Did Obama Really Say That? (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
I thought Barack Obama is supposed to be Mr. Cool. This sounds like Mr. Geek:
“US President Barack Obama launched a mocking counter-attack Thursday at pundits who believe the euphoric early promise of his presidency is evaporating amid bitter political warfare.
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Obama drew parallels to the media frenzy that greeted the nomination of firebrand Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in 2008.“The media was obsessed with it, cable was 24 hours a day,” Obama told a friendly audience of grass-roots Democratic activists at a Washington forum broadcast live over the web.
“‘Obama’s lost his mojo,’ you remember all that?
“There is something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee weed up!“
Did Obama really say that? Yes, he did:
Someone should tell Obama the media is obsessed with making Palin look bad and him look good. They should also tell him to never, ever say “wee weed up” again.
UPDATE 8/21/2009 — Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explains what “wee weed up” means:
“Q Robert, can you shed any more light — you mentioned a couple of days ago that there might be some events during the scheduled Vineyard vacation, some conference calls. And second part, what is “wee-weed up”?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know if I should do that from the podium. (Laughter.) It’s a phrase I use, but —
Q I’m not asking for a demonstration. I just —
MR. GIBBS: Well, I was going to have Bill do that. (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: Let’s do this in a way that is family friendly. I think wee-weed up is when people just get all nervous for no particular reason, when they — look, I think the way the President used it was — and I’ve talked to a few of you guys about this — in August of 2007, right, the rap on the President and the campaign was they can’t — first of all, they’re doing poorly in Iowa; they can’t possibly win the nomination, let alone the presidency, right, so I’ll leave those predications aside. August of 2008, everybody was nervous about whether the entire presidential campaign was slipping out from underneath the hands of the President, who they previously didn’t think would actually be the nominee.
So this is just — this is sort of an August pundit pattern between people getting overly nervous for something that still has a long way to go. Bed-wetting is — would be probably the more consumer-friendly term for — (laughter.)”
It sounds like Obama was saying August and September is the time when people in Washington “pee or piss” on ideas? He should have said so, albeit in a more professional way. What’s even more surprising, Gibbs says it’s a phrase he uses, too. I’d love to hear their behind-the-scenes discussions at the White House.
— DRJ