Bob Woodward believes Obama was distracted last night. Something "big" internationally was happening

[riderinthestorm]

Honestly, I think Bob Woodward is some kind of intelligence asset. But that's just my own

Regardless, I've been on the road all day taking a horse to Purdue and listening to talk radio ALL day.... This was mentioned on the Diane Rehm show this morning, that Bob Woodward said that Obama was distracted because of some international event of some import that was pressing.

Watching the debate last night I kept thinking that Obama was distracted. I even put up a post thinking that it was anniversary sex ( ) which is kinda embarrassing but still. He had a "distracted" vibe imho.

And Bob Woodward is hooked into the PTB imho. He "knows" stuff and gets fed insider info I'm sure of it.

[hifiguy]

1. Woodward was in Naval intelligence IIRC

He has access to deep background information and is not entirely trustworthy. But this sounds more than slightly plausible given the president's demeanor.

[Trixml99]

2. or

or maybe BHO was just not prepared

[FarPoint]

7. My money is on the ....

Rope a Dope scenario.

[grasswire]

8. do you prefer pepperoni? or sausage? nt

[malaise]

33. Flowers!

[Kurovski]

43. LOL

I'll officiate.

[malaise]

50. What shall we sing comrade leader?

[Kurovski]

54. "Nearer my Rod to Thee."

Or...maybe "The Volga Boatmen"

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="

?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[malaise]

62. Hahahahahha - that was the first one I thought of as well

even if the title was slightly different

[Kurovski]

67. Oops. Typo.

[2pooped2pop]

11. BHO?

I don't see that much round these he'eh parts.

[Trixml99]

18. Just here to learn

i guess ill lurk more and type less

[WCGreen]

27. Jump right in....

[Contrary1]

30. If you meant did President Obama memorize lies that he could spew out casually like Rmoney did

every time he moved his lips...then no; he wasn't prepared.

[progressivebydesign]

34. Wow.. only took 3 posts to get to the good stuff, eh?

Loving the people arriving here today and saying things like this. Reminds me of someone I saw last night, all sweaty and angry and rude.

[Sugarcoated]

37. Haha

This thread chafes your ass, doesn't it? Good to know: )

[Indpndnt]

40. You mean not prepared to handle the deficient mind of a freeperish moran?

Absolutely. Nobody is prepared for that depth of ignorance. Good catch!

And look at you knowing what the President's middle initial is! Strut your stuff.

[CreekDog]

48. Barack Obama was not prepared for Mitt Romney to choose all new ways to lie

about all his positions.

but then, who could be?

[Canuckistanian]

55. BHO?

Butane Hash Oil??

[Berlum]

66. He's not an Intelligence Asset.

He's an Intelligence Asshat.

[madaboutharry]

3. Well, he seemed "on" at his rallies today.

[undeterred]

49. Exactly.

He's not as comfortable debating as he is campaigning. He'll be better next time.

[FSogol]

4. The US took over the Cayman Islands and seized all the tax avoiding US dollars there.

The foreign entities will be allowed to leave and the US citizens involved in tax avoidance schemes will have their cash seized or be tried for treason. The deficit is now at zero.

Edited to add:

[Cleita]

6. We wish. n/t

[aquart]

17. I like the way you think.

[Zalatix]

57. Eh, I like the idea but we could do that WITHOUT sending troops.

We could PROBABLY do it electronically.

[tularetom]

5. I wish I hadn't read this post

Because I was thinking the same thing and I'd hate to imagine I ever agreed with that pompous ass Woodward about anything.

[Indpndnt]

42. ...

[liberalhistorian]

60. I miss the old Bob Woodward, before he became

a brown nosing boot-licker for GWB.

[Cleita]

9. We are pulling out of Afghanistan?

This is my guess. What's yours?

[riderinthestorm]

16. No idea. I just immediately thought Obama was distracted last night

Really. That was my impression.

And hearing this theory on the Diane Rehm show just reinforced it. I guess Bob Woodward was on one of the early am talk shows and said this. I have no link but honestly, Woodward is hooked into the PTB.

It makes sense.

I really wish it were we were pulling out of Afghanistan!! Please! Please!!!

Edited to clarify a wino typo after a helluva day...

[movonne]

32. It might be something on Israel and Iran...

[Behind the Aegis]

63. Or it could be Turkey shelling Syria...

[SaveAmerica]

61. I wish!! With it getting worse and worse I would love to hear that!!

How would the right wing react? They've been going on and on saying that Obama owns this war and they've been campaigning for him to bring the troops home RIGHT NOW!! Call him every day! What would they do if he announced we won't take one more attack on an American from inside the ranks and they're coming home. Would they vote for him then? Ha Ha!!

[HipChick]

10. Some folks werre blaming Michelle Obama today...

but it did look like something 'Big' looming him was bothering him

[marlakay]

20. I don't think it was Michelle

If they had a fight or something serious she wouldn't have been so happy looking at the debate. Neither she nor Obama are good at hiding emotions which is what happened last night.

[ananda]

12. I was thinking somethng along similar lines..

.. that Obama has been so busy with foreign affairs that maybe
he didn't have time to prepare as much as he might have otherwise,
along with being exhausted.

Oh, and this is an age-old Rovian type strategey also. They did
that to Ann Richards too, kept her so busy in Austin that she
couldn't get out and campaign the way Bush did.

[Politicalboi]

13. Maybe Obama was thinking about how

He and Michelle were going to spend their anniversary night.

[riverwalker]

15. The Syria/Turkey hostilities? n/t

[randome]

38. IF something international distracted him, that would be my guess, too.

[GoCubsGo]

19. Syria and Turkey are going at it.

Turkey is one of our allies. They just took military action against Syria. I suspect that had a lot to do with it. I am sure the President was both distracted and tired. He does have one of the most difficult jobs in the world, after all. Mitt the Twit, on the other hand, does not work, and has no worries. Of course he looks more refreshed and energetic.


The Syria -Turkey conflict: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19830928

[Inuca]

23. More precisely, Turkey is NATO

If they officially consider themselves attacked (hopefully NOT), it's as if the UK or France were attacked.

[DesertFlower]

21. my friend e-mailed me and

said she thought he looked like he might be sick. but he seems fine today.

[progressivebydesign]

35. I'd heard talk of altitude sickness. Unlike Romney, he wasn't able to acclimate nt

[DesertFlower]

51. he's been to denver before.

the 2008 convention was in denver.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. Turkey's Parliament just authorized use of force against Syria

after Syria conducted cross-border attacks on Turkish civilians. Turkey is part of NATO, as is the U.S.

An attack on Turkey = an attack on NATO = an attack on the U.S. and other NATO signatories.

Put 2 + 2 together and consider what is more important? A walking motor-mouth lie machine or having to diffuse a potential mess that could drag the U.S. into some sort of confrontation.

[riderinthestorm]

24. The BBC newscast today was ONLY about the debate AND Turkey's announcement

The juxtaposition couldn't have been clearer, nor do I think the BBC staff are idiots.

That thought crossed my mind, precisely.

[moondust]

28. That could very well be preoccupying.

And the President would not be at liberty to say anything about it in front of 67 million viewers unless the moderator were to bring it up for some reason and even then he couldn't say much.

[Turborama]

53. I have been thinking exactly the same thing. Unfortunately there's probably 0 coverage of this

...in the US, so the general public will be unaware there's a huge conflict brewing that the US could well be drawn into.

As some in this thread have wisely said (paraphrase), the President had to interrupt his extremely difficult day to day job of being CIC (amongst other tasks) to put up with an insane Republican playing make believe president.

[spanone]

26. while mitt was playing president, Obama is living it...

[Gin]

29. I thought he might be thinking......how demeaning that i have

To be on stage with this stooge.........

[Raine]

31. Oh phooey Obama did just fine, he's president and he

he was presidential. Rmoney was a lying bully and I'm sick to death of people acting like he won because he lied to of millions of people. Those lies will come back and bite him in the ass.

[hrmjustin]

36. It is a point.

[hopeisaplace]

39. exactly what I said to my hubby yesterday

yep that was also a thought that crossed my mind ... I said to my husband that the Prez
appears as though he "knows something that Romney and the rest of us don't at this point".
EXACTLY the feeling I got.

[ohheckyeah]

41. Just hours before Syria had killed

5 people in Turkey and Turkey was talking about retaliating. I've been saying that all afternoon.

I think the President was a little preoccupied and had probably been on the phone all afternoon.

[grasswire]

44. remember how Obama gave the state of the union knowing about OBL?

He knew during that speech that OBL was dead. He was dealing with all that, and none of us knew.

We have to remind the media that he has a few other things on his mind, I guess.

[Barack_America]

45. Not State of the Union, press corps dinner. nt

[grasswire]

47. how did he give a shout out to Leon Panetta at the WHCA dinner?

Oh wait. It was the rescue in Somali.

[amandabeech]

59. OBL was good news and it was over.

Someone in Syria shooting at mortar at a town in Turkey and killing 2 women and 3 children is not good news, and there were no indications then that it was over.

Turkey's parliament approved a resolution giving authority to the president, Erdogan, to attack Syria if attacked itself. Then Turkey called a late night emergency meeting of the NATO commissioners in Brussels.

I thought that the President looked tired and distracted. Others thought that he was having difficulty with the altitude or had contracted some sort of virus.

The possibility of Turkey and Syria going at it and Turkey bringing in NATO, I think, is pretty distracting.

Today, it looks a little better. The Russians sat on Assad to express sympathies with the families, conduct an investigation and promise not to do it again.

[upi402]

46. Obama had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar

That's the sense I got.

Looked like he was "manning up" and going through with it, not going after it.

[NightOwwl]

52. No shit Woodward.

Wouldn't you be distracted if the person you were expecting to debate turned out to be an empty shell filled with nothing but lies upon lies upon lies?

[Nevernose]

56. I was just about to post something very similar

It was literally impossible for Obama to have won that debate. In order to win, he would have needed to be debating an actual human being -- not some intangible ghost.

(Edited b/c of stupid autocorrect)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

58. Here's the interview

I don't think it sounds like Woodward is saying he knows what it is and can't divulge it (such as intervention by Turkey in Syria, or a preemptive strike against Iran). He's just engaging in speculation.

[AverageJoe90]

64. I think this may have been it:

Turkey Approves Military Action In Syria After Shelling Kills 5 In Akcakale:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/turkey-syria-attack_n_1938938.html

[riderinthestorm]

65. Thanks for this. Like I said, one of Diane Rehm's panel members brought it up

Said they'd heard Woodward that morning.

So I was relaying it (literally!) secondhand....

Anyway, that this was Woodward's speculation doesn't change it for me - I really felt that Obama seemed distracted during the debate. My mind was on the Turkey/Syria situation as well while I was watching the debate so maybe that's why I saw Obama that way.


Thanks for the link! Always good to see the source first hand.

[cherish44]

68. Well that is something that I thought could be the case

Obama does have a job..., what does Mitt have to do other than apply his Crest White Strips and get a spray tan?