Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.
British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.
But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama’s inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.
Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president’s surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.
A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama’s inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to “even fake an interest in foreign policy".
…
A Democratic strategist, who is friends with several senior White House aides, revealed that the president has regularly appeared worn out and drawn during evening work sessions with senior staff in the West Wing and has been forced to make decisions more quickly than he is comfortable.
He said that on several occasions the president has had to hurry back from eating dinner with his family in the residence and then tucking his daughters in to bed, to conduct urgent government business. Matters are not helped by the pledge to give up smoking.
“People say he looks tired more often than they’re used to,” the strategist said. “He’s still calm, but there have been flashes of irritation when he thinks he’s being pushed to make a decision sooner than he wants to make it. He looks like he needs a cigarette.”
Mr Obama was teased by the New York Times on Thursday in a front page story which claimed to have detected a greater prevalence of grey hairs since he entered the White House.
-- PoliPundit
Posted at 5:03 pm Link to this post | Comments (95)
Obama 'Overwhelmed' and 'Worn Out'? By Dave Mar 7th 2009 9:05PM Filed Under:eBarack Obama, Obama Administration
Telegraph:
The American source said: "Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.
..."The one real serious flaw I see in Barack Obama is that he thinks he can manage all this," the well-known figure told a Washington official, who spoke to this newspaper. "He's underestimating the flood of things that will hit his desk." A Democratic strategist, who is friends with several senior White House aides, revealed that the president has regularly appeared worn out and drawn during evening work sessions with senior staff in the West Wing and has been forced to make decisions more quickly than he is comfortable.
...Matters are not helped by the pledge to give up smoking...
"People say he looks tired more often than they're used to," the strategist said. "He's still calm, but there have been flashes of irritation when he thinks he's being pushed to make a decision sooner than he wants to make it. He looks like he needs a cigarette."
Heh. Read the whole thing, and for God's sake, someone get the man a cigarette. This is definitely the wrong White House administration to quit smoking!
The stock market is dropping 5-10% every week. Unemployment is the highest since 1982 and heading north. Your man in Treasury, Mr.-can't-pay-his-taxes-but-we-needed-him-so-bad-anyway can't figure out what to do, is getting criticism from Paul Krugman (Paul Krugman!) and can't even staff the agency a month into the worst bank crisis since 1932.
I for one am sure glad we elected the young spry one and not the old geezer, because if there's one thing that relative youth should be able to handle, it's multitasking several projects while getting little sleep.
Yes, that was sarcasm and I have no sympathy at all. He's 44 years old and he wanted this job. Step up and quit whining or tell your staff to stop making excuses. If you blew it on Gordon Brown's visit, say so, don't blame it on the pressure. It's unseemly.
Moe Lane says the same only with lots more of it and better: Mr. President?
Man up.
You see, I don't give a tinker's dam if you're feeling overwhelmed. I could care less if your stress levels are elevated. If I came across you puking in the White House toilet from the nervous tension, my only response would be to flip the switch that turns on the fan before I went to find another bathroom. That's because you wanted this job that you now have, and if you didn't know that it was a killing job then you should have asked somebody. 2.5 years apparent aging for every one on it; that's the cost of being POTUS. A look at before-and-after pictures of Bill Clinton and George W Bush should have driven the message home for you. In short, you have no excuse, and my sympathy is zero.
So, instead of sending out people to whine for you about how you can't get your head above water, ask yourself: are you prepared to hack it anyway? If you are, then shut up and do it. If you aren't, do the country a favor and quit. God help me for saying this, but if you can't do the job give it to Joe Biden; he can't do the job either, but at least he's not too proud to beg for help.
Maybe if the Republicans weren't such F**k ups then Obama nor our country would be overwhelmed. If he weren't overwhelmed and on vacation as our x so often was in times of crises then that would be time to worry.
My gosh, you give him two months and think he is suppose to fix eight years of and irresponsible disaster.
-------------------- "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton) Leap and the Net will Appear. Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
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Gold, He will have increased debt more in one year than Bush did in eight. That is just a fact, numbers do not lie. It just not Republicans Gold. He is doing the exact same thing Bush did x 2. There is no change.
All of this spending has to be borrowed or the money printed and you have not seen the end of his spending. We have the votes to keep him from ruining the best medical system in the world but we cannot stop all of the spending.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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^ Facts don't lie, but you do! If you and Of_Gold were in a fist fight, I'd bet my $Money$ on Of_Gold, by vicious and humiliating Knock out.
Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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