I hear he likes basketball and has taken up golf. He likes to toke on the “occasional” stogie.
Is he actually preparing to do anything? What’s he going to do?
I’m sure that overseeing a Presidential transition takes up the majority of his time. You seriously think he’s doing nothing?
Just register here and like me you can get an update each week.
I didn’t say he does nothing. Apparently he likes basketball, golf and smoking. What else?
I believe he is clandestinely plotting ways to destroy America and is devising a plan to transfer our sovereignty to Iran and Al-Qaeda. Of course, this is only after he transforms America into a communist state and enacts Sharia law.
He’s also rocking mad bodysurfing skillz and he likes shave ice.
And he’s thinking about getting a dog.
Let’s not go that way, please. I don’t doubt he has the best of intentions. I’d just like to know what he’s actually doing. Based on the Dope the last couple years, I’m inclined to think he’s the messiah. Now, I’m not actually expecting anything messianic, but I am expecting some pow.
The sarcastic deflection is so predictable.
It looks like he is focusing on the economic stimulus package. Hereis a video address that came out yesterday.
Oh. Really? You’re asking that as a serious question?
Hmm…one might list his weekly (more than weekly, actually) addresses, working on the stimulus package being put together, and moving to DC (prepping the kids for school, etc.), in addition to the “trivialities” involved with other preparations involved in accepting the office of PotUS.
That’s not enough?
Since when has “accepting the office of POTUS” been an excuse for not doing much? He’s got people. When do the answers and solutions start pouring in?
Your question is quite odd to say the least.
No, it’s not simply “accepting the office of PotUS”; it’s dealing with the “trivialities involved with accepting the office of PotUS.” (Oops – I didn’t realize until I went to quote it that I had written the original post to read so clumsily. My apologies for that.)
Only meaning to be slightly nasty: the quotes around “trivialities”, for those of us who are sarcasm-impaired, are meant to imply that there’s a buttload of things to do in preparing to accept the office of PotUS.
Again: Really? You’re asking that as a serious question?
I believe the family’s stuff is being moved to Washington over this weekend, and they are now staying at the Hay Adams hotel, so they have to get settled there and then prepare to really move in two weeks. They scattered his grandmother’s ashes in Hawaii a few weeks ago, there are inaugural plans to be worked out, he’s presumably being briefed on domestic issues like the economy and the auto bailout, foreign issues like Israel-Gaza, India-Pakistan and other things, perhaps the Guantanamo situation (see here). They may be deciding what his actions will be over the first few days, since those always take on symbolic importance - Bush, Clinton and Bush instituted, reversed and re-instituted, the global gag rule, for example. The cabinet is complete but there may still be some lower level appointments to be made, for all I know. I’m sure some unwinding is also going on.
This kinda makes me laugh. I ask a question and the answer is “you didn’t expect an answer did you?” Tells a lot.
I was right. There is no answer.
On edit: Marly has an answer. He’s being briefed.
Kinda hoped he didn’t need to be briefed on how the world is going.
From what I’ve read, he’s spend spending about 10 hours a day working on his transition, being briefed, discussing appointments and basically, you know, just preparing to take over the most complex job in the world.
Yes, he took some time off for the holidays, just like everybody else. So what? What is the point of this OP? Why is it in this forum? Is the OP looking for opinions or facts? It does not appear to be honestly seeking either facts or opinions, but to just be (a not very well informed) attempt to taunt Obama supporters. Shouldn’t it be in the Pit?
What, you’d prefer he just went from memory and didn’t consult anybody? “India blames Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks,” you don’t need a briefing for. “India is moving battalions around along is northern border, Pakistan’s defense minister has been drinking, they both want intelligence about what the other is doing and we need to respond”- that, you need a briefing for. “Israel invaded Gaza today, they sent X number of people, here’s what we think their objectives are and here’s what our people say they plan to do,” I’d say that’s something you need a briefing on. Today there was another big earthquake in Indonesia, so maybe they talked about what they would do if there was another tsunami, which fortunately does not appear to be the case.
Is there something you think he ought to be doing?
ETA: Some of that stuff was made up for purposes of illustration.
I missed that. How does the OP think that Presidents usually acquire information? Does he come from a planet where the Presidents are all clairvoyant?
Incidentally, a lot of the briefing during this period includes classified information that regular people don’t get let in on.
Dio, why should it be in the pit? Are you incapable of forming a simple answer to the question of “what is he doing?” without it being in the pit? Our president needs to be discussed in the pit? Why?
Marley23, I expect to hear more than he’s being briefed, because our current president gets briefed all the time, and for that matter, you can brief me up the whazoo. I didn’t elect a president who is good at getting briefed.
I’d like a president who is going to make decisions. I assume many here voted for him because they thought his decisions would be I dunno… good? What decisions can I look forward to? Obviously people like Dio know better than most. How about some answers?
Then I think you’ve asked the wrong question. I thought you asked what he’s doing, and as far as what he’s doing on a day-to-day basis, that’s more or less the answer. My guess and my interpretation from the news is that he’s preparing to take over the job of president by keeping up to date on a variety of major issues. If you want to know what he’s going to do starting January 20, you should probably start a Great Debates thread asking that.
levdrakon, you do realize that Obama isn’t yet the POTUS right? He can’t make any grand policy decisions for the better part of a month now. All he can do is get briefed and form a cabinet and staff (mostly already done). I think that is more than enough and exactly what every incoming president has to do. Even if he wants to do something like pull out all of the troops from Iraq and move them into Iran instead (hypothetically speaking), he can’t announce any of that now.