John Stossel
  • January 25, 2010 12:13 PM UTC by John Stossel

    Obama's Bad Connection

    In an appearance with ABC's George Stephanopoulos last week, there was little danger of the President being too hard on himself. (Perhaps he just didn't want to jeopardize that "good, solid B+" Obama gave himself last month.)

    Obama said it was his hard work creating public policy that caused him to lose a direct connection to Americans. 

    “If there’s one thing that I regret this year it’s that we were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are..."Excuse me? We know what our core values are. It is presumptuous for a politician to presume that he must lecture us about them.

    Ike Texas

    I'm surprised Stephanopoulos was able to keep a straight face. Blogger Denny Hartford asks, Obama needs to talk to us even more?

    Talk about revisionism. For this statement comes from a fellow who was constantly on our television screens, in the headlines, and on the magazine covers. Indeed, only 21 days in the whole doggone year did he not have a public appearance or splashy press event!...

    How about 411 speeches, released remarks and carefully crafted public comments? 52 of them specifically dealing with his health care schemes.

    He gave 42 news conferences including 4 which took over prime time TV.

    He did 158 interviews for a fawning press, 90 of which aired on television.

    He presided over 23 "town hall" gatherings where he pontificated on his issues.

    He traveled to 21 nations in his first year and to 58 U.S. cities (always accompanied by a huge throng of adoring reporters who let the American people know his every word and gesture).

    He had 13 bill-signing ceremonies plus plenty of media coverage on the other 111 bills he signed into law.

    Frankly, I hope the President will talk more if he'll just agree to legislate less.

John

Personally whenever Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, etc. appear on TV I turn the channel. Since when have any of these people, and most of our other politicians for that matter, had any "connection" at all with the common working class (perhaps now that unemployment is in reality around 18% I should say non-working class) American? It is obvious that our politicians care nothing about the welfare of America or her people and instead are only concerned about their own political agenda.

January 25, 2010 at 3:06 pm

Bjarnson

Reed Markham, a leadership author said: “In a basketball game and in the corporate workplace there is a huge difference between teams that achieve great success and teams that become dismal failures. The answer is effective communication- teams that can openly share ideas, focus on the task, and communicate proactively should not be surprised by their achievements.” Is it accurate to say the problem is a lack of openness, poor focus, and too much one way communication.

January 25, 2010 at 2:27 pm

R.O. in E.H.

Rather than "speaking directly with the American people", he should try to LISTEN TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

January 25, 2010 at 1:52 pm

Jeff

Oh, that's what I am missing, values. I feel better knowing that already. Who knew we could rely on our government for values too. I'll just wait until he tells me what those are.

January 25, 2010 at 1:44 pm

kathy2trips

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?

January 25, 2010 at 1:21 pm

Alison M

Obama wants to be a star! He went into the wrong business. What an attention hound!

January 25, 2010 at 1:15 pm

D Bell

The President confuses speaking with results. This is easy for politicians to do, since they live in a world where only perceptions are reality. His problem is that his policies are not being perceived well by independents. His answer, so far, is to double down on trying to convince independents that they're wrong. Expect MORE speeches and events.

January 25, 2010 at 12:52 pm

Kevin

I think it's becoming increasingly clear after one year just how much of a narcissist this guy is. The American people are starting to get the hint, even the adoring media can't save this guy's approval rating.

January 25, 2010 at 12:26 pm

About this Web Site

  • John Stossel joined FOX Business and FOX News in October 2009. His show, Stossel, airs on the Fox Business Network on Thursdays at 9 PM and midnight ET. It re-runs Fridays at 10 p.m., Saturdays at 9 p.m. and 12 midnight, and Sundays at 10 p.m. (all times eastern).

    He is the New York Times best-selling author of Give Me A Break and Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. His "Give Me a Break" commentaries take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, such as education, the economy, parenting, and more.

    Subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog.