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Obama: I Wish Washington Was Like House Of Cards

Doug Mataconis
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houseOfCards21

Apparently, President Obama wishes he had his own Frank Underwood:

Where’s Frank Underwood when you need him?

President Barack Obama has watched “House of Cards” and likes the way Washington works in the dark, political thriller.

“I wish things were that ruthlessly efficient,” Obama joked at a meeting with tech CEOs on Tuesday, according to a White House pool report.

Referring to actor Kevin Spacey, who plays a manipulative House majority whip on the show, Obama said, “This guy’s getting a lot of stuff done.”

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Given some of the things that Frank Underwood actually does during the course of the first season of House of Cards, no spoilers for those who haven’t watched yet, I certainly hope the President was joking.

By the way, if you haven’t watched the show, I highly recommend it. I binge watched it over Labor Day Weekend and am looking forward to Season Two coming out in February. For those of you who are fans, here’s the preview trailer (if you haven’t finished Season One, there are some minor spoilers for that season in the trailer):

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24 responses to “Obama: I Wish Washington Was Like House Of Cards”

  1. CB Avatar
    CB

    Its like a crazy blend of Scarface and The West Wing. Great show with great performances.

  2. Pinky Avatar
    Pinky

    Hey Ernie, are you as offended by this as you were by that Huckabee statement? I assume that the answer is no, because any sane person would recognize that the President was being facetious, and doesn’t condone the kinds of actions depicted on House of Cards. Still, I’d love to hear from you on this.

  3. mantis Avatar
    mantis

    I certainly hope the President was joking.

    Considering the report you reference explicitly states he was joking, do you have some doubt about that?

    Pres. Bush joked that he wished he were a dictator. Also a joke, hence the description as a joke.

  4. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    Hi Pink.
    Never watched House of Cards so I don’t know the reference.
    Huck is such a joker.
    I don’t know why U think I took it seriously that he wants to educate Citizens at gunpoint….just beause that’s what he said.

    Oh yeah. I’ll bet he was just kidding when he blamed the Newtown bloodletting on secular schools.

    “We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?”

    http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/12/18/the-newtown-shootings-were-the-fault-of-gay-people-says-mike-huckabee/

    Gotta wonder why he thinks an omnipresent god is so weak and powerless to be run out of Sandy Hook School when the butchery started.
    (pinknews…so did U start a new website?)

  5. Pinky Avatar
    Pinky

    @ernieyeball: Ernie, if you wanted to, you could have serached online and found out what House of Cards is about. I did. It took me a couple of minutes. But the point is that anyone who wouild hold this humorous comment against the President has completely lost perspective, and anyone who would interpret Huckabee’s comment the way you did has the same problem. And you know what? I didn’t even have to find a clip of the President’s comment to know that he was joking. You can apparently look at a clip of Huckabee getting laughs as he gesticulates comically and not know that he was joking.

    Sorry about threadjacking, but to be honest, this probably wasn’t going to turn into a serious debate thread.

  6. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @Pinky: Ernie, if you wanted to, you could have serached online and found out what House of Cards is about.

    I didn’t want to.

    More side splitting HuckHumor:

    “I believe that before it’s all over, this president will not fill out his full term.”
    — Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, predicting Barack Obama will be ousted because of the Benghazi embassy attack, which Huckabee called a bigger scandal than Watergate.

    This really cracks me up!

    In his 1998 book, Kids Who Kill, Huckabee compared homosexuality to necrophilia:
    “It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations—from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia.”

  7. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @Pinky:…has completely lost perspective, and anyone who would interpret Huckabee’s comment the way you did has the same problem.

    I lost my perspective (along with my virginity) when I did all that LSD in the 60’s. Don’t knock it if U haven’t tried it.

  8. rudderpedals Avatar
    rudderpedals

    A great philosopher once said “You can’t always get what you want”

  9. Pinky Avatar
    Pinky

    Ernie – Note that I’m not saying that every word out of Huckabee’s mouth is meant in humor. That would also be ludicrous. I’m not saying that you have to agree with every word out of Huckabee’s mouth. Again, that would be nuts. I’m saying that Mike Huckabee doesn’t want to force everyone in America to watch some author’s speeches at gunpoint. Because it would be insane to think so. Do you see how a person can walk the middle ground between believing irrational things on the left and believing irrational things on the right?

  10. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @Pinky: I’m saying that Mike Huckabee doesn’t want to force everyone in America to watch some author’s speeches at gunpoint. Because it would be insane to think so.

    Could be insane to say so too.
    I always believed that what people say reveals their thoughts but that’s just me.
    You can parse Huck’s words so they support your ideas if U want to.
    I don’t really care what you think.

  11. Tillman Avatar
    Tillman

    They have the original British series on Netflix as well, and if you haven’t yet, give that a go.

  12. Stonetools Avatar
    Stonetools

    +1 for the BBC original. It’s different but great. Ralph Richardson was wonderful.

  13. JKB Avatar
    JKB

    Washington is like that, only Ted Cruz is the star. You only thought their wasn’t a plan.

  14. Pinky Avatar
    Pinky

    @ernieyeball: Ask yourself: do you want to be no better than this, taking ridiculous pot shots at politicians online? If that’s your goal, I mean, look around. There’s a lot of people who aspire to nothing more, from the looks of it. Or you could treat others and yourself as adults. Your call.

  15. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @Pinky: I’ve been taking pot shots at politicians since before Lyndon Johnson. He was the President I could not vote out of office because I was not yet 21 even though if he would have had his way, my sorry 18 year old ass would have been shanghaied off to the jungle to suffer who knows what fate.
    The pot shots went like this:

    Hey Hey LBJ, How many kids did you kill today!

    or

    Hell No We Won’t Go

    Then there was Tricky Dick. When he ran in 1968 I was still too young to vote.
    By the time I did get to freely cast a ballot without coercion, 1972 for McGovern, I had already had my pot shot bumpersticker

    Impeach Nixon Now More Than Ever

    ripped off the tailgate of my truck more than once.

    When I was in grade school and my dad supported Dwight Eisenhower, we sang a campaign song that went like this:

    Whistle while you work,
    Stevenson’s a jerk!
    Eisenhower’s got the power
    Stevenson’s a jerk!

    So to answer your query taking pot shots at politicians is a family tradition that I am compelled to preserve. I hope it annoys the shit out of you.
    (don’t know where the bold script is coming from in the block quotes as I am not using that function.)

  16. Jenos Idanian #13 Avatar
    Jenos Idanian #13

    Obama has “joked’ like this before.

    Obama also “joked” about having the IRS audit his political enemies.

    Obama wasn’t “joking” when he said that the War Powers Resolution didn’t apply when he attacked Libya.

    Obama wasn’t “joking” when he said that he, not Congress, was the decider when Congress was or was not in recess.

    Obama wasn’t “joking” when he said “if you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance — period.”

    Many a true word is spoken in jest.

  17. CB Avatar
    CB

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    So what you’re telling me is that politicians are…political?

  18. Jenos Idanian #13 Avatar
    Jenos Idanian #13

    @CB: I apologize. I remember Obama’s stirring campaign ads where he proclaimed that he was just a politician like all the rest, and if elected he’d act just like any other politician. In fact, he was downright proud of coming out of Chicago’s Democratic machine…

    Seriously, CB, a lot of us said just that during both campaigns. And we were called racist and worse for saying just that. Now it’s a defense of the Hope and Change zombies.

  19. Pinky Avatar
    Pinky

    In the spirit of equal opportunity: Jenos, you’re being a hack here. The President is not suggesting that politicians should use sex, violence, and blackmail to get stuff done. I can’t make you respect the officeholder, but at least respect your fellow commenters enough to post reasonable-sounding accusations.

  20. Pinky Avatar
    Pinky

    @ernieyeball:

    I hope it annoys the shit out of you.

    It won’t. If you aspire to be no more than a cartoon character, I just won’t expect better.

    (don’t know where the bold script is coming from in the block quotes as I am not using that function.)

    It happens to me too. Something about the block quote function. It’s inconsistent.

  21. CB Avatar
    CB

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    Again, all your comment says is that he’s a politician selling a message. If you expected anything other than a machine politician to ascend to the presidency, you’re either not paying attention, or just trolling. To borrow from another thread, if you expected either the messiah or the antichrist, you’re doing it wrong.

    In the end, this is a stupid, tired, and childish argument.

  22. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @Pinky: If you aspire to be no more than a cartoon character, I just won’t expect better.

    I am totally distressed about your expectations of me…Derpety Derp!
    I wish I was a cartoon character! Just like my Heros Ren and Stimpy. Looks like a great life to me! I try to follow their teachings everyday.

  23. Jenos Idanian #13 Avatar
    Jenos Idanian #13

    @CB: So, pretty much what a lot of us have been saying since 2008 is correct?

    Where the eff have you been? We got pounded relentlessly for saying just what you just said, and were called racists, haters, and a host of other things. Now you wanna say “yeah, you were right, whatever, get over it?”

    Screw you and the cockroach you rode in on.

  24. CB Avatar
    CB

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    No, youre not called racists for any and every criticism. Youre called racists when the insinuations behind the criticisms are racist. But go ahead and pretend otherwise.

    So what I’m really saying is that you’re just as petulant as the tools on the left who think he’s untouchable. You know, the people who represent everything I assume you’re against.

    But trolls gotta troll, I know. Stay classy, guy.

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