by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama has been talking about cleaning up the mess he found after his election for some time.
Now his party is cleaning up some of his own words.
"The mop'' has gotten the attention of people who say they are tired of Republicans taking the blame for the state of the nation. Time for everyone to pick up a mop, the president says, and clean up the mess the Republicans have made.
The Democrats, however, have cleaned up the president's own comments -- editing the "socialist mop'' out of remarks that he made at a party fundraiser last week, in a new Website video picking up the presidential mop line and running after the Republicans.
The Democrats have tried to label the Republicans as "the party of no.'' The Republicans have tried to label the Democrats as the party of deficits and taxes.
"I want everybody to know we believe in a strong and loyal opposition,'' Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco last week. "I believe in a two-party system where ideas are tested and assumptions are challenged -- because that's how we can move this country forward.
"But what I reject is when some folks decide to sit on the sidelines and root for failure on health care or on energy or on our economy,'' Obama said. "What I reject is when some folks say we should go back to the past policies when it was those very same policies that got us into this mess in the first place.
"Another way of putting it is when, you know, I'm busy and (House Speaker) Nancy (Pelosi) busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else's mess -- we don't want somebody sitting back saying, 'you're not holding the mop the right way,''' Obama said. "Why don't you grab a mop, why don't you help clean up... 'You're not mopping fast enough','' said Obama, ridiculing his critics on a roll and laughing at the runaway mop metaphor. '"That's a socialist mop.' Grab a mop -- let's get to work.''
In the excerpts of the president's remarks displayed in a new Democrat National Committee Web-video, however, the line about the "socialist mop'' has been cleaned up.
Glenn Beck, the FOX News commentator who has been all over the Obama White House lately as a perceived den of socialists, communists and Mao-worshippers, took note of that "socialist mop'' comment last night in his program.
A former Obama aide, Van Jones, used the word 'communist' in videotaped comments. Beck hounded him for it. Jones is gone. An Obama aide, Anita Dunn, has spoken of her admiration for Mao Zedong's philosophy. Beck is trying to make her go away now, too. The White House is dismissing the attacks.
The president, however, is a pretty big target.
Even for Beck's mop.
"This has been a recurring theme in President Obama's rhetoric,'' James Taranto wrote at the Wall Street Journal recently. "As we noted last week, he frequently refers to the "mess" that he "inherited." But the presidency is not an inheritance, it is a responsibility that Obama sought. To the extent that the country is a "mess," it is not "somebody else's mess"; it is all of our mess. If Obama's policies make matters worse rather than better, it won't be his mess either; all of us will have to live with the consequences.
(See the party video above, and a full mop take below:)









Comments
The Democrats even lie about what their man Obama says!
Posted by: Amused | October 20, 2009 10:23 AM
That's a shame. That was the best line in the whole exchange, both for raw humor value and for how dead on it was about the general quality of the right's opposition to pretty much everything Obama does.
Posted by: AB | October 20, 2009 10:35 AM
Obama is a radical Marxist. I just wish he would man up and have the cajones to say so. If America is as left-leaning as he and his cronies argue, they shouldn't have a problem with an admission like that.
Posted by: Joe McCarthy | October 20, 2009 11:37 AM
That rag, TWJ, just can't hide its stupidity and deceitfulness. They are so far-sighted, they blame every Democratic President, for anything, as far back as FDR !! One would have to be brain-dead to think, this isn't the Bush&Cheney mess !! Was it President Obama who shouted " Mission Accomplished ", props and all ?? Was it President Obama that yelled " Bring em on " ?? Was it President Obama that agreed to a tax cut for the wealthiest few, that has helped put our nation in a very precarious financial state ?? 8 years and Bush&Cheney, had no idea that the Weasels of Wall Street and their mouthpiece, TWJ, were a party to a financial disaster, the likes of which, haven't been seen since the Great Depression !! Where were these vigilant financial wizards that were supposed to be reporting on the underhandedness of The Weasels of Wall Street, for that incompetent rag, TWJ !!? Were they busy lining their pockets, taking their cuts !!? I wouldn't be surprised, greed is a contagion and in the land of the Weasel, no one is immune from that illness, especially the shadows at TWJ !! That incompetent rag, TWJ, finds its equal in the " fabulous " Fox Noise Studios !! They make for great entertainment, that incompetent tag-team, just as Bush&Cheney did !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | October 20, 2009 11:41 AM
Seems like Obimbo is making whatever mess he inherited much, much worse:
1. Deficits: More than tripled int Obimbo's first year and in 10 years Obimbo will surpass the entire debt from Washington to W.
2. Devaluing of the dollar has gotten worse under Obimbo.
3. Unemployment worse under Obimbo.
4. Washington incompetence under Obimbo: Axelrod, Emanuel, Peloony, Reid, Biden, Sebelius, Geithner, Clinton, and on and on are nothing but a bunch fo incapable, ignorant boobs.
5. Afghanistan crumbling while Obimbo takes months to decide what to do on the war he calls "one of necessity."
6. Iran and North Korea out of control.
7. Apologizing for the U.S. all over the world and getting nothing for it.
8. Less cooperation from our allies than Bush got on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, and other areas.
9. Foreclosures skyrocketing.
10. Businesses failing.
Obimbo is giving Carter a run as the worst president ever.
Posted by: John D | October 20, 2009 11:50 AM
Hey Don, the mess that Obozo sought out has been made worse by this fools policies. Quadrupling the deficit, doubling the unemployment rate, totally incompetent in Afghanistan, all examples how this adolescent took a bad situation and made it worse. You can blame the WSJ all you want, it is apparent that you don't posses the intelligence necessary to comprehend its contents. As for greed, why did your messiah bring on board all those millionaire tax cheats, slumlords and chicago shake down artists? Or is greed only permissible when you are a lying, corrupt dem?
Posted by: Hans | October 20, 2009 11:59 AM
John D and Hans are right, Bush handed Obama a booming economy, economic growth, a budget surplus, low, falling unemployment, peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, great realtions with the friendly, cooperative regimes in Iran and North Korea. Obimbo has messed all that up! He has destroyed the nearly utopian situation we had under the greatest President ever, George W. Bush! Bush Things we sooo great a year ago, weren't they?
Posted by: Another right winger | October 20, 2009 12:12 PM
Hey, " Hans ", here I thought you were a master fabricator, but in stead, your nothing but a youngster, telling little white lies. Get back to the Republican-Libertarian's school for scoundrels and get your money's worth !! Your lies do not match your brainless allegiance, to that dwindling Party, formerly known as, The Republican-Libertarian Party !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | October 20, 2009 12:15 PM
Socialist mop? I'm still looking for this:
Remember Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin telling Beck's audience that President Obama was secretly building an army of Marxist black nationalists?
Posted by: bill r. | October 20, 2009 12:24 PM
Posted by: Another right winger | October 20, 2009 12:12 PM
So Bush with help of a dem led Congress tanked the economy, agreed to a withdrawl timetable in Iraq and left a quagmire in Afghanistan. Since then, obozo obliterated the spendthrift Bush's deficits with a stimulus and earmark filled budget. Nothing has been accomplished but the bailout of some corrupt state and local governments and a payoff to the teachers unions. But your liar promised unemployment under 8% if we passed his bills without reading them. Your liar promised only a $7 T deficit then turned around and raised his projection by 27%.
Carter "inherited" a bad economy, an energy crisis, high unemployment and he made it worse. Only a fool would adopt the same policies that failed Carter hoping for different results. That fool is in charge now and the mess is of his own making.
Posted by: Hans | October 20, 2009 12:45 PM
, your nothing but a youngster, telling little white lies.
You know they are lies because you messiah told you so. Some day you will learn to think for yourself, stop attending those daily white house briefings. Funny how a day after Dunn describes how they are manipulating you, there you are spouting their talking points. More telling, you are still unable to refute the damage this fool is doing to the economy and the country.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, MAKE A DECISION. NOW
Posted by: Hans | October 20, 2009 1:02 PM
There goes Don Fitzgerald again - gad what a mean tempered guy you are. Obama said what he said and it was not real classy. I missed his (DonFs) caustic comments for a couple of days, but he has made up for it in spades
Posted by: BigbadSouthsideJim | October 20, 2009 1:06 PM
I really tired to follow this line of attack, but the only thing that kept creeping into my head was Mickey Mouse and his mops from The Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia.
.
The WSJ commentary, right on. He did opt in on the responsibility, and he knew what was facing him. Hopefully, he can make the best of it, without selling out to corporations and their lobby body, or without skirting the tough choices in the war on terrorism. He was a community organizer, and I'm sure he knows how to organize without a communication break down, ala socialist mop.
Posted by: nutty | October 20, 2009 1:34 PM
Does that racist wife of his ride a socialist broom. She surely doesn't need a mask, she's scary enough without one.
It is funny hearing a liberal democrat complain about the financial mess left by other liberal democrats. (dodd, frank).
Reform isn't needed, just put back the laws we had in place.
The goverment created this problem. Funny how this administation is always blaming someone else.
obama's legacy will be the whiner pulpit.
Posted by: worsethanbefore | October 20, 2009 1:48 PM
How come the Right Wing goons on here keep asking for Glenn Beck's "facts" to be debunked/challenged? They are pretending we have not repeatedly pointed out that Glenn Beck claims that FEMA is running concentration camps with armed guards at the gates.
Posted by: Facts are Fun | October 20, 2009 2:20 PM
"Deficits: More than tripled int Obimbo's first year and in 10 years Obimbo will surpass the entire debt from Washington to W."
Bend over boys and girls. Here comes the hope and change. This is going to be a little uncomfortable...
Posted by: No taxation without lubrication! | October 20, 2009 5:08 PM
I wonder who had to show BO which end of the mop to hold? He's never done a day of manual labor in his life.
He chose the socialist mop, as paid for in the spendulus bill - one person using the mop, another to supervise, one to write the press release on the mop's progress, and finally a person to yell at Fox news for its slanted coverage on how the mop is making the mess worse.
Posted by: Terry | October 20, 2009 7:49 PM
Before Glenn escapes to John Galt's secret island I hope he realizes that Ayn Rand's religion is, well,,,, atheism.
Yep, most real libertarians are atheists.
Besides legalizing drugs, prostitution, no censorship, abortion rights, yet another point of agreement with socialists.
Posted by: BlueBirdWhisperer | October 20, 2009 9:36 PM
Will someone tell Obama that Bush is no longer in office. And it is Obama's now and to stop blaming every one. He said he can keep unemployment to 8% or less. Obama's deficit is three time higher then last years. Obama has not saved any jobs, after he said he would.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | October 21, 2009 6:41 PM
Don Fitzgerald, get your facts straight. The tax cuts led to years of prosperity, what put this country in a financial mess was people in a house buying frenzy, causing the price of an average home to skyrocket, and banks creating loans that they knew were shoddy, just to make a quick buck, also knowing that they could then package them up and sell the risk to other banks. That is the one thing that brought our country to the brink of collapse. Socialist policies won't work for long, sooner or later hard working people will get tired of having to pay for other people's laziness.
Posted by: John E. | October 22, 2009 9:09 AM
Don Fitzgerald, get your facts straight. The tax cuts led to years of prosperity, what put this country in a financial mess was people in a house buying frenzy, causing the price of an average home to skyrocket, and banks creating loans that they knew were shoddy, just to make a quick buck, also knowing that they could then package them up and sell the risk to other banks. That is the one thing that brought our country to the brink of collapse. Socialist policies won't work for long, sooner or later hard working people will get tired of having to pay for other people's laziness.
Posted by: John E. | October 22, 2009 9:14 AM
crooks_in_dc apparently believes that someone can cure all of a nation's ills a day after taking office. The crook Bush leaves office after spending 8 years screwing up this country and looting its coffers at the behest of his Haliburton/Exxon buddies, leaves office on January 20th, and if the mess still exists on January 21 it's all Obama's fault.
Who let this bozo out of his cage? It's going to take 20 years to clean up the mess that the war criminal piece of garbage, who you morons supported, left this country.
Posted by: Will | October 22, 2009 9:31 AM
I never cease to be amazed by the useless drivel and hypocritical nonsense I read in comments sections. You in the opposition, who would have no "unpatriotic" and "un-American" criticism of the President during a time of war, now make a habit of calling the President of the USA names, bashing his wife, and spitting other vitriol as if there's no tomorrow. You in support of Obama, who have let the mewling Dems walk all over you with their ineptitude, have failed to demand more from your party in office -- how quickly you forget your own lament that Republicans failed to demand more from their party: remember when you all shrieked in unison "how could Republicans re-elect Bush?!!" You should get your selves together and shrill, how could we let things slide so far?!
Obama -- like him or not -- is right about cleaning up. It's the most "American" comment we've heard in a while. Let's all pitch in and make things better. Let's do the great things that only Americans can do when they work together. This is a 2 party system within a single Great Nation, but anyone reading these comments would conclude it's a divided country. And you all know what one of our *best* presidents in history said about a nation divided. Come on, people. Come on.
By the way, Ulysses S. Grant was the worst president in US history.
Posted by: what is wrong with you people? | October 22, 2009 9:36 AM
crooks_in_dc apparently believes that someone can cure all of a nation's ills a day after taking office. The crook Bush leaves office after spending 8 years screwing up this country and looting its coffers at the behest of his Haliburton/Exxon buddies, leaves office on January 20th, and if the mess still exists on January 21 it's all Obama's fault.
Who let this bozo out of his cage? It's going to take 20 years to clean up the mess that the war criminal piece of garbage, who you morons supported, left this country.
Posted by: Will | October 22, 2009 9:31 AM
I was just using Obama's own remarks.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | October 22, 2009 3:59 PM
What do you think of Obama's latest rallying cry, "Get a mop!"?
http://www.polladium.com/poll.php?poll_id=365&location_id=1
Take a sec and vote anonymously.
Posted by: tony s | October 23, 2009 11:25 PM