During a poignant segment of his interview the president that was broadcast on FACE the NATION this morning, CBS News veteran Bob Schieffer set up and asked a "softball" question as follows:
"Let me ask you a little bit about the tenor of this debate. It seems to me that there's a sort of meanness that has settled over our political dialogue. It started this summer at these town hall meetings. We saw the outbreak when you spoke to the joint session (of Congress). Some people, clearly, just don't agree with your policies, but there seems to be others that are just, just mad and angry. President Carter is now saying he thinks its racial. Nancy Pelosi says it could be dangerous. What do you think it's all about?"
Obama responded as if trying to be every-man's president:"Well, what I think we have to remember is that, at various periods in American history, people get pretty rambunctious when it comes to our democratic debate. That's not new, and every president who's tried to bring about big changes, I think, elicits the most-passionate responses."
Sadly, he went on to offer a thinly-veiled comparison of himself to Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan:"I mean, if you hear what people have to say about Abraham Lincoln or what they had to say about FDR or what they had to say about Ronald Reagan when he first came in and was trying to change our approach to government -- that elicited huge responses."
Next, he tells Schieffer Big Lie #1:"Now, I think that what's driving passions right now is that health care has become a proxy a broader set of issues about how much government should be involved in our economy, particularly coming off a huge economic crisis, and the only thing that I've been trying to say is, number one, I have no interest in increasing the size of government. I just want to make sure we have a smart government that is regulating, for example, the financial institutions smartly so I don't have to engage in any kind of bank bailouts" [Note: "Big Lie #1" is found in the fact that he already bailed out the banks!]
It's followed soon after by Big Lie #2:"That's point number one, and, point number two, even though we're having a passionate disagreement here, we can be civil to each other, and we can try to express ourselves, acknowledging that we're all patriots, we're all Americans and not assume the absolute worst in people's motives. [Note: "Big Lie #2" is found in his contention that we're all patriots, we're all Americans and we're assuming the worst in people's (i.e., "his") motives. Truth is, we're not assuming; we're witnessing.]
Finally, he adds icing to the "cake" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi frosted yesterday by setting the stage for a push to enact the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," a measure they hope will muzzle conservative media, especially on talk radio and in the blogosphere:"I do think part of what's different today is that the 24-hour news cycle -- and cable television and blogs and all this -- they focus on the most extreme elements on both sides. They can't get enough of conflict. It's catnip to the media right now. And, so, the easiest way to get 15 minutes of fame is to be rude to somebody. In that environment, I think it makes it more difficult for us to solve the problems that the American people want us to solve."
Brace yourselves conservatives: The (tea) party has only just begun.NOTE: To watch the video of Obama's appearance on FACE the NATION, click here.
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