Research

Even though today’s health care summit was advertised as an opportunity for bipartisanship, President Obama made it clear that he had no interest in listening to Republican ideas. As CBS Radio’s White House Correspondent Mark Knoller tweeted:  

@markknoller: Obama listening with his head resting on this hand...wipes his eyes as if weary. Looks down at the table, not at Boehner.

As bad as his body language was, that’s not all. President Obama himself spoke longer than all of the Republicans combined. 119 minutes for Obama, 110 for all Republicans, and 114 minutes for all other Democrats. He was able to talk so much because he kept cutting people off, interjecting himself into everyone’s time. As Politico’s Chris Frates note

Whenever a Republican makes a point, Obama fields the follow up explanation or rebuttal, leaving congressional Democrats largely on the sidelines speaking when spoken to.

We put together the best examples of Obama cutting off Republicans and looking disinterested when they were talking into a video Research Briefing, “Interrupter in Chief”: