Obama not embarrassed by open mike guffaws

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

White House: President Obama “Not At All” Embarrassed By Open Mic Moment

Aboard Air Force One today White House press secretary Jay Carney said that the president was “not at all” embarrassed by his comments caught on the open microphone last night and that any comments picked up in private last night were consistent with his public message.

“There’s nothing he said that contradicts anything he said in public,” Carney said, “I think what he said in that session you’re talking about and the things that he’s said in more public forums have been entirely consistent.”

President Obama had harsh words last night in a seeming private moment for the Chairman Paul Ryan whom president has praised in public for offering serious attempts to address the deficit.

"Eliminating the health care bill would cost us $1 trillion dollars," the president said. "It would add $1 trillion to the deficit. So when Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he's just being America's accountant and trying to you know be responsible, this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill -- but wasn't paid for. So it's not on the level. And we’ve got to keep on you know, keep on shining a light on that.”

When asked today, Carney said that the president “does believe that Chairman Ryan is absolutely sincere,” adding though that the president believes his own budget is the right path for America.

Carney said the point that the president was making is that there is “more here than the goal of deficit reduction, it is a vision of government….and what America should look like.”

Carney characterized the open microphone, and the audio being sent back to the White House as a “miscommunication, nothing more than that.”

“It’s not a problem, it’s not an issue,” he concluded.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/04/white-house-president-obama-not-at-all-embarrassed-by-open-mic-moment.html

Edited April 15, 2011 by Some Old Guy