The House Republicans invited President Obama to address their membership at their retreat in Baltimore, Maryland today. Well, where do I start? A mop is quite appropriate.
Today was political theatre.
Barack Obama stood there and made his statement with clarity, distiction and FACTS. Then he took their questions and the first was from Rep. Mike Pence from Indiana. It was a longgggg gotcha question and when he was done answering Pence, it was Pence who was got. (For me, they keep saying Pence is such a rising star, please after this people need to walk away from that thought.)
What happened today was Barack Obama refuting all the Republican talking points, TO THEIR FACES. He talked about them to their faces so good, they did not know what hit them and it was all done with FACT. When it was done, they were done. Luke Russert from MSNBC stated on television that one Republican told him that they never should have had cameras in the room but this was a political stroke of genius. Per Russert Tweet:
"GOP aides telling me it was a mistake to allow cameras into Obama's QA with GOP members. Allowed BO to refute GOP for 1.5 hours on TV"
The White House called the GOP leadership late last night and asked for the cameras in the room. The Republicans would have looked silly since they have been crying about transperancy to say no.
Such sessions are typically closed and Republicans said they initially assumed the White House would want to continue that practice. But after an exchange with the White House, Republicans decided to allow press coverage rather than be portrayed as trying to keep the meeting behind closed doors.
When this is all said and done, the dust settled, the only political gains was by Barack Obama. The Republicans? At this point, for them to continue to vote no on everything will be their demise in the end.
Oh, how effective was President Obama?
So effective was the president that Fox News cut away from the broadcast 20 minutes before it ended.
That is how effective he was.
Another good read: Cameras Roll As Obama Schools GOP
YouTube
C-SPAN Video
Transcript from Washington Post
Transcript
[UPDATE]
Luke Russert, MSNBC reporting on the GOP saying it was a mistake to let cameras in the room.
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