The winner for the best line of the day concerning President Obama's Rose Garden press conference Monday goes to National Review's Jonah Goldberg.
Appearing on Fox News's Special Report, Goldberg said Obama looked like Chauncey Gardner promoting "the worst IT disaster in American history" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BRET BAIER, HOST: Jonah, what about today's speech in the Rose Garden and your take on kind of the president and what he was trying to do and what he did.
JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW: Yeah, I thought it was a very strange decision to have essentially a campaign rally-style event for what has long ago already become the worst IT disaster in American history. I mean, that's a settled issue that even the defenders agree with now. And the sort of applause line stuff with the human props - half of whom either haven't even enrolled yet or just enrolled yesterday - and the almost Chauncey Gardner-esque sort of, “The product is good, the insurance is good” repetition. All of it was a very strange decision, and I think at the end of the day might come back to haunt him if these problems continue. And I think every technical guy you talk to says these problems are going to continue.
For those missing the reference, Chauncey Gardner was the lead character in the fabulous 1979 film "Being There."
Played by the late Peter Sellers, Gardner was a mentally handicapped man with the intellectual capacity of a first grader who through bizarre luck befriends a wealthy supporter of the president and eventually counsels the chief executive thereby becoming a household name.
As such, it was a truly marvelous reference by Goldberg.
Bravo, Jonah! Bravo!
