President Obama’s Mad-Lib Speeches
Rory Cooper /
It has become conventional wisdom that President Obama tries very hard to be all things to all people when he gives a speech these days. While it often makes for excellent oratory, it rarely inspires action or advocacy on his behalf. In fact, after his recent address on Afghanistan, given at West Point, there was widespread criticism from both sides of the aisle over some of the policy, and most of the substance. Simply put, the nation cannot be led through a war or a recession by simply filling in the blanks, Mad-Lib style, to suit every audience. In a fact check of the President’s economic speech delivered at the Brookings Institute headlined “Obama Likes Both Sides of an Argument,” the Associated Press said the following:
Under law, any paybacks to the bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program must be used to reduce the deficit. But in an economic speech on Tuesday, the president sought to have it both ways. Increased repayments from banks to the Treasury will reduce the deficit all right, but it will give Congress the budgetary room to spend more—and the president encouraged just that.