An interesting turn of events at a Town Hall filled with pre-screened people. Note how Obama, misreading the woman entirely, starts to laugh at her comments. It then becomes very clear this woman, while still deeply respectful, clearly feels deeply betrayed. This is what this man has done to his own supporters. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s happening to everyone.
VIDEO: Town Hall Questioner To Obama: “I’m Exhausted Of Defending You”
“I’m one of your middle class Americans. And quite frankly, I’m exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for,” a woman told President Obama at a town hall.
“My husband and I have joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives, but, quite frankly, it’s starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we’re headed again, and, quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly. Is this my new reality?,” she added.
H/T to Tammy Bruce
Related:
The Hill: Obama defends business record
Disappointed Supporters Question Obama
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG - Published: September 20, 2010
WASHINGTON — It was billed as “Investing In America,” a live televised conversation between President Obama and American workers, students, business people and retirees on the state of the economy, a kind of Wall Street to Main Street reality check.
But it sounded like a therapy session for disillusioned Obama supporters.
In question after question in Monday’s one-hour session, which took place at the Newseum here and was televised on CNBC, Mr. Obama was confronted by people who said, in short, that they had expected more from him. People from Main Street wanted to know if the American dream still lived for them. People from Wall Street complained that he was treating them like a piñata, “whacking us with the stick,” in the words of a former law school classmate of Mr. Obama’s who now runs a hedge fund.
“I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for,” said the first questioner, an African-American woman who identified herself as a chief financial officer, a mother and a military veteran. “I’ve been told that I voted for a man who was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class, and I’m waiting, sir, I’m waiting. I still don’t feel it yet.”
A 30-year-old law school graduate, Ted Brassfield, told Mr. Obama he had hoped to pursue a career in public service — like the president — but could barely pay the interest on his student loans, let alone think of getting married or starting a family.
“I was really inspired by you and your campaign and the message you brought, and that inspiration is dying away,” Mr. Brassfield said, adding, “What I really want to know is: Is the American dream dead for me?”
And a third-generation business owner from Pennsylvania, Walter Allen, told Mr. Obama that his biggest challenge as an entrepreneur was a fearful, negative public. “How can you regain the political center?” Mr. Allen asked plaintively. “You’re losing the war of sound bites. You’re losing the media cycles.”
The extraordinarily personal tone of Monday’s conversation, coupled with more substantive policy questions from the session’s host, John Harwood of CNBC and The New York Times, reflects the erosion of support for Mr. Obama among the constituencies that propelled him into office two years ago.
As he leads his party into a midterm election that many analysts expect to be devastating for Democrats, the president faces overwhelming skepticism from Americans on his handling of the economy. A recent New York Times poll found that 57 percent of respondents believed that the president did not have a clear plan for fixing the nation’s broken economy.
Mr. Obama sought on Monday to address those concerns, telling his business critics that he was not anti-Wall Street and his middle-class questioners that “there are a whole host of things we’ve put in place to make your life better.” He cited his administration’s health care overhaul bill; a financial regulatory reform measure that imposes tougher requirements on credit card companies; and an education bill that makes student loans more widely available.
The president also laid down a challenge to the Tea Party movement, whose candidates have been defeating more mainstream Republicans in a string of recent primaries in Alaska, Delaware and other states. He said it was not enough for Tea Party candidates to campaign on a theme of smaller government; he tried to put them in an uncomfortable box by prodding them to offer specifics about just what programs they would cut.
“The challenge for the Tea Party movement is to identify specifically: What would you do?” the president said. “It’s not enough to say ‘get control of spending.’ I think its important for you to say, ‘I’m willing to cut veterans’ benefits,’ or ‘I’m willing to cutMedicare or Social Security,’ or ‘I’m willing to see taxes go up.’ ”
Mr. Obama hinted that he was open to considering a payroll-tax holiday to spur job growth, saying he would be willing to “look at any idea that’s out there. ” But he went on to say that some ideas that “look good on paper” are more complicated then they appear. And he ducked a question from Mr. Harwood about whether he would be willing to debate the House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the way President Bill Clinton debated Newt Gingrich, then speaker of the House, 15 years ago.
“I think it’s premature to say that John Boehner’s going to be the speaker of the House,” Mr. Obama said — an optimistic assessment, given how many analysts, including Democrats, believe otherwise.
If Monday’s session seemed an extraordinary display of disaffection with the president, he did not seem ruffled by it. Rather, he seemed resigned to the frustration of his questioners.
“My goal here,” the president said, “is not to convince you that everything is where it needs to be. But what I am saying is that we are moving in the right direction.”
Source: The normally ever so liberal NYC Times
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