President Barack Obama toured the Great Wall at Badaling, northwest of Beijing, near the close of his first trip to China on a weeklong Asian tour this week. (Photo by Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images.)
by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama, with 20 nations in his passport this year, stepped on to the Great Wall of China this week.
"It gives you a perspective on a lot of day to day things that don't amount to much...It's majestic,'' the president said. "It reminds you of the sweep of history. And that our time here on earth is not that long. So we better make the best of it.''
The president has a lot on his mind these days.
The way Republican Sarah Palin tells it, all the president has to do is listen to his general about deployment of additional forces in Afghanistan, and that will take care of that decision -- sort of like Harry Truman, had he only listened to Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
Obama isn't too happy about the leaks that have come out from the many decision-making meetings that he has held about the deployment.
"I think I'm angrier than (Defense Secretary) Bob Gates about it," Obama told CBS News' Chip Reid, in one of the network news interviews that he conducted in China. "We have deliberations in the situation room for a reason; we're making life and death decisions that affect how our troops are able to operate in a theater of war. For people to be releasing info in the course of deliberations is not appropriate."
"A firing offense?" Reid inquired.
"Absolutely," Obama replied.
As for his own physical health, he suggested, he's holding up fine.
"My weight doesn't fluctuate too much,'' the president said. " It goes in a five-pound bandwidth. It has for the last 30 years. Um, skipping meals, that's usually just a scheduling issue, but I'm eating fine and I'm sleeping fine.
"My hair is getting grey, and it is the butt of a lot of jokes from my wife as well as my friends,'' he said. " You just don't have a comparable set of circumstances - with two wars, a financial crisis as bad as anything since 1933, a host of regional issues that have to be dealt with, a pandemic.
"You have a convergence of factors that have made this a difficult year not so much for me, but for the American people,'' he said. "And so, absolutely that weighs on me, because whenever I visit Walter Reed or other military hospitals, I see the sacrifice young people are making. That is a heavy weight. But it's an extraordinary privilege, as well, and I wouldn't trade my job for anything."
Comments
Obama getting grey means the Republicans are winning!.....or something! also! youbetcha!
Posted by: I wanna be a Republican idiot | November 18, 2009 5:08 PM
President Obama's going to get a lot greyer by the time his term's over. ALL the presidents are worn pretty severely by the office. Sorry, but it's true.
Posted by: Op109 | November 18, 2009 5:12 PM
When people turn grey it means they're a commie/fascist/socialist/nazi who wants to kill granny.
Everyone know this, Rush said so.
Posted by: Bubba Alabama | November 18, 2009 5:19 PM
Millions of Americans unemployed and hundreds of thousands losing their jobs every month, foreclosures up 17% over last month, false job reports being put out, and obama's in China bowing to a dictator.
Totally Clueless!
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | November 18, 2009 6:27 PM
The fact that Obama's hair is getting grayer is definately the result of a citizen revolt on Obama's hair.
Posted by: Wingnut Central Command | November 18, 2009 7:18 PM
One year ago, I wanted to see the guy suceed. But when everything you do has a marxist theme to it, then what could anyone, other than another marxist, really expect? Hard to bail water when your little bucket looks like it was the victim in a Drive-by.
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | November 18, 2009 7:31 PM
________________________________
Millions of Americansunemployed and hundreds of thousands losing their jobs every month, foreclosures up 17% over last month
Posted by: Paulo | November 18, 2009 6:27 PM
_______________________________
Pablo,
It's going to take longer than 10 months to clean up Bush and Cheney's mess.
Go sit back back down in the corner and shut your face. The adults are in charge now.
Posted by: Gotti | November 18, 2009 8:21 PM
Worst president ever
Posted by: ComicBookGuy | November 19, 2009 12:16 AM
Gotti, aka John E.
We know the story, Gotti / John E. 12 years of Reagan-Bush followed by a period of enlightenment followed by 8 years of Prince-Darth. You just can’t correct for all of that overnight.
But here’s the deal. The average voter is not hard-core Republican or hard-core democrat. Not true conservative or true liberal. The two 2009 gubernatorial elections clearly proved this. When the average voter, probably democrat more by default than anything else, but operationally non-partisan in any given election, realizes that he / she has been stripped down to his / her shorts, stretched out on the bare-a$$ cold-a$$ / hot ground, and the Marxist Lilliputians have a funnel piped down to their personal body parts with battery acid and fire ants working their way down through the funnel tubing with a steadily increasing drip, that voter will start to recognize a “real” need for a “new” reality.
The incompetent beyond belief “adults” that are allegedly “in charge” better memorize a back door way out of town that they can skulk down in the dark of night. Just sayn’.
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | November 19, 2009 2:00 AM
Pablo,
What can you do when you face your biggest creditor?
Posted by: steve | November 19, 2009 3:23 AM
I liked him a lot before sometime but after that he had taken so many unexpected steps and decisions and also the economy is just gone.. I think he has to do something and change his image to good.
Posted by: royal caribbean cruise deals | November 19, 2009 4:19 AM
The only way his hair isn't going to get grey is to reach into the bottom right hand drawer in the Resolute desk for that bottle of black hair dye Ronnie Reagan left behind.
Posted by: ornery | November 19, 2009 6:15 AM
Hey Gotti, since the adults are in charge maybe they can explain where the 60,000 missing stimulus jobs that were supposed to be created in congressional districts that don't even exist. Yes the economy is still in trouble & maybe Bush is to blame, but the actions taken by the current administration to correct them currently appear to be more harmful than helpful. I mean if we owe China so much money already then why in world do we keep spending like drunken sailors? Pretty soon the liquor cabinet is going to dry up and this country will go bankrupt just like California & the Chicago Tribune. Do you think China will recognize a chapter 11 reorganization situation when we stiff them?
Posted by: wingnut master | November 19, 2009 8:54 AM
The only thing I can think of that would have turned Obama's hair grey would have been all the really hard work he did in winning the Noble Peace prize.
Real American Heroes - Mr. Noble Peace Prize Winner Guy!
Posted by: Chris | November 19, 2009 10:41 AM
"Adults are in charge"?
LOL
ROFL
I don't think so. I think the kids are playing at being in charge up in DC.
Posted by: Sam Orez | November 19, 2009 10:58 AM
Paulo,
"and obama's in China bowing to a dictator."
Obama bowed in Japan, not China, you moron. The Japanese emperor has no power and is not a dictator, moron.
We'll leave it to the Bushes to vomit on Japanese leaders while Obama bows to them. See which one gets us better diplomatic relations.
Posted by: BuddhaBob | November 19, 2009 11:12 AM
Maybe grey will be a more acceptable color to some.
Posted by: bill r. | November 19, 2009 11:21 AM