Meet the Press
President Obama, who was widely blasted for gleefully playing golf just hours after delivering a touch speech about the beheading of American journalist James Foley admitted Sunday that he 'should've anticipated the optics' of his ill-fated decision to mix work and play.
Obama, who was on vacation on Martha's Vineyard in late August when the gruesome video emerged of ISIS militants savagely beheading Foley, promised a relentless hunt for the late journalist's killers, and just a short time later was spotted smiling and teeing off at a nearby
Steven Senne/AP
golf course.
'It's always a challenge when you're supposed to be on vacation. Because you're followed everywhere. And part of what I'd love is a vacation from the press,' Obama said Sunday during a taped interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'But there's no doubt that after having talked to the families, where it was hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going through, after the statement that I made, that you know, I should've anticipated the optics.'
REUTERS TV/Reuters
'Part of this job is also the theater of it,' he added. 'A part of it is, you know, how are you, how, how are you, well, it's not something that always comes naturally to me. But it matters. And I'm mindful of that.'
Over the course of the long-ranging interview, Obama went on to explain that his administration is working to craft a military plan to combat the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
He announced plans to deliver a key speech Wednesday - one day before the 13th anniversary of 9/11 - in which he would detail what 'our game plan is going to be going forward' to fight ISIS.
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, September 7, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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