Hope and Fail

Obama looking for an ‘ass to kick’ after cautioning against harsh language

The big news coming out of an interview set to air tomorrow on the “Today Show” is that President Obama showed anger when talking about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (how sad is it that the media focused on the president’s use of a curse word and not anything else from the interview?).

After Matt Lauer asked Obama about his dithering on finding a solution to the crisis, the president said this:

I was down there a month ago, before most of these talkin’ heads were even paying attention to the gulf. A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standin’ in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be. and I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.

It’s no big deal that the president used the word “ass” — though it is slightly unpresidential in an interview setting. Apparently, after being prompted by the liberal and conservative press to “emote,” Obama felt the need to show some public rage.

The problem is that the president said during his May 27 press conference that harsh language wasn’t appropriate.

Major Garrett of Fox News asked Obama about Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s statement on May 2 that, “Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum to carry out the responsibilities they have both under the law and contractually to move forward and stop this spill.”

To which the president said:

With respect to the metaphor that was used, I think Ken Salazar would probably be the first one to admit that he has been frustrated, angry, and occasionally emotional about this issue, like a lot of people have. I mean, there are a lot of folks out there who see what’s happening and are angry at BP, are frustrated that it hasn’t stopped. And so I’ll let Ken answer for himself. I would say that we don’t need to use language like that; what we need is actions that make sure that BP is being held accountable.

If the president’s standard of language “we don’t need to use” is keeping “the boot on the neck” of BP, then certainly saying he needs to know “whose ass to kick” is inappropriate.

But it’s a lot to ask the president to live up to his own standards six days later.