# obama conference **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154 "2009-02-10T01:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/61 "2009-02-11T08:15:08Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > For the past couple plus weeks these pundits and Republican politicians have been pounding on the idea that the stimulus is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD!!! but the American people are pretty much saying, “fuck off, we don’t believe you anymore” just like they did on election day. It feels like a dream. I never thought I’d see the day where the American public doesn’t believe the bullshit coming from the GOP. How long do you think this will last? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/62 "2009-02-11T10:14:56Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > I don’t think it was a seating chart; the president would read off a name and affiliation, then look around, saying something like, “Charlie, okay, where are you, Charlie?” spot the rising reporter and acknowledge him/her. > > It looked to me as if President Obama (with Gibbs?) had gone over the list of reporters likely to be present beforehand and settled on an order of questioners. Well, whatever it is, if President Obama is doing it, then it is most likely the best thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/63 "2009-02-11T10:30:35Z")
I assume we’ve all seen Julio. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjiKPWzN878) ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/64 "2009-02-11T13:09:17Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > This is probably not in the right forum, but: > > Why is he not looking at the camera? He is looking everywhere but out at the people he is trying to speak to. Who suggested this format? Every network had their own camera. At least 1, I think NBC, was at a dramatically different angle than the others. I only know because I was flipping through my channels trying to find one that sounded best… but there definitely wasn’t 1 camera he could have looked at. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/65 "2009-02-11T17:36:50Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > It feels like a dream. > > I never thought I’d see the day where the American public doesn’t believe the bullshit coming from the GOP. Finally, enough people are tired of the right wing Republican’s “Boy Who Cried Wolf” syndrome. There were no WMD in Iraq, the country had nothing to do with 9/11. Barack Obama isn’t a socialist, Marxist, terrorist-loving Muslim who’ll trash the White House by inviting all his soul brother friends to come par-tay. William Ayres is a harmless academic now, not the super scary ooogie boogie man he was portrayed as. The more shit the right wingers and pundits tried to fling at Obama, the more people backed away in horror at the stench coming from the right wingers and pundits, which made the right wingers and pundits even more desperate to find something, ANYTHING, real or imagined (mostly imagined) they could throw to make stick. Nothing did, unless you were a freeper type who believed everything Rush and Hannity say. The type who still thinks Obama isn’t an American citizen, and calls him Zero or Odumbo. I don’t know when the average person started to wake up to the specific lies against Obama. It might have been when that bimbo on Fox called Barack and Michelle’s playful knuckle bump a “terrorist fist jab.” It was not only stupid, it was so far beyond the pale that a lot of folks realized that hey, maybe you can’t trust anything these guys say. People could see that these two Americans were as far away from terrorist as you could get, and this was Partisanship Gone Wild. They see Partisanship Gone Wild now too, and they understand what it means. Party first, Country second (or third, after the corporations/banks). What it doesn’t mean is a concern for the American people. They can see that asswipes who gave hundreds of billions of dollars to banks with absolutely no oversight are now suddenly “fiscal conservatives” bleating on nonsensically when it comes to a stimulus that will help ordinary Americans and infastructure. Add the disaster of Bush, the disaster of Palin, the disaster of McCain’s poorly-run campain, the B girl, and about a thousand other things (oh and thanks for the “I hope he fails” boost Rush, your timing couldn’t have been better), and you’ve now got a totally discredited party, with the insane ones still insisting that the reason they lost was because they weren’t right wing _enough_, and the sane ones wondering what the hell they’re going to do now. They did it to themselves, but if something came up that people really should be worried about, no one’s going to believe them. Not for a long long time. > [@Lakai](#): > > How long do you think this will last? Hopefully, a long, long time. As long as Obama keeps doing the right thing, admits when he ‘screws up’ and keeps showing by words and deeds his concern for the American people, and the GOP keeps acting like selfish 1st graders. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/66 "2009-02-11T21:31:42Z")
> [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](#): > > … > > Think I’ve found a new ringtone. > [@Dogzilla](#): > > Thank you for my new ringtone. 😉 You’re welcome! If mine wasn’t a business cell, that would so be my ringtone, as well. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lissoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@Lissoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissoy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/67 "2009-02-12T00:50:06Z")
> [@Queen\_Tonya](#): > > I’m just so thrilled to have a President that can use words like bellicose. 🙂 You mean like [the last one](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=76296&st=bellicose&st1=)? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/68 "2009-02-12T15:47:00Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I assume we’ve all seen Julio. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjiKPWzN878](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjiKPWzN878) he was on olbermann, a bit more subdued. both he and miss harriet have benefited from being at the town hall. julio has been offered an internship and a job announcing for the local baseball team. miss harriet has been offered a house by a local politician. if you go to an obama town hall event, do all you can to get to the microphone! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/69 "2009-02-25T00:56:35Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I wonder if at least some of the folks who consider last night’s exercise to be a waste of time/money are of an age that they forget that press conferences were not always the rarity they were during the most recent past administration. Back in the day, was it customary for the president to address the nation every other week? ---
**Author:** ![Lungfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@Lungfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lungfish)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/70 "2009-02-25T01:43:56Z")
IIRC President Franklin D. Roosevelt started the tradition of addressing the American public on a regular basis. It was Ronald Reagan who started giving addresses every Saturday over the radio waves. President Obama continues the tradition with his first weekly address on the 24th January: [whitehouse.gov](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president-obama-delivers-your-weekly-address/) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/71 "2009-02-25T01:45:58Z")
Dammit, who bumped this? I read the first post and started frantically searching for the speech online. Finally I found Hulu’s, “Watch it live in 13 minutes.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/72 "2009-02-25T02:06:08Z")
Stupid question, but what’s the difference between today’s speech and a State of the Union Address? Everyone seems to be in the audience today. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/73 "2009-02-25T05:34:33Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Stupid question, but what’s the difference between today’s speech and a State of the Union Address? Everyone seems to be in the audience today. The State of the Union is constitutionally mandated. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/74 "2009-02-25T19:53:03Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Stupid question, but what’s the difference between today’s speech and a State of the Union Address? Everyone seems to be in the audience today. > [@Tuckerfan](#): > > The State of the Union is constitutionally mandated. That doesn’t really explain the difference. The real difference is tradition. The constitution calls for the president to give congress the state of the union “from time to time.” It doesn’t really say how many times, or when he should do this. Inaugurated presidents don’t usually give state of the unions, so that is why this speech is technically not the state of the union. The president can, however, address a joint session of congress for any reason he feels is necessary. So this speech was an address to a joint session of congress, and not the state of the union address. In other words, a the state of the union is a particular type of speech that is addressed to a joint session of congress. It happens every year without an inauguration. Every other time you see a president address a joint session it is simply a joint session address. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/75 "2009-02-26T05:06:23Z")
Since there’s no thread about President Obama’s magnificent speech last night, I’ll just put this here. [Obama Address Draws 52.3 Million Viewers](http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/179921-Ratings_Obama_Address_Draws_52_3_Million_Viewers.php) > [@](#): > > President Barack Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress, similar to a State of the Union address, was carried live by ten national TV networks and drew 52.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings. > > The address was covered by ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. In sum, the speech drew a 32.5 rating/49 share and was watched in approximately 37.1 million homes… People liked it too. [Poll: Obama’s speech scored with viewers](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/25/poll-obamas-speech-scored-with-viewers-2/#more-41567) > [@](#): > > A new national poll indicates that two-thirds of those who watched President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress reacted favorably to his speech. > > Sixty-eight percent of speech-watchers questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey Tuesday night had a very positive reaction to the president’s address, with 24 percent suggesting they had a somewhat positive response and 8 percent indicating they had a negative reaction. > > … > > Eighty-five percent of those polled said the president’s speech made them feel more optimistic about the direction the country is headed in the next few years, with 11 percent indicating the speech made the feel more pessimistic. > > Eighty-two percent of speech watchers say they support the economic plan Obama outlined in his prime-time address, with 17 percent opposing the proposals. > > … ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/76 "2009-02-26T05:55:10Z")
The few brief clips of Jindal’s response that I’ve seen have just been _horrible_. The man does **not** know how to present himself on camera, and if he’s the _best_ the GOP has to offer at the moment, then I’m seriously worried. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/77 "2009-02-26T08:19:09Z")
It’s not just you. Jindal’s awfulness has actually stolen the limelight from President Obama’s speech, because the contrast could not have been more stark. Even major conservatives are moaning about how bad he was. Except Limbaugh, but that’s to be expected. I’m not worried, in fact, giddy and joyous are closer to my reactions to the reactions of Jindal (who doesn’t even have the balls to go by his real name, **Piyush Jindal**. Sure, President Obama used to go by the name Barry, but changed it back to his real name Barack before entering politics. Now only freepers call him Barry). I hope and pray that the 2012 Republican ticket is Palin/Jindal. What a gift that would be. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/78 "2009-02-26T23:53:19Z")
lots of people have childhood nicknames they don’t use as adults. many billys and bobbys become bill or william, bob or robert, once they get adult jobs. not to mention susies becoming sue, susan, or susannes, or pattys becoming pat or patricia. it is a growing up thing. ( no, i can’t explain jimmy carter… perhaps he just doesn’t like the name james.) while i can see how barry is a nickname for barack, and even rod for milorad; i have a bit of trouble figuring how bobby is a nickname for piyush. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/79 "2009-02-27T00:17:45Z")
Gov. Jindal’s explanation is that he gave the nickname to himself as a four-year-old after watching The Brady Bunch. (I imagine that the name Piyush probably got a lot of negative attention from other children.) ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154/80 "2009-02-27T02:02:07Z")
okay… this is why you wait and see what nickname others will give you. he could have lucked out with… scooter or nub or something even more entertaining. piyush is a tough name to find an english nic for and its meaning (nectar) really doesn’t help either. as far as the brady bunch is concerned… i guess it is a good thing he wasn’t watching gilligan’s island. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-conference/485154.md?page=5)