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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAt White House, jubilant FDR delivers fireside chat on fall of Rome, tonight 1944, while ...
At White House, jubilant FDR delivers fireside chat on fall of Rome, tonight 1944, while concealing secret that D-Day invasion of Europe would unfold within hours:
Link to tweet
ms liberty
(8,580 posts)Tanuki
(14,918 posts)President Obama was cool and funny at the White House Correspondents' Dinner while unbeknownst to the public the fatal assault on Bin Ladin was already underway.
From an account by Ben Rhodes:
https://lithub.com/behind-the-scenes-the-day-osama-bin-laden-was-killed/
..."The drama at the dinner was the presence of Donald Trump. After months of dealing with Trumps invidious birther innuendo, Obama took the unprecedented stepjust a few days earlierof publicly releasing his long-form birth certificate. He was not happy. The decision to release the document had been his alone, made with his personal attorneyhe knew, in ways that perhaps his white staff didnt, that the issue wasnt going to go away otherwise.
When Obama walked to the microphone, all I could think of was how his mind must have been on the men who were preparing to fly deep into Pakistan on his orders, and how the already absurd scene in front of him must have been even more oppressively trivial. But he betrayed no trace of distraction. Reeling the audience in with his unique approach to comedyhed sometimes laugh at jokes he read, as if he was surprised to hear how funny they were when spoken aloudhe slowly worked his way around to Trump: Donald Trump is here tonight! Just saying the words brought laughter and applause. No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And thats because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matterlike, did we fake the moon landing. The whole room seemed to exhale at the chance to laugh about it; it was funny, but in a way, Obama was letting the largely white elite laugh about their failure to contain the birtherism in our politics. Some of their networks, after all, had given Trump a platform to peddle racist lies, and few Republicans condemned it. We all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For exampleno, seriously, just recently in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice at the steakhouse, the mens cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didnt blame Lil Jon or Meat Loaf. You fired Gary Busey. The room exploded in laughter."...(more)