After President Obama's Monday press conference, liberal historian
Douglas Brinkley fawned over him on CNN as a "warm and engaging man,"
pitted against Republicans who "don't want to be in a photo-op with
him."
"I don't think we can blame the President for his style. I think it's
just another part of this terrible political gridlock we have. President Obama is a warm and engaging man," Brinkley complimented the President.
[Video below. Audio here [1].]
Brinkley laughably added that "he [Obama] is plenty friendly to
everybody he meets, including reporters." Did he miss the President's
testy exchange with Major Garrett of CBS News, where Obama lectured [2]
Garrett that "This is the United States of America, Major"? Perhaps
Obama is "friendly" only to the reporters who don't ask him tough
questions.
And maybe that's why Brinkley loves Obama, as he is a welcome White
House guest. "I'm one of the historians he invites to the White House
periodically. We have a marvelous time talking about history, laughing,"
he revealed to CNN.
In his analysis of the President's relationship with Republicans,
Brinkley said Obama "struck a good tone" when he talked about
Republicans as having a different vision of what government should be.
"I think that he was correct today, that just a lot of Republicans
don't want to be in a photo-op with him. It doesn't play back in their
Congressional district. And we do run every two years for Congress, and
an opposition will just show, look, here's President Obama with his arm
around a Republican, and somebody will use that against a certain member
of Congress," Brinkley explained to CNN.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on CNN Newsroom on January 14 at 1:02 p.m. EST, is as follows:
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN anchor: And Doug, do you think it was accurate,
do you think it was fair what the President said when he talked about
Republicans, a certain group within the party, that really is about a
different vision of about what the government should be doing and that
they are suspicious of the government when it comes to providing health
care, when it comes to dealing with people's money, when it comes to
dealing with their education? Did he strike the right tone there?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, professor of History and fellow, Rice University:
Well, I think he struck a good tone. I mean, one of the problems I had
with the press conference, may not have been the President's fault, I
didn't think we asked a lot of other questions. I mean, we're living in
the age of climate change. It doesn't come up. What are we going to do
about China? Will he go to China? Can we create more favorable trade
terms with China? What's going on in Syria and the Middle East? We were
really, again, stuck on this showdown, two scorpions in a bottle, to use
a cold War metaphor, between the U.S. and Soviet Union.
Well, now the scorpions are the White House versus Congress. And we
seem to be replaying this same scenario over and over again, March
looming, and it's hard to get a sense of the vision of a second term if
every three months we're going to be in these kind of tight, you know,
debt ceiling fiscal cliff types of negotiations. So somehow, this
spring, the President has got to break this syndrome. And I think he
made it very clear, if the government goes bankrupt, Congress will be
blamed and then he'll start really using executive authority in a way
probably unprecedented since Theodore Roosevelt.
MALVEAUX: And Doug, you brought up a really good point there, the fact
that there are some things that just did not come up, the Middle East
didn't come, immigration reform did not come up. I mean, these are the
kind of things, we are now stuck in this discussion over what is going
to happen next, the next showdown with Congress.
One of the things that was a sidebar, it was a lot of the criticism he
has been getting over his cabinet picks, whether or not it's diverse
enough, whether or not this is more reflective of what we've seen in
Lincoln's cabinet, the team of rivals or whether or not it's more like
FDR back in 1933. What do you make of that criticism? Do you think it's
fair? Because we are seeing the – you know, those top jobs that are
going, Treasury, Defense, CIA, all to white men.
BRINKLEY: Well, I think the photo you are flashing right now is
photogate. It was a terrible image to get out there. It just shows the
boy's club together. On the other hand, this President is clearly
somebody committed to diversity, there's two women on the Supreme Court,
many of – you know, he had Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. She's
leaving. It's hard to find somebody to replace her of her stature. And I
think one of the news-making bits of today is the President said, just
give me a take a breath for a minute and wait until you see what my
entire cabinet looks like, meaning, clearly, that some women are going
to be coming in in Transportation or Interior, some of the other posts
that might become available soon.
MALVEAUX: And Doug, finally, what do we make of how the President is
going to govern moving forward in his second term? Is this the kind of
Congress, 113th Congress, that he can work with to get something done or
is he going to have to use executive order, whether it's looking at
something, dealing with the gun laws, gun legislation, whether it's
small things that he can chip away when it comes to immigration reform,
all kinds of things that he can do as Commander-in-Chief, without
working with Congress?
BRINKLEY: I think the big legislative achievement to Barack Obama will
have taken place, history will show in the first term, with ObamaCare.
He's going to have to fight to get that to become a birth right for all
Americans here in his second term. Beyond that, I don't see a chance for
much of a legislative agenda. The politics are just too rotten for it.
Subsequently, he's going to have to be known as this great executive
power president. And he is going to have to – he has great opportunities
in foreign affairs.
As I mentioned on the climate change issue, just talking about it and
invoking it in the upcoming inaugural, make it an important part of his
State of the Union address coming up. He's got to find other issues than
this constant, every three months, you know, fighting Congress over
this, because there's no legacy for him in that. People will not go to
the Obama presidential library in Chicago to see the pen that these debt
debates, you know, the document that he signed on these things. And
it's starting to frustrate people. He needs to get vision, not just
practical day-by-day governing.
MALVEAUX: And Doug, finally, one of the things that the President is
saying, he said, look, those who know me, I'm a friendly guy, you know, I
enjoy a good party here. I'm even inviting the Republicans over to the
White House and they don't accept my invitation, the optics. You know,
it's not good for the constituents there. How does he change that
because this is the kind of thing the Republicans, it just makes them
mad, just insane, when they hear that kind of thing.
BRINKLEY: Well, look, I think President Obama is who he is and he's an
intellectual, but he's also very warm and very engaging. I'm one of the
historians he invites to the White House periodically. We have a
marvelous time talking about history, laughing. I think that he was
correct today, that just a lot of Republicans don't want to be in a
photo-op with him. It doesn't play back in their Congressional district.
And we do run every two years for Congress, and an opposition will just
show, look, here's President Obama with his arm around a Republican,
and somebody will use that against a certain member of Congress.
And I -- so, I don't think we can blame the President for his style. I
think it's just another part of this terrible political gridlock we
have. President Obama is a warm and engaging man. He doesn't have the
charm of maybe a John F. Kennedy or a Ronald Reagan, but he's plenty
friendly to everybody he meets, including reporters.
MALVEAUX: He is, indeed.