The Dr. King quote was awesome, though.
Best part of yesterday's press conference (barring the hilarity of how craptastic some of the questions are, like "as a former smoker myself, can you tell us how much you smoke?" or whatever) was riiiiight before the end. It went something like this (well, kindof exactly; this is the official transcript after all)
POTUS: All right. Last question. Suzanne.
Q: Thank you. Back to Iran, putting a human face on this. Over the weekend, we saw a shocking video of this woman, Neda, who had been shot in the chest and bled to death. Have you seen this video?
THE PRESIDENT: I have.
Q: What's your reaction?
THE PRESIDENT: It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. And I think that anybody who sees it knows that there's something fundamentally unjust about that.
Q: We also have people on the ground who have been saying that the streets are quieter now and that is because they feel that they're paralyzed by fear -- fear of people gone missing, fear of violence, that perhaps this is a movement that's gone underground or perhaps is dying. Do you have any concern over that?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I have concern about how peaceful demonstrators and people who want their votes counted may be stifled from expressing those concerns. I think, as I said before, there are certain international norms of freedom of speech, freedom of expression --
Q: Then why won't you allow the photos --
THE PRESIDENT: Hold on a second, Helen. That's a different question. (Laughter.) And I think it's important for us to make sure that we let the Iranian people know that we are watching what's happening, that they are not alone in this process. Ultimately, though, what's going to be most important is what happens in Iran. And we've all been struck by the courage of people. And I mentioned this I think in a statement that I made a couple of days ago. Some of you who had been covering my campaigns know this is one of my favorite expressions, was Dr. King's expression that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." We have to believe that ultimately justice will prevail.
All right. Thank you, guys. [Exit stage right]
A hailstorm of big dumb snowballs that Obama danced right through, and then Helen Thomas was like "you ready to play hardball?" and POTUS was like "I'm outta here!" In case you're still reading but you didn't catch what happened there, Helen was ABOUT to ask Obama about the torture photos which, Republicans and Obama agree, should not be released to the public because it would be a recruiting tool for the enemy. Though it could be a subject worth holding up to show that he's willing to work with Republicans and make concessions while the other side of the aisle only fights with him, he recognizes that it's toxic with liberals and libertarians that firmly believe that censorship is the enemy of Democracy and transparency, however egregious, is necessary to foment repercussions, the bedrock of any nation of laws.
POTUS: All right. Last question. Suzanne.
Q: Thank you. Back to Iran, putting a human face on this. Over the weekend, we saw a shocking video of this woman, Neda, who had been shot in the chest and bled to death. Have you seen this video?
THE PRESIDENT: I have.
Q: What's your reaction?
THE PRESIDENT: It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. And I think that anybody who sees it knows that there's something fundamentally unjust about that.
Q: We also have people on the ground who have been saying that the streets are quieter now and that is because they feel that they're paralyzed by fear -- fear of people gone missing, fear of violence, that perhaps this is a movement that's gone underground or perhaps is dying. Do you have any concern over that?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I have concern about how peaceful demonstrators and people who want their votes counted may be stifled from expressing those concerns. I think, as I said before, there are certain international norms of freedom of speech, freedom of expression --
Q: Then why won't you allow the photos --
THE PRESIDENT: Hold on a second, Helen. That's a different question. (Laughter.) And I think it's important for us to make sure that we let the Iranian people know that we are watching what's happening, that they are not alone in this process. Ultimately, though, what's going to be most important is what happens in Iran. And we've all been struck by the courage of people. And I mentioned this I think in a statement that I made a couple of days ago. Some of you who had been covering my campaigns know this is one of my favorite expressions, was Dr. King's expression that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." We have to believe that ultimately justice will prevail.
All right. Thank you, guys. [Exit stage right]
A hailstorm of big dumb snowballs that Obama danced right through, and then Helen Thomas was like "you ready to play hardball?" and POTUS was like "I'm outta here!" In case you're still reading but you didn't catch what happened there, Helen was ABOUT to ask Obama about the torture photos which, Republicans and Obama agree, should not be released to the public because it would be a recruiting tool for the enemy. Though it could be a subject worth holding up to show that he's willing to work with Republicans and make concessions while the other side of the aisle only fights with him, he recognizes that it's toxic with liberals and libertarians that firmly believe that censorship is the enemy of Democracy and transparency, however egregious, is necessary to foment repercussions, the bedrock of any nation of laws.