Obama says he won’t seek re-election if stimulus fails

[otohara]

I have no idea how they pulled this headline out of President Obama's remarks today?

Boston Herald via AP

FORT MYERS, Fla. - President Obama is tying his political fate to his success or failure of improving the troubled economy.

On the road pitching the $838 billion economic stimulus package that won approval in the Senate yesterday, the president said he expects to be judged by results and that he won’t make any excuses if he fails.

“I won’t lie to you,” Obama said.

“If it turns out that a few years from now people don’t feel like the economy’s turned around, that we’re still having problems, that folks are still unemployed, that our health care system’s not more efficient, then, you know, you guys won’t applaud me the next time I come down here,” he told his Florida audience. “If stuff hasn’t worked and people don’t feel like I’ve led the country in the right direction, then you’ll have a new president.”

That was a clear reference to his likely re-election bid in four years.

Republicans have issued a drumbeat of criticism against the president’s stimulus bill, calling it too big, too jammed with special spending projects and too light on tax cuts to jump-start the economy. Not a single House Republican voted for the bill last week, and in the Senate yesterday, just three Republicans signed on. The bill now faces tough joint congressional negotiations.

So, just three weeks into his presidency, Obama left Washington to fight back. Again and again, in town halls Monday and yesterday, Obama made the case for how the stimulus would better the lives of Average Joes.http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2009_02_11_President_Barack_Obama_says_he_won_t_seek_re-election_if_stimulus_fails/

[PretzelWarrior]

1. WRONG! way to not read correctly

he's just observing the political reality that if people feel he had a chance to fix things and did not he will probably lose in reelection.

[Still Sensible]

21. My, what a misleading headline

that's not what he said at all.

[rpannier]

2. Funny

I took it to mean if he fails we won't re-elect him

I see they're already starting their BS talking points to use against him

[firedupdem]

3. The MSM is getting more and more desperate.... n/t

[Triana]

4. That is not what he said.

He said that if people believe he's failed they won't re-elect him. That is the case with ALL Presidents in their first term. Nothing new there and he didn't say he wouldn't RUN - he said he wouldn't be re-elected.

Sheesh.

[ecstatic]

5. What has happened to journalism in this country?

I guess the entire field jumped the shark when Sarah Palin was awarded her degree.

[anonymous171]

6. Deregulation of the media and the 24-hour "news" shows happened. nt

[Sugarcoated]

7. They just make shit up

Unbelievable, and unprofessional. "We'll break the news, we'll make the news!" :puke: :puke: :puke:

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. Somebody didn't quite understand AP's content did they?

[Frank Booth]

9. Is this some type of trick?

The MSM's going to hold Obama to some fake promise a headline writer made up?

Now O'Reilly, Drudge, Hannity, Cooper, Morning Joe, Williams, Stephanopoulos, Gibson, and all the rest of those idiots will keep shoving this in our face.

[PretzelWarrior]

10. they're just trying to play hardball since he called on HuffPo

I seriously think the main stream corporate media needs to be taken out and head shot and have us all start over again with a TRULY free media.

[amborin]

11. Why?????????

isn't Obama more careful with his speech?????????

betting a second term on the success of the stimulus plan---or saying that public perceptions of his the success of his interventions will determine his chances seems to me way too.....

the economy is in such a shambles that no stimulus plan is going to fix it any time soon....

now he's set the public up to think this should be the measure of his success...

[PretzelWarrior]

13. you don't understand politics, do you? they ALREADY WILL

try to paint him as unsuccessful as president if the stimulus isn't immediately causing our economy to hum along.

Obama is very smart, and his team is working on the first few steps to inoculate him from the GOP's worst.

It will work for me and almost all who voted for him. Will it be enough? Time will tell.

[DUlover2909]

16. I think he knows what is safe to say in public.

I think he knows that the stimulus will work and it will be all for naught in 4 years.

[Thrill]

29. He didn't say that.

[Clio the Leo]

31. It's a mindscrew....

.... he's confident things will get better .... so if he starts making a big deal about how "I wont be re-elected if this doesn't work" then he's setting it up so that if things DO (and they will) he will have planted the seed that he deserves a second term.

The man doesn't BREATHE in public without planning it first and considering the political consequences.

Another theory is that he saw the poll numbers too ... the public is supporting him and not the GOP congressmen .... if he puts this "fear" in the public that we wont have him for 8 years, we feel more motivated to call our GOP congresspeople and urge them to pass it.

[ErinBerin84]

12. lol

What kind of crack is the AP smoking? How is that a "clear" reference? It claims that he might suffer in the public eye and they might want a new president, but has nothing to do with actually seeking re-election. Plus, he has been saying this in interviews for a couple of weeks.

[vaberella]

14. It's called sensationalism and the media is notorious for this kind of crap. I'm not surprised! n/t

[Bolo Boffin]

15. Obama will learn that he cannot speak in nuance.

If it can be misunderstood, it will be.

He has been in office for three weeks. These numbskulls want to start the 2012 campaign season now. Un-fucking-believable.

[FrenchieCat]

17. We have got to do something about this fucked up media!

FCC needs to start working on their crazy asses! They have already endangered our democracy too many times!

[Hellataz]

18. Odd how there's only 3 comments, none of which are smacking them upside the head

I submitted mine, though i doubt it will be posted:

"Hey Morons, where EXACTLY does our president say these words? He certainly implies that if all the plans he's is working on don't work to help us then we the american people will tell him by voting for someone new in 2012. Which is a given...duh. But he does not once say if this fails he will not run for re-election. How pathetic are you as a media outlet that you need to make such editorialize leaps and assumptions in a "news" story. Get your facts straight before posting your headlines.
Idiots.

You were right in his statements being a clear reference to his re-election bid, NOT in his intentions to not run, but in our choice to not re-elect him if we so choose.

Better be careful unless you're trying to show off your impartial partisan agenda."

[demokatgurrl]

19. I think he means that he thinks people won't vote for him

if it fails. I wish he hadn't said it, though.

[democrattotheend]

20. He didn't say he wouldn't seek reelection

Just that he probably wouldn't win.

[Mass]

22. Boston Herald has misleading headlines? Really? Not exactly a surprise.

[Uzybone]

23. the fine liberal media doing its work

jeebus.

[Maven]

24. Uhh...that's not what he said at all.

WTF

[Orsino]

25. If the stimuli fail, there won't *be* another election.

Stabilizing the nation in this crisis sufficiently for us to be able to hold elections in 2012 will be a kind of success.

[Better Believe It]

27. Why do you think there won't be an election in 2012?

[Orsino]

28. I think that the economy is more fragile than ever before...

...and most Americans are further removed from agriculture and more dependent upon utilities than ever before. Collapse now would, I think, be catastrophic. We've gotten too big to fail, so to speak.

[Better Believe It]

26. He actually said he doesn't expect to be re-elected President ....

if the economy hasn't improved "the economy's turned around" by 2012.

He's right.

[Clio the Leo]

30. And anyone who saw the event in Ft. Myers knows otherwise....

.... his face lit up like a Christmas bulb when someone suggested he'd have 8 years to fix this mess and not 4.






You can believe from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep, he's trying to get re-elected. He's going to fix the country in the process, but he WANTS it even more than WE do.

[Blue_Tires]

32. the Herald? no surprise there

they are trying to set him up as a 'liar' when he runs for re-election...that editor took a HUGH stretch in crafting that headline from the content...

[Z_I_Peevey]

33. THIS JUST IN: AP has no credibility

That's the biggest load of hooey I've seen in a while. The Mighty Wurlitzer isn't even playing in tune anymore.

[ljm2002]

34. This is exactly how the noise machine works...

...the headline lies outright, this is not what Obama said and it is not implied by what he said. But no matter, they can say it in a headline and then, a few years down the road, when the economic problems are not 100% solved, some reporter will ask him if he is going to stick to his promise not to run again. And then the Republics will start the drumbeat -- he's running again, he didn't keep his promise, you can't trust him. And the mass emails will start, and the astroturf letters to the editor.

That's how it works. The lies are woven into the fabric of the corporate media, and it works very well against a population that does not have the time to investigate and parse every argument that is brought forth.