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Obama Mildly Knocks His Own Debate Performance in Front of Hollywood Crowd

Oct. 8, 2012 1:21am Scott Baker

Getty: US President Barack Obama pauses while speaking during a campaign convert at the Nokia Theater on October 7, 2012 in Los Angeles. Obama is on a three-day trip during which he will campaign in California and Ohio as well as attend the establishment of the Cesar Chavez National Monument

LOS ANGELES (AP) — On a last dash for cash in the celebrity scene of California, President Barack Obama on Sunday took a good-natured shot as his own underwhelming debate performance, marveling at how his friends in the entertainment business could turn in flawless showings every time.

“I can’t always say the same,” Obama told thousands of supporters, who got the joke right away. It was Obama’s most direct acknowledgment that his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, thoroughly won their debate Wednesday as a tight race rolled into its last month.

As Romney readied for a major foreign policy speech, Obama spoke at the start of two-day fundraising swing through California, his final one out West, and one that was expected to raise several million dollars for advertising efforts to the finish.

He appeared on stage after comments by actor George Clooney and performances by Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder and Jon Bon Jovi — and before a night-capping dinner where he told those who had paid $25,000 to see him that he intends to win. “I’m a big believer in closing the deal,” Obama said in the dimly lit environs of Wolfgang Puck’s WP24 restaurant.

The Republican presidential nominee, meanwhile, sought to build on the momentum from a debate performance last week that even Democrats conceded was “masterful.” Campaigning in up-for-grabs Florida, Romney told a crowd of about 12,000 in Port St. Lucie that he had enjoyed himself, ticking off a list of Obama shortcomings he said he had exposed during the first debate.

“Now of course, days later, we’re hearing his excuses,” Romney said. “And next January we’ll be watching him leave the White House for the last time.”

As Romney finished speaking, someone in the crowd of supporters behind him held up a giant Israeli flag alongside smaller American flags, underscoring the amplified role that foreign affairs and the Middle East is playing as the presidential race draws to a close. Romney ended his day in Virginia, where on Monday he planned a major foreign policy address in which he will criticize Obama’s handling of unrest in Libya and elsewhere.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki, dismissing what she called Romney’s fourth or fifth attempt to explain his global intentions, said the bar is high for Romney to convince voters he’s prepared to be commander in chief.

“We are not going to be lectured by someone who’s been an unmitigated disaster on foreign policy every time he sticks his toe in the foreign policy waters,” Psaki said aboard Air Force One as Obama made his way to California.

Even as Romney sought to reap further rewards from his debate performance, a string of good news for the president threatened to steal the former Massachusetts governor’s spotlight.

A jobs report Friday showing unemployment at the lowest levels of Obama’s presidency was quickly followed Saturday by a fundraising report showing Obama and Democrats had raised $181 million in September. It was their best fundraising month of the campaign, but fell short of their record $190 million raised in September 2008 as the president campaigned for his first term.

Romney’s campaign has not released its report for the month, and Republicans sought to downplay Obama’s financial advantage. The party’s national chairman, Reince Priebus, said he had been counting all along on being outraised by Obama and Democrats.

“This isn’t going to come down to money. This is going to come down to heart,” Priebus said. “We’ll beat them on the ground, and we’ll have all the money we need to be competitive.”

After trailing Romney in the money race for most of the summer, Obama is back on top and pulling out all the stops to keep it that way.

The president told about 6,000 supporters at the Nokia Theatre that he had bad days and made mistakes in the 2008 campaign, too, but nobody remembers that because he won.

“We goofed up. I goofed up,” he said of 2008. “But the American people carried us forward.”

He then moved onto the late-night soiree at the restaurant, an event expected to rake in $3.75 million. Here, for a second time, he knocked his own performance in the Wednesday debate, reminding donors that it fell on his 20th wedding anniversary and dryly noting there was speculation that had an “impact on my performance.”

The president told a story of belatedly celebrating that anniversary with his wife, Michelle, over the weekend at a Washington restaurant. He said at the end, their waiter told him “you saved my mother’s life” by signing into law a health care act that allowed her to get insurance coverage after suffering a stroke. Obama said such personal stories remind him what the race is about.

“That’s what the next 30 days is about,” he said. “And that’s why I intend to win.”

Former President Bill Clinton joined Obama earlier Sunday for a more intimate gathering with elite, longtime donors at the home of entertainment mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg.

At the same time, Ann Romney was working to soften her husband’s image, a frequent refrain as Romney’s campaign seeks to broaden his support among centrist voters in the race’s final weeks. Introducing her husband on Sunday, Mrs. Romney called him “a good and decent person” who had helped others throughout his life.

“Now we’re going to get a chance for him to really care for others, because we’re going to have the chance to see him get people back to work again,” she said.

Both campaigns were prepping their running mates for Thursday’s vice presidential debate — and working to keep expectations low lest their candidate underperform.

On Sunday Priebus called Vice President Joe Biden “a gifted orator,” while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., who challenged Romney in the GOP primary, suggested Paul Ryan would hold back on any hostility out of respect for Biden’s status as a senior statesman.

Priebus spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Axelrod spoke on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and Gingrich on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

___

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this story from Washington. Peoples reported from Port St. Lucie, Fla.

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Comments (61)

raynemaeker50
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 5:03pm
Is he so stupid that he’s never seen a blooper reel to know they take several shots of the same scene?
That they rarely get it right the first take?

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- RWCT
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 5:26pm
  Barry would not be in office, except for technology. W/O his main helper, the Teleprompter, he would still be an ignomonious community organizer. The NEXT debate? which will be a town house format, will allow him to SEED the crowd. He will still lose! This guy is NOT very intelligent, no matter WHAT the MSM keep stating.Every time he has no prompter, he is NOT fast on his feet, because he has NOTHING intelligent to say.
  
  Report this comment
- sixtysix
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 5:47pm
  He still thinks he is an actor playing the president; and, by golly, he is right. Except he is a poor actor acting like an inept president
  
  Report this comment
- WontShutUp
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 7:17pm
  @RWCT: “His Main Helper” is George Soros. Then Soros’s minions… Hollywood.
  
  Report this comment
CinOK
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:59pm
How tacky and creepy to have the president of the United States of America make a joke about his anniversary night “performance” with his wife. NOT presidential and NOT classy, just the opposite of Mitt Romney.

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walkintruth
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:21pm
A better vision doesn’t cut it Obama. You have to have some substance to your vision that people can grip. You say you need our help?You are the president who has many resources to help you. Obama you cannot keep running on the fact that you killed Bin Laden. That was a effort of many and you take full credit for it while not taking blame for the four murdered because of your policies. It is time for you to retire and become a comedian or actor. That is what you do best. You have had much practice in the last four years. America deserves better than improv.

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- bobc11a
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 7:06pm
  U are right about that he wants to take credit but doesnt want man up to responsibility when it comes. To foreign policy..
  
  Report this comment
blair152
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:16pm
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.

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lefty5005
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:16pm
Who are these people?

33% say the economy is very good as opposed to 44% saying he is doing terrible.
33% say Obama beat Romney in the debate while 67% said Romney won.

We need to find out who the 33% are now and what planet they are living on.

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mtsnj
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:10pm
Obamma: Sorry Folks this Is as good as it gets, now pay up 25K for it.

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steveh931
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 1:26pm
“We are not going to be lectured by someone who’s been an unmitigated disaster on foreign policy every time he sticks his toe in the foreign policy waters,” Psaki said aboard Air Force One as Obama made his way to California.

Obama has been nothing but a complete failure when it comes to foreign policy decisions, and leadership abroad. Is Psaki taking, smoking, or drinking something that alters the mind? Can’t wait for the next debate.

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- PATTY HENRY
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:03pm
  WHO THE HELL is dumb enough to pay $ 25,000.00 per plate for a dinner with this dope???
  
  Report this comment
- PATTY HENRY
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:04pm
  AS IN: What’s OBAMA’S excuse gonna be after the next debate?
  
  Report this comment
ambrosia
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 9:33am
It’s nice to hear,
Desperate Housewife, Eva LonGonorrhea
made a video, exalting his Excellency, for this “Gimmee’ mo’ money” event.

That alone, would be reason not to vote for the Chump.
When it comes to men, she doesn’t have a very good track record
of picking winners.
America doesn’t need “Topo Gigio’s” sister picking their President.

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ambrosia
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 9:19am
Look at him.
He looks like he’s clammy, sweaty and running from the law,
like a fugitive.
It’s as if he can hear the Bloodhounds 60 seconds beyond his skinny, lying azz.
His mouth & chin tighten up when he’s speaking, like a steel trap.
He’s coming undone….but then, we already knew he would, eventually.
He can’t cover his lies or his intent.

For flying on Air Force One,
with everything at his beck & call,
you’d think he’d have time to refresh.

He looks like he just crawled out of a 60′s Volkswagon van
after spending an all-nighter with the Choom Gang.

Ma Michelle previously said, she “just wanted to go out the White House door
& keep walking”-
let’s make that possible
& hope she has her “creature” on a leash, alongside-
and NO, I’m not talking about BO !

Romney/Ryan !

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- oneshiner
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 1:19pm
  Michelle probably bit off more than she could chew with obama. Snoop Dog said she has a big azz.
  
  Report this comment
- ambrosia
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:26pm
  Oh, you can bet
  Ma Michelle wears the BVDs in that marriage-
  Her wimpy hus-bandit
  wears the silky ones with the little satin bows
  and the days of the week printed on them.
  
  Report this comment
Zurich
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 9:02am
He is just collecting enough money from Hollywood traitors to start a new life in the U.K. And these morons don’t even see that he is acting in front of them……..get him an Oscar and take the Nobel Peace Prize away from him.

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- MEANS2RESIST
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 12:34pm
  Here’s something to think about. All these Commiewood people are getting millions of govt $$ to promote obamacare in their shows (propaganda placement).
  
  They also are partaking in producing hundreds of police state shows to glorify the siege of america and the loss of our freedoms. To subliminally get the message across to the dummies that the federalization of the police and the shakedown of america is a good thing.
  
  Report this comment
Gonzo
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 7:35am
Oh that Barry, he’s sooo humble. Barf.

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- DEMOCRATS.ARE.EVIL
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 8:34am
  A vain attempt to humanize a cold-blooded reptile, that’s all this is.
  
  Report this comment
Cataclysm
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 7:26am
Funny how most of the stars want higher taxes, but they don’t willing pay more. And most of them don’t even higher anyone unless they need their lawn mowed, laundry cleaned or their attorney.

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Witness1974
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 6:58am
This time the Anoited One bravely steps up to the podium; he reads his audience and in one last act of unbelievable courage, he turns the teleprompters away; he’s decided to go it alone . . .”Uh, uh, uh, uh, Now I know, , , uh, , , the pain of being nominated for an Oscar. . . uh. . . and,” bites his lower lip and slides into a humble smile, , , “and, uh, not win.” The crowd erupts into cheering and uproarious laughter amplified by their largely empty heads. They reach for their checkbooks, he’s won after all.

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AmericanWomanFirst
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 6:24am
Makes you wonder…what if that red phone rang at 3am, what would his excuse be? God help us.

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- Cataclysm
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 7:24am
  Good question? What was his excuse when it rang when our embassy was attacked in Lybia?
  
  Report this comment
- Dismayed Veteran
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 9:02am
  The dear leader was asleep and there was no one to wake him up. Not that it would have made any difference.
  
  Report this comment
Detroit paperboy
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 6:02am
And by the way, what in the hell is a community organizer, and who exactly do you work for when you are a community organizer ? And how much does it pay ? I may become one……………

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- crusaderx9
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 8:41am
  Apparently, being a “community organizer” also gets you great land and home deals as well…
  
  Corruption is the chicago way…
  
  Report this comment
- Zurich
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 8:57am
  He was actually a “communists organizer”…..
  
  Report this comment
crusaderx9
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 5:35am
“Unmitigated Disaster”

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ProgressivePete
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 5:00am
The first presidential debate is water under the bridge. This week be prepared for Joe Biden to refute everything Romney said in his debate. I predict Paul Ryan will be in trouble in this debate. I doubt the altitude will stop Biden from winning this debate.

Obama/Biden 2012 Hillary Clinton/Al Gore 2016-2024 Julian Castro/???? 2024-2032

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- damon_k
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 5:17am
  It doesn’t matter who prepares Joe Biden, he doesn’t have the ability to think on his feet because, like all Liberals and Progressives they don’t have a coherent idealogy based on reason and facts. Read more insights at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
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- matinva
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 7:57am
  The best Biteme can hope for is a draw. He spends so much time lying on the campaign trail, he doesn’t know what the truth is. Mr. Ryan is going to school him thoroughly.
  
  Report this comment
- Vegascelt
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 9:19am
  It’s kind of bad news when you’re pinning your hopes on an intellectual bail-out from Biden.
  
  Report this comment
- lefty5005
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:11pm
  Read some Chilean history as to what Pinochet did to people like you when he took Chile from the communists in 1973 and what subsequently happened to all the communist sympathizers, protestors and organizers shortly thereafter. Many older Chileans call them the “lost generation” because so many young people….disappeared and in the same context said the only problem with Pinochet was that “he didn’t get all the communists.” If and when America becomes whole again people like you will be on the radar. America doesn’t like communism and people who sympathize with it. You might want to be careful what you say on these blogs.
  
  Report this comment
A MERICAN
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:50am
“Knocks his own performance” Yeah. He probably would give himself another B- this guy is so inept and weak it would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
I got dish rags with way more experience than this fool.

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Princecarver
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 2:34am
This is the most untrustworthy narcissistic humanoid on the planet. Look what he did to his ally Osama just for a little boost in job approval rating. No American should turn his back on Obama. He’ll never be satisfied until we are all his subjects.

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Diane TX
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 2:18am
If a person can not see that Romney is better qualified to be president than Obama, then that person has either intelligence problems, or is a communist/socialist.

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 2:16am
.
Obama makes me want to puke. How can people not see how evil he is?

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Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 1:58am
I didn’t do bad in the debate, I did that on purpose. I did better than Biden and Clinton…..er…..I mean….I beat him fair and square, and it’s not fair…..my mommy said I was the bestus and smartest little boy in the world. ANd the world OWES me, because my daddy was killed. And besides, Rahm says if you don’t vote for me, he will send out the goons, and Pelosi will release the flying monkeys. soooo, it’s your choice amerika…..PLEASE LIKE ME……..or Moochelle is going to beat me and make me wear the Gimp outfit, it chafes.

This is Barrack Obama, and I approve this message.

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- A MERICAN
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:53am
  That’s funny.
  
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TelepromoterNChief
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 1:47am
Uh….Obama…uh just uh had an uh off night. He uh will uh have his uh A Game back next time. This uh time he will uh show that uh he is serious about uh his uh job.

Uh.

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Jenasus
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 1:44am
Obama has turned into Osama.
The only jobs Obama has created are on the Obama Plantation to dig your own grave.
Obama’s only HOPE is to CHANGE America into a third world country like Kenya where he was born.
If Obama is re-elected Obama will keep moving FORWARD to destroy America.

OBAMA; THE ROTHSCHILDS CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT
is a You Tube video all Americans should watch.
The video exposes the truth of Obama and our country.

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berlet98
Posted on October 8, 2012 at 1:39am
Grading the Eye-Candy Man’s Debate

The first debate between the two antagonists vying for the privilege to lead the United States of America for the next four years, each intending to impress the American electorate with his intelligence, knowledge, and expertise, represented not only a crushing blow to Barack Hussein Obama’s re-election prospects.

It also stands as yet another exposé of his fundamental ineptitude and his outrageous pretensions to being the much-heralded, most brilliant, and most articulate president in our nation’s history.

In fact, absent his teleprompters which his handlers customarily use to dictate everything he says and how he says it, Obama came across as an ignorant dolt serving far above his pay grade and totally unqualified to speak intelligently, let alone serve as president.

When my son was a freshman at Penn State, his professor in a public speaking class assigned his first speech a C- and explained his reason for the low grade: My son had used the “uh-word” excessively, a sign he either hadn’t prepared well enough, that he wasn’t confident in the speech’s contents, or that he knew he was wrong in what he said.

BuzzFeed.com has compiled an amusing/scary video collection of our scholar-president’s wasted 51 seconds repeatedly uttering the “uh-word.”

A lousy overall performance anyway, it would have been awarded a D+ at best by my son’s prof based on his “uhs” alone. . .

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- A MERICAN
  Posted on October 8, 2012 at 4:55am
  Spot on bro. Spot on.
  
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