It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama said the reason he told Russia’s Dimitry Medvedev back in March--more than seven months before this year's presidential election--that he would have “more flexibility” after the election to work with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was because he was too busy campaigning and doing other "stuff."
“The discussion there very much just had to do with the fact that it’s hard to negotiate additional treaties when I’m off campaigning and doing all kinds of stuff,” Obama said on Friday, explaining his open-mic comments with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this year.
The president’s latest comments came during an interview with News 4 KRNV in Reno, Nevada in which the questions were sent in from audience members.
Originally posted by Indigo5
His actual answer included
"At the time Mr. Putin was just putting together a new government, because he had just been re-elected"...
Which speaks to the truth of the matter. The President in an off-mic moment found the most tactful way to delay the conversation. It was more tactful than saying to Medvedic...you are an empty figure-head right now and we aren't going to waste time negotiating a treaty with you when Putin will simply look to start all over once he makes you his lap-dog...which Putin did BTW. The POTUS did the right thing.
Originally posted by Indigo5
His actual answer included
"At the time Mr. Putin was just putting together a new government, because he had just been re-elected"...
Which speaks to the truth of the matter. The President in an off-mic moment found the most tactful way to delay the conversation. It was more tactful than saying to Medvedic...you are an empty figure-head right now and we aren't going to waste time negotiating a treaty with you when Putin will simply look to start all over once he makes you his lap-dog...which Putin did BTW. The POTUS did the right thing.
Originally posted by xuenchen
But why didn't Obama tell that to the public when the hot mic moment was exposed ?
It might have actually made sense at the time.
I don't believe for one split second that Obama ever thought that Putin was an an empty figure-head