Pat Robertson "Remarkably Pleased" With Obama, Gives Bush C-

In an interview with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, conservative Pat Robertson said he was "remarkably pleased" with President-elect Barack Obama. Not so for President Bush, who he blames for the economic crisis. On President Bush:

ROBERTSON: Well, it's hard to assess blame, but I -- over the years -- I hate to be critical, I mean I am a Republican, and this is the president of the party that I'm a member of -- but I think we've had some serious goofs along the way. The Katrina matter was terrible. The rebuilding of Iraq has been terrible. The hailing (ph) of the economy right now has been terrible.

It hasn't been handled in what I would consider a professional manner.

MALVEAUX: How would you grade the president in light of all of the -- the laundry list that you just listed there?

ROBERTSON: Well you know, history may accord him a higher grade than his contemporaries and I think he's hoping for that, and we are.

But I believe I would look at about a C-minus right now if I were grading him.

On President-elect Obama:

MALVEAUX: Are you looking forward to an Obama administration? A change?

ROBERTSON: I am remarkably pleased with Obama. I had grave misgivings about him. But so help me, he's come in forcefully, intelligently. He's picked a middle of the road cabinet. And so far, if he continues down this course, he has the makings of a great president.

So, I'm very pleased so far.

Video, via Think Progress:

Comments

[hf2008]

So even a depicable man such as Pat Robertson has the ability to differentiate the competent from the inept.

[doublels]

it kinda scares me that he does like Obama.

[kareemachan]

He'll like him until the next natural dis aster, and then it will be the fault of libe rals, or ga ys, or abortio n righ ts, or...

[Rog49Thomas]

Poor Pan getting a C- (=Christian minus rating) from a guy who hears God talking to him.

I think Pan should ring up God and have Him put some pressure on Pastor Pat to improve his grade.

[SEQUOIABISON]

And while your at it Mr Robertson give yourself an F as in F**king hypocrite, a man who promotes war and bigotry yet preaches the word of Christ, a man who promoted peace and tolerance of others, as in he who is without sin.....and Sermon on the Mount.

[maikonen]

After you have won a battle, it makes quite a bit of sense to disarm your opponent, lest (s)he comes at your back.

The religious right is part of the base of the Republican party and Obama is de-fanging them before he does anything else. It serves to weaken the base. The religious right wing is a much easier target than the racial right wing. It'll e interesting to see how he disarms them.

Disarming your opponent does not have to involve a struggle.

[TheImpaler]

Yea, we should have voted for McCain, that would really disarm the right! :-)

[maikonen]

There are many self-help books on critical thinking. Do a google search.

[ideveloper]

Good point Maikonen.

From the Art of War - "Winning a hundred battles against a hundred enemies is not the acme of skill. Winning the battle without fighting is the acme of skill." Obama really understands this point. In my lifetime (which began under Nixon) I haven't seen a president who could effectively do this. Supposedly LBJ and FDR were very good at it...

Our problems are bigger than any one political party and bringing people of clashing ideologies to the weigh in on solutions will go a long way towards keeping them from becoming obstacles in the future.

[eraofpeace]

The Art of War -- great book. Chung Tzu's strategies and tactics still have great relevance today.

[rudiy]

You would think that what Roberts says or ever said means anything to anyone with a brain.

[wyldb]

Anyone think that Obama would go on a revenge kick for the last 8 years, you are gravely mistaken. If you think its time for the "right" to suffer you are no better than they are. Stop projecting your idealogy onto Obama, that is not the way he said he would govern. I'm sick of the far left and the far right, while the rest of us have to listen to their bs. Wouldn't a "progressive" want to move forward.

[Bertha40869]

Amen.

[Helzapoppin]

It's not about a "revenge kick." It's about restoring the Rule of Law. It's about restoring accountability. As for the left/right thing. . . this alleged "center" you so adore has been so drastically dragged to the right over the last several years, it is practically indistinguishable from traditional Republicanism. When the left wants Obama to be more progressive, they are trying to get him to bring the "center" back to where it should be.

You cannot move forward without addressing the transgressions of the past. Or else you are doomed to see them repeated.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

Well. I'd certainly consider myself being left ("far" is a judgement I won't make) or liberal, or progressive, or whatever label one sees fit. The thing is that a lot of people on the left sometimes have a little difficulty making their progressive case in a progressive way. There's a lot of piled up frustration. So I understand the desire here.

[tierone]

The key word in your comment above is "govern."

Obama ran for president to "govern." To run the country for the betterment of the country, not to kick ideological arses.

There is plenty of time to rub their noses in the mud AFTER we get everything back on track and stop our rapid descent into chaos.

[UNOwenTampa]

I continue to be disappointed in the American electorate. We're as clueless about Barack as we were about "W". I kept telling everyone that this guy was way more conservative than anyone would believe. That's the only reason I voted for him.

But the Republicans and conservatives kept trying to sell him as uber-liberal and everone believed them. He always let you know that he was not. You just wouldn't listen. When he said "we", he wasn't just talking to Dems. He didn't praise Herbert Walker's administration to fool anyone. H.W. Bush is in Barack's heart. And the same goes for Reagan. He respects Reagan more than Clinton. Did you listen to him? He understands the working of the world through Christ and conservative principles - did you hear him at all?

You missed the real importance of Reverend Wright in Barack's life. His great influence wasn't the nonsense the Republicans tried to sell but that Wright taught Barack to be unabashedly Christian. Daylight couldn't make it through the Christian beliefs of Barack, Rick Warren and Pat Robertson.

[maikonen]

My God. Is he practicing the same strategies of the one who said "let him who is without sin cast the first stone" and succeeded in torpedoing the evil intent of the accusers?

[gcallaghan]

Either Robertson proves himself dumber than UU by granting him that C- or that he's a HUGE propponent of NCLB

[Bertha40869]

Some of you posters are freak in amazing. I thought we voted for him because he wanted to bridge gaps and bring people together. That's the same thing Bush said, only ot get into office and swing far right and do so in a hostile manner. I guess Obama should make the same promise and swing far left, then? Neither side of either extreme is what this country voted for. We voted for someone who could forge alliances across the aisle and promote compromise. Compromise means that neither the far left nor the far right will be pleased all of the time.

Get this through your heads. No President will EVER govern from the far left, and no other President SHOULD ever govern from the far right again. When are you guys gonna learn?

[maikonen]

It's almost as if people are getting angry because the right is not. Bush swung the pendelum so far right that the only option left to Obama is to swing it to the extreme left! The right must suffer now, because it is the era of the left!

If by the Rick Warren selection, one single congregation is changed and will influence others, it is still not good enough, is it? Naw. We want the far right isolated and angry, after all, it's their turn.

Myopia.

[Decipherer]

OK, "Bertha," please let all of us know who was the last president who governed from "the far left." Please think long and hard about that.

We're waiting.

[maikonen]

"No President will EVER govern from the far left"

I thought that implied it has NEVER happened. And that was her point. It shouldn't EVER happen.

[Bertha40869]

No, you're waiting, because most other people on here read the post. Did you read the post? I said never, which means that no President ever has.

[GlenRast]

As soon as you learn not to use stupid labels.

[Bertha40869]

What label do tell? I don't see any label in my post. I do believe I know what a label is. This is a label: Hostile left winger, or hostile right winger. Either way, its hostile, ya know?

[poco767c]

Kiss the ring.

[maikonen]

Obama is doing what he said he would do. Reach out. He is taking the long view that sees divisions healed when one party is courageous enough to offer the olive branch. Obama knows that when you fight fire with fire you just get a huge conflagration. It is exceptional human beings that can get their enemies to respect them.

Trouble is, as a preople, we have grown accustomed to divisions, since some of them serve to validate our existence, and we become suspicious of any changes in conventional patterns on our hate charts. Pat Robertson is pleased with Obama, ergo we shouldn't be, since we should have nothing in common with Pat Robertson.

Is this whar we have become, a national so buffeted by bigotry from the left and the right that we have become blind to reason?

God forbid that Obama's diplomatic strategies should ever change America's enemies and their hatred for us...

[tomomaha]

Why is he only reaching out and honoring to conservatives, and not gay people with high offices and honors?

Or are we not worthy of speaking for ourselves, and must be represented by "respectable" people?

If JFK had made peace with and honored and healed the divisions with George Wallace, the Afro-American Civil Rights movement would have been mightly discouraged.

My opposition to Pat Roberstons oppression of me is not bigotry. You accusation is a completely facile, Fox News "Fair and Balanced" type justice (one position cancels out another).

Homophobia and second-class citezenship are not things "reasonable people can disagree on" they are the moral equivalent of racism, as was stated by Coretta Scott King.

[Bertha40869]

Considering he is the first President to appoint openly gay people to his cabinet and considering that he is all in favor or gays and lesbians being afforded full civil and legal rights, I'd say that he has been extending a very long olive branch. It's a heck of a lot more than Bush or even Clinton offered. Lay off the man. He's not even in office yet.

[maikonen]

A few Afro Americans are miffed that they aren't getting special treatment, just as you are. You need to understand that changes are usually incremental. Acceptance of gays will not be a Eureka! moment to all people. Sometimes it not one mighty blow that splits the rock assunder (!), but the effect of the accumulation of hundreds of blows. I understand your frustration here, and I'm also sorry if your issues are not at the top of the agenda, but why don't we see what the effects of these first moves are?

Obama assumes the Presidency on January 20, doesn't he?

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

I think you're drawing the wrong conclusions here. While I support the positions and principles behind your points, you're a little 'neat' in how to put them forward or apply them. Just one little thing: shouting at people has never convinced anybody of anything. talking to people might do the trick, eventually. I share your lack of enthusiasm, to put it that way, as to Mr. Warren. But we should figure how to engage the people he represents.

For a more nuanced view on the matter, read Melissa Etheridge's piece.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-etheridge/the-choice-is-ours-now_b_152947.html

[tomomaha]

This is no olive branch.

It was a cynical political play to cut the gays and our allies till we squealed to the delight of the right.

They key ingredient was making us feel bad. The worse we feel, the happier the right feels.

And don't even try to make us eat our anger, or blame us for it. We re not going back to slavery in Egypt, we are on the Road to Freedom!

[jazzdrummerb]

I'm in total agreement with you....Obama's doing exact;y what he said he would do. In the larger picture Obama has been anything but anti-gay. He's apponted a diverse and competent cabinet.
If the lbgt community can find any forgiveness in their hearts for inviting Warren I think Obama will turn out to be a better friend to you than you imagine him right now.

[tomomaha]

Mission Accomplished!

Queers bashed? Check.
Right ecstatic? Check

All systems go for labor-bashing, corporate health plan, military adventures, and a trillion dollars spent with computer-based electoral precision that will put earmarks to shame to ensure electoral control.

As they say in Russia:

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

[maikonen]

And all this from a candidate purported to be terrorist/socialist. All you guys are looking for is a tag, and Obama is proving elusive and we've just discovered we are the United States in name alone. There are those of us who exult in our differences. If you are interested in looking past the surface, you would perhaps understand the PE is removing the fangs of the far right.

Face it, CHANGE hurts.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

Ooops. I thought you were about reasonable arguments. My mistake, sorry.

[GlenRast]

Stop trying to connect gay issues with every other issue facing the country. Gay issues have nothing to do with labor unions or the history of civil rights for blacks. Much of the country is currently occupied wondering whether or not they're going to have a job, a roof over their heads or food to feed their children. Pardon us if we put those issues over your gay rights.

And frankly your constant whining as if the entire electorate voted with you in mind is arrogant and annoying.

[Obinna]

During the elections, the conservative right pundits sold to their fans the snake oil that Obama was the most liberal candidate ever. As a matter of fact, so "liberal" did they dress him up that they were comfortable to call him a terrorist sympathizer, a Muslim or even a socialist. Obama, on his part, had always maintained that he envisioned a different kind of politics: a unifying sort of politics that rises above petty partisan bickering.

With Obama's huge success at the recent polls, he may have been tempted to think that it means he would govern exclusively from the left. He had the votes of course, and it would be no different from the way that Bush governed. However, he chose a different path. The result is that for the time being, the Republicans are at a loss over how to fight a man whom they had previously painted the most 'liberal' politician ever.

If Pat Robertson is pleased with Obama so far, it is NOT because Obama has bent over backwards to please Robertson. It could just be that we are beginning to see what could be the remaking of American politics--where issues are intelligently debated and a commonsensical approach taken towards solutions. It is time for an end to the knee-jerk, unyielding recourse to partisanship. I hope we do not discover the greatest source of opposition to the Obama administration to be the intolerant, divisive wing of the democratic party.

[jetgirl]

I'm not surprised most people don't get it. Obama has basically kneecapped the far right.

[tomomaha]

It is very unclear who will own who.

[Decipherer]

whom

[TheImpaler]

Yea, take that far right!!! This somehow remind me of the last De La Hoya fight when his opponent was working on converting De La Hoya’s face into marmalade, his corner man told De La Hoya: “don’t worry, he is only faster than you”. You sound like that corner man.

[maikonen]

It is a strategy where your opponent does not realize you have dis.armed him.

But I guess many of us prefer ven-geance and the endless street f.ighting, and it is really difficult for us to recognize w.a.r.fare where not a single s.h.o.t is f.i.r.e.d

[amyeom]

Well, let's see. Obama has been proven to have outright lied on every single campaign promise he made. What's not for Pat Robertson to be pleased about?

Obama's not bringing troops home from Iraq.

Obama isn't restoring habeus corpus.

Obama gave big Tel Com amnesty and caved on FISA.

Obama is refusing to allow the Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy to expire.

Obama is giving away billions of taxpayer money to CEOs who should be allowed to fail.

Face it. We got punked.

[maikonen]

Yeah. Dude's messed up in sooo many areas... giving away taxpayer money, and he's not even President yet! We should have voted McCain/Palin...

Spare me please.

[amyeom]

Puh-leez. I didn't vote for McPalin. I just was smart enough to get my $500 Obama contribution refunded after he caved on FISA.

[TheImpaler]

Don't you know you can't criticize Obama, he has not even been sworn in yet. You must be one of those fringe left people, never happy. Shut up and get in line; look at Pat, he is remarkably pleased! Let's be all pleased, it's Christmas!

[amyeom]

lol oh, ya, it's me the "fringe" weirdo who actually is taking the man's own words at face value.

[poco767c]

Apparently "proven" doesn't mean what it used to.

[WilliamBentley2]

Please get out of my face with your garbage.

[amyeom]

Refute what I've written, or the "garbage" remains a fact.

[GlenRast]

He's not even in a position to do anything yet whiner. Isn't there a tree you should be hugging somewhere.

[amyeom]

You're one of those people who buy quarters for $19.95 aren't you?