Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 25, 2011

Cheers to Barack Obama, who hasn't made any contact with some of his top cabinet members for two years - puts a whole new spin on 'The Sounds of Silence'

Barack H. Obama has never had a problem with long-winded talking or with foot-in-the-mouth talking. He aptly demonstrated the former last year in North Carolina when it took him 17 painful minutes to respond to a woman’s question on the cost of ObamaCare and the taxes needed to pay for it… and he never did answer the question. Or after a rambling, disjointed press conference, he called the Cambridge police “stupid,” immediately after admitting that he knew none of the facts concerning the arrest following the strange altercation they had with Obama’s old buddy Prof. Henry Louis “Skip” Gates. The man loves to hear the sound of his own voice, and has been dubbed the “Everywhere President” because of his insatiable passion for appearing on television shows, multiple magazine covers, and liberal glad-handing events. And golfing — don’t forget the golfing.

As we approach tonight’s POTUS State of the Union address (and remember his shocking attack last year on the Supreme Court), we learn that Captain Clueless (aka Everywhere President) has failed to communicate, even once, with some top members of his cabinet. For TWO FREAKIN’ YEARS.

Libs, don’t make any slap-dash-watercolor effort to suddenly paint him as the “Silent Cal” president — we all know better.

How would the liberal press have reported this grotesque oversight if Pres. George W. Bush had had the same communication breakdown with a half-dozen of his hand-selected, taxpayer-paid officials after two full years of silence, but record-breaking TV appearances and visits to the links? I know, a rhetorical question…

Do you suppose there is even a twinge of guilt from these people when they cash their handsome government paychecks week after week (and which are very likely paid in the six-figure range), during the worst period of unemployment this nation has seen in at least three decades?

Barack has had more quality conversations with Bono, Paul McCartney, David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, the shrewish, bobble-head liberals at “The View,” and his caddy than he has had with some of his own Cabinet folks over the past 24 months.

Maybe they’ll opt to attend Obama’s upcoming “Listening Tour” so that they can get a few minutes of their boss’s precious time.

From Doug Powers @ Michelle Malkin, NYT Magazine: Obama Never Had Any Contact With Half a Dozen Top Cabinet Members:

According to an article by John Heileman in New York Magazine, President Obama hasn’t conferred with some half dozen cabinet members — that’s two years for those keeping score at home. But hey, when you’re this smart, why consult with anybody?

Obviously there have been the group cabinet meetings, but we’re talking either picking up the phone for a lengthy conversation or a Won-on-one personal sit down.

From the perspective of the ignored cabinet members though, how cool would it be to work at a job where the boss hasn’t felt the need to speak with you in two years?

Former White House strategist Pete Rouse, according to the New York Magazine piece, stated that Obama “eschewed reaching out” to governors, mayors, or CEOs. From the piece:

He rarely consulted outside the tiny charmed circle surrounding him in the White House. “What you had was really three or four people running the entire government,” says the former White House strategist. “I thought they put a pretty good Cabinet together, but most of those guys might as well be in the witness-protection program.”

A funny line, no doubt, but an overstatement, surely? Well, maybe not. “I happen to know most of the Cabinet pretty well, and I get together with them individually for lunch,” says one of the most respected Democratic bigwigs in Washington. “I’ve had half a dozen Cabinet members say that in the first two years, they never had one call—not one call—from the president.”

Ed Morrissey weighs in at Hot Air:

Maybe Mitch McConnell shouldn’t feel left out after all. Before the midterm election, the New York Times reported that it took 18 months for Barack Obama to get around to meeting with the Senate Minority Leader, despite Obama’s promises to work across the aisle and to become a post-partisan President. This week, John Heileman reports for New York Magazine that McConnell fared better than some Democrats did, including a half-dozen appointed by Obama to his Cabinet. During the first two years of his presidency, Obama didn’t bother to confer with them at all — not even so much as a phone call…

Mangy Redbone Hound asks the $64,000 question… Which Cabinet Members Got Snubbed?:

So which half dozen of those folks did Obama ignore for the past two years? It would reveal quite a bit about Obama’s priorities. Maybe some enterprising reporter should do his or her actual job and try to figure that out.

Link to list of Obama’s Cabinet members, provided by Mangy Redbone Hound.

Loved this reader comment from Malkin’s blog from NavyTim:

But wait for it – here it comes….

“This week on Undercover Boss – watch as POTUS tries to go under cover and see what those who work for him actually do!”

And this one from RedDog:

…So much for this guy being a multi-tasking genius. On the contrary he seems to be the real life dolt caracature that the Left portrayed Bush to be. He is clearly not a deep or independent thinker nor does he appear to be a manager. He also appears to require a lot of direction.

If he were an employee of a company his annual reviews would be quite poor – and that’s not even considering accomplishments or lack thereof. Pretty funny. No, not funny, this particular dolt is running the country.

UPDATE: After tonight’s SOTU address, Pres. Obama has vowed he’ll stop being the “Everywhere President” and will stop schmoozing on TV. Kinda like Clinton swore he’d stop womanizing — uh, he did do that, right?

Ain’t gonna happen, but it will be fun to see how long Obama’s “act like a president and not a sitcom star” resolution lasts.

From CNN to Men's Journal, Obama has made himself the 'Everywhere President' | Photo credit: AP

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Tags: Barack Obama, Bono, cabinet, Cambridge, Cambridge police, David Letterman, George W. Bush, Henry Gates, Henry Louis Gates, left-wing media, liberal, liberal media, listening tour, media, media bias, Mitch McConnell, North Carolina, Obama cabinet, Obama talk, Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Pres. Obama, president, Prof. Henry Louis Gates, SCOTUS, SOTU, State of the Union, State of the Union address, Supreme Court, The View, video