Obama‘s ’Jeopardy’ Joke Falls Flat During Press Conference
- Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:07pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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If you have to tell someone you just told a joke after they failed to laugh, usually that tells you something. So it’s worth wondering what went wrong when the president tried to crack a funny while introducing his choice to head the new consumer protection bureau Monday afternoon.
During his introduction of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, the president mentioned that Cordray is a former five-time Jeopardy champion. Consequently, he said, “all [Cordray's] answers at his confirmation hearings will be in the form of a question.”
The audience was silent.
“That’s a joke,” Obama said smiling, allowing the crowd to break out in a chorus of chuckles:
Presidential jokes are welcomed, and the president tells them often. But this one, it seems, fell flat, either because it wasn’t funny, it had poor delivery, or no one wanted to be the first to break out in laughter during a serious moment. Whatever the reason, it was awkward.
As for the actual nomination of Cordray, that isn’t a joke, and in fact, many Republicans have deep concerns about him.
Obama and Cordray were joined in the Rose Garden by Elizabeth Warren, a special assistant to the president who had been charged with getting the agency running. Warren is widely considered the architect of the bureau, and consumer groups wanted her to be named its leader. But she was strongly opposed by Republicans and would have faced a difficult path to confirmation.
Republicans have already threatened to block Cordray’s Senate confirmation as well.
Cordray, 52, is considered a Warren ally and has been working with her as director of enforcement for the agency.
Republicans fought fiercely against the creation of the bureau last year and have been trying to place restrictions on its work. In May, all Senate Republicans joined in a letter to Obama threatening to withhold their support for any nominee to the position if the White House didn’t seek significant changes to the agency.
The financial industry has also expressed concerns about the agency, worrying that it would restrict new products just when companies are seeking to replace profits squeezed by the new financial rules.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it had deep concerns over how Cordray would use the agency’s “broad powers.”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was a central feature of a law Congress passed last year that overhauled the rules that govern the financial sector. The agency will serve as a government watchdog over mortgages, credit cards and other forms of lending when it officially begins its work on July 21.
You can read our initial report on Cordray here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(via Greg Hengler)
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Comments (240)
Alky
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:26pmIt’s not in the constitution!
Report Post »Pujols
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:41pmObama is as funny as a fart in a wet suit.
Report Post »pajamash
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:45pmWe want a leader, not a comedian!!!!!
Report Post »aesaac
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:48pmthe comic in chief
Report Post »mattsanz
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:51pmWe can answer the Jepordy question, but we can not state 1 enumerated power of Govt. The big question is if its done intentionally?
Report Post »Uncle Tom
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:52pmPujols
“Obama is as funny as a fart in a wet suit.”
I have to disagree with you, because a fart in a wetsuit is actually quite hilarious.
Report Post »ConstitutionalPatriot
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:53pmWhat has this ‘Commander in sheep’s [clothing]‘ done yet that IS IN the U.S.Constitution? He claims to be a Constitutional Scholar… my question is which Constitution?
Report Post »the_zazzy
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:55pmHe‘s such a funny lil’ guy!!! I was laughing so hard, I almost forgot that we are involved in four wars, the economy is flatlining, my health insurance premiums have risen 50%, the unemployment rate is over 9%, and the country has never been more divided. I‘m glad he’s able to provide his teleprompter comedy to lighten my dark world. Keep it up, O!
Report Post »sooner12
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:55pmIt‘s Obozo that’s the joke.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:07pmThey did not laugh? RACISTS!
(sarcasm)
Report Post »Furious American
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:09pm@ Uncle Tom
“I have to disagree with you, because a fart in a wetsuit is actually quite hilarious.”
Not if it’s your wetsuit!
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:14pm@PUJOLS
that can be really funny if it wasn’t you that did it…. =)
Report Post »CCRYDER
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:20pmPujols – now that’s funny…thanks for the chuckle!
Report Post »On The Bayou
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:21pmSo are you Mr. President.
Report Post »MIBUGNU2
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:22pmNo Sir, The real joke is your whole Administration ! I’ve worked
Report Post »with a few different organizations, Never have quite seen a
turnaround like this..Need to dump Holder and Jan…
Whats the tally for M.O. now ?? like a contest…tween BO & MO..
cosette
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:26pmUpon instruction by Obamassiha- the Washington press pool will confirm his attempt at humor by breaking out in laughter. There there, good little lemmings. Nauseating sycophants!
Report Post »Professional Infidel
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:43pmnot me but this guy knows all the answers.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:44pmThat‘s about as funny as tying a pork chop around OBAMMY’S neck just to get the dog to play with him!
Report Post »fatjack
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:45pmThe lack of laughter could be, indifference to his choice.
Report Post »MIBUGNU2
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:46pmThe’ll put in a laugh track before it aires…ObaMSN..
Report Post »the Bozos Tingels,OhDonl and PigEd will get a chuckel…
Fly Old Glory 24/7 365
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:48pmis it a wet wetsuit or a dry wetsuit?
Report Post »chfields62
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 4:05pmHis jokes are like him…EPIC FAIL!!!
Report Post »streetrodder
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 4:15pm@Pajamash, Obozo is neither!
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 4:49pmWhoops! TOTUS must be on vacation.
Report Post »ComingUnglued
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 12:05amPolitical theatre for $200.00 Alex
Are we getting Warren in Cordray’s clothing. Just asking
Report Post »Fantastic Four
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 12:28amLike everything else he does HE NEEDS TO REMIND US when to things such as laugh, give up our money, give up our freedoms, and submit to the laws of bearded towels ones
Report Post »Fantastic Four
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 12:30amlaugh everyone the king demanded it………..then they do……what a funny guy
Report Post »obama-mecca-me-sick
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 8:26amIts a real knee slapper just like the “shovel ready jobs not so shovel ready” joke. OMG! Obama is so underappreciated. He is just as funny as Bill Maher and Jon Stewart. Why does the majority of Americans not find the communist takeover funny? Come on – to the liberals and Hollywood its HILARIOUS!
Report Post »These grumpy uneducated Americans wanting jobs and a balanced budget just dont get the humor of the elites , who are laughing their @zzes off all the way to the bank.
CommonSenseis Missing
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:42amAnd this is newsworthy becasue?? …. Beck thought this was worth space in the Blaze? Really?
Report Post »dogdr
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:25pmAs far as an abysmal work ethic goes, I nominate GW. In his 8 years in office he spent 977 days total at his ranch and “vacationing” at Camp David. That equates to ~1/3 of his presidency on vacation.
Granted we would have been better off if he took more days off, but there is no way ANY president can compete with GW for most vacation days while in office
bandi9
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:31pmsorry, but i dont believe your stats. also, GW was at work every morning by around 6-6:30. YOUR pres. waltzes in 8:30, 9 from what a reliable source tells us. Dont even try and compare work ethics, dude.
Report Post »Chris
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:38pmThe difference is that even while in Crawford Bush was still engaged with his duties as President. didn’t they call it something like the Western Whitehouse because it was business as usual even when he was there?
Report Post »the58thstate
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:40pmhe could work and did work from there. its much harder to work on anything from a golf course or while campaigning. you libs need to start blaming the prompter for his incompetence. bush is gone if you hadnt noticed so SHUT UP.
Report Post »JustMeInAZ
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:40pmAre you serious!!? You want to talk about work ethics? This child/puppet we have in office spends most of his time golfing or vacationing (when he isn’t throwing tantrums and running out of meetings). Sheesh, get a clue and stop the blind worship.
Report Post »Obama Bin Lying
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:44pmOk, if you want to get your info from the Liberal Biased media, lets be fair here then. Knoller reports that Bush spent 879 days not 977. So please get your facts straight here, out of that you had 17 heads of state visiting GW’s ranch. So they tended to be working vacations.
But put that in comparison to the lavish vacation that the Spender in Chief has had, golfing twice a month, India, Italy, the Hawaii vacation, as compared to TX and Maine. In addition there were 33 extravigant nights out away from the WH, and 14 visits to camp David, for a total of 32 days there, and by the end of August, Ohboy will have taken 19 vacation trips, (over 48 days) So in the 608 days that Obama has been in, he has been out 159 days (by your math) which is 26% of the time. Not to count weekends and Holidays.
So you really should research your facts, because when you throw your Liberal biased math into it, it makes you look retarded. If you would like the names of the 17 Foriegn dignitaries, I can be more than happy to supply them.
Report Post »aesaac
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:50pmengaged har, this guy can’t even find the clutch.
Report Post »KyWriter
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:02pmTypical delusional troll. DO NOT FEED.
Report Post »ConstitutionalPatriot
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:08pmOK, if you are correct (which I seriously doubt) that means out of 2921 day’s in office he, President G.W.Bush was either at his ranch, with his team working on the issues in America or at Camp David, again doing the peoples business for 977 day’s. Remembering he was at Camp David right after 9/11 shows your error. But that aside, in 892 days in office former Senator Obama has spend 104 day‘s golfing 182 day’s vacationing, 2 day‘s coaching a youth Basketball game his daughter didn’t even attend 5 days in Hollywood, and 68 days campaigning for a total of 361 day’s, which for you math challenged liberal‘s is four day’s short of a calendar year. subtracting 361 day’s out of 892 leaves…531 days which is roughly 40.5% away from the people’s business. Would you care to comment who has taken more time off now?
Report Post »MIBUGNU2
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:40pm@ dogdr
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:25pm
Nothing is goin‘ right fo’ BO, so we have to bring GW into
Report Post »the picture, Get F’N over it Libo , thats history… Your guy
has things so F’up, its going to take decades to clean up.
But he’ll be a Billionaire when he leaves office, thanks
to GE,GM,Chrysler, unions and the rest of that green crap
he’s been pushing….he’s got his azz covered…
HUGGINGMYBABIES
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:25pmHe clearly needs more time with Stewart/Maher/Colbert and maybe a little training on timing with Letterman.
Report Post »jakartaman
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:17pmwho are they?
Report Post »chazman
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 6:24pm@CONSTITUTIONALPATRIOT
Good job on the stats, old friend.
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 7:18pmmore unfunny people.
Report Post »fertlmind
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:25pmJoker in chief
Report Post »all on our dime
I’ll be telling some jokes on January 2013 when this joker is officially replaced by a serious constitution loving, free market conservative who will hunt down and purge the government of all the commie moles Obamma has installed.
NJTMATO
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:39pmAMEN to that!!!
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 3:26pmperhaps O-Bozo the clown needs to fire his writers and hire new ones…or maybe it was a teleprompter malfunction…
Report Post »maybe he can borrow Maher’s writers…wait..they suck too…
maybe he can use Colbert’s…nah..wouldn’t be able to speak French like Colbert…
maybe he can use Stewart’s…i bet that would be great…the socialists like to share everything right…
LadyLibertykicksASS
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:24pmI guess the joke has been on us for the past 3 yrs…….yuk,yuk, yuck!!!!!
Report Post »Obama Fail Cant Get Up
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 8:33pmGood one Lady – and so true…OUCH!
Report Post »ripley
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:24pmObama tells a joke? Obama IS a joke.
Report Post »BigPaulie
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:24pmObamao is a bonehead.
Report Post »Progressives_are_useful_idiots
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:24pmshocking … another no-experience in anything other than academia and law useless teat on a bull Demo rat
Report Post »agameofthrones
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:23pmHow’s that budget crisis going there, chief?
Report Post »bleuze
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:46pmEver mine the budget crisis, what about Frannie & Freddie in which Obama lead the charge not to regulate them! He was just getting too much money!
Report Post »John2350
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:23pmHave you ever watched any of these confirmation hearings? His joke was kind of funny.
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 7:21pm/slurp /slurp – that’s what you sound like.
Report Post »GodblessGlennBeck
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:22pmAnd yet, the horror multiplies: I just heard that the Senate is drafting an “alternative” that might allow Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling all by himself??????? Shall I start watching for this President’s coronation???? Have they lost their minds?????
Report Post »netmail
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:28pmYes, they’ve “lost their minds”. Im barely hanging on to mine.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:30pmThe House would have to approve the Senate’s bill so they can draft away. These liberal idiots are soooo worried about getting re-elected that they can’t handle the real issues for fear of making the wrong move. The are rendering themselves useless servnats of the president. The powers welded by th executive office have grown dramaticly without any adaptations to the Constitution to make them Constitutional. Thus executive orders are unconstituitional. We need to rid ourselves of these career politicians at alll cost.
Report Post »Mr. Oshawott
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:58pm@GodBlessGlennBeck
If that’s the case, we’ll be spending the next years submerged in red ink! We have got to get those self-serving professional politicians out of our government and replace them with people that will ACTUALLY abide by the Constitution.
Report Post »beekeeper
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:21pmWhat, you were expecting these reporters to be amused by the President’s promise that his next nominee would answer questions with questions, not answers? That wasn’t a joke, that was S.O.P. for this administration…
Report Post »Brizz
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:55pmSad but true. Do we expect to get easy answers out of Cordray?
Report Post »NotFooled
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:21pmObummer should stick with what works for him and is a huge joke, his political policies. LMAO!!!
Report Post »Jose259
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:19pmHe is a joke…
Report Post »MarinesNolikeyObama
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:19pmHe is doing the only thing he knows how to do… make useless speaches, travel on the tax payers millions, and avoid doing the business that is the responsibility of the POTUS. Don’t blame him, blame those that voted for him. We get the government we deserve! We get the leadership we elect…
Report Post »iamHeidi
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:18pmKinda lame, but, he’s a joke.
Report Post »SidneyDave
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:18pmObama’s the joke.
Report Post »terry0528
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:17pmTell a bad joke, nominate another socialist, and head out golfing. That’s OK since everything is going OK hear.
Report Post »Pontiac
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:16pmGotta find something to do between golfing, vacations, and white house parties.
Report Post »HTuttle
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:16pmIt’s because Mr. WellSpoken’s timing totally SUCKS.
Obama: “Take my wife please.”
Report Post »h158x
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:16pmI remember when Jimmy Carter was president. It was painful. I knew when Obama got elected, it was going to be a similar pain. I was wrong. It is worse.
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:20pmYou are sooooooooooo right!! Worst part: apparently more of the country is crazy now too!!
Report Post »oldasdirt
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:37pmThe joke was so funny people forgot to laugh..Pain?,,More like agony.
Report Post »jp2feminist
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:15pmYou are a joke, Obama.
Report Post »9111315
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:15pmWhy do we have to have a President in the form of a joke?
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 7:20pm+Like
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:13pmNo, what’s a joke is 4 more years of Obama.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on July 18, 2011 at 2:10pmOnly a really insincere SOB can make stupid jokes in times like these. What’s he doing giving meaningless pressers? Shouldn’t he be involved in formulating a budget – something he’s kinda required to do? Have you ever known a POTUS with such an abysmal work ethic? The dude couldn’t care less.
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