Obama: "They Talk About Me Like a Dog"

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Campaign 2010 ,; Economy ,; Obama Administration

(Credit: CBS)

Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET

President Obama employed dramatic language over the weekend to mobilize a listless Democratic base and cast Republicans as special interest shills standing in the way of economic recovery.

At the Milwaukee Laborfest in Milwaukee, Wisc., the president promoted a plan for $50 billion jobs initiative. His administration, Mr. Obama said, has been focused on strengthening the American middle class, in spite of strong corporate opposition.

Rebuilding the middle class, he said, has "meant taking on some powerful interests -- some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time."

"And they're not always happy with me," Mr. Obama added. "They talk about me like a dog. That's not in my prepared remarks, it's just -- but it's true."

It was not entirely clear what the president meant by "like a dog." Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin commented that his remark seemed "like something that would come from a politician exhausted by marathon campaigning and beaten down by the opposition," as opposed to the leader of the party in power.

Indeed, the president has taken a beating from the opposition. Even though independent observers typically say Mr. Obama's economic stimulus package saved millions of jobs, the unemployment rate remains close to 10 percent. Republicans are hammering Mr. Obama and his party for this, and polls show voters dissatisfied with Democratic leadership.

While polls have shown the Democratic base is unenthusiastic about this November, the audience estimated to be about 10,000 by the White House at the labor union event responded with cheers to Mr. Obama's "dog" remark. He took a combative, campaign-like tone through much of his speech, using many of the same lines he delivers at Democratic fundraising events.

"I'm going to keep fighting, every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around; to put people back to work; to renew the American Dream for your families and for future generations," the president said.

Using a metaphor he has employed a number of times before, Mr. Obama said Republicans "drove our economy into a ditch... And then they got the nerve to ask for the keys back!"

He added, "They'd have those special interests riding shotgun, then they'd hit the gas and we'd be right back in the ditch."

Update: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today he had not spoken with Mr. Obama about the "dog" remark. He added, however, "If you look at some of what is said about the president and match them up against the facts, on occasion dogs get better representation."

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by Saltynotsweet September 14, 2010 5:35 PM EDT: It's a quote from "Stone Free" by Jimi Hendrix.; Reply to this comment


by MoreCrabs September 13, 2010 5:15 PM EDT: A previous Poster suggested that Bail outs actually helped... heh so bailing out a company which was going to fail(cuz they were not selling cars) will still fail if they cant sell cars.. Or investment Companys who make poor investment choices well, the Auto companies Hit bankruptcy anyhow... and well... the tax payer investment ammounted to Nothing because the Share holders still got burned the Suppliers still got burned and Most of all the tax payers got Fleeced AGAIN... and it accomplishing Nothing... Health care was crammed down our windpipes even when we didnt want it... so we could be fleeced yet again; Reply to this comment


by Smokey75 September 9, 2010 12:16 PM EDT: I can picture Obama every night curled up in a ball with tears running down his eyes telling Michelle how the right is always picking on him. I used to think he was the teleprompter in chief but after these latest crying episodes we need to just start referring to him as the cry baby in chief!; Reply to this comment

by palmflood September 9, 2010 12:15 PM EDT

Well, of course they talk about him like dogs. Limbaugh barked over the President during the inaugural speech. Limbaugh and the rest of the pack kept up the din for the purposes of making sure that failure is the only option. It's pack psychology, pack politics. Obama and the Dems played too nice.

A restoration of Fairness in broadcasting would have stopped this situation. The dogs must be very happy yappers that no one has codifed Fairness, and the FCC has done nothing about it. But they COULD have.

Reply to this comment


by JV1970 September 9, 2010 2:07 PM EDT: If the FCC wanted to be fair they would have stopped the attack against Sarah Palin that virtually every network except FOX have been waging for the last two years!


by JohnLindauer September 9, 2010 12:15 PM EDT: This is a very small amount of money and it assumes that businesses today generally short of customers will want to increase or replace their current capacity. Our needs are a thousand times greater. The only answer to save his presidency at this point is to replace the naive Bush-appointed Federal Reserve (governors & presidents), FDIC and Comptroller of the Currency appointees. He needs some macroeconomists who understand 1) that no bank makes working capital and personal loans just because the overnight rate of interest goes down and. 2) there is a shortage of liquidity but putting more reserves into banks and then requiring the banks to hold them to meet "stress test" requirements instead of loaning them out is foolish because it means no more money is available to loan, and 3) that the FED, FDIC and Comptroller already have the power via the various community reinvestment regulations to require the additiional liquidity to be loaned out.

Obama's problem is he retained and promoted Bush's unqualified economic appointees just as Hoover did years ago with his predecessors. Maybe can go off to a job at the Obama Institute at Stanford just as Hoover did but meanwhile the rest of us need jobs and customers for our businesses - not speeches, "programs", and piddly tax cuts.; Reply to this comment


by louiville35 September 9, 2010 12:15 PM EDT: by brianbwb2015 September 7, 2010 2:08 PM EDT

"Not like a dog, Mr. President, but like the "uppity n-word" they have been calling you in thinly disguised code ever since you gained the lead in the primaries." sure sure super secret code words only white people know........

"And I must say it is partially your own fault." you don't give him enough credit.

"Every time you turn the other cheek, they swing with the other fist." Oh you mean like the way you treated Bush???

"They have taken your willingness to appease them as weakness, and, as I predicted early on during your term, there is nothing you can say to them that will appease them." No everyone already knew he is weak, that's why even with a SUPER majority he could get his way.

"From the beginning, I humbly advised that you tolerate nothing from them, just dissect their pitiful arguments into what they really are, and let America back you against them." humbly now that's a nice touch but PLEEEESE.

"But instead, you let them weaken your initiatives until their intended results were only a fraction as effective as they should have been. Now they criticize the lack of effectiveness." nobody to blame except for fellow democrats

"You shouldn't have given them the time of day" well that would be effective...LOL

"Even now they excoriate you for the very measures you took to appease them, you allowed the existing remnants of their beloved Bush economic and foreign policy doctrine to remain in place, now they criticize you for doing so." evil everywhere right? You do know you can't please EVERYONE right? Seems democrats can't even please a majority.; Reply to this comment


by wfw3536 September 9, 2010 12:14 PM EDT: How sad this president is constantly feeling sorry for himself. He is not shy about putting down and making fun of other folks. Maybe he should take a page from former presidents who were positive about our country and did not constantly put other folks down.; Reply to this comment


by mrjustice1 September 9, 2010 12:14 PM EDT: OUR NATIONAL LEADING POLITICIANS STILL HAVE NOT COME CLEAN
- NEITHER HAS BARRACK OBAMA

To summarize and conclude, we should not expect a long overdue PROPER house cleaning to help us out of our economic depression, when we remain in a moral depression, thanks to our selfish, greedy, dishonest, rotten-to-the-core lawmakers, business leaders and our unrighteous president.; Reply to this comment


by sing-with-rapture September 9, 2010 12:14 PM EDT: by JohnLindauer September 7, 2010 4:41 PM EDT
People are disrespectful because so much was promised and so little delivered. The Obama Administration seems stuck in the idea that the only solution to business laying off employees because of a massive shortage of customers can come form federal spending. That, unfortunately, is an old idea that those who never studied macroeconomics think came from Keynes. (In fact, Keynes was an early hedge fund operator in addition to being a professor of economics and staunchly private enterprise and anti-government spending and regulations).

Today America and the world are short of liquidity. Worse, the banks are under pressure to hold their reserves instead of loaning them out to people and no businesses planning on being around in the future will increase or replace their current capacity no matter what the tax incentive. (few would spend a dollar on unneeded new equipment to save 50 cents in taxes?). The only answer For President Obama to save his presidency at this point is to replace the Bush-appointed Federal Reserve (governors & presidents), FDIC and Comptroller of the Currency appointees he retained/promoted. He needs blood - macroeconomists who understand 1) that no bank can make working capital and personal loans just because the overnight rate of interest goes down so they can borrow money for 24 hours, and 2) there is a shortage of liquidity but putting more reserves into banks and then requiring the banks to hold them to meet "stress test" requirements instead of loaning them out is foolish because it means no more money is available to loan, and 3) that the FED, FDIC and Comptroller already have the power via the various community reinvestment regulations to require the additiional liquidity to be loaned out.

President Obama retained and promoted Bush's unqualified economic appointees just as President Hoover did years ago with his predecessor's when the banks were forced to stop making loans by a similar shortage of liquidity. President Obama can go off to a job at the Obama Institute at Stanford just as Hoover did but meanwhile the rest of us need housing finance, jobs, and customers. We don't need more token federal programs and tax cuts, and they won't work even if they arrive. What we need costs nothing - for the Federal Reserve Open Market committee to put liquidity into our banks and, as in the past, andd require the banks to loan it out in their communities as the Community Reinvestment regulations require. Then there will be more customers and business will need more employees who will then be able to make their mortgage payments without federal help.
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Good post finally someone posting some sensible stuff for these clueless and totally ignorant American public...

This public is so clueless of the American financial system that they make an Indian villager look mighty brilliant...

Its the damn Federal Reserve always playing politics with the financial system,and hence with the lives of clueless average American citizen.; Reply to this comment


by louiville35 September 9, 2010 12:14 PM EDT: by brianbwb2015 September 7, 2010 4:36 PM EDT
Ah finally, a reasonable response.

"Tying up America with lawsuits" not only wouldn't happen, because it would just tie up the spewers in lawsuits, and (as the baggers constantly forget) they are not the only Americans. It is not a problem at all, especially since it will only take one or two examples to put, into the spewers, the fear of being held personally responsible for their words.

As for the money, it seems you would rather not try to get it back, right?

Trillions of dollars wasted on lie-based wars, and that is apparently OK by you.

As for the polls, they stand where they stand, the war mongering racists are only 20% of the population.

There are no "white" people under my bed waiting to get me. It is a new day son, they don't have the stones to even try anymore. All they can do is whine and lie.
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Hmmm maybe you could start with explaining in court these lies:
Reform will also rein in the abuse and excess that nearly brought down our financial system. It will finally bring transparency to the kinds of complex, risky transactions that helped trigger the financial crisis.
Obama Lies About Financial Reform Bill

All Americans WILL BE were, ?surprised, disappointed and angry? about lockerbie bomber
Obama Memo

I will not rest until the BP Oil Spill stops
Obama?s Schedule

The health care bill will not increase the deficit by one dime.
Campaign and Presidency

?Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.?
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., September 9, 2009.

ObamaCare Fee is not a new tax
Obama denies healthcare is a new tax on all Americans

We have run out of places in the US to drill for oil.
Obama?s oval office speech in June 2010

Now suddenly if you don?t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you can be harassed, that?s something that could potentially happen.
Arizona Immigration Law

The Health Care Package will pay for itself
Time

Republicans don?t have a single idea that?s different from George Bush?s ideas ? not one.

Hmm Immigration?

We shouldn?t Mandate the purchase of health care
Democratic Debate Lies

I am immediately instituting PayGo ?Pay as you go?
Said during a speech immediately after the Trillion Dollar ?Shovel Ready? bill.

I got the Message from Massachusetts
Daily Bail
Health Care deals will be covered on C-span
Obama Lies

Recovery Act will save or create jobs
ABC News

Unemployment rate will be 8.5% without stimulus.
Obama Lies

I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan
Specator.Org

We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages.
Obama Lies

I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage.
NPR

Guantanamo bay to be closed within a year
Council on Foreign Relations.

Won?t Raise taxes on those making less than 250,000 per year.
Businessweek: Obama Agnostic on taxes
List of Tax Promise Violations; Reply to this comment