Why does Obama seem to only find about scandals after the American people do?

[Daelak]

Seldom affirm, Never Deny, Always Distinguish


Obama isn't stupid. He's just malevolent. I don't expect him to know what interns are making Boehner's drinks in the morning but he should fucking know about the NSA spying on some of our best allies.

I wouldn't assume Merkel, Hollande, Stephen Harper, Mariano Rajoy, et al. know what specific targets their respective agencies are doing.

[Vyxn]

I'm not a fan of Obama - I think he is incompetent myself, but you can't quantify an answer to this poll.

because I don't like the options there is things that he doesn't have a reason to know and things he should know and there isn't a percentage answer to that it all depends on the importants of the information that he should know and that could change by the week

[eschatological]

I don't think you guys understand how the government works. This program started under Bush Jr in 2002. Do you think he knew? Maybe he had a memo cross his desk once to approve it which he read for 15 minutes, but I doubt it even reached his desk. This shit is so beneath the onus of "what's important to the President" that it would be an indication of poor use of time if he did know. POTUS literally works from 5 am to midnight every day and has like 15 minutes free in that time, he's one guy, he can't know it all, and he has to delegate shit to people who have the authority to make such decisions which aren't that important. And this decision isn't that important. I mean, literally every country spies on leaders of every other country....

...we were just caught.

[slackjawsix]

Really think he does not know? He knows alright but what can the puppet do to stop puppeteer?

what brand of tinfoil hate do you use? I like reynolds wrap but thinking about going to store brands

[Daelak]

wouldn't you think the president should know, be made aware of, or asked for permission to tapping the phones of our allies
if not who in the hell is running this country? Valerie Jarrett?

What is your definition of "running the country"? If you are going to accuse Obama of association, then you have accuse all the senators and house members in the intelligence committees, the heads of the DoD, NSA, CIA, State Department, and the DHS.

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Because knowledge is power, and his administration has ongoing negotiations with those countries.

He doesn't solely negotiate; we have diplomats, ambassadors, and ongoing covert operations all over the world.

[Flaks]

Seldom affirm, Never Deny, Always Distinguish


Obama isn't stupid. He's just malevolent. I don't expect him to know what interns are making Boehner's drinks in the morning but he should fucking know about the NSA spying on some of our best allies.

It's likely that either him and most presidents before him knew, or that none of them did and this leak really was a leak even to the figurehead that is the "leader of the free world".

[Vyxn]

It is the NSA, an intelligence gathering agency, he is the head executive, he and his senior cabinet would only know if the information gathered was directly associated with immediate military engagement.

so your fine with unelected officials doing things that could lead to a war

the US has listed hacking as an act of war

[Prokne]

Its not possible for the president to know everything that is going on in the country. What he needs to know is everything that is important and is necessary for him to do his job. Its not necessary for the president to know that some low level IRS officials are denying tax exemptions from Tea Party groups. It is necessary for the president to know if the leader of the IRS is doing it.

And intelligence sources are also not necessary for the president to know. All he needs to know there is if the sources are reliable. If he was an ex intelligence analyst you could say that he should know so that he can determine if it is reliable but he is not so usually that will just be useless information. In the case of spying on other countries leaders, he should have been told about that since he deals with them all the time. He was probably not told because hes not a spy and would tip off everyone by acting weird when they talk with each other.

Whether or not he finds out about some of these things from CNN, I dont know and for almost all of the things that have happened I have no problem with it because they are generally not at presidential levels of importance. As someone who was in a leadership position, you often dont get told things because your people dont think it is important enough to tell you. It only become important when they no longer have a handle on it and it gets out of control. Then it is necessary for you to fix it because the people under you couldnt

[Vyxn]

What is your definition of "running the country"? If you are going to accuse Obama of association, then you have accuse all the senators and house members in the intelligence committees, the heads of the DoD, NSA, CIA, State Department, and the DHS.

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He doesn't solely negotiate; we have diplomats, ambassadors, and ongoing covert operations all over the world.

I think like making decision to be hacking and spying on heads of state of our allies should require a president stamp of approval or at least made aware of

are you aware that the US considered hacking an act of war do you want unelected officials doing something that could lead to a war

[Korgoth]

He doesn't solely negotiate; we have diplomats, ambassadors, and ongoing covert operations all over the world.

Yeah and he doesn't solely bug the phones of foreign leaders, he has people to do that for him, then he has them share that information to get a better outcome.

Unless you just want to believe he is incompetent, in which case wouldn't he be firing the people who were doing this behind his back... oh wait hes not, because they weren't.

[Lenonis]

Oh come on people. Do you really expect the president to know 90-100% of what happens in the government...much less the entire country?

Do you have ANY idea what volume of information you are talking about? If the president did nothing but read reports for 18 hours a day, every day, nonstop he probably wouldn't even come near 90% awareness.

I think you have to break it down.

The president should know 90-100% of all the critical things going on. Then probably 50-75% of the serious things, then from there it probably rapidly drops off.

Do you think the president needs to know that there is a pothole in the road 2 miles down the street from you? Because if you are saying 100% of what goes on in this country, that's included.

So...can we try this thread again in reality land please?

[Deleted]

what brand of tinfoil hate do you use? I like reynolds wrap but thinking about going to store brands

Do you really think Obama is the man incharge? HA! The recent shutdown proves how much power he really has.

[Lenonis]

Do you really think Obama is the man incharge? HA! The recent shutdown proves how much power he really has.

I've maintained for quite some time that people drastically overstate how much power the president has. Congress is where a lot of the power lies, and yet people seem to ignore them for all discussion purposes...and unfortunately in the voting booth. I think it's a lot easier for people to focus their dislike on government to a singular very visible person instead of a group of 600+ people that's most people probably can't even name 10 of.

[Korgoth]

Do you really think Obama is the man incharge? HA! The recent shutdown proves how much power he really has.

He is not a king. He is a Commander in Chief in charge of the NSA. While he could not stop an equal co Branch of Government from shutting down the Government, he can stop a program run at a place HE IS IN CHARGE OF.

[Shurkuris]

Oh come on people. Do you really expect the president to know 90-100% of what happens in the government...much less the entire country?

Do you have ANY idea what volume of information you are talking about? If the president did nothing but read reports for 18 hours a day, every day, nonstop he probably wouldn't even come near 90% awareness.

I think you have to break it down.

The president should know 90-100% of all the critical things going on. Then probably 50-75% of the serious things, then from there it probably rapidly drops off.

Do you think the president needs to know that there is a pothole in the road 2 miles down the street from you? Because if you are saying 100% of what goes on in this country, that's included.

So...can we try this thread again in reality land please?

Can you use some common sense and apply the Poll to that of the video I linked? (I put "realistically" BTW, in-case you missed it. So you can apply for the 0-9% if you wish.)

[time0ut]

Do you really think Obama is the man incharge? HA! The recent shutdown proves how much power he really has.

Pfft. Sean Hannity said that was all the Democrats fault. And who is in control of the Democrats? Obama. QED.

[Kalis]

If the President of the US knows about more than 0.1% of what is going in the country, then he's super human, which he isn't.

He'll get an overview of the important items, then if something crops up that he is needed to know, he'll get more comprehensive information - just like people that head virtually every large organisation in the world have always done.

[Forgettable]

He sees you when you're sleeping.

He knows when you're awake.

[Lenonis]

Can you use some common sense and apply the Poll to that of the video I linked? (I put "realistically" BTW, in-case you missed it. So you can apply for the 0-9% if you wish.)

I did -- but I'm willing to bet you a vast majority of the 90-100% voters honestly think the president should magically know everything. There is a lot of....weird illogical opinions about government on this board.

[Reg]

The system is setup to run without a President, so it doesn't surprise me at all that it does in fact go on without him.