President Obama(Photo: Charles Dharapak, AP)
The sequester is getting attention for sure, but two other comments by President Obama at a brief news conference Friday are likely to have a long shelf life.
First, the president announced he is not a dictator.
Then Obama disclosed he could not "mind meld" with Republicans to force a sequester deal, though it appears he mixed his science fiction metaphors.
"Most people agree I'm presenting a fair deal, " Obama said. "The fact that they (Republicans) don't take it means that I should, somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right."
Alas, the Vulcan Mind Meld is the property of Star Trek's Mr. Spock (a character Obama has been compared to, oddly enough).
The Jedi, of Star Wars fame, used "mind tricks" to get people to do what they want, according to numerous science fiction geeks who flocked to Twitter after the president's remarks.
Even the White House got on the Star Wars joke, tweeting out a picture of the president and advocating his budget plan with the caption, "we must bring balance to the Force." The White House also gave a shout-out to Mr. Spock, saying: "To Deny The Facts Would Be Illogical."
Spock himself -- also known as actor Leonard Nimoy -- weighed in, more or less defending Obama by tweeting: "Only a Vulcan mind meld will help with this congress."
The Atlantic website reports that Obama "shatters his nerd credibility" -- which strikes us as a good thing.
The president had made the same point earlier when he told reporters he couldn't force the Republicans to agree to a new budget deal.
"I am not a dictator," Obama said. "I'm the president."
He added: "So, ultimately if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, 'we need to go to catch a plane,' I can't have Secret Service block the doorway. Right?"
Who says this: "I am not a dictator. I'm the president."
I mean, who WOULD say such a thing? Someone whose ego and self-love is mountainous, one who teases himself with the idea that he should be a dictator. A benevolent dictator. That'd be fine. With him. And, obviously, plenty of poorly informed citizens of the United States (not to mention all those fans overseas).
Obama has confirmed -- if you want to use that term rather than 'woefully explained' -- that he also is not an emperor. On multiple occasions.
I think it's clear to everyone that Obama WISHES he could avoid all this make-believe compromising he's doing. Changing the goal posts, pretending he's a centrist when he's a statist, pretending he's "post-political" when he's created more divisiveness with his words than any president I can recall since radio was invented.
- jR
Posted via email from Like, Totally Political Dude! - posterous
