What does the leader of the free world do with the weight of the POTUS title?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/14/politics/game-of-thrones-barack-obama-first-look/index.html

#coasting #shorttimer #leavetheofficealready

4/15/2016 9:38:54 AM

your act is just kind of sad now

4/15/2016 9:44:19 AM

so the president isn't allowed to even watch tv now?

4/15/2016 9:51:55 AM

What a riot. So the POTUS cant even have some fun or chill time? I personally think its great that he is as down-to-earth as the rest of us and indulges in a TV show that many of us are interested in.

As of December 17, 2015:

Quote :

"[Obama] has taken 23 vacations spanning all or part of 177 days, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS News White House correspondent who maintains an authoritative record of presidential activities. By comparison, President George W. Bush at this point in his tenure had made 68 visits to his Texas ranch spanning all or part of 441 days, and 10 visits to his family’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine, spanning all or part of 39 days, according to Knoller. Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article50172810.html#storylink=cpy"

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 9:58 AM. Reason : a]

4/15/2016 9:57:36 AM

those hashtags are so fucking dumb and make zero sense, too

care to explain the first two?

4/15/2016 9:59:31 AM

I heard he sometimes poops two to three times a day. and often times he spends a few minutes on the toilet finishing the article in the magazine he's reading after he's already finished and wiped (and the magazine is Sports Illustrated, which has nothing to do with President-stuff!).

4/15/2016 10:09:15 AM

You guys are pretty easy.

4/15/2016 10:17:50 AM

you've spent 5+ years on complaining about him for plenty of dumb reasons

with that résumé, you may want to re-think attempting satire

4/15/2016 10:59:48 AM

can't knock the guy, i'm jonesin for the new season too

4/15/2016 11:06:23 AM

And besides, it wasn't the fact that he was taking a breather I was pointing out. I just think it's a little silly to use the office to ask to see a tv show before anybody else.

And you can't tell me that any lame duck president doesn't do a little coasting on their way to presidential retirement.

4/15/2016 12:01:10 PM

so you're saying if you had the ability to take advantage of your stature you wouldn't?

and how is watching a tv show considered "coasting"?

you're kind of admitting you weren't joking when using that hashtag, so it's safe to assume you weren't using the other two ironically

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 12:13 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2016 12:12:29 PM

I actually agree with rjrumfel on that point about taking advantage of his position. Sure, minor as hell, but it's kinda dumb. I groaned when the story came up on NPR

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 12:15 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2016 12:15:12 PM

he also gets to screen movies early in the White House

it's a damn shame it's too late for impeachment

4/15/2016 12:25:01 PM

^^ come on let's not go down that road. the whole point here is to be able to watch some mindless entertainment when the opportunity strikes. presidents generally wouldn't.. and probably shouldn't, have a lot of that but they gotta have some downtime too. this is getting a tv show early; it's not some shady backdoor nonsense.

4/15/2016 12:31:26 PM

That's why I said its really minor, still taking advantage of his position for special treatment /shrug. Of course I believe he should be able to watch TV and take vacations, though.

^^
lol don't even try to paint me like that

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 12:37 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2016 12:36:54 PM

the only reason they aren't sending screeners out for GoT is fear of pirating/spoilers

pretty safe to assume the President isn't going to upload a torrent of them

nearly every single showrunner/network sends out screeners to critics. the only difference with this is they know it will impossible for this screener to be pirated.

4/15/2016 12:46:53 PM

still special treatment. kickbacks. w/e. like I said, minor deal.

4/15/2016 12:49:31 PM

a kickback for what, exactly?

not really special treatment since they know he won't leak it

he would have gotten a screener either way

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 12:52 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2016 12:51:14 PM

Do you think politicians should be able to receive gifts from organizations? I don't.

4/15/2016 1:02:48 PM

way to be an idiot too

4/15/2016 1:46:31 PM

Feel free to answer the question and explain why I'm wrong.

Obviously it's on a small scale, but it's still a gift to a politician from a company. Where should the line be drawn?

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 1:52 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2016 1:51:03 PM

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42662.pdf

summary:
Although the President, like all other federal officers and employees, is prohibited from receiving
personal gifts from foreign governments and foreign officials without the consent of Congress
(U.S. Const., art. I, §9, cl. 8), the President is generally free to accept unsolicited personal gifts
from the American public. Most of the restrictions on federal officials accepting gifts from
“prohibited sources” (those doing business with, seeking action from, or regulated by one’s
agency) are not applicable to the President of the United States (5 C.F.R. §2635.204(j)), although
the President may not solicit gifts from such sources. The President, in a similar manner as other
federal officials, may also receive unrestricted gifts from relatives and gifts that are given on the
basis of personal friendship. When personal gifts accepted by the President or his immediate
family exceed a certain amount, those gifts are required to be publicly disclosed in financial
disclosure reports filed annually by the President. 5 U.S.C. app., §§101(f)(1), 102(a)(2). The
President remains subject to the bribery and illegal gratuities law which prohibits the receipt of a
gift or of anything of value when that receipt, or the agreement to receive such thing of value, is
connected in some way to the performance (or nonperformance) of an official act.

are you actually worried that this tv show is a gift "in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act"

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 2:48 PM. Reason : because you are retarded if you are worried about that]

4/15/2016 2:44:12 PM

It's legal, sure, but is it moral? Idk. I don't personally agree with it, just like I don't agree with my company accepting sports tickets, which they don't.

Speaking of legality, it would be considered illegal in many states.

4/15/2016 2:46:37 PM

fucking of course its moral, none of these guys are fucking bribing the president with fucking white walkers you nitwit

4/15/2016 2:49:10 PM

That was basically the only point I was trying to make. Minor detail, but come on, really? And if HBO had offered, it would be one thing, but the article made it sound like he asked for it.

And again, why wouldn't a lame duck coast? I'd post the same thing if it were GWB's last year in office.

4/15/2016 2:50:07 PM

^^
How do you know they aren't getting something out of it, even something small? You don't and that's the point. And that's why it's flatly illegal in many progressive states.

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 2:53 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2016 2:53:08 PM

Quote :

"And if HBO had offered, it would be one thing, but the article made it sound like he asked for it."

so?

you gonna get upset over the fact that he eats better meals than we do, too?

4/15/2016 2:56:28 PM

Quote :

"And again, why wouldn't a lame duck coast? I'd post the same thing if it were GWB's last year in office."

because there isn't anything even remotely unethical about this, the only reason its a story is because its an extremely popular show that is about to have a season premiere and its a "the president likes the same stuff as us" story

seriously, how do you never get tired of being such a pawn?

4/15/2016 2:59:07 PM

Pawn for who? At this point, I don't even know if I'm going to vote Republican. That still doesn't change the way I've felt about our current president.

4/15/2016 8:06:32 PM

waaiitt... are people upset about the GoT thing?

wow...

4/15/2016 9:23:28 PM

of course I'm not upset about Obama watching GoT early.

I just don't believe politicians should be able to receive gifts, and many state govts agree.

4/15/2016 9:31:42 PM

it's the fucking president, the head of state, you fucking potato

4/15/2016 9:51:56 PM

your point?

I already told you guys it wasn't a big deal in the scheme of things. You drug yourselves into this petty dispute.

[Edited on April 15, 2016 at 10:10 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2016 10:10:08 PM

4/15/2016 10:32:08 PM

I'm not upset about it, I just think it's silly.

4/15/2016 10:41:39 PM

President Blackenstein getting shit for watching a fucking TV show. God damn he can't win lol.

4/15/2016 11:00:02 PM

i voted for obama you goddamn turdlord

4/15/2016 11:01:10 PM

ffs i'm just saying, where do you personally draw the line? if polaris gave him a jetski and people were like "umm, not sure how i feel about that", would you retort "SO THE PRESIDENT CAN'T EVEN RIDE A JETSKI NOW"?

4/15/2016 11:12:00 PM

the line is already drawn at a quid pro quo, and there should be some reverence attached to the office of the presidency (if only for the purpose of having weight when dealing with other heads of state).

It's dumb to make a zero tolerance policy for "gifts", for anything IMO, but especially for the executive. Just take it on a case-by-case basis, this is a pretty minor thing, and even somewhat endearing since I assume he's doing this for one of his daughters or wife.

4/16/2016 3:17:52 AM

But to me, you can't apply the term "reverence" when you're talking about asking for favors for a tv show.

And ookami, thank you for referring to our president as "blackenstein." You're one of those who thinks every critique of him goes back to him being black.

4/16/2016 8:47:29 AM

dude never asked them for the tv show, they heard he wanted to see the show and gave it to him

you god damn moron

4/16/2016 11:19:08 AM

It's just a perk of the job, having this kind of clout.

Putin's made billions off his gig, and I bet he rubs this in Obama's face, but can Putin get pre-release thrones? I doubt it. USA #1

4/16/2016 11:23:18 AM

thank you for explaining your position like a normal person

4/16/2016 11:33:32 AM

^^^From the article I posted:

Quote :

"Describing the overwhelming success of the show, Weiss said: "I think for both of us -- finding out the President wanted advance copies of the episodes -- that was an 'Aha!' moment.""

Quote :

"The creators of "Game of Thrones" have revealed President Barack Obama received advanced access to the hotly anticipated sixth season because, well, you don't turn down a request from POTUS. "

4/16/2016 1:14:50 PM

finding out he wanted them means that they heard that he wanted to see the show and gave him an advanced copy, which is what i said, it doesn't mean that he asked for them. this was a completely legal and ethical unsolicited gift.

and you are a fucking moron, how do you not get tired of playing into every faux outrage, fake crisis story?

4/16/2016 2:11:19 PM

I wasn't aware that there was outrage, faux or not, regarding this. I also did not realize this was some time of crisis, faux or not.

Did I get sucked into the Ebola crisis? Yup. I admit that. What other crisis, faux or not, have I been sucked into?

4/16/2016 11:34:06 PM

you fell pretty hard for those Planned Parenthood videos

and were against refugees coming to our country

among others

4/22/2016 2:47:21 PM

He pisses HB2

4/22/2016 2:51:45 PM

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

4/27/2016 8:51:20 AM

If he sends 250 troops to syria each month, nobody will notice. #pantsonfire

4/27/2016 12:51:02 PM