Just listening to this press conference, I’m really surprised his handlers had him hold this sort of appearance. His statement was a long meandering catalog of his policies — a bit confused, with various defenses, none that great. Just in terms of effective communication, I would have thought they would have had him hit a few basic points — international threats, make tax cuts permanent, etc. But my gut tells me anybody on the fence at this point would not feel reassured or heartened by what the president is saying.
On North Korea, needless to say, he fibbed about the basic issue, elided the key points. We’ll see if the press teases out what he ignored and misstated. He let the Agreed Framework lapse. The excuse is alleged (and probably true) uranium enrichment research, which wouldn’t have come to fruition for many, many years. The result was ramping back plutonium production which has now already created a bomb. The president’s boast is that his failed negotiations have more participants around the table.
Wow.
