I've been spending too much time on this site. If I were to spend ALL my time hanging out on HuffPo and DKos and Politico for aid in forming my opinion of President Obama, based on what I see here on a daily basis I'd doubt his ability to tie his own shoes.
"He's so weeeaaakkkkkkk," I hear. "Why doesn't he STAND FIRM like I do when I'm ordering my Starbucks skinny latte in the morning and the barista tries to slip 2% milk into it?" they complain. Yes, yes, there are many people who just KNOW if they had HIS job they'd do it so much better.
Yet somehow poor old bumbly Obama managed to pull off something which the naysayers tell us he just couldn't manage:
Last I heard Obama went down to a crushing defeat when he visited South Korea not long ago and "all he had to do was just tweak a couple of minor things and sign the agreement and he couldn't even do that ..." Sheesh! There's just no hope for this guy. Ask ANYONE on Politico or The Ed Show or even the majority of the denizens of this site, the ones who are always prattling about how "disappointing" he is because he's so "ineffective" and he just "couldn't handle" the hard-negotiating South Koreans.
Obama requested changes in the deal, which was negotiated during the administration of President George W. Bush, to meet demands from lawmakers over what they called unfair Korean barriers to U.S. exports of autos and beef.
Darn that Obama! So unreasonable. But here's the rest of the story:
The U.S. and South Korea agreed to change automobile provisions in a pending free-trade deal, gaining the support of Ford Motor Co. and lawmakers in both parties for the stalled accord....
With almost $68 billion in trade between the nations, a deal would be the U.S.’s largest since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, and would help President Barack Obama meet his goal of doubling American exports in five years. It was backed by companies including Citigroup Inc., Caterpillar Inc., General Electric Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co....
"Today’s agreement is an integral part of my administration’s efforts to open foreign markets to U.S. goods and services, create jobs for American workers, farmers and businesses, and achieve our goal of doubling of U.S. exports over five years," Obama said yesterday in a statement. The agreement will increase U.S. exports by $11 billion and support at least 70,000 U.S. jobs, the president said....
South Korean Agreement
Well, gee. Looks like Obama accomplished something after all by standing firm with the South Koreans and refusing to simply sign off on the agreement as negotiated by the Bush Administration. Now the ball's in Congress's court, but Obama has done his job and made a deal which SHOULD increase jobs and exports. And I'm sure he'll get no credit from anybody because that would mess up everybody's pretty little narratives.