So sorry you're bored...

[babylonsister]

BORED NOW.... President Obama covered a fair amount of ground in his White House press conference last night, talking about the economy, the impending flu pandemic, and the faltering U.S. auto industry. The president fielded questions about nuclear arms possibly falling into the hands of the Taliban, torture, violence in Iraq, and Arlen Specter's big party switch. Obama also addressed hot-button issues like abortion and immigration.

The problem, according to a variety of pundits, wasn't with the questions or answers, but rather, the fact that they found the hour-long Q&A insufficiently entertaining.

During the April 29 edition of Fox News' Hannity, contributor Karl Rove said that the press conference "was boring," "flat" and "dull." He later stated: "There were a couple of very important moments in it -- I don't deny that -- but it was a boring, boring news conference."

During CNN's coverage of the press conference, contributor Ed Rollins stated: "I thought his opening statement was perfect. You know, what bothers me a little bit about it: As it goes on, it gets a little bit more boring. And, you know, you need to hold that attention span a good half-hour, a good 45 minutes. The answers are a little long. He doesn't know how to turn and pivot off of them. But nothing incorrect that I heard, it just -- it gets a little boring."

On MSNBC's Hardball Late Night, host Chris Matthews asked political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell: "Why, Lawrence, are these press conferences that this guy holds so frighteningly boring?" He added: "Why does everybody act like they're in a sepulchre of some kind? They're so dutiful, it's boring beyond death."

During the April 30 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson stated, "I suddenly woke up from nodding off" when Obama was asked by a New York Times reporter "what had 'enchanted' him."

If this seems kind of familiar, conservative bloggers had the exact same response to last month's prime-time White House press conference.

I find all of this quite strange. Sure, if a junior-high-school civics class were assigned to watch the press conference, I can imagine the teenagers saying, "A president discussing current events? While 'American Idol' is on? Spare me." 13 year olds tend to have short attention spans and little patience for a discussion about whether the Pakistani government is likely to survive.

But folks like Rove, Rollins, Matthews, and Carlson, among others, are ostensibly media professionals, paid to, you know, cover politics. When the president of the United States, in the midst of several ongoing national and international crises, talks to the nation about current events, the appropriate response from on-air analysts shouldn't be, "Bo-ring."

It's their job to find stuff like this interesting, or barring that, important. What do these guys want? A laser-light show? Hand puppets? Back-up dancers?

Note to conservative media personalities: grow up.

-Steve Benen

[Cha]

1. They don't have to brains to

be anything but bored.

It was must see tv:fistbump:

[lunatica]

2. The pundits are feeling irrelevant right now

Because they can't re-frame everything President Obama said and tell us what to think. He's explaining himself much better than they ever could and they don't like it.

:rofl:

[babylonsister]

5. This sure makes the pundits sound like spoiled rotten little kids.

As the OP pointed out, this is their job! And not all pundits sounded as if they were bored.

You have a point. Such fully-measured answers can't be spun. Hey, maybe they are bored! :spray:

[butterfly77]

16. O'lielly was angry because ..

he said they didn't ask enough questions he said why did they let him ramble on and on until he forgot what the question was. The problem is that he wants some canned one minute answers so that he can use them in soundbites to feed his stupid ass base.

[Javaman]

25. short attention span theater.

that's a typical repuke for you.

[BuyingThyme]

3. Boring is a good strategy.

[PA Democrat]

4. I guess he preferred the all-fear all the time modus operandi of the Bush regime.

You know the routine: conjure up visions of a few mushroom clouds and anthrax attacks, throw in a little saber-rattling and axis of evil talk, and round it off with a dose of evil doers who want to take away our freedoms.

Yikes!

[lunatica]

8. They miss the bushisms

[global1]

6. My 85 y/o Mother Never Could Listen To A Bush :Press Conference....

she would say it was too painful to listen to the guy. Now - she can't wait to watch Obama speak or take questions. She says he's intelligent, genuine, honest and she feels he's speaking directly to her. She says he makes things easy to grasp because he talks at a level that is understandable. She appreciates that he is trying to educate people about things that in the past - they didn't have knowledge of. She says that all her friends (all around the same age) feel exactly the same.

I too look forward to Obama's press conferences. He tries real hard to share with us why he has made certain decisions. He adds just the right amount of humor and familiar sayings - like the other day - with respect to closing the border - he said the horses are out of the barn ....

I would venture to say that most American's appreciate Obama and how he speaks to them.

I heard Matthews last night and I couldn't understand why he said what he said about 'boring'. I'm surprised today that this has been echoed by others in the MSM. It's like they are not happy unless there is some controversial topic that they are able to glom on to and run Obama into the ground.

If they want interesting - why don't they report the news on the war crimes and torture of BushCo.

Grow up you babies in the MSM. Act like adults. Do your job and report the news. Don't look for 'gotcha's' so you can overblow them and try and invent the news.

[MorningGlow]

7. Lock-step repetition--doesn't matter the meme

The order went out to call the presser "boring" and the GOP "soldiers" fell in line and started babbling the meme like a bunch of chickens. It's not whether the presser was truly boring or not--and they don't care whether it really was or wasn't--they just picked a derogatory word and agreed to define the presser as such. Because repeating something over and over is the best way to get it to worm into the sheeples' brains. Betcha anything that callers to right-wing talkfests will also suddenly decide that Obama's presser was "boring" and they'll believe that they came up with that idea all by their little ol' selves.

[liberal N proud]

9. Karl Rove is so third grade

His boy wasn't giving the speech so it was terrible.

[endarkenment]

10. i was bored to tears when my president clearly implicated the former president

as a perpetrator of war crimes. Who the heck wants to hear boring details of obscure policy issues like that?

[gkhouston]

11. I actually found it refreshing that some of the answers weren't canned talking points

but things that Obama was clearly thinking up on the spot. He's actually trying to provide meaningful answers, not just run out the clock. :thumbsup:

[FourScore]

12. More likely, Obama's rsponses were above their paygrade.

They only understand spin and soundbites. They've never seen a true thoughtful response in their life. And they've certainly never given one.

[Dappleganger]

13. Rove needs to leave the commentary to the adults in the room.

Even my republican husband was impressed, and brought up several points he liked about it this morning at breakfast (on his own).

Nobody cares about Rove anymore so he continues to pull things out of his ass to get attention.

[Occam Bandage]

14. They don't want policy. They don't want solutions. They want a fight.

They want him to act like Bush: bluster, soundbytes, in-your-face mockery of the other side.

[scarletwoman]

15. Hey, a laser light show sounds great! AND back up dancers!

Oh, and how about a scale model of Stonehenge in the background! And a dry ice fog machine! And fireworks! And Obama should totally fly in on a hidden wire and then be slowly lowered to the stage as a gem-encrusted golden podium rises up from the floor!

Add the right background music -- I'm thinking Oh Fortuna from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana -- and it would be one hell of a kick-ass press conference!

And whenever a reporter asks a fucking stupid question -- like "What enchants you?" -- a trap door opens under their chair and they drop down into a tank full of sharks with lasers on their heads.

Let's see those jerk-offs complain about THAT being "boring"! :D

sw

[babylonsister]

18. Bwhahaha! I have visions of

Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge. And the trap door! Sounds sweet, and might just make them leave the stupid at home.

:thumbsup:

[scarletwoman]

21. Yup. They should definitely do the trap door.

Glad you appreciated it. :D

sw

[Terry in Austin]

23. Sayyy...

Now, I'd pay a serious buck to see that!

semper crescit,
et decrescit...

:applause:

[monmouth]

17. If the questions were more interesting and relevant..well, ya know.....n/t

[canetoad]

19. My favourite Oscar Wilde quotation

"Only the boring are ever bored."

Whenever I hear someone petulantly declare they are bored I think of a small child who demands the attention of a parent; I think of languid dissolute wasters, of those without the ability to activate their own minds, yet demand others provide stimulus for them.

How can anyone whine about boredom and be taken seriously?

[annabanana]

20. Politico tried to float this meme on Morning Joe this morning....

It didn't make any sense this morning either... I see that didn't keep the wingnuts from picking it up and running with it.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5566768&mesg_id=5566768

[adamuu]

22. Perfection is boring.

;)

[starroute]

24. I can kind of understand it at a few points

When my kids were adolescents, they'd complain that if they asked me a question I wouldn't just answer it but would try to use it as a teaching moment and toss the whole encyclopedia at them.

I'm not blaming Obama -- since I do it myself -- but I did catch that sort of "in addition" tendency in some of his answers. I wouldn't want him to alter his basic no-drama manner for one moment -- but I do think a few of his responses could have been clipped a bit earlier and would have been just as effective.

[glitch]

26. Keep in mind these are the same people who tittered at Juniors jokes.

They roared at "no wmds here" and "lucky me, I hit the trifecta heh heh heh".

Thank God they really aren't the target audience, anymore.

[Uncle Joe]

27. Any time a political leader leaves the kiddie pool for the deeper issues, these same corporate media

pundit puppets become bored.

If they're not interested in adult discussion of critical national issues, then I believe these light weights are in the wrong line of work.

Someone should treat them to some light and fluffy cotton candy at the circus or maybe put them in front of Bush speech reruns, to keep them "entertained" and out of the serious business of the nation.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.

[hvn_nbr_2]

28. Facts and information are boring. Obama should just make up shit, like his predecessor.

For example:

1. He should make up "facts." Imaginary mobile launchers for anthrax rockets, imaginary nuclear weapons, and imaginary mushroom clouds are far more entertaining than the state of the economy or whether a government with real nuclear weapons will survive. Imaginary tales of terrorists spilling the goods on imaginary plots because a fish hook is ripping out their lungs or a baseball bat is being shoved up their 10-year-old kid's butt are far more entertaining than talking about the Geneva Conventions or the niceties of the law.

2. He should make up words. Strategerize and edumacate are more entertaining than all those real words that Obama uses.

3. Heck, he could even make up whole grammars and languages, on the fly. MSM dumbfucks wouldn't even notice, as they so ably demonstrated for eight years.

[omega minimo]

29. I liked that it was Old School "boring." Note to "journalists" REALITY IS NOT A REALITY SHOW.

Tell the pundoids to check the Old School style of all those News Gods they love to praise. IT WAS BORING!

Policy is boring. Obama knows his shit. He's smart and articulate and actually explains things and goes on longer than he has to.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:woohoo: :yourock: :bounce:

[AwakeAtLast]

30. It would be boring for people who are used to

a President who can't use more than one syllable words.

[Prophet 451]

31. I was thinking that

W's press conferences were an endless source of hilarity.