Waking the President

“Second, why wake the president at all in this situation? I can’t imagine that an executive decision needed to be made at that moment.”
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Not being snarky but not knowing of a reason doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason. Why not ask?

You probably shouldn’t ‘condemn’ a foreign government until you’ve talked to the boss about it.

I would guess that the unnecessary wake up was to be assured that the unnecessary premature press release was ok.

If I were him, I’d prefer to be roused before the government I run condemns any other governments. Even if it seems obvious to my people at the time.

Get real.

You wake the President so that the second question after “Did you wake the President?” isn’t “Why not? A US ally with whom we have treaty obligations, 30000 troops was just attacked and you didn’t wake the president?”. That would be followed by a 24 hour news cycle of “Obama sleeps through North Korean attack”, and “Obama’s 3 AM phone call: No answer.” And if somebody woke Secretary Clinton….

Substantively, you wake the President because you don’t know what’s going to come after the artillery attack, and it would be prudent that if there needs to be a 4 AM call, the President has had a few extra minutes to think about the situation.

Perhaps in China and Japan they read about it at the breakfast table in their fuzzy slippers over their coffee?
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Are their any other countries concerned about anything else in the world besides bank defaults or is it our job to be the only ones that jump at every loud noise and weigh our response against our very existence (so says pop corp media)? Like, does Brazil care?

What you’re saying makes total sense in retrospect.
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You have the benefit though of knowing that the hostilities stopped after that one hour exchange.
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What if it had escalated and continued? When they woke him up, I am sure they didn’t yet know the end game. Thus they woke him up. Sure, little immediate came of it, but if North Korea had (far fetched as it may be) invaded or launched a missile at Seoul and he was still asleep, you better believe a bunch of people would have been fired.

… although I suppose in China and Japan they were having dinner… or is that late lunch…

And while that response may be obvious, that’s kind of the reasons presidents get elected, isn’t it?
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No one elected Robert Gibbs to decide the response to Korean hostilities. No matter how obvious the decision is on something like that, it’s the President who makes that decision.
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I mean, legally, no one there can choose the response without his approval, can they?

It is everyday that two nations that have been at war with each other for over 50 years shell each other. My why wake the President?
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Get real will you? And I wonder why People like Sarah Palin can think of running for President.
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The state of the Press is at an all time low.

Exactly. Just another example of darned if you and darned if you don’t.

I’d also love to see the Drudge headline and subsequent Swampland posts if the President had been allowed to sleep through hostilities between North and South Korea. I daresay Mr. Crowley would be looking for a Google image of the “My Pet Goat” cover.

Gotta agree with everyone here. There is plenty of reason to wake him when quite possibly Kim Pyong Il-Crazy has decided to twitch with a bite. Politically smart and well, smart “just in case”. If anything is going to blow it will be on Obama’s watch, just because it seems to suck to be him.

I imagine you wake the president because if a war that never officially ended is about to flare up in a region where there are U.S. troops, the POTUS should be up to make a decision about what to do, especially since it was at the time a developing situation.
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Not every response is just press releases. I’m sure there were troop movements as well.

I don’t know, this event seems pretty serious. Are you sure the POTUS did not talk with Lee Myung-bak, or Stephen Bosworth, or the relevant people in our military? He just issued a statement and went back to bed?

Not every response is just press releases.
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But that’s about as far in depth as media analysis goes. Sure, there was a possibility that this might be the beginning of a war; but let’s criticize the process that led to the statement! It’s always politically correct to offer substanceless theater criticism of Democrats’ actions.

those are good points (as are many others that your fellow commenters have made). and maybe this is a case where you do need to wake him. sometimes it seems it’s simply to tell him bad news — a bomb went off, some americans were tragically killed. clearly a fertile topic that i’ll look into more when i’m not also working on a big print story, as i am today.

Not likely. I don’t think most people would really care, or necessarily even expect that he be awakened. After all North Korea does nutty stuff all the time, without quite crossing the line to all-out war. It’s not as though China had shelled Taiwan, which would be a very different ball of wax.

You’re reading too much into my comment Elvis — I really wasn’t trying to zing the White House. I’m interested in the broader historical custom of when and why the president is disturbed.

Folks, you’re raising good points and asking sharp questions. I’ve asked the WH for more detail and will report back if/when I get it.

Come on, it’s the Norks — we condemn them about twice a week!

For this President being awake and being cognizant and coherent are two entirely different things. Yes he is apparently right on top of the situation with DPRk and Iran as well. thank God we have a President who greatest concern is keeping America and its citizens safe and preventing the bad guys from obtaining nuclear weapons.

That’s fair enough, Michael. I was overreading your comments. I apologize for doing that.
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Thanks for wading into the comments to engage with commenters and expand upon your post.

Update: WH says it does not have more specifics to add at the moment. Watch coverage here and elsewhere in the next couple of days to see whether anything emerges.

Upvote for stan.

thank God we have a President who greatest concern is keeping America and its citizens safe and preventing the bad guys from obtaining nuclear weapons

You mean like Bush did? Oh, wait. Bush was a librul.

Something like this would require a White House level condemnation which means the POTUS absolutely has to sign off on it. In fact, it would likely be illegal for anyone to sign off on it for a White House level condemnation without them dropping the level to, say, the State department…which would be inappropriate with shots fired and a body count.

thanks, glad to do it

Waking the President? There are many of us who think the “chosen one” has been afflicted with neurasthenia for the past two years, so why wake him now? All of his promises to unite this country and be responsive to the will of the people, sounded great on the campaign trail and then he promptly forgot them all (neurasthenia?) I think his wake up call came on Nov. 2nd and he found himself saddled with Obamacare, thirteen trillion dollars of debt and growing that debt at over one billion dollars per day, 10% unemployed and Americans extremely unhappy with his administration. Yes, indeed, it was definitely time for that wake up call…but guess what? It just might have come too late.

Medvedev was in his pink slippers.
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I’m sure every single nation in the Six nations talks absolutely had to be awake for this.

Earl, I see you’ve been searching google for old medical terms again (neurasthenia) to “prove” you’re a doctor (ha!). Did you mean this or the moth? Or dysautonomia? Or onomatopoeia? Or supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? You do know that term has been used / disued by APA so there’s no consistency here, right? I presume you’re using Freud’s definition, which included fatigue and farting, no? Or did you check with Dr. George Beard… back in 1869? Where’s patrick when we need him? Just stick to conservative paranoia ranting and leave the medicine to George Clooney and Katherine Heigl, k?

While I trust that Mr. Crowley wouldn’t be looking for My Pet Goat, I think it’s absolutely fair to suggest that others would seek political advantage from a perceived non-response from the President.

But contra Mr. Crowley, an artillery barrage that kills and injures is way beyond “nutty stuff”. An apparently nuclear armed country with whom we’re still in an active state of war attacked a county whom we’re treaty-bound to defend. That’s not “nutty stuff”. That’s the sort of thing that, if mishandled, can lead to World War III.

“All of his promises to unite this country and be responsive to the will of the people, sounded great on the campaign trail and then he promptly forgot them all…
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That’s a lie and almost every liberal on the planet is still trying to figure out why Obama keeps extending a bi-partisan hand to manifest traitors to this country, Republicans who traffic in lying slander of him and fellow Democrats. And your will and the will of your fellow Teatards is not “the will of the people,’ you whining, ego-centric, self-important moron.

Ah, decon, you are SUCH a loser…an embittered old liberal defending her eroding habitat. This terminology is still very much in use, duncestruct and is quite descriptive of Barry. I am sorry that you never amounted to anything in life and I have great empathy for your pathetic existence. Have you collected your entitlement check yet? Have a nice holiday, old bitter one.

Michael Crowley,
While I think your initial skepticism of the importance of waking the President of the United of States when two countries separated by 30,000 American troops begin shelling one another is frighteningly niave, I must say, you redeemed yourself with your engagement here today. Thanks!

Oh my, such unremitting anger. You do do know this is potentially dangerous to your health, don’t you? Is EVERY conservative who dares to question the democrats a traitor, sheperd? Silly me, I thought this was all part of democracy at work. When the MAJORITY are denied a voice, sheperd, this is most certainly ignoring the will of the people. Did the last election cycle not make this point quite clear? People were fed up with the arrogance and refusal to hear their voices. To his credit, Obama, now acknowledges this fact…perhaps you should do the same.

Seeing Dr? earljr1′s remarks made me wonder also, where has Patrick been?

Hey, earl, do you know HIPPA is?

Michael, I think the president needed to be roused for this news. But that’s what I had always thought was a silly about Clinton’s 3am ads–isn’t it usually the secretary of state who is notified about things going on in other countries? But when it involves 30,000 of our troops (or potentially could) yeah, wake the president.

“Is EVERY conservative who dares to question the democrats a traitor, sheperd? Silly me, I thought this was all part of democracy at work.”
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It is very, very important to be scrupulous in who meets the definition of a traitor, please pay attention: they are professional “conservatives,” mostly Republicans, from Rush Limbaugh to Mitch McConnell who use slanderous lies and other deceptions to gin up political opposition to a democratically elected president and government. They truly hold their allegiance not to the country or its populace or its future but to a political tribe and the monied interests to whom they answer, even as they intentionally do harm that country, populace and future for personal political and financial gain. If there’s ever been a more apt use of the word, it’s a rare example.

One more thing. My anger is reserved for real traitorous liars who are taking the country to ruin for fun and profit, yours is wasted on the fevered lies fed to you by professional propagandists. You really don’t want to get into a health exam on this, not a mental heath exam anyway.

Do you mean HIPAA, erie? If so, yes, I am familiar with it.

Well, sheperd, I guess we will have to agree to disagree. What you describe as traitorous, I describe as normal political discourse….something both sides of the aisle practice with equal enthusiasm. From a personal standpoint, I am quite capable of assimilating a great deal of data (quite necessary in my chosen profession) and making my own decisions as to its pertinence. My perspective differs from your own, so be it. The Earth will continue to revolve. Have a nice holiday and be well.

“What you describe as traitorous, I describe as normal political discourse….something both sides of the aisle practice with equal enthusiasm.”
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That’s another self-delusion or right-wing lie, depending upon whether you make up the propaganda or swallow it whole. Democrats and liberals don’t lie like Republicans and “conservatives.” They didn’t need to create an alternative media universe to slander their political opponents and make the public ever-more stupid about the actual observable world around them and then try to obscure that treason with the lie that it’s politics as usual and both sides do it.
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Otherwise, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Based upon the likely result of your recent electoral choices, I think you’ll need it.

This terminology is still very much in use

Really? Wikipedia says otherwise.

However, it is no longer included as a diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Oh wait, wikipedia is a liberal site, right? How about webmd?

The word “neurasthenia” is a term that has fallen into disuse among psychiatrists in the United States and Australia

Or how about this, from answers.com?

No longer in scientific use.

Interesting discussion and thanks for engaging Michael. Several time zones away I have nothiing to add to the other excellent comments, but appreciate the post and look forward to follow ups.

An ally with 30,000 American troops inside is attacked by a nuclear armed country.
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I can’t see any reason why the President should be awakened.
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Are you Serious!!?!

That’s great earl, but usually when somebody asks if I know something like HIPAA, I explain it to them. I certain don’t say stuff like I’m very fimiliar with it and leave it at that.
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Explain please. Afterall, I asked you because you claim to be a doctor.

Your tone seems rather shrill, erie, but I will try to answer your question as best I can. Please understand that we rely on our administrative personnel to decipher and apply these guidelines, so most physicians (myself included) would only have limited knowledge of the actual nuances and application. HIPAA, as I recall, is the health insurance accountability act and it protects people who have lost their job and need a continuation of their health insurance. That is about all I can tell you off the top of my head, without asking our office administrator. Our office is now closed for the holiday until Monday. I, personally, will be covering the ER both Thursday and Friday, for trauma surgery if necessary. We hope and pray for sane drivers and moderate celebrations. Happy Thanksgiving and please stay well.

Waking him was the right thing to do. I would go on but other folks have made the points I would make. Just to mention one: “An ally with 30,000 American troops inside is attacked by a nuclear armed country.”