Jacob Volkmann Regrets Obama Comment In Wake Of Arizona Shooting

Jacob Volkmann, the mixed-martial arts fighter who said last week he wanted to "knock some sense into that idiot" Barack Obama, told HuffPost on Wednesday that he regretted the comment in light of the Saturday assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) that left six people dead.

"I would never make that comment if that shooting happened first," said Volkmann, 30.

The Arizona shooting has resulted in widespread, and sometimes controversial, calls for toned-down political rhetoric. Volkmann, whose remarks won him a customary visit from the Secret Service, is toning it down.

"I can't imagine what it's like for the parents," he said, reflecting on the massacre in Tucson. "I got a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy."

Volkmann, who has a fledgling chiropractic business, was upset with Obama over health care reform and the Making Home Affordable program.

"The Making Home Affordable plan, and then his health care plan, someone's gotta knock some sense into that idiot," Volkmann said, shortly after winning a cage fight. "I'm a chiropractor, so I know the health care situation is not good, but he's making it worse."

HuffPost asked Volkmann, who lives in White Bear Lake, Minn., about his experience with Making Home Affordable. He said he started trying to get his lender to lower his interest rate back in 2008. When MHA's signature Home Affordable Modification Program launched in 2009, he said, the bank told him he was ineligible because his home is too far underwater and because he doesn't make enough money.

"I told them I was struggling paying the bills," he said.

A HAMP modification typically reduces a borrower's monthly payments by $500. If an eligible homeowner makes reduced payments during a trial period that is supposed to last three months, the modification is supposed to become "permanent" for five years. But the program is falling far short of its original goal -- to reach 3 million to 4 million homeowners -- as more people have been bounced from HAMP mods than have been given permanent relief.

Negative equity is not supposed to be a HAMP dealbreaker, but mortgage servicers who violate the program's guidelines have not faced any consequences from the Obama administration.

Volkmann said he owes about $172,000 on an interest-only loan on a house he bought in 2006 that is now worth $79,000. He said the bank sent him a HAMP application after he stopped making payments late in 2009, but now he just wants to do a short sale.

Comments

[gevan]

11:04 AM on 01/14/2011

Headline writers got me again. I was looking to see what Obama Comment that Volkmann was regretting. It was a comment ABOUT Obama, not one BY Obama. Allrightiethen.

[exile]

12:34 PM on 01/14/2011

aahhh
noone said Obama made a comment .

[chucknchar]

09:56 AM on 01/14/2011

This clown should regret more than just his comments, conservatives should regret handing over our country to Wall Street and greedy capitalists who manufacture death not only in Iraq but by denying health care and unemployment benefits to the working poor.

[cupcake77]

05:11 PM on 01/15/2011

Fanned

You say it so well. Basically I was thinking along the same lines as you. I say it a little different but I mean the same thing.

So his motivation was that he is mad at the president for the bad economy and what he (Volkmann) deems as bad policies.

Well I am a hella mad at Bush for creating this mess. I do not threaten him.

You, Volkmann, have been taken in by the violent rubbish the right has spewed.

[enlightenedgirl]

09:29 AM on 01/14/2011

Volkmann said he owes about $172,000 on an interest-only loan on a house he bought in 2006 that is now worth $79,000. He said the bank sent him a HAMP application after he stopped making payments late in 2009, but now he just wants to do a short sale.

How is George W Bush's predatory lending scheme Obama's fault?  The guy bought a house in 2006 that is worth almost $100,000.00 less than what he paid for it, with an interest only loan.  How did he qualify in the first place?  How does that happen?  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNqQx7sjoS8

[Dogontired]

07:21 AM on 01/14/2011

Some here are giving him heat, but I think he should be commended for his regret over his comments. Too many are still unwilling to learn from the shooting, are unwilling to express regret for their hostile rhetoric. Too many are unwilling to even try too see the other side. His words were not as bad as some that have been made, and were thoughtless, but now he's doing the right thing. His reference to his children and his sympathy for those who lost family suggests to me his words now are genuine. We all need to be willing to admit our mistakes.

[Nancy Lynne Kriescher]

07:50 AM on 01/14/2011

agree. and he probably had some other things going on there.. men tend to project hostility outward, quicker.. :)

[dancucich]

12:06 AM on 01/15/2011

Fanned Nancy!

[enlightenedgirl]

09:31 AM on 01/14/2011

Why would he say that about President Obama in the first place?  Why scold everyone else when it was he who said it.

[Dogontired]

09:42 AM on 01/14/2011

He said he regretted the statement, he apologized, this means he agrees with you that he shouldn't have said it in the first place. I am not, and did not scold anyone else for what he said. I did suggest he should be commend for being a grown up and making the appology, and I've suggested that other who've made more hostile statments could learn from his example. Are you suggesting we all shouldn't try & learn form our mistakes? I'm unclear what point you're trying to make. Please clearify.

[dancucich]

12:08 AM on 01/15/2011

They are being scolded for getting emotional and overreacting over basically nothing

[PACRAT]

05:23 AM on 01/14/2011

When will people who object to the president be requested to state specific reasons for comments? Like who said so, when, where, why, manner (joking, wondering, etc.) to what audience? Aren't we all tired of being told that "everyone says ...." or "everyone thinks" etc., etc.

If somone says that the new health care law is bad for the nation, make sure the persons is held to specifics! We shouldn't tolerate the generalizations that are mistaken for the truth in the spoken opinions of many.

And, watch the rhetoric!

[Dogontired]

08:04 AM on 01/14/2011

Well said. All too often these days an insult or threat seem to be accepted for a rational counterpoint in politics. How for example did "You lie" become considered a rational argument?

[bmike]

05:09 AM on 01/14/2011

The people that made off big on his house deal say its your fault they were able to screw you.They say you should not have let them rush you so they could go on vacation on your dime.Jacob you have been preyed upon American style.

[enlightenedgirl]

09:32 AM on 01/14/2011

welcome to predatory lending!

[hwjone]

04:15 AM on 01/14/2011

It sounds like he didn't keep up with the loan payments, which I believe was one of the requirements for a HAMP (see the last statement in the article). Also, as a "health care provider", he should realize that he would be paid by the insurance companies, not by the government­. And with more people covered by insurance, he would have more business. If the problem he has is with the amounts paid by the insurance companies, he can go off network. So basically, this gentleman didn't meet the eligibility requirements for the HAMP and he bought the conservative disinformation about the health care bill; so he got angry and said something stupid.

As a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, it was very prudent for the Secret Service to visit this individual before anything happened.

[miketothad]

02:02 AM on 01/14/2011

Pull yourself up by the bootstraps! You shoulda' read the fine print!

[traceymarie]

09:52 PM on 01/13/2011

Interest only loan...besides a negative amortization he has a drop in value. You made a bad financial decision, you were not able to afford the house when you bought it. The fault lies with you, entirely.

[Mrclouds]

08:04 PM on 01/13/2011

Did Obama send the secret service again i wonder ? woops looks like ill be having them at my house for this comment...

[enlightenedgirl]

09:34 AM on 01/14/2011

Bush and Cheney would have had you arrested.

[Martyn Collins]

07:57 PM on 01/13/2011

Obama didn't cause you to take an interest only loan bro. Man up.

[Twenty Row Kid]

05:07 PM on 01/13/2011

Perhaps the customary visit from the Secret Service knocked some sense into this guy.

[TotallyAmazed]

04:49 PM on 01/13/2011

At least this man, Volkmann, is taking a second look at what he said and is assessing it's tone. I have to give him points for that. We all do and say stupid things sometimes, everyone of us - here, on this site and in our public contact lives. At least this guy has publicly made a comment.

If he can see that he had overstepped what's the right thing to say, we ought to expect that someone who saw herself as the VP of the US could do the same thing: just take a step back and reconsider heated statements. But, I guess that's not possible for some folks. Even the folksies among us from Alaska.

[thepoliticalcat]

04:48 PM on 01/13/2011

Isn't it possible to disagree with a politician's statements without having to even imply violence? I understood that the way to express disagreement with another was to sort out those statements that one could not, after due consideration, agree with, point out specifically how those statements were incorrect or unacceptable, and to invite the subject of discourse to give a suitable response. Not to call people names or threaten them.

[Jeff Robison]

03:38 PM on 01/13/2011

If you can't say it now, then why did you say it then?