It appears that President Obama and his administration are enduring an unprecedented level of disrespect, both from his enemies and also from at least one former staff member who was supposed to be on his side.
Obama’s Chicago buddy, Sen. Dick Durbin, recently shared an anecdote about a White House encounter the president had with a member of the Republican opposition.
According to Durbin, a Republican leader of the House – whom Durbin refused to name – told Obama, “I cannot even stand to look at you.”
“Many Republicans searching for something to say in defense of the disastrous shutdown strategy will say President Obama just doesn’t try hard enough to communicate with Republicans,” Durbin said in a Facebook post. “But in a ‘negotiation’ meeting with the president, one GOP House Leader told the president: ‘I cannot even stand to look at you.’”
“What are the chances of an honest conversation with someone who has just said something so disrespectful?” Durbin added.
But according to The Hill, an aide to Rep. John Boehner denies any knowledge of this exchange taking place, which apparently is meant to suggest that Durbin’s “GOP House Leader” was not House Speaker Boehner.
Speaking of social media, it has been revealed that the White House fired a top White House national security aide, Jofi Joseph, for secretly going on Twitter to insult other Obama administration officials and politicians from both major parties—and also to question the policies he had a hand in developing.
Joseph apparently envisioned himself as some kind of secret chronicler of inside gossip. This is the way he described himself on Twitter, where he went by the name @natsecwonk: “Unapologetically says what everyone else only thinks. A keen observer of the foreign policy and national security scene. I’m abrasive and bring the snark.”
But that snark has cost Joseph his job.
The Daily Beast first broke the story last night, revealing the true identity of @natsecwonk, who has been at it the past two years.
“During his time tweeting under the @natsecwonk name, Joseph openly criticized the policies of his White House bosses and often insulted their intellect and appearance,” the Daily Beast wrote. “At different times, he insulted or criticized several top White House and State Department officials, including former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, Secretary of State John Kerry, and many many others.”
Politico reported that Joseph had been fired last week from his job on the NSC nuclear non-proliferation team after a months-long probe into the tweets, which were also critical of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Joseph apologized in an email to Politico.
“What started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments,” he wrote. “I bear complete responsibility for this affair and I sincerely apologize to everyone I insulted.”
Though @natsecwonk has been taken down, you can still read some of Joseph’s tweets here.
