NBC foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell called out President Obama's use of "blunt" and "candid" to describe his relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin Friday, saying they were simply code words in diplomacy for "not good" and it was telling that Putin sent a get-well message to former President George W. Bush, saying "there is an American president he gets along with" and it's not Obama:
LESTER HOLT: Our chief foreign affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell was watching with us today. Andrea, as you heard of course, the president talking about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. So where do things stand? He canceled the summit meeting. Are they going to make up now and move forward?
MITCHELL: No, I don't think so. In fact, the Russian foreign minister was having a news conference at the same time as the president. He tried to smooth it over. Frankly, when the president said candid and blunt, those are code words in diplomacy. That means not good. Also, Putin sent a get-well message to George W. Bush emphasizing that there is an American president he gets along with. It's not Barack Obama, And, the president also in describing the slouch, the bored-looking kid, that's not the way you would expect the president to describe another head of state. He also did emphasize he is not going to boycott the Olympics. He said it's really important for these athletes, they've trained, and he said the best message, because of that ban in Russia on homosexuality, is for gay and lesbian athletes to come home with the gold.