Obama Thinks Weiner Will 'Bounce Back'
[There was a video here]
President Obama, who earlier in the week said that he would resign if he were then-Congressman Anthony Weiner, was a little bit kinder toward the now-unemployed junk-Tweeter in a new interview. He thinks Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin will "bounce back"!
Yes, he used the carefully-chosen phrase "bounce back," not "rise again" or "come together" or something that would have made for a better, more immature headline. Obama was speaking with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America when she asked about the scandal:
"I wish Rep. Weiner and his lovely wife well," Obama said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts to air on "Good Morning America" Friday. "Obviously, it's been a tough incident for him, but I'm confident that they'll refocus and he'll refocus, and they'll end up being able to bounce back."
The couple is apparently refocusing in the Hamptons right now. Weiner and Abedin, according to the New York Post, were spotting shopping in a grocery store in Manorville, Long Island just a few hours after the final press conference; Abedin was apparently "all smiles," while Weiner "was singing along" to the doo-wop playing in the store. (The pair bought "chicken, lettuce and other produce," in case you're wondering.)
But Weiner only brought a weekend bag, and come Monday he'll have to do the refocusing Obama talked about—though it's unclear on what, exactly. The lifetime politician and political operator is currently unemployed, and since he's not wealthy, and (as Ben Smith points out) not exactly well-liked enough to go into lobbying, he'll be looking for a job. (Cable news? Underwear model?) He's certainly not going to get one from the Clintons, according to this Politico article:
The Clintons, the sources said, and their extended world, are furious and want no contact with Weiner. But they are deeply supportive and protective of Abedin, whom Clinton called a "second" daughter when he officiated her wedding.
"They are livid," said one source affiliated with Hillary Clinton.
His district, New York's 9th, currently unrepresented in the House of Representatives, will vote in a special election sometime in the fall to choose a replacement—who will likely spend around a year in Congress before stepping down when the ninth is divided up during redistricting.
