President Obama, trembling under the weight of those pesky “constraints of governing,” hasn’t exactly expressed much interest in prepping for tomorrow night’s presidential debate. In fact, just yesterday, he was whining about having to stay inside to do his debate homework. A drag, indeed. Evidently, the all work and no play got to be too much for the dull boy, and he took a field trip to the Hoover Dam.
Pres Obama (center) admires the engineering feat that is the Hoover Dam. (TV POOL photo by Devin Dwyer/ABC News) pic.twitter.com/wECdAL7n
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 2, 2012
"Its spectacular and I've never seen it before," Pres Obama tells reporters about his visit to the Hoover Dam.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 2, 2012
Pres Obama said an aide told him they were only 15 minutes away from Hoover Dam "and I said well we've got to go check it out."
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 2, 2012
Pres Obama was surprised to learn that most of the power generated at Hoover Dam goes to southern California & not to Las Vegas.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 2, 2012
Obama's questions on 1st visit to Hoover Dam: Where does the power go? How long did it take to build? How many people were killed building?
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) October 2, 2012
During his visit, President Obama made it pretty clear that he did not want to discuss the debate:
But when reporters started asking about his debate preps, Pres Obama ended the chat and turned away.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 2, 2012
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Leading some to express concern that his priorities aren’t where they should be:
I love the Hoover Dam, but what is Obama doing sightseeing the day before the debate?
— Molly Ball (@mollyesque) October 2, 2012
https://twitter.com/GrahamDavidA/status/253250530195935232
Conveying a sense of "I got this," presumably. MT @mollyesque: Love the Hoover Dam, but what is Obama doing sightseeing day before debate?
— Mr. Media Training (@MrMediaTraining) October 2, 2012
Some people also remarked on the similarity between today’s photo op and an MSNBC ad featuring Rachel Maddow at Hoover Dam:
Obama going to Hoover Dam today. Perhaps he's filming a commercial there for MSNBC.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 2, 2012
"Obama, day bef crucial debate, takes break frm debate prep, for visit at Hoover Dam." Did he film a cheesy "Lean Forward" MessNBC ad there?
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 2, 2012
Obama went to the Hoover dam to remind people of the @Maddow Hoover Dam ad's message earlier. Maybe?
— @KnorthernKnight (@KnorthernKnight) October 2, 2012
https://twitter.com/kombiz/status/253240256088924160
RT I see Obama and I hear @Maddow “@BuzzFeedAndrew: Obama at the Hoover Dam. via Reuters http://t.co/1z2eAZOY”
— Kristi ? (@KristiIA) October 2, 2012
https://twitter.com/AlexJArmstrong/status/253241971060113410
It definitely does look familiar …
Given the president’s reluctance to even acknowledge tomorrow’s debate, it’s entirely possible that he’d rather be leaning forward than brushing up on his debating skills.