by WorldTribune Staff, July 13, 2016
President Barack Obama and his subordinates are, if nothing else, consistent.
While the president referred to himself 45 times in a speech that started as a eulogy of Dallas police officers killed in last week’s attack, Attorney General Loretta Lynch refused to give responses 74 times in congressional testimony on the Hillary Clinton email fiasco.
Obama rarely misses an opportunity to turn any kind of public speaking engagement into a personal political monologue.
For example, in January, at India’s Republic Day Parade, Obama referred to himself 118 times during a 33-minutes speech (3.5 personal references per minutes); in 2014 he cited himself 97 times in a 44-minute speech at the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington.
In Dallas on July 12, Obama “referred to himself twice before finishing his opening salutations and before mentioning the slain officers or their families,” The Daily Caller noted.
“Chief Brown, I’m so glad I met Michelle first because she loves Stevie Wonder,” Obama said, jokingly referencing Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s earlier speech in which Brown quoted lyrics from the song “As” in tribute to the deceased. The president looked around the room, pointed at Brown and cracked a grin while the audience laughed at and applauded his joke. “Most of all, the families…” Obama said, proceeding with his speech.
Obama would refer to himself 43 more times throughout the speech — most of which he personally wrote, according to the L.A. Times — including one instance where he referred to himself in the third-person: “the president.”
“Politicians calculate how to grab attention or avoid the fallout. We see all this, and it’s hard not to think sometimes that the center won’t hold. And that things might get worse. I understand. I understand how Americans are feeling. But, Dallas, I’m here to say we must reject such despair,” Obama said later.
“I’m here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem. And I know that because I know America. I know how far we’ve come against impossible odds. I know we’ll make it because of what I’ve experienced in my own life. What I’ve seen of this country and its people, their goodness and decency as president of the United States,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Rep. David Trott, Michigan Republican, came to the conclusion that Lynch’s testimony on July 11 “was one big waste of time.”
Trott’s staff said Lynch refused to answer a question or to give an “appropriate” response 74 times during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.
“I knew you weren’t going to answer our questions today and I apologize for wasting so much time here because it’s really not been very productive,” Trott said.
“It’s one of two things: Either you’re saying that to avoid the appearance of impropriety in which case you should have recused yourself, or you’re trying to protect Hillary Clinton,” he concluded.
On message: Lynch finds 74 ways to say nothing about Hillary case; Obama, in Dallas, cites self 45 times added by World Tribune on
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