How Does 'Hope and Change' Look Five Years Later? Here's Chris Matthews's Surprising Answer

MSNBC's Chris Matthews was cornered into admitting that President Barack Obama does indeed have his shortcomings. The TV host, who has previously referred to the president as the "perfect" American, father and husband, was asked by a GOP strategist on Tuesday morning: How does "hope and change" look five years later?

"What people signed up for, what people voted for, was the hope and change," former John McCain aide Nicolle Wallace said. "How's it look on the table five years later?"

After being evasive at first and talking about past presidents, Matthews ultimately addressed Obama's "shortcoming." He also acknowledged that he had been duped by politicians and been let down in the past.

NANTUCKET, MA - JUNE 29: Chris Matthews attends The 18th Annual Nantucket Film Fesitval on June 29, 2013 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Credit: Getty Images for The Nantucket F

Mediaite has the transcript of his response:

“I’ll tell you Obama’s shortcoming, and it’s quite bipartisan in assessment, it’s exactly what you would say. Usually politicians take a while to develop a public speaking manner to where they are really good at it. It took Churchill a long time—he had a stutter and all kinds of problems, as Joe and you guys know—and he developed a great speaking pattern. Jack Kennedy was never a good speaker until 1960 where he was gangbusters. He really developed a public persona. All that time, in the fifteen years in kennedy’s case and Roosevelt and all those people, they were developing the back room skills, one-on-one skills, how you make friends, how you become class president, how you establish the loyalty of people one-on-one?

“The key political asset is the ability to sit in a room with four or five other people and have them accept your leadership, on either side of the party. Obama doesn’t have that. He had the speaking skill way ahead of schedule, the inspiration ability, the charisma. What he has never developed is a love—and that’s the right word for it—of politics, and love of other politicians, to love to sit around and play cards with them, to try to get to know them, their nuances, how to get to them, their hooks, their triggers, their buttons, get to know them and figure out how you can work with some of them, even tough customers like Eric Cantor, Boehner, get to know the tea party sentiment. Try to figure out what is it you can give them.”

Wallace also included "world leaders" in that equation, a notion that Matthews agreed with as well.

While it's not a scathing assessment of Obama's presidency, it is still surprising coming from such an outspoken supporter of the Obama administration.

Watch the segment via MSNBC below:

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