Revealed: The White House Benghazi Situation Room Photo

    Today, the White House released a couple of photos of the president and his aides monitoring Hurricane Sandy and relief efforts from the White House situation room.  Here is one of them:

     This release has resulted in a fair amount of speculation as to why no such photo exists of the president monitoring the unfolding events in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 of this year.  The criticism has been harsh due to President Obama's trip to Nevada the following day, September 12, for a campaign fundraiser.  Now, for the first time, Speak With Authority can reveal a photo (provided by a Unnamed Senior Official) from the situation room that night that sheds light on the president's response.

    White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is quoted as saying the video just appeared "spontaneously" on the screen.


Update: Just to be perfectly clear, the photo is a parody, as is the Carney "quote".  But the president really did go ahead with his Las Vegas fund raising trip on September 12.

YOU Didn't Build That

    President Obama, perhaps more than any president in recent history, has garnered a reputation for (to put it delicately) first-person pronouns.  CNS News reported recently that in a July 5th appearance in Sandusky, OH, the president used "I" and "me" a total of 117 times in a 25 minute speech.  Over his years as president, this tendency, as well as other self-referential habits, has earned him the unflattering title in some quarters of Narcissist-in-Chief.  In light of this, there is some great symbolism in the use of font sizes and styles on the current banner headlining the Obama campaign website featuring a quote from the president:

    Two big “ME”’s and one wee little “we”.  Upon further reflection, the campaign might find that perhaps the following rendition with different emphases might have come across as more appropriate and deferential:

"Stand WITH me, Work WITH me, Let's Finish What WE Started."

 After all, if you've got a presidency, you didn't build that.

The President Puts All His Cards on the Table

    On Thursday, President Obama launched his Betting on America bus tour.  It began in Ohio, and it represents the latest attempt to capture the imagination and enthusiasm of the President's supporters as the 2012 race kicks into high gear.  The BarackObama.com website has a new section dedicated to the new slogan and the bus tour that is introducing it.

Now here at Speak With Authority, we can for the first time reveal the original draft of the new slogan:

We think the campaign made a wise choice.

Thanks For the Memoriam

    Lately, I feel that I have belabored the subject of the Obama administration's assault on parody, but they've done it again.  Yesterday, James Taranto closed his Best of the Web column with a piece commenting on the Obama campaign's latest effort to squeeze money out of supporters:

"President Obama is launching an events registry that will allow a birthday boy or a bride-to-be to encourage their friends to give to the campaign--instead of a gift," Politico reports:

"Got a birthday, anniversary, or wedding coming up?" the campaign wrote in a blog post. "Let your friends know how important this election is to you--register with Obama 2012, and ask for a donation in lieu of a gift."
"It's a great way to support the President on your big day. Plus, it's a gift that we can all appreciate--and goes a lot further than a gravy bowl," the campaign wrote.

Yes, it's for real. We're proud to say we got into the swing of things. The other day a friend's uncle died, so we bought him a card--"I'm so sorry for your loss," it said--and sent it to the Obama campaign instead.

So just for fun today, I checked out the donation portion of the Obama campaign's website, and low and behold, there it was:

In some respects, it's only right.  The dead have often voted for the Democrats in various parts of the country. It's about time they started paying their fair share.

Green Jobs: The REAL Solution to Unemployment

    On his show Thursday, Rush Limbaugh called attention to a story that by all rights should have been shouted from the top of every windmill and solar panel in the country, and perhaps would have been were it not for the recall-that-wasn't in Wisconsin which filled the news on Wednesday.  On that day, Fox News reported that Bureau of Labor Statistics Acting Commissioner John Galvin testified at a hearing before Rep. Darrell Issa's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

The Obama administration on Wednesday acknowledged a wide-ranging definition of  “green jobs” that includes bus driver, bicycle-shop clerk and other unexpected lines of employment[.] 

“Does someone who sweeps the floor at a company that makes solar panels -- is that a green job?” Issa asked.

“Yes,” replied Galvin, who also acknowledged that a bike-repair shop clerk, a hybrid-bus driver, any school bus driver and “the guy who puts gas in a school bus” are all defined as green jobs.

But this is the coup de grâce:

He also acknowledged that an oil lobbyist, if his work is related to environmental issues, would also have a green job.

With such an expansive definition, perhaps the administration should look into reclassifying the unemployed as members of Passive Environmental Agents Conserving Energy, a reboot of the PEACE Corps.  The president could claim to have created millions upon millions of new jobs (and "green" jobs, at that,) reduced unemployment to zero, and found a justification for unlimited extension of unemployment benefits as compensation to the new PEACE Corps recruits.  If you think I am stretching the bounds of parody, just play this back a few times (via the Daily Caller):



The new PEACE Corps is sounding pretty reasonable, isn't it?

Writing Between the Lines

    Because sometimes you have to read the real tweets between the lines.  If that doesn't work, sometimes you even have to write between the lines.

Unilateral Disarmament - On Second Thought...

    When President Obama recently reversed course and decided to support the Super PACs that are working on behalf of his campaign, he defended his decision by pointing out that the Republicans have a great advantage over him because of their Super PACs:

"And what I've said consistently is, we're not going to just unilaterally disarm."

Now comes a report on the President's plans regarding the nuclear arsenal of the United States:

President Obama has ordered the Pentagon to consider cutting U.S. strategic nuclear forces to as low as 300 deployed warheads—below the number believed to be in China’s arsenal and far fewer than current Russian strategic warhead stocks.

I guess that shows Republicans where they rate on the enemies list.

If It's Halftime in America...

    Alternatives to the Clint Eastwood Superbowl half-time ad, which of course, many have taken as a proxy campaign ad for President Obama (and perhaps with good reason):

If it's halftime in America... then it's time to put in the first team.
If it's halftime in America... then let's hope the last 3 years have just been the halftime show.
If it's halftime in America... then China's got the ball and we're down by 15 trillion!  (OK, that was Jay Leno, but it's better than either of mine.)

Anybody else want to take a shot?