Scarborough Asking If Obama Looks Engaged Leaves Mika Mute

November 16th, 2015 2:37 PM

Silence spoke powerfully today on Morning Joe. After a clip rolled of a listless President Obama speaking about the Paris attacks, Joe Scarborough asked Mika Brzezinski what amounted to a rhetorical question: "does he look like he is engaged and understands the level of threat?"

When after a few seconds Mika failed to reply, Scarborough tried rephrasing the question, but still elicited no response. Her silence was so telling, so excruciating, that Mike Barnicle--ever the good sycophant--piped up to slavishly assert "I think he looks fully engaged."

MIKA BRZEZINSKI:  Right now President Obama is in Turkey for the G-20 summit and in the wake of the Paris attacks he and other world leaders are vowing to increase the pressure on ISIS. 

BARACK OBAMA: The skies have been darkened by the horrific attacks that took place in Paris. As was true with the terrible attacks that took place in Ankara -- the killing of innocent people based on a twisted ideology is an attack not just on France, not just on Turkey, but it's an attack on the civilized world. 

JOE SCARBOROUGH: I want to ask you, come on, our show is still our show. We just have to, let's be honest about it. Did that Commander-in-Chief, sitting in a G-20 summit while Western civilization is coming to terms with what their new reality looks like, does he look like he is engaged and understands the level of threat? 

MIKA: [silence]

JOE SCARBOROUGH: If you were a Frenchman or a French woman would you be reassured by what you've been hearing from this president today and over the weekend? 

MIKA: [More silence.]

MIKE BARNICLE: I think he looks fully engaged. 

JOE: Mika? 

MIKA: Umm, I think at some point the optics of it need to match the magnitude of what has happened. 

JOE: What's that mean? 
 
MIKA: Meaning, this is as bad as it gets since 9/11 and there's going to need to be a multi-pronged fight against ISIS and also we're going to have to talk about the migrant crisis at some point because that's going to raise a whole bunch of issues.