even petty crime seems like a big deal.
We don’t actually have money to incarcerate everybody.. But perception matters.
FlipYrWhig
@Dr. Squid: Actually it was your reference to a popular card game. P0ker, like cas1no, is a blacklisted WP word.
FlipYrWhig
@loretta:
I think those are Linkin Park lyrics.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
the village is doing what they say of the military, the chairbourne, and fanboys at large, they are fighting the last war. politicially speaking.
sure there was a time when gridlock and civility, and actually governing for the best interests of the country as a whole was at least nominally important. this aint that war.
back in the 90s, i am sure a lot of things would have turned out better, if clinton and gingrich had eifel towered a recent widow or divorcee of the political class…
but when a party, really is only there to obstruct, and destroy the very notion of federal government itself,lunch don’t matter.
Dr. Squid
@FlipYrWhig: Well, it’s a good thing that “Fuck You WordPress” isn’t blacklisted.
Arclite
Wow, just wow. ‘Cuz that’s just what I voted for Obama to do: be fucking Martha Stewart.
loretta
@Cain: Actually, I’m not projecting anything. I remember his campaign promises. I remember what he said about a lot of things, and those I don’t, I can always Google them.
I have a great, crazy left-wing representative and Senator, thank God (Kucinich and Sherrod Brown, whom I worked with in Columbus back in the 80s.) I have a degree in Political Science and currently work in the health care field, so I am not without my resources or network.
I simply don’t believe Obama was sincere during the campaign.
TooManyJens
@loretta: I just want to know who you think Obama’s “handlers” are, and why exactly you believe he’s incapable of actually being the President himself. Are you going to snicker about teleprompters next?
Comrade Luke
You didn’t add the next sentence, which is important.
He’s not an executive, and the country is not a fucking corporation. Go circle jerk with Jack Welch, you fuckwit.
Nellcote
@loretta:
Why did Sherrod Brown vote against closing Gitmo?