For the first time in nearly two months, President Obama addressed the White House Press Corp and faced more than a few questions about the tone of his campaign. Despite the divisive and fallacious rhetoric spewed on a daily basis by campaign advisors David Axelrod and Stephanie Cutter, Obama maintained the his campaign is by no means negative. After all, accusing your rival of committing a felony and killing someone is all in good fun.
“Guess who does a press conference yesterday and it's ridiculous,” Glenn asked at the start of the radio show this morning. “There has never been in American history a bigger group of partial truth tellers and downright liars than we have seen from team Obama and the Democratic Party every day.”
Not surprisingly, more than one reporter asked Obama about the borderline ugly tone his campaign has taken as of late that wreaks more of desperation than of a man who is running as an incumbent for reelection.
REPORTER: Are you comfortable with the tone that's being set by your campaign? Have you asked them to change their tone?PRESIDENT OBAMA: I'm not sure all of those characterizations are accurate. For example, nobody accused Mr. Romney of being a felon. If you watch me on the campaign trail here's what I'm talking about: I'm talking about how he we put Americans back to work.
Considering Obama campaign advisor Stephanie Cutter started this whole felony conversation when she said that Mitt Romney was misrepresenting his position at Bain Capital through the SEC, the President cannot in good conscience stand in front of a group of people and say his campaign is not making accusations.
“Did Obama lie? Technically, maybe not. But did he tell the truth? Absolutely not,” Glenn said. “The question Americans need to ask themselves is: Is this the kind of President you kind of sort of want leading us kind of sort of or not really kind of sort of?”
A CBS News reporter asked Obama his thoughts on the Super PAC ad that suggested Romney was responsible for a woman’s death. Again, the President pleaded the fifth.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is an ad that has barely run and this is not one I approved. And it's not true.
“As for the ad barely running, that's probably why he held the surprise press conference. The campaign got so much heat for the ad he had to come out and distance himself from it. These are flat out full frontal lies,” Glenn said.
Instead of focusing on his own policy plans for his second term, Obama used the press conference to lambast Romney’s credentials and policies.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Today it was reported in the Washington Post that the firms owned [by Romney] were outsourcing pioneers. We don't need an outsourcing pioneer in the Oval Office. We need a President who will fight for American jobs. That's what my plan will do.
What is your plan exactly, Mr. President? “He didn't get to his plan. He got to the smear, and then he threw the word jobs in there,” Glenn commented.
So what yesterday’s spontaneous press conference seems to say is that despite all of the name-calling and mudslinging, the complete disregard for facts and the fabrications, Obama is remarkably satisfied with the overall tone of his campaign.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: If you look at the overall trajectory of my campaign, we point out sharp difference between the candidates, but we don't go out-of-bounds.
“We don't go out-of-bounds,” Glenn asked exasperatedly. “I would hate to see what he considers out-of-bounds.”