LF: Showboating Obama brushes off Reagan funeral snub criticism to congratulate himself on steering America away from GREAT DEPRESSION during SXSW festival talk

Title: Showboating Obama brushes off Reagan funeral snub criticism to congratulate himself on steering America away from GREAT DEPRESSION during SXSW festival talk
Source: Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... ad-Nancy-Reagan-s-funeral.html
Published: Mar 11, 2016
Author: Kalhan Rosenblatt For Dailymail.com and
Post Date: 2016-03-11 20:12:54 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 880
Comments: 1

An ebullient Barack Obama sure sounded pleased with himself at SXSW festival on Friday – despite enduring a week of criticism for prioritizing the event over Nancy Reagan’s funeral.

The President was the surprise keynote speaker at this year's Austin festival and talked about civic engagement with the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune.

During the speech he bragged about keeping employment below five per cent and congratulated himself for the recent improvement in the country's job figures.

'Because of me we avoided a great depression. Thanks, Obama,' he joked to roaring laughter.

Obama arrived about 30 minutes late after making a pit stop at Torchy's Tacos, where he ordered a beef barbacoa Democrat taco, a grilled jalapeno sausage Republican taco and an vegetarian portabella mushroom Independent taco.

'I wanted to give all people a proper hearing,' Obama said jokingly to the crowd.

He explained to the crowd how he hoped his visit would initiate a collaboration between government and technologically-minded people.

'We are at a moment in history where our technology and economy is changing so fast and this gathering brings together people who are at the cutting edge of those changes.

'Changes offer opportunities but can also be disruptive. They empower individuals to do things they've never dreamed of before but do things that are very dangerous.

Secret service waits for the president outside Torchy's Tacos after the president tried a Democrat, Republican and Independent taco

President Barack Obama places his taco order with Aaron Sego (right) during an unannounced stop at Torchy's Tacos in Austin, Texas, prior to his keynote speech at South by Southwest

Obama reaches over the counter to greet employees at Torchy's Tacos in Austin, Texas before heading to the festival

Obama greeted supporters at the unplanned taco stop in Austin, Texas, prior to his South by Southwest appearance

'Part of my challenge as president is find ways in which our government can be a part of the change taking place,' Obama said.

He explained how he hoped the brightest minds in the technological world could help the government with tasks such as defeating ISIL and making voting in the U.S. more simple.

He recalled the embarrassing moment the Affordable Care Act website crashed and blamed his own unsubstantiated 'tech-savvy' approach on its failure.

'I was the cool early adapter president and my campaign being premised on cool technology.

'Well here's what happened. The procurement system was adapted to buy boots or furniture rather than software.

'What happened was we had to bring in a SWAT team of all my friends from Silicon Valley and Austin to fix it, which we did in three to four months time.

'We realized we could build a world class tech office inside the government that was helping across agencies.

'It's called the U.S. Digital Service and made of top talents from Google, Facebook and top tech companies,' Obama said.

When an audience member asked Obama about the Apple encryption case, he refused to discuss it, but offered his views on encryption in general.

President Barack Obama skipped Nancy Reagan's funeral on Friday to fly to Austin, Texas, for the South by Southwest festival

Everyone wanted a hand shake on Friday as people in the restaurant snapped pictures of the commander-in-chief

Obama shook hands and paid for his tacos in cash while speaking with locals at the restaurant

'There are reasons we don't want government getting into smart phones with personal data.

'The whole Snowden disclosure elevated people's suspicions and so does pop culture.

'I will say by the way that the Snowden issue vastly overstated the dangers to U.S. citizens about spying because our intelligence agencies are pretty scrupulous about people on U.S. soil.

Obama said the focus was more on people who are overseas.

'I understand that raised suspicious.

'We have to ask if it is possible to make an impenetrable device with encryption so strong there's no door, how do we apprehend the child pornographer?

'How do we solve or disrupt terrorist plots? What mechanisms do we have available to do simple things like tax enforcement?

'There has to be some consensus to get into that information somehow.

'We don't want the government looking at people's phones willy-nilly.

'But the dangers are real so I would caution against taking an absolutist approach to this,' he said.

As the time ran out Evan Smith thanked the president for speaking.

'Well, I'm sorry Mr. president, but we're out of time,' Smith said.

'Well, I'm the president, so I'm going to take one more minute,' Obama responded.

His appearance marks the first time a president has spoken at the event, but it also happens to coincide with the day of former first lady Nancy Reagan's funeral.

Obama will be giving a keynote speech on Friday afternoon at South by Southwest, making him the first president ever to speak at the event

Obama's visit is being advertised with this blue flyer depicting the president in a cowboy hat with a star-spangled state of Texas behind him

Obama has come under heavy criticism for attending the event on the same day as Nancy Reagan's funeral

However, most sitting presidents do not attend the funerals of former first ladies. Obama also missed Betty Ford's funeral in 2011

Sitting presidents aren't typically obliged to attend the funerals of former first ladies - instead it is considered a duty for serving first ladies.

First lady Michelle Obama was, therefore, at Mrs Reagan's funeral.

This is not the first time Obama has missed a first lady's funeral, nor is it the first time a president in recent memory has been absent.

The Clintons did not attend the funeral of Pat Nixon in 1993. In 2007, President George W. Bush did not attend the funeral of Lady Bird Johnson, though he had no scheduled events that day.

And in 2011, Obama did not attend the funeral of former first lady Betty Ford.

Obama waved to a crowd at the White House as he boarded Marine One, which took him to Air Force One for a quick stop in Maryland before heading to the SXSW.

On Twitter some have called his speech the 'State of the Taco', in reference to the president enjoying local Texan foods.

At the first day of the festival, SXSW Interactive, attendees found fully-decked out stormtroopers, who looked fresh off the set of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'.

Attendees are discovering some of the latest technologies shaping society. Apps like Twitter were debuted at SXSW in 2007 and Foursquare in 2009.

And this year, along with the president, a host of celebrities, tech founders and film directors will attend.

'It's an interesting place to see what types of things are bubbling up in technology.

'It has this mixture or collision of technology and entertainment.

'When different types of minds and people are connecting together, new ideas come out,' said Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt, a service for people to rate new tech products.

The nerds awaken! Storm troopers descend on South by Southwest on Friday as 'Spring Break for Nerds' begins. The event mixes music, film and technology for a five-day festival in Austin, Texas

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' director J.J. Abrams will debut a new app for video editing and sharing

J.J. Abrams will be joined by 'The Jinx' director Andrew Jarecki to show off the new app called 'KnowMe'

The day before South by Southwest is the South by Southwest Interactive, which touts new tech developments from across the globe

Obama's keynote speech is a testament to the festival's growth over the years.

Sponsors now include McDonald's and Samsung, but the event still draws an eclectic crowd of movers and shakers in the tech industry each year.

This year's sessions include one on a futuristic transportation system, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, which aims to move people in a capsule inside an enclosed tube track at 760 miles per hour — faster than commercial airliners.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone will discuss the evolution of online search, while 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' director J.J. Abrams and 'The Jinx' director Andrew Jarecki will tout Jarecki's new app for video editing and sharing, KnowMe.

Ethan Kurzweil, a Bessemer venture capitalist who has attended the festival for eight years, said that while South by Southwest Interactive is no longer the little-known yet influential festival it once was, 'you can still hear people talking about the very-bleeding-edge consumer tech trends'.

South by Southwest Interactive is part of the larger SXSW festival, which also features sections for movies, music and games over 10 days.

People line up inside the Austin Convention Center to get registered on the first day of South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, which offers unique convergence of new music, independent films, and emerging technologies

People look at merchandise for South by Southwest Festival during the first day of the event in Austin

JJ Castillo (left) Vanessa Cottingham (center) and Pamela Ledbetter (right) wave at a Koceto Jo prototype 360-degree view video camera during the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas

The interactive conference drew 33,825 registrants from more than 80 countries last year; the combined festival had about 80,000.

Organizers drew criticism several months ago when, faced with threats, they canceled two panels on harassment in online video games.

In response, the festival will hold a daylong 'online harassment summit' on Saturday, with a slate of panels examining the problem of online harassment.

Last year there were 2,266 showcasing artists, 233 panels, workshops and sessions and 107 venues and stages

People braved the rain to attend the first day of the five-day festival on Friday at the Austin Convention Center

Along with the Interactive, festival-goers will be able to sample new musical artists and independent films

Another hot topic will be the U.S. government's demands that Apple create a software program to bypass security features in an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino mass shooters.

One panel will focus on ways to improve the relationship between the government and the tech industry, while preserving privacy and security.

And virtual reality will continue to garner buzz, particularly as many systems such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony Playstation VR are expected to hit the market this year.

Some sessions will be part of the SXSW gaming festival, which runs March 17 to 19. But the interactive festival will have such panels as 'Holy light field! Creating lifelike presence in VR'.

And Samsung will show off VR chairs that offer motion simulation as people wear Samsung's $100 VR headset, Gear VR.

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