Obama: Presidency "More Work" Than Expected

Geoffrey Likeson
Conservative News and Reporting
'News for the Rest of Us'

WASHINGTON--

In a rare show of humility, President Barack Obama told reporters this morning that taking on the role of President of the United States was more strenuous than he had believed.

"I just didn't think it would be so much," the President told Karen Tumulty from Time, "When I was campaigning, I was tired all of the time, but I knew that it was for a greater cause. Since January, I've been pulling fourteen-hour days, and I have chronic migraines."

This press conference was a surprise, replacing White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' normal daily briefings. Instead, when reporters set up, the President, just returned from the G20 summit in Europe, was standing at the podium. Slouched and sighing heavily, the President explained that he had only gotten seven hours of sleep the previous night.

"I knew that becoming President was a worthwhile goal," he said, "But I have to remember all twenty of the top GDP nations on the planet. I also have to make sure to be respectful to foreign leaders, like bowing to the Saudi king."

Reports coming from the White House have been quick to minimize Obama's statements, explaining it off as simple "fatigue." The New York Times also referenced "George W. Bush's constant vacations, even on September 12, 2001 and the beginning of the Iraq War."

Asked about his itinerary, the President is planning to have pancakes for dinner and to watch a movie with his wife Michelle.

"I heard that Watchmen is bitchin'," said the President, "The President of Russia can wait."

Dmitri Medvedev, the President of the Russian Federation, is reportedly extremely annoyed.

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Chavez Wins Bid to Get Rid of Term Limits

That's right, ladies and gents, the world is coming to freedom and seeing the light, just like President Obama said would happen. Oh, wait, the opposite is happening... hmm, I wonder who's going to break the news to him.

From Yahoo News:

"CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez won a referendum to eliminate term limits

Sunday, enabling him to run again in 2012 and beyond in what critics fear is an attempt to become president-for-life.

Fireworks exploded in the sky and caravans of supporters celebrated in the streets, waving red flags and honking horns. Thousands of people gathered outside Miraflores Palace, where the former paratroop commander appeared on a balcony to sing the national anthem and address the crowd.

"Today we opened wide the gates of the future," proclaimed Chavez, who has governed for a decade and vowed to rule for at least a decade more. "In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate."

Chavez called the victory — which allows all public officials to run for re-election as many times as they want — a mandate to speed his transformation of Venezuela into a socialist state.

"Those who voted 'yes' today voted for socialism, for revolution," he said.

With 94 percent of the vote counted, 54 percent had voted for the constitutional amendment, National Electoral Council chief Tibisay Lucena said. Forty-six percent had voted against it, a trend she called irreversible. She said turnout was 67 percent.

At their campaign headquarters, Chavez opponents who say the amendment pushes Venezuela closer to dictatorship hugged one another, and some cried. Several opposition leaders left without speaking, but several who remained said they wouldn't contest the vote.

"We accept this result," said student leader David Smolansky, 23. "We're still standing. We're committed to Venezuela."

Voters on both sides said the referendum was crucial to the future of Venezuela, a deeply polarized country where Chavez has spent a tumultuous decade in power channeling tremendous oil wealth into combating gaping social inequality.

Venezuela's leftist allies in Latin America have followed the model. Ecuador pushed through a new constitution in September and Bolivia did so in January. Both loosened rules on presidential re-election. Nicaragua's ruling Sandinistas also plan to propose an amendment that would let Daniel Ortega run for another consecutive term.

Opponents say Chavez already has far too much power, with the courts, the legislature and the election council all under his influence. Removing the current 12-year presidential term limit, they say, makes him unstoppable.

"Effectively this will become a dictatorship," opposition leader Omar Barboza told The Associated Press. "It's control of all the powers, lack of separation of powers, unscrupulous use of state resources, persecution of adversaries."

Chavez supporters say their president has given poor Venezuelans cheap food, free education and quality health care, and empowered them with a discourse of class struggle after decades of U.S.-backed governments that favored the rich.

"This victory saved the revolution," said Gonzalo Mosqueda, a 60-year-old shopkeeper, sipping rum from a plastic cup outside the palace. "Without it everything would be at risk — all the social programs, and everything he has done for the poor."

Chavez took office in 1999 and won support for a new constitution the same year that allowed the president to serve two six-year terms, barring him from the 2012 elections. Sunday's vote was his second attempt to change that; voters rejected a broader referendum in December 2007."