Hey Barry, could you at least have enough respect for the terror victims in Brussels to remove your shades for the interview?
President Obama was all smiles this afternoon as he watched an exhibition baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national baseball team – just hours after ISIS terrorists killed at least 34 people in Brussels.
Settling down with wife Michelle, daughters Sasha and Malia and Cuban dictator Raul Castro, Obama appeared carefree as he enjoyed the game – ignoring calls to cut short his historic trip to return to Washington and lead the response.
Indeed, despite criticism that he only devoted one minute of his speech earlier in the day to the Belgian atrocities, Obama took the time to give a somewhat surreal 15-minute interview to ESPN about the threat posed by ISIS – keeping his $500 shades on throughout the spot.
Here is Obama’s surreal interview with ESPN:
After observing a moment of silence for the hundreds of victims, a relaxed Obama said, ‘This is just one more example of why the entire world needs to unite against these terrorists.’
When asked by ESPN why he had not returned to Washington, the president said to do so would show the terrorists they have the power to disrupt.
‘It’s always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world, particularly in this age of 24/7 news coverage,’ said the president. ‘You want to be respectful and understand the gravity of the situation, but the whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people’s ordinary lives.’
Recalling what he called one of his proudest memories during his time as president, the reaction of Boston Red Sox’ David Ortiz after the Boston bombings in April 2013, Obama said he felt the hitter spoke for the nation when he said, ‘This is our f**king city and nobody is going to dictate our freedom.’
‘Probably the only time America didn’t have a problem with somebody cursing on live TV was when he talked about Boston and how strong it was and wasn’t gonna be intimidated,’ Obama said.
‘That is the kind of resilience and the kind of strength that we have to continually show in the face of these terrorists. They cannot defeat America.’
The president then offered his ‘thoughts and prayers’ to those affected by the terror attacks.
Communist human rights violated Raul Castro wasn’t able to release any political prisoners, but he was able to release doves at the “historic” baseball game with Comrade Obama…
Doves released from centerfield stands ahead of Rays-Cuba game pic.twitter.com/kVEJHjfyxn
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) March 22, 2016
Just after the game ended and Air Force One took off for Argentina for a two-day stint, the president ordered all federal flags to be flown at half mast as a mark of respect for those who were killed in Tuesday morning’s attacks.
Prior to his interview with ESPN, Obama had faced calls from Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and John Kasich to leave Cuba and return to the states.
Meet the new Che… We can only “hope” he retires there.
Shepard Fairey mock-up for sale in Havana: Yes We Came pic.twitter.com/TgiHAvYqsu
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) March 23, 2016
The president did not heed their advice. He dedicated a brief portion of a planned speech to the attacks and went on about his day.
Here’s Obama and his new bestie doing the “wave”
https://twitter.com/BKcolin/status/712342816685494273
He met Cuban dissidents at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, then made his way to watch the baseball in casual khaki pants, white shirt, no tie, and sunglasses. Via: Daily Mail