Fucking a .. what a pleasure to watch and hear him after the 8 years of the village idiot ...

It's all so different. No "what new hell is this" response to the latest depredations from the government. Rather, actual policy considerations about real problems from a disciplined, intelligent, pragmatic president-elect whose values I trust.

LOL! Yes, trying to watch Dubya any longer than 3 minutes was almost excruciating.

Honestly ... what a nice change; not to want to bang your head against the wall when the President is speaking ... I look forward to his press conferences and the like ...

Indeed, won't it be a relief to have an intelligent and intelligible president for a change!

That was one of my first thoughts after Obama won--no more automatically reaching for the remote mute button when the president's face appears on the TV.

On the "dog question", I am sure that animal protection groups all over the country will be in touch with the President-elect to assure him that yes, you can certainly adopt specific breeds of dogs from shelters, including "hypoallergenic" breeds. Moreover, there are numerous breed-specific rescue groups that specialize in placing homeless animals. A friend of mine adopted two greyhounds from such a group.

Millions of healthy, friendly dogs and cats are put to death in shelters every year simply because there are not enough homes for them. Obama and his family are to be commended for their commitment to adopting a "shelter dog". I certainly hope they will stick with it and reverse the pattern of recent presidents, including both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who bought dogs from breeders.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
-- Mahatma Gandhi

It wasn't Nancy Reagan who attended a seance. She was into astrology.

It was Hillary Clinton who had the seance, to contact Eleanor Roosevelt.

I never got the impression that GWB understood just what it is that a president does.

Obama's not president yet, but he is clearly ready to accept the challenges that we elected him to face.

That's change I can believe in.

The tasks ahead are daunting, but at least we have a leader who is willing to "get a handle" on the situation and pick-up an oar himself, if necessary.

It was perfect. I heard the pre-game on NPR, and it was a bunch of "Obama is cold, distant from the press, waah waah, he's going to be like Bill Clinton and not provide access." Nuts.

I thought he did a great job stopping on the national security briefing question--just no comment other than, "we're good, we could be better."

Also, it was nice to listen to a president (elect) who doesn't slur every "s" (e.g. "ex-shtreemishts who want to attack ush") and sound like his aides had to pry the bottle from his hand before he staggered out to the podium.

Finally a president where I actually don't need to switch channels whenever he speaks!
So nice to hear him speaking COHERENTLY!!!

YAY MR.OBAMA!!!

There was no "Don't you worry, now..." component to his initial statement, which was a bit disconcerting -- to me, at least. -Joe Klein

I, for one, am happy not to be spoken to like a third grader. You can't fix the problem if you pretend there is none. After eight years of Bush, you might think Klein would get that.

I think I just had one of the most pleasant experiences ever at work.

I work at fairly large brokerage firm and was passing by the Institutional Trade Desk during the press conference. One particular idiot was standing up (the only person on the desk doing so), watching the press conference and "muttering" to himself (but really saying it loud enough for everyone to hear) things like "yep, there's your change for you...well, you wanted change, you got it. What a joke" etc etc.

Finally one of the the other traders (without looking up from his desk) yells out "Hey Jim, How about shutting the fuck up already??" And the entire Trade Desk and all the support staff burst out in laughter.

It was totally awesome.

I cringed a little at the 'seance' line, just expecting the right wing to flip out, but then I started to think Obama did it on purpose, just to keep them off-track and focused on something irrelevant. I'd like to think he was that good.

It sure looks as if we have a president who is supremely competent. One can't help but feel confident in Obama. And it appears that he intends to serve all the people, not just the very wealthy, with a bit of lip service for the right wing crazies and haters and bigots so they'll continue to vote for the party of the rich.

I do think he'll make a better president than Hillary would have, and I started out in her camp.

I'm looking forward to this first term of his, not dreading it as I did with Bush. I feel like I've been carrying a heavy load on my back for years and years, and it's finally been lifted off.

Imagine: a president we can be proud of, instead of ashamed of, and embarrassed by.

Watching Bush and having "the urge to turn it off"? Nice understatement!!

His whole tenure has been like the opening of "The Dick Van Dyke Show," with millions of Americans tripping over ottomans, knocking over furniture, desperately trying to grab the remote before they have to listen to that pinched, creepy, tinny voice spewing out inanities at best and flat-out lies at worst. And then that little wheezy "heh, heh" when he thought (wrongly) that he'd made a funny.

It was like, Listen to Bush, or drive this icepick into my skull? Cue the icepick!!

Forget the whole "hope" meme. The first word I thought of when I saw Obama's press conference was "relief."

LOL! Yes, trying to watch Dubya any longer than 3 minutes was almost excruciating. Posted by: John O

I have not watched him or listened to him since he made his national address after 9/11. If I was in the car listening to NPR and he, or more recently, McCain came on, I changed the channel.

Bad ass. I can't believe I will eagerly be looking forward to press conferences from now on.

There was no "Don't you worry, now..." component to his initial statement, which was a bit disconcerting -- to me, at least.

You don't listen well, do you?

So, for all those jackasses who said Obama needs a teleprompter to say 'Goodbye,' we've finally got someone in charge who doesn't have that halting, stuttering, I'm-about-to-say-something-I'm-going-to-catch-shit-for way of avoiding questions.

God damn, but it's a freaking relief! Maybe we can talk W into knocking off early.

I do think he'll make a better president than Hillary would have, and I started out in her camp.
Posted by: hark

Are you kidding? Besides her foolishness in backing the Iraq war and never really challenging the administration on it, if Hillary had been elected you got Bill in the bargain. No thanks. He had his chance and blew it completely in the most tawdry fashion.

I was curious to see how different he would appear now that his campaigning is done. He looks tired, but handled the press with ease. He came across as strong, but not over confident, and he made it clear that he isn't the President and made a few mentions to the stimulous package being enacted before he is in office.

It was hard to hear the questions and what idiot asked about foreign envoys ?? Leadership seems second nature and I can only imagine Bush watching and shaking his fist screaming, "that clown is making me look bad..."

There goes david letterman's great moments in presidential speeches

Such a relief to have a president who's extremely intelligent, who doesn't smirk when he speaks of horrible things, who uses proper english and treats the listener as if they have a decent level of intelligence and can understand complex sentences.

Gone soon will be the days when the powerful, yet stupid man talks to us as if we're stupid. He'll be out there somewhere, over-emphasizing small words to crowds of truly stupid people, the ones dumb enough to pay him to speak.

Hurry up January 20th!

Watching the presser made me again happy we didn't elect an old man like John McCain. He could not handle the day in/day out hard work this country needs.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out he really felt relieved, too.

It wasn't even remotely a gaffe. The reason he mentioned that he hadn't been in touch with any "dead" ex-presidents was because the *reporter's question* was "What have you been doing to prepare -- have you been in touch with any living ex-presidents..." etc. Obama (and several of those behind him) were immediately smiling at the unnecessary qualifier; the fact that he immediately made the Nancy Reagan connection was all the more amusing -- though I suppose it's likely to draw a little fire.

"it was an unusually pleasant experience watching a presidential press conference and a) noting that the person behind the podium seemed to know what he was talking about; and b) not feeling the strong urge to turn it off."

Steve, I am 1,000% on board with that statement. Just knowing there will be competence in the White House has improved my outlook tremendously.

A cloud has been lifted.

Yep. Freepers gotcha covered...

Obama Mocks Nancy Reagan in 1st Press Conference

www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128111/posts

Overcoming the strong urge to tune out a president may be the most difficult behavior to change now that someone intelligent and classy is in power.

Although he didn't state it outright, I got the distinct feeling that he intends to enforce a "no stupid questions" rule. For example, check out his response to the question about what alarming information he may have seen now that he has access to the classified daily briefs, something he obviously can't talk about.

Oh, and I thought the reporters looked thrilled to be there.

I happened to be looking at youtube clips of JFK press conferences just yesterday, and Obama's today very much had a similar tone, competence, and wit. Very, very impressive. We're in good hands, folks.

Clinton was very good at this sort of thing, giving the right wing echo chamber something stupid to talk about.

I remember when the verdict came out on his impeachment trial. Clinton tossed out a line about Chelsea and the media, and the stupid fucking freepers spent all their TV time talking about that instead.

Obama throws, the freepers fetch.
.

My cat was very disappointed by the dog news.

http://www.buster-get-my-pills.com/2008/11/07/guest-cat-blog-barack-obama-killed-my-buzz/

Gay people are not a "gaffe" you insensitive ass. We're not an embarrassment or something that can't be discussed in polite company. Seriously, grow up.

Our right to full equality is guaranteed under the Constitution, and we're tired of hearing un-American excuses for the superstitions and stubbornness of bigots.

He did okay today -- the Nancy Reagan thing came out as a throwaway joke because he was nervous. Having the whole economic team behind him reduced his stature a bit, I thought, like they were there to prop him up.

He did a good job with an awkward occasion -- as he mentioned several times, he is not president yet. This is going to feel like a very long 70-odd days until he is.

He'll get better, but he's going to need to develop a whole new set of tools as he transitions from candidate to POTUS.

Mutt is a great secret service nickname.

Yes, those conservative's and hard core Christian's always like to look to the guy who let his schedule be determined at times by his wife's astrologer.

Nothing says conservative like an astrologer does.

Decent presser for Obama, I felt he slipped up when he asked the woman with the arm sling 'what happened?'. She told him it occurred at the acceptance speech, and rather than say 'that's too bad, hope you're better soon' Obama said something like 'what happened to you was the most serious problem all night'. He should have shown a little bit of sympathy.

Henrietta G. Tavish? Hey Mary, that's quite the fancy moniker you have now!

The more I see the economy slipping away the more I'm thinking Volcker might be the guy we need for Treasury, at least for 6 months to a year.

At the same time Summers is a great talent and it might be good to put him in charge of the bailout.

Then, when this economic disaster is ended Obama might want to consider another arrangement. If Volcker is doing alright, then move Summers elsewhere. If Volcker isn't doing well, then ease him out and move Summers up.

There's no reason to be hasty about tossing talented people aside at this point.

Was very gratified to see a 'President for ALL Americans' help us to face the realities of solving the problems of really almost three decades of Republican trickle-down governance.

I was born in 1925 in the midst of another stretch of GOP control of all three branches (which, as you know, triggered the Great Depression the pundits refer to now), and I am sincerely thankful at the prospect of avoiding dying under similar government circumstances.

Dose anyone believe in destiny?
www.GodYesOrNo.com

Olbermann is reporting that Obama called Nancy Reagan this afternoon to apologize for the seance comment. He's 100% class act.

He should consider having seances in the White House to talk to past presidents asking them to make decisions for him because he has no fk'n clue what he's doing or saying.

I know I will be outnumbered here, but that's cool. I was an avid McCain supporter and believe he would have been better for the country. That being said, I like Obama and as a good American I want to support him; as long as he stays roughly in the center, I think he will be good for the country.
I don't think it was a big deal, but the seance thing was def. a gaffe or he wouldn't have called an apologized to Nancy Reagan. It's not easy being up there and people say silly things.
I pose this question though:
Had Bush said the same thing about JFK, how do you think you would react and how would the media react? I think they would have ROASTED him. Bush was not perfect, but he did keep us safe for 7 years; the longest run without a terror attack on the country, our aircraft and embassies. His legacy is a poor one, but he deserves atleast credit for that.

The words welled up from deep inside: At last the adults are in charge.

I watched it at work, and my wife and I watched it twice last night. What a joy. What a leader. Zakaria says he can be an FDR. Yes he can.

I thought his prepared remarks were well-crafted. But his responses to the questions were really well done. These were some meaningful and confrontational questions and President-elect Obama's answers were thoughtful and informative.

I have to point out what a tool Jake Tapper was. "How soon do you plan on sending low level envoys to countries such as Iran, Syria, Cuba and Venezuala?"

Obama's first press conference, the economic crisis in full swing, and Jake wants a commitment to when we send an envoy to Cuba and Venezuala. Yes Jake, your priorities are the nation's priorities.

Jake, thank you for once again showing the true liberal bias of the press.

The real problem with Tapper's question wasn't even that he asked whether Obama was planning on sending low level envoys to those countries, but that he asked it in a deliberately leading and rhetorical way.

He suggested that Obama would do those things in the form of a question, and then invited Obama to deny it.

That's bs, as any good introductory critical reasoning textbook will tell you.

Amusing to see all you rediscover your love of America; I hope it lasts if Obama ever kills a terrorist (other than with kindness). Good luck trying to pass your redistributionist "change" (scare quotes because it's all been tried before). It is telling that Obama in his first press conference got his history wrong in slamming a former first lady. It is equally telling that his cheerleaders here thought it was a great moment. See you in two years, maybe by then the press will have done a little background checking on your man and his corrupt career in Chicago politics.

I loved the use of "mutt" .. it has been one of my favorites for years when asked by other Americans "what nationality are you" .. I usually responded with “I’m an American mutt�.

Never understood why Americans even ask that question, I mean the whole county is basically immigrants, just from different time periods, but once you become an American you are American. My fathers side of the family is 100% American Mutt,coming here pre-revolution, and my mother is 1st generation American of Italian descent. But most Americans by 3rd generation tend to be mutts anyway. Sure I understand that my last name has Anglo-Saxon origins but that was over 200 years ago, it’s been American since that. If I include my great-grandmother, who was born and raised on the Choctaw Reservation in Mississippi, I could claim American (at least north american) for another couple thousand years.

So cheers to the American Mutt and may we never forget that we are all Americans.