Rhetoric of Obama and his Mic

 I will never understand how for the second time Barack Obama has been caught speaking off the record while his mic was still on. The first time was bad enough when he was speaking to French President Nikolas Sarkozy about how hard it was to deal with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How President Obama wiggled his way out of that awkward situation I will never know, but now for the second time he has been caught. This time he was caught talking to current Russia President Medvedev about his future career as President. President Obama was trying to bargain and reassure Medvedev about the new missile defense system, which is great, but it should be left behind doors. This should absolutely not be talked about literally right in front of the spotlight.  I really want to see how President Obama tries to talk his way out of this situation.  

            Immediately after finding out about his mistake, Obama played it off as a necessary part of politics. He tried to say that such bargaining is very crucial to the implementation of international policy. This is absolutely true, but he missed the part where that was not the time or place for that bargaining. Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney attempted to take advantage of the situation by tearing down Obama for making such a mistake. This was a clear move to garner more votes from the far right, but in the end it was to no avail. Mitt Romney overplayed the issue, and in the end he looked like the bad guy. So instead of the media looking at Obama’s mistake, they focused on Mitt Romney’s clear over-step. This seems to be the only way Obama was let off the hook. It was not his own words, as some could argue his answer was merely a generic response, but it was his enemy that took away the spotlight.  Obama was just lucky that Romney over-stepped his boundary, and in the end it will only be Romney’s ethos that will really take a hit.