Executive Failure to Communicate

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Grapevine: Executive Failure to Communicate

Obama stumbles during speech

And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...

Failure to Communicate

President Obama has had a little trouble getting some of his points across lately. The L.A. Times noted that he stumbled through a line of his speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Saturday, when he was supposed to be talking about billionaires who, the president said, have the same tax rate as a janitor.

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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew -- uh, as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor.

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The president also repeated a now familiar gaffe last Thursday.

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OBAMA: When Abraham Lincoln helped to build the Interstate -- uh, or the Intercontinental Railroad in the middle of the Civil War.

OBAMA: We're the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad; the Interstate Highway System.

An intercontinental railroad would travel between continents. The actual title was the Transcontinental Railroad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Bush League

President Obama is losing ground on his predecessor in recent opinion polls.

Gallup asked people if they think President Obama has been a better president, about the same, or worse than George W. Bush. 43 percent said better; 22 percent said the same; 34 percent said worse.

Among independent voters, a group critical to his re-election hopes the numbers are even more dismal for President Obama. Just 33 percent said he's better than President Bush; 29 percent said about the same; 38 percent said worse.

Too Hot for TV

And a group that says it is unimpressed with the Republican presidential candidates, currently, is pushing former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson to put in a bid for the Republican nomination.

The group says, Simpson is a man who could get things done. The campaign video shows the 80-year-old Simpson being tough but maybe too tough for TV. We added the bleeps.

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The group does clarify at the end of the video, that Alan Simpson did not approve this message.