[ImapFidaarram]

TPM: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...on.php?ref=fpa

"Even I didn't realize the magnitude -- because most economists didn't realize the magnitude -- of the recession until" it was many months into his presidency, Obama said Wednesday.

The question came via a tweet during the President's online town hall Wednesday, in which he responded verbally via a video livestream to questions posed to him via the hashtag #AskObama. Obama began the virtual town hall held in the White House's East Room by sending out one tweeted question to himself on a computer set off to the side -- an apparent attempt to respond to criticism that he would not actually be tweeting responses to the questions streaming in via Twitter.

"In order to reduce the deficit, what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep?" he asked himself in an effort to set the tone and keep the discussion focused on jobs and the economy and which federal programs should be on the chopping block.

Aside from underestimating the scope of the recession, Obama said he didn't respond aggressively enough to the crisis in the nation's housing market, which fueled much of the downturn and continues to plague the U.S. economy.

...

Twitter and select Twitter users from around the country chose the questions the President was asked, including on from Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that asked him, "After embarking on a record spending binge that has left us deeper in the debt, where are the jobs?"

Obama took a shot at the partisan nature of the question from his political rival.

"This is a slightly skewed question," Obama said before going on to answer it by denying its premise. Obama said the country has produced more jobs in recent months -- just not as quickly as Congress would like. He also said he would like to try to boost the economy by investing in more national infrastructure projects that would get constructions workers -- one of the hardest-hit sectors -- back to work but Republicans have so far rebuffed more stimulus spending.

[paypaltoegold1]

What a pompous ass. Even he the great and intellectually superior Obama didn't realize........

[TOD4wDTQ]

I didn't read it that way at all. I saw it more as "Even I, with access to the best and the brightest advisers at a moment's notice, didn't realize......"

As in, "This was bigger than any of us recognized at the outset."

[HunterM]

That's my read as well, Pinky, just like nobody anticipated we'd actually see a $20 billion profit on our TARP loans to banks. That was modeled as a loss leader to keep the financial industry afloat, but reality moved unpredictably.