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Monday, April 5, 2010

WaPo: Obama's 17-Minute, 2,500-Word Response to Woman's Claim of Being 'Over-Taxed'

Washington Post, Obama's 17-Minute, 2,500-Word Response to Woman's Claim of Being 'Over-Taxed':

Even by President Obama's loquacious standards, an answer he gave here on health care Friday was a doozy.

Toward the end of a question-and-answer session with workers at an advanced battery technology manufacturer, a woman named Doris stood to ask the president whether it was a "wise decision to add more taxes to us with the health care" package.

"We are over-taxed as it is," Doris said bluntly.

Obama started out feisty. "Well, let's talk about that, because this is an area where there's been just a whole lot of misinformation, and I'm going to have to work hard over the next several months to clean up a lot of the misapprehensions that people have," the president said.

He then spent the next 17 minutes and 12 seconds lulling the crowd into a daze.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/04/wapo-.html

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Comments

Besides dodging a question, just what can you do in 17 minutes? Here's our latest animated Obama cartoon, enjoy!

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Doug Hayden
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Posted by: Doug Hayden | Apr 7, 2010 5:25:17 AM

My experience has been that the length of the answer has little or nothing to do with a person's knowledge of the subject. And whether you agree with him or not, there should be little doubt about President Obama's knowledge of most subjects he takes on -- whether Afghanistan, basketball, health care policy, or taxation. I'd roll my eyes at this one and move on.

Posted by: Larry | Apr 6, 2010 8:58:24 PM

It seems to me that the question of whether the American people are over-taxed is referencing an in-depth fundamental philosophical question of how much the government should be involved in our lives.

One can shorthand the argument, but I feel that President Obama was treating the audience as adults that can understand multiple concepts. Even though it took 17 minutes, I appreciated his response because he explained rationale instead of treating the audience as children that can only understand short one-thought sentences.

Posted by: Wesley Wills | Apr 6, 2010 5:04:20 PM

I always find people regardless whether they are (POTUS, CEO, Tax Partner, Professors, etc.) who can't answer questions directly and succinctly don't really know what they are talking about.

Posted by: Clinton | Apr 6, 2010 11:13:10 AM