Rocky Seas for Team Obama
After weeks of smooth sailing and cooing press coverage, the Obama team has been buffeted by a round of troubles, goofs and harsh reaction, much of that coming from Obama’s own party. Politico reviewed the wreckage:
- Obama ended his troubled search for CIA director by naming Leon Panetta. The immediate response: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) fired off a statement of disapproval, giving a negative tilt to most coverage of the pick.
- Obama floated his plan to name TV star Dr. Sanjay Gupta as surgeon general. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers didn’t even wait for the official announcement before leading a public campaign to kill the nomination. Gupta “lacks the relevant experience,” Conyers wrote to colleagues.
- As Obama makes plans to roll out a sweeping economic plan, Majority Leader Harry Reid gave interviews with Politico and The Hill newspaper and made clear he won’t take marching orders from Obama. “I don’t work for” Obama, he told us.
- Even before Obama’s plan was formally unveiled, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made plain her displeasure with parts of Obama’s emerging fiscal plan, which she believes does not move fast enough to raise taxes. “I couldn’t be more clear,” she said Thursday at her weekly news conference. “Put me down as one in favor of repeal [of the Bush tax cuts] as soon as possible.”
- Finally, once the package was unveiled, Obama’s adviser got a frosty response to some provisions from Senate Democrats, who were kind enough to go public with their concerns. “I just don’t think it works. I don’t think that’s going to give much lift to the economy, as well intended as it is,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, told Politico’s David Rogers.
And that list didn’t include the hasty retreat on Roland Burris or the embarrassing Bill Richardson withdrawal. Beltway media dean David Broder declares that the president-elect has taken a “drubbing” from these incidents. Broder finds that “after a near-perfect month of transition operations, Obama has stumbled twice in two weeks, first being caught unaware by the investigation of Bill Richardson, his choice for commerce secretary, and then being outmaneuvered by Burris and his tawdry sponsor, Gov. Rod Blagojevich.”
It seems that the transition from campaigning to governing may not be as easy as Obama and his media fan club imagined. And things will only get tougher. There are two main challenges on the immediate horizon — either one of which can bring what is left of the honeymoon to an abrupt end.
Hold on
Next week, the Senate will hold the confirmation hearing of attorney general nominee Eric Holder. This is shaping up to be one contentious outing as Sen. Arlen Specter and other Republicans prepare to delve into Holder’s involvement with the Marc Rich and Puerto Rican terrorist pardons and the Elian Gonzales affair. It’s not his legal views which are most at issue, but his character. And if Democrats and Republicans alike get the sense that Holder has played fast and loose with Justice Department guidelines, ethical standard and even with their colleagues (in his testimony during the 2001 Congressional probe of the Rich pardon, for example) Holder may have a sticky time getting out of the Senate Judiciary Committee (which may have a 9-9 split between the parties).
If we followed what the conservative blogs told us, this is not supposed to happen. As the president and the congress are one and same. Remember that line during the campaign about and opposition-less government. Turns out that that was all hogwash.
Obama has been stumbling from the start; his appointments for foreign policy, defense, and the economy are all status quo technocrats in a time needing daring and innovation (except for Hillary, of course, who is there only because her husband was once president) with only activists/reformers in the usual social welfare slots. The blogosphere started asking questions about Eric Holder as soon as he was nominated and Richardson’s problems were known four or five weeks ago. It’s typical of the media that only now they’re beginning to notice, largely because of the mishandling of the whole Blagojevich mess.
Needless to say, a more experienced pol would have either known how to handle all this or would not made some of the moves (Richardson, perhaps) in the first place. After being saved by the swoon in the market (McCain was actually looking good electorally in mid-September), Barack & Co. have been looking the way they did during the summer break, like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.
Supporting terrorist-pardoner Eric Holder after throwing William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright under his bus is called “rehabilitation” for Barack Obama.
Obama ran for President – and won – on the meaningless platforms of “change” and “hope”. He won because he put on fabulous performances on stage (when scripted) and his competitor sucked. His victory is a very telling, very sad statement about the (lack of) intelligence of the American electorate. Barack Obama was elected by voters who consider American Idol more important than the fall of Musharraf in Pakistan. Barack Hussein won American Idol.
Americans, those with IQs over 6 anyways, will realize that the dreams of change and hope are on a collision course with the realities of the economy, wars, and the Islamic terrorist threat to our very way of life. We will wake up from this stupor by the force of events.
It will be painful.
It’s like stopping your car for a dog that keeps chasing and barking at it; Now that you’ve got it, what are you going to do with it?
Bambi’s guiding campaigning principle was, “If you don’t know what you’re doing, double your speed and no one will notice.”
Guess that’s not working any more.
Whoops.
Obama and his family of conspirators are bad for the environment; Look at the footprint they are already leaving; And with such a stinky foot, too.
This is largely wishful thinking I’m afraid. These so called controversies were either non events or utterly trivial. Either way they are of no interest to the mass of the country in a week during which we lost another half million jobs giving us the worst year since 1945 and the middle east is in flames. I’m afraid if this is the best conservatives can come up with all they are doing is reinforcing a reputation for pettiness and triviality. Quite honestly if you want a sense of just how detached from reality the GOP is today just read some of this anti Obama stuff. It’s mind bogglingly childish.
“So reality is setting in: governing is much harder than campaigning, and President-elect Obama is not the infallible figure the media has made him out to be. In Washington there are dozens of ways to get knocked off course, especially when the captain of the ship lacks prior executive experience but has no shortage of bravado.”
Hahahaha
Remember the old saying
Be careful of what you wish for because you just may get it !
Obama Hussein and the rest of his buddies are going to go down in a HUGE ball of flames
He has never governed or managed anything in his life
Ideas and good intentions will not run this country or a taco stand for that matter.
We are soooo screwed
The Blagoyevich-Burris affair should tell us all we need to know about Obama. Blagoyevich showed absoulte contempt for Obama by sending Burris up for the appointment to fill the seat left by our esteemed President-elect. It is an indicator of what Obama’s status in the Daley machine really was, i.e., a back bench ward-healer. Obama is the empty suit his opponents in both parties have claimed him to be.
Say what you want about Sarah Palin but as Governor she knows how to use executive power to styme her opponents as Troopergate has abtly demonstrated. It is a lot easier for an inexperienced in national affairs governor to learn the issues are then it is for an inexperienced half term Senator to learn how to effectively use executive power. Welcome to the world of divided government where the Pelosi-Reid team will destroy the economy while their opponent President Barak Obama will by his cluelessness destroy western security and international stability.
During the Dems. primaries, as a canadian watching from afar, I’ve said that my American friends would regret if they ended up electing Obama as President. I’ve alsways said that Hillary Clinton was much better qualified to be the President. Looks more and more that I’m right, but that’s no consolation as I certainly would like to see my american friends do well instead.
Cheers!!!
… all these, and Obama’s awkward silence on the Gaza matter…
This is not a surprise. Those of us with intelligence knew that things like this were coming. In fact, this is just the beginning of four disastrous years! Obama’s administration will be the best thing that ever happened to the Republican Party (except for the Carter debacle). Obama is a snake-oil salesman. Unfortunately for him, not everyone is a sucker.
But have more hope, as we will have a first mother in law living at the taxpayers expense in the White House with the Presidents family. Another mouth to feed & medical expense to pay for her. What more hope can we ask for?
Obama is in over his head. If Obama’s past is any indication, he will be an absentee president. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/o000167/votes/
He will rely more heavily on his cabinet than past presidents – whatever they say, he will do. Without a script, Obama can’t be specific. Will he be a push over when meeting foreign dignitaries? Probably. I wish nothing but the best for Obama, but I remain very skeptical. Our country needs a strong leader, and we need to unite behind our president. Thank God for checks and balances. At least there are still a few thinking Dems in Congress – very few.
Will Mitt Romney be our next president?
I have been ruminating on the possibility that the United States is in transition from republican government to oligarchic rule. If this turns out to be the case, then Mr. Obama will simply be one player within the ruling clique. It also means that the two party system will become increasingly meaningless. Does that sound like a kook conspiracy theory? Maybe.
Nevertheless, it should be clear by now that the Republicans have given up any pretense that they represent limited government and fiscal responsibility. They have become merely a faction within the oligarchy. It should be noted that the looting going on right now, like a page out of Atlas Shrugged, was begun under a Republican administration and will continue under a Democratic regime. The salient feature of any oligarchy is the continual accrual of power and wealth to the ruling few.
Who are the members of this new oligarchy? In generic terms it means our political class combined with anyone who has purchased the necessary access. Henceforth, government’s function will be the redistribution of national wealth with the interests of the oligarchs coming first. Do I still sound like a kook?
Consider how Europe has just made the transition from elected national governments to an un-elected transnational body. Europe’s ruling elites have completed the process. Elections only give the illusion that the body politic has power. As I watch the squabbling going on over who will be appointed to vacant seats in the U.S. Senate, I am reminded that the Roman Senate was reserved for powerful families. The obvious voter fraud in the last election (not to mention the recount in Minnesota) only confirms that the ruling class intends to maintain power by any means possible.
If republicanism is only a transition from popular elected government to oligarchy, then we are witnessing the culmination of an historical trend. Mr. Obama’s role is to be the public face of the new ruling elite. This does not mean he is powerless, far from it, but it does mean that the oligarchy will do everything possible to pervert his initiatives toward protecting their own vested interests.
Conspiracy? Actually, no. I don’t think our ruling elites have the self-awareness to understand their own motivations. Nor the consequences of their actions. Power doesn’t just corrupt, it perverts. There will be dark days ahead.
Obama’s been “misunderestimated” before. Remember when he was the stuttering elitist that wasn’t tough enough to win?
Barack HUSSEIN Obama was voted in. To say that McCain sucks just confirms what we know already Republicans have put America in a sh*t hole because he was the best they could come out with.
Dear Ms. Rubin,
As a Democrat, I have to say that I am very encouraged by your editorial. You see, for months and months you have been pooh-poohing Obama and trying to convince people that McCain would turn things around. Considering what happened in November, I would say you have a very good crystal ball for showing what ISN’T going to happen.
I’m very concerned about another issue, Chicago connected.The income that politicians earn from bribes will drop, not in the aggregate but for individuals. The Washington lawyer with bundles of client cash who is looking for someone with influence to sell now has so many options, especially, at the highest levels. He has Biden’s son, Daschle’s wife, the union guys, the Chicago guys, Dodd, Rangel’s fund and so on. Prices will have to drop as even more Obama appointees enter the market.
Bull crap.
That’s what this supposed batch of disagreements within the dhimmicrat party is. They are following a script that they all have.
Afterwards all of the congress donks can claim to have been really hard on Zero and The Null can claim to have tried to work with congress while he rules by executive order
Its all kabuyki theather
We are in for the most corrupt epoch in U.S. history. We have the Chicago way taking over the White House, and if you don’t know what the Chicago way is Gov Blagojevich has kindly demonstrated it for us. And its no wonder that “The Chicago Way” has selected a man to be the A.G. of the U.S. who enabled the most contemptible and corrupt pardon in U.S. history. The Chicago way requires a Fox to guard the Hen House. And if you think Congress will keep us safe…..take a look at Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Reid just did his best to thwart the rule of law with the Burris appt and apparently is on tape with Blagojevich making it clear he didn’t want any African Americans selected for Obama’s open Senate seat. The term Banana Republic became a way of describing corrupt Latin American Governments…well as of Jan 20 welcome to the Banana Republic of the United States of America!
All good posts, in am inline with david, jerryofva, jd, and especially perry here. as for i luv darkies and jack carlson, i hope you are correct, but, i fear should all these big o checks start flowing and health care becomes a reality that’s a hellofva lot votes bought we may not be able to jump over. we’ll see.
Gupta “lacks the relevant experience,” Conyers wrote to colleagues.
bahahahaha ah-hahahahaha HAHAHA.
NOW they suddenly become concerned about “experience” (or the lack thereof).
but to give obama a chance, he is ultimately responsible for the unseating of blagojevich. had he not been elected, things would likely this moment be contemptuous business as usual in good ol’ I-L.
Oh come on, you can’t have it both ways.
In November you were lamenting there would be a triumvirate, now you’re using the opposition he gets from democrats as a bad thing?
This is gonna be fun to watch. Kind of like the Britney Spears flame out, but with bigger consequences….
“Obama’s been “misunderestimated” before. Remember when he was the stuttering elitist that wasn’t tough enough to win?”
True, true. But now the stuttering idiot has won. The question now is: Is he actually capable of leading? Thus far, it looks like a resounding “No.”
We’ve got the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st Century set to lead the United States. Hooray?
Mohammed: McCain wasn’t the best the republicans could come up with because they didn’t pick him. The MSM picked him.
All critics bear in mind that there are honest and well meaning differances about the best way to grow out of this economic mess that is actually not peculiar to us but is world wide. That is why finger pointing is useless. Because of these informed differences in theory, we will need much discussion and must resist Obama’s urgent plea to move NOW.
Excellent article. The next few months will be interesting to watch, but not for lovers of America who are faint of heart.
John, how can you say repubs. have a reputation for pettiness and triviality, when dems. were focused mostly on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe. Get real man!
What happens really doesn’t matter; what the non-political-savvy electorate perceives as happening is the real “reality”
Though the conservative blogoshpere is maturing at much faster than its counterpart, it is still just preaching to the choir. This is much more than a battle of ideas…it is PR, marketing, and community organizing effort.
Take for example, everyday there is a half dozen GreenPeace kids on the 16th street mall in Denver spreading their propaganda. What is the Right doing to counter that ideological punch? Look what happens when we don’t actively engage Left…Global warming is the new reality. The average person believes the polar is almost gone. Conservatives let the environmentalist educated the populous for the last two decades, unchecked; now were screwed on that issue…
This is a much more serious fight than the conservatives think, conservatives seem to think the truth will prevail. Global Warming should be lesson to us. The liberals are deceptive and have an endless supply useful idiots promoting their causes–while we just preach to each other.
We need to create conservative PR and marketing companies. I am branding and marketing specialist. I look at what is going on with the effort of electing our candidates and advancing our policies and it is joke, our efforts are run by political geeks, not savvy marketing professionals. We need to treat our campaigning as a business and bring together teams of people that have real world success in marketing.
The Left has demonstrated they are masters of image, to play on equal playing field we must not only continue to win in the battle of ideas, but also create new infrastructure of professional branding, marketing and PR.
Egraef@gmail.com
I am 55 years old and have never seen anything like what we are experiencing. Their isn’t a handful of politicians you can trust, the oval office has been turned over to a rookie in perhaps the most volatile times since the Cuban missile crisis. One thing however, let us never forget the might and power of the US citizen. Politicians listen when an angry public speaks. Lets pray we don’t lose our right to dissent. Obama is so popular he only has one way to go.
Obama was the affirmative action candidate of
politics. With the help of the MSM he only
needed a C to get in. We will see what happens
now, but remember he will not need an A or
even a B to be seen as successful.
Palin had the wrong qualities for the MSM and
entertainment industries. She needed to be
an A+ performer and did not get it.
The Zogby poll showed how little the typical
Obama supporter knew. The only things they
knew were what the MSM or entertainment
industry told them.
The typical liberal will always question a
fact in a discussion with saying “I didn’t
read or see that in[fill in the blank].
Therefore you must have made it up or
got it from[FOX/Limbaugh etc] who are biased
or liars.”
Gosh, Gupta is a neurosurgeon who is used to speaking in front of cameras and crowds of people. What other qualifications are needed to become Surgeon General? He is more qualified for that post than Obama is for his!
The Democrat party can not rule the country because they are a group of special interests who have nothing in common except that they are not Republicans. Now that they are in power they will descend into anarchy. Remember Jimmy Carter and Tip O’Neill ditto Bill Clinton and “night baskettball” in any case it would be fun to watch except for the danger in the current economic circumstances and the possibility that Iran will get the notion that all Americans are as incompetent as Pelosie and Reid
We have a leader who after 143 days in the Senate and experience as a community organizer, is now POTUS. The fact Hillary actually won the primaries but the fix was in for “The Great One,” shows how corrupt our system is. Let the Democrats eat cake. After this one term wonder completes his disastrous tenure as POTUS, the Republicans will be back and voted into the White House. What Obama cannot do is lead because he has been a puppet the entire time. First he was a puppet of the Chicago “Daley” political machine, then he was a puppet of the MSM, and now, he is a puppet of the Democatic political machine that controls (and I mean “CONTROLS”) Congress. Reid and Polosi are totally enept and this too will become clearer as time goes on. Obama thinks he has the power, but unlike Clinton who totally understood the dynamics of political power (and even with that had a few losses – health care), Obama believed the press releases. We are all in for a bumpy ride. But as a Clinton supporter, justification is the emotion I feel.
It is starting to look to me as a re-do of “The Wizard of Oz”, where the wizard (BO) is behind the big curtain making the thunder noises, while his “litle people” scurry about doing what will pass for magic. That picture could also be seen as the “Great One” appears on the festuned balcony to the roar of the millions, passes his judgement on the many problems, turns and disappears into his chambers.
YUP!…….we got just what the majority voted for. Smoke and Mirrors.
Polcomm as a Clinton supporter you may “feel’ justification but I “feel” relief. Obama is untested and will soon prove himself one way or another, however, Clinton has been tested and we the people have had enough. It is a “Machs Nixs” as to whether Chicago or Arkansas politics is in the White House, they both represent a low point.
Rocky Seas for “Team Obama”? Hardly.
The Obama-Pelosi-Reid tag team will quibble over details, but the end result will be a Socialist state in place of what once was the United States.
Obama will:
* Expand union membership so industry throughout the U.S. becomes crippled like bloated Detroit
* Nationalize our 401Ks which will vaporize the stock market in exchange for a mountain of IOUs
* Nationalize our health care industry into European-style waiting lines for substandard service
* Raise income taxes on productive folks in order to spread what’s left of our wealth, and buy votes from losers who already pay no taxes
* Impose a European-style “value-added tax” (VAT) which will further impoverish rich and poor alike
* Impose a stealth “Carbon Tax” which will cripple our economy while doing nothing to counter the anthropogenic global warming myth
* Raise the minimum wage which will result in further job losses
* Impose the “Fairness” Doctrine and criminalize “hate speech” to stifle all dissenting voices
* Debase our currency and destroy our way of life by printing money until we have hyperinflation
All this Obama will do intentionally because he is a Marxist who seeks to “change” America.
“The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.” -Vladimir Lenin
macht nichts
Obama:
This isn’t going to be a problem, people.
I’m simply going to vote ‘Present’ and let my staff handle it.
Freedom Fan you are not doing us any favors by using the same type of hyperbolic rhetoric that the left is well know for using. Lennis never said the quote you cite, no matter how true it may sound. Lenin was a mere opportunist who was not smart enough to understand the implications contained in the statement you have attributed to him. Moreover, I would hate to rely on John Maynard Keynes as a source for this Lenin quote
The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996.
NUMBER: 32513
QUOTATION: The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
ATTRIBUTION: John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), British economist. Essays in Persuasion, ch. 2 (1931).
Keynes attributed this view to Lenin (also referred to in Economic Consequences of the Peace, ch. 6, 1919), though the words have never been found in Lenin’s writings.
TAX CUT REALITY:
Team Obama abandons the campaign rhetoric of “taxing the rich” for the real world results of tax cuts.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/lost-in-fantasy-of-liberal-tax-doctrine.html
The nation owes more than thanks to three unlikely modern day patriots: professional poker player, musician, and retired attorney, Leo Donofrio; life long Democrat and former Pennsylvania assistant attorney general, Phil Berg; and Soviet emigree and attorney, Dr. Orly Taitz (she’s also a dentist).
While Mr. Donofrio painstakingly established the airtight case that BHO could not be an Article II “natural born citizen” (at BHO’s birth, dad was British/Kenyan, not American, citizen) Leo’s Stay of the 12/15/08 electoral college vote was denied by SCOTUS as procedurally unripe.
Nevertheless, since no congressman and senator objected on 1/8/09 to Congress’ count and certification of the electoral vote which would have turned resolution of Obama’s eligibility issue over to Congress — rendering moot the Berg and Taitz (Lightfoot) cases — Berg finally does achieve standing on the issue of actual harm, to be addressed at the Friday 1/9/09 SCOTUS Conference on Writ of Certiorari. Obama’s failure to submit evidence of his constitutional qualification for the 1/9/09 conference will mean he cannot thereafter challenge Berg’s request to enjoin the 1/8/09 Congressional electoral count and certification, albeit retroactive, scheduled for SCOTUS conference Friday 1/16/09. Moreover, Chief Justice Roberts has scheduled a full Court conference on the Lightfoot case Friday 1/23/09 in the event there needs to be a Constitutionally mandated action, the Inauguration itself, to enjoin retroactively.
Now that BHO is in checkmate and cannot be POTUS, he can be a patriot as well. He need not subject the nation to the expense and trauma of requiring SCOTUS to overrule his ‘Presidency’. BHO can and should voluntarily step down with Biden becoming Acting POTUS under the 20th Amendment, and under the agreement all potential claims by the Government for itself and on behalf of others against BHO are released.
Myself…
I find it HILARIOUS that the GOP cares more about Eric Holder than they do about the stimulus package. The american people is seriously going to give a damn about a few pardons?
The Obama team’s released a few studies about the effects of their proposed stimulus. Where is the talk about this? Where is the analysis, the conservative counterpoints?
Instead I have to stomach reading about how a guy with a 70 percent approval rating is “stumbling.” Jesus Christ.
Derek no need for blasphemy or was that an unfinished prayer for the nation that got away from you before you were finished typing? In any case the “stimulus” package and the Holder hearings are not related to each other. However, what is related to the Holder hearings is a pattern of corruption all to evident in the Democrat party, to wit: selling pardons for political contributions, selling Senate seats and selling municipal bonds sales along with other well know “pay to play” schemes. The purity of their liberal virtues will not excuse them from responsibility.
Note to moderator: many Christians are offended by the use of the Lord’s name in vein however we will not burn your website down or otherwise riot to make our point.
…wait… THESE are the extent of the ‘critical’ errors Obama has made?
Are you serious?
You guys are making a big deal about *THIS*???
WOW! Let’s see… somebody who’s being somewhat quiet on the whole Hamas-Israel bit, (probably because his policy is going to be significantly different than the current moron who’s in the whitehouse. Obama is at least trying to be respectful of that office) vs. two unfinished wars and the worst economic storm since God knows when and a planet in peril.
Yeah- I’ll stick with the guy that has a misstep every now and then vs. the guy that continually drives off cliffs.
The far right is finished. The far left isn’t going to do much better. Thank God for being financial conservative and socially liberal.
When you play being President for six months before you are actually Inaugurated, the honeymoon has taken place.
There has to be resentment in Congress that this inexperienced, ambitious man gives the impression that he has all the answers.
We are a government of checks and balances and the scales look as if they are coming into balance in government, if not in the media. (Does anyone watch the cheer leading programs Washington Week in Review and Charlie Rose. How can they stay on the air?)
ArgentTree the current man in the White House is not a member of the far right. He is a man who has always been a “moderate”, a compassionate conservative. Obama and his crowd are no fiscal conservatives, so that leaves only one thing social liberals and that is what has attracted you, isn’t it? I am sure Obama could spend as much money as a drunken sailor as long as abortion on demand and gay marriage remain “legal” or as one well know quip said “I would give Bill Clinton a BJ myself as long as he protects choice”.
notassmartasyou you are on to something here, friend. Obama has not even finished one term in the Senate and now these “Old Bulls” have to follow him around like ducklings following their momma. In the Senate you are not even allowed to speak in the men’s room until you have completed at least two terms. You better understand that resentment will be in the air and that the Democrat interest groups will be looking to their favorite “Bulls” to protect their tuff.
Obama a leader? Of What? When? Leader of the Free World? You shall see how much of an embarrassment that will turn out to be. Sure, since you voted for this candidate, you think he will make your vote worthwhile. You’ll be disappointed shortly.
Having worked in the U.S. Government for more than 20 years, I’ve seen a multitude of “candidates” appointed to upper level positions that could not fulfill the requirements of the position. Like Obama, they had an impressive resume. This is nothing but an “affirmative action” appointment. His decisions are the results of a “Committee” which has been purchased specifically for the purpose of fulfilling the Democrat play book.
Obama’s no more than a puppet with a good voice. If he were a leader, he could speak without a tele-prompter and make his own evaluations and decisions. If Obama makes any decision of his own in this term, “We The People” are in trouble. He hasn’t shown any expertise in anything to date, besides public speaking, which anyone with the desire, can master at your local community college.
Obama was voted in simply because he was viewed as the least controversial of the available candidates. And, naturally, he’ll have a lot of support, because no one wants to be embarrassed.
Somewhere in Vegas they’re betting he’s a one term (if he makes it that far) selection.
ArgentTree:
…wait… THESE are the extent of the ‘critical’ errors Obama has made?
The only reason we have to talk about these critical errors is because the other critical errors he’ll make are still in the future.
I actually think the fact that Blago didn’t back down from Obama and appointed Burris is even more telling of what a wimp Obama is. Obama’s a typical post-modern Democrat, all tough talk and no action (unless Dems are keying cars with McCain/Palin bumperstickers when no one’s around, then they’re very, very tough. Supertough, in fact). It doesn’t bode well for Obama getting a non-US thug to go along with whatever schemes Obama dreams up, if he can’t even convince the governor of his own state not to take a specific action.
Obama’s wimpiness might help us gain our standing in the world again, though. Everyone likes the country that bends over time and again, just like the school bully likes the wimpy kid who steals a dollar from his mother’s purse to pay off the bully every day.
43. Ted: Please remove your tin foil hat and take your medicine before your next post or else you may start mumbling something about the income tax being un-constitutional. This could be detrimental to your well being.
Moderator note: Please insure that all participants are uncovered before accepting their posts.
“Your comment is awaiting moderation”. What the heck does this statement mean? Does it mean that my comment is in the act of moderating itself? This statement is sub-literate. How about “your comment is under review” by the moderator (implied).
51. venividivici: Obama backed down for a very good reason, not because he is a wimp, but because he is not suicidal. Blago has the goods on him and he will spill the beans if push comes to shove. So, he called Obama’s bluff by appointing Burris. Blago is a gangster and this is gangster rules, better known as Chicago politics. Always make sure their are others involved. Once you have killed someone then you are safe and a full-fledged member of the “mob”
ER,
Backing down makes Obama look weak globally, though. This isn’t just about where the bodies are buried in Chicago. Other countries see that and conclude that Obama can be pushed around by a relatively small-fry player. If Blago can obtain “the goods” on Obama, it’s a near-certainty that our foreign enemies can do the same.
During the Clinton era, Blago probably would have committed “suicide” or “accidentally” wrapped his car around a tree.
I realize Obama’s hands were kind of tied because of the nature of the Senate succession process, but it sure does put the lie to the idea that Obama’s got some kind of magnetism that works wonders on people to the extent that they’ll give up their own interests and compromise with Obama. Not saying you bought into that, and I know I didn’t, but anyone who did needs to reconsider because as the evidence comes in, that is looking less likely.
55. venividivici: For the record I voted for McCain because I firmly believe in strong national defense and as a former Marine I know full well the danger.
I understand what you are saying but it seems you are missing my point, which is as follows: Obama does not give a hoot about how he looks to foreign enemies. All that matters is survival. So therefore he will not be suicidal when it comes to Blago, he will leave the dirty work to the Illinois legislature. Blago will be impeached and he will then try to plead bargain with the prosecutors before trial. The Presidents head will always be on the table during these discussions. What foreigners think will not be in anybody’s calculations other than patriots like us.
You can take that to the bank
Gawd, I am getting tired of the partisan blather. There is not a single person posting on this site who knows the real Barack Obama. Not one. A few commentators make educated guesses based on Obama’s past associations. Fair enough, but it doesn’t mean they are right. The man is first of all a free agent, and secondly a complete unknown. Personally, I think Barack Obama is a figurehead for concealed interests. That’s my intuitive sense, but I can’t prove it.
What is certain is that our nation is facing an economic crisis that is unprecedented. I am less concerned with Mr. Obama’s ideology than I am with his policies. Good economic policy will mitigate the worst effects of recession. A sufficiently bad policy will pitch the entire world economy into a depression. It has to be one or the other. I didn’t vote for Obama, but if he can get us out of this mess, I will kiss his butt in public.
Two facts are known. We can’t borrow our way to prosperity, nor can the government simply print money to pay for our debts. Fiscal discipline combined with tax cuts is the answer. It’s a conservative program. Too bad conservatism died with the Bush administration. Thieves from both sides of the political aisle are looting the national economy. Obama will be a great president if he can slam on the brakes. If he takes the road of Governor Arnold, he’ll be a failure. It really is that simple.
But who knows? Mr. Obama needs to take on the vested interests in his own party. Will he have the courage? I rather doubt it, but we’ll know soon enough. As a school teacher I can offer the president-elect some advice. Learn how to say “No!” It works. I do it all day long.
Rant over.
hee hee hee hee You people are ssssoooooo amusing. jabber jabber jabber, blah blah blah, speculation speculation speculation. Why do you bother reading anything about Obama, you’re just going to think the worst no matter what.
If he doesn’t stop Blago from appointing a Senator, he’s a wimp. But if he would have been able to stop him, you would have screamed that it was proof they’ve been working together all along(you tried to paint him as Bill Ayer’s best friend on a lot less.) If Congress goes along with his picks, it’s proof they’re in his pocket. If they don’t go along with them, it’s proof he’s incompetent. If he talks about Gaza, he’s trying to usurp the presidency early, if he doesn’t talk about it he’s ducking responsibility.
Maybe you should relax, take a deep breath, and let the man become president and actually do something before you freak out. The way you’re going you’re going to be worn out before the inauguration.
PS I love how someone here whined about “taking the Lord’s name in vain” but there wasn’t a single complaint about someone calling themselves “i luv Darkies” and then referring to Obama with a racist insult.
Yep… Pajamas Media, staying classy!
#57: Paules:
“There is not a single person posting on this site who knows the real Barack Obama. Not one. A few commentators make educated guesses based on Obama’s past associations. Fair enough, but it doesn’t mean they are right. The man is first of all a free agent, and secondly a complete unknown.”
Quite so. In fact, I’m not even sure that he is a native-born American citizen.
If he indeed is, he could, with fairly little trouble, put the whole matter to bed.
57. Bilgeman:
#57: Paules:
“There is not a single person posting on this site who knows the real Barack Obama. Not one. A few commentators make educated guesses based on Obama’s past associations. Fair enough, but it doesn’t mean they are right. The man is first of all a free agent, and secondly a complete unknown.”
Quite so. In fact, I’m not even sure that he is a native-born American citizen.
If he indeed is, he could, with fairly little trouble, put the whole matter to bed.
I bet George Soros knows the truth.
I’m waiting for Alan Funt to appear and say to Obama “Smile you’re on Candid Camera”. For you youngsters the whole scene was a big joke and that is what our country sadly has become.
I sit here watching the premiere of 24 and our Jack Bauer will be leaving office next week. I hope 24 does not become a reality show instead of fiction but I am concerned.
#57: Paules:
“There is not a single person posting on this site who knows the real Barack Obama
Wonderful. Brilliant analysis. Teacher, math or English I pray, not civics or history. I hope you are not registered to vote or if so you do not vote for any candidate until you get to know the REAL person. Politics the effeminate way, the real person indeed.
If he doesn’t stop Blago from appointing a Senator, he’s a wimp. But if he would have been able to stop him, you would have screamed that it was proof they’ve been working together all along(you tried to paint him as Bill Ayer’s best friend on a lot less.)
Actually, the logic of those two outcomes and the corresponding conclusions are not symmetrical. In the first case, Obama was presented with a challenge and was unable to effect his desired outcome, regardless of whether he and Blago had cooperated in the past. In the second case, Obama would have been presented with that same challenge and met it, but that outcome would have said nothing about past associations or cooperation with Blago and/or the Chicago machine, although it would have said something about current-day Obama, i.e. that he knows how to twist arms when necessary and make Blago fear to go public with anything he might have on Obama. That he couldn’t does show that he lacks a certain forcefulness that is useful in a President, so my conclusion that it is a tellingly bad incident for Obama abroad stands.
ER,
I understand what you are saying but it seems you are missing my point, which is as follows: Obama does not give a hoot about how he looks to foreign enemies. All that matters is survival. So therefore he will not be suicidal when it comes to Blago, he will leave the dirty work to the Illinois legislature.
Fair enough, since I think you are probably correct that Obama’s calculations about his image do not extend to foreign enemies and with the supine nature of the Republicans these days, Obama doesn’t exactly have a lot to worry about on the domestic “enemy” front, either.
I just do find it disturbing that Obama couldn’t even use back channels to stop Blago from making a circus out of the Senate appointment. Obama’s supposed to be the “big dog”, after all.
57. Mark Fradl:
Remember friend “I luv darkies” is probably registered to vote, along with other blasphemers. Not a whine just a fact. Those with nothing to lose should never be allowed to vote.
My comment is awaiting moderation. Before it turns into a whine
A VAT is actually a good idea, provided that the rest of the tax code is repealed. Research HR 25 (the Fair Tax Bill), which proposes a modified VAT to replace the entire existing US tax code.
There actually was an analog to Gov. Blagojevich in Pres. Clinton’s inner circle. His name was Gov. Tucker. Gov. Tucker went to jail for his part in the Whitewater scandal, and his governorship was given to Gov. Huckabee, who became Lt. Gov. in a special election to fill Tucker’s vacancy after Clinton was elected President and Tucker became Governor of Arkansas to replace him.
Still… where is Rahm Emmanuel? Captive in Rwanda? Godfathering a group wedding amongst some Masai? Already a president in Cote d’Ivoire?
Emmanuel’s extended absence is very intriguing – and liberal media’s deafening silence regarding it is even more intriguing.
The hymn page for MNSBC (and thre rest of the cancer that media is), was “this is an examplary transition, superbly done in these difficult times Bush & Cheney left us in, all hands on the deck, all talents on the deck, we work for this country, this is emergency, no respite, no Club Med, no elephants huntin’, no nothin’!”
We have an office of president elect (seal y compris) that never existed before, we have the position of WH chief of staff… we have a new WH chief of staff who was on the front page any moment of the day… yet for the past three weeks this WH chief of staff has vanished… completely… with quantum physics’ totalness…
American Gothic? Another Vince Foster situation?
All hands on the deck… all hands on the deck… where is mister Emmanuel?
Anyone, can I get an answer?
Confused in Los Angeles -
You guys are a riot. You’re monkey boy president is responsible for the mess that Obama is trying to clean up. That’s his foreign policy. Let’s not even get started on the flaming pile of dog doo doo he’s left Obama here at home.
But your comments make me smile so thank you.
RealityCheck:
You guys are a riot. You’re monkey boy president is responsible for the mess that Obama is trying to clean up. That’s his foreign policy. Let’s not even get started on the flaming pile of dog doo doo he’s left Obama here at home.
But your comments make me smile so thank you.
And if the stock markets thought Obama had a clue on how to clean it up, it would already be rallying, but it’s still below the November 4th high. You know the old saying, “Money talks and BS walks”.
I doubt the markets get that high again until it becomes apparent that Republicans are going to take over Congress again.
Still smilin’?
When I look at Obama, what I see is a man who wanted to be President but now that’s he’s been voted in, he doesn’t seem to know what he’s gotten himself into. He looks confused all the time and can’t answer a question with a direct answer to save his life and I think part of it is that he’s deceptive and the other part is that he just does not know what he is doing. He scares me.
After a pretty good drubbing in consecutive elections, it appears that the GOP pundits STILL can’t break from the knee-jerk “smear & fear” M.O…Let’s look at what Rubin’s bringing up here: 1. Eric Holder – who’s being supported by former Bush Justice Dept officials as well as Sen John Warner will have a tough time? Really! Will Holder be confirmed? You betcha!….2. Tax relief – Is this Groundhog day or will the GOP still not realize that an OVERWHELMING majority of Americans SUPPORT the tax cut proposal that Obama’s has had in place for over a year!..Guys, the GOP lost. That means “the folks” liked the other team’s ideas better…..3. “Missteps” such as Burris and Richardson – I think that even in the far-right world, POTUS 44 will not be judged by his Senate seat or a withdrawn Commerce Sec nominee…4. A Trillion is a lot- Let’s see, we have more Conservative Think Tank pundits to dismiss all of the individual components of the plan…Gee, I’m SO surprised that Grover Norquist’ Americans for Tax Reform Think Tank has issues with how this stimulus is being rolled out. Come-on Jennifer! These “sources” are too far right which means that they’re not OBJECTIVE!….Here’s a suggestion: The GOP should get their OWN house in order. Try coming up with new ideas (by the way, a corporate tax reduction is not a “new idea”) which can help you to connect with the broad middle-class that the party does not understand. Maybe you can start by getting out of your own ideological echo chamber. I’d imagine that, by doing so, you’ll learn why the incoming President’s approval ratings are higher than Congress and the Republican Party – COMBINED! …Finally, here’s the BIG problem with this whole article. It starts off with the prospect that Obama’s finding “governing harder than campaigning”…Well gee, do we NOT still have POTUS 43 in office?…I know that the conservatives want to raise the bar above that “we should support the President” lipservice that’s been spliced in throughout consistently negative posts from PJM…I’m sure that the A.D.D. media wants to get over the “honeymoon period” but maybe we can let the guy get sworn in before we hand out failing “governing” grades?..The guy really MUST be impressive to the Pajamas crew when they’re already starting to grade how he’s governed. Wow. Has Dubya’s leadership void been THAT broad?
Obama might want to consult with the last two democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, both of whom had immediate problems with the democratic-controlled Congress. A word to the wise, consult with the congressional leadership first before announcing controversial iniatives and appointments. He should have known that the Congress would attempt to assert its authority after being totally usurped and ignored by Bush-Cheney on so many critical issues for the past 8 years.
“You’re monkey boy president is responsible for the mess that Obama is trying to clean up.”
“You’re”? Not your, but “you’re”?
[Sigh]…
Sure is a shame that Hopeychangey Negro-Jeebus won’t stand up to the teacher’s unions. Something tells me that RealityCheck & friends have been cheated out of a good eddicayshun.
Whew…do you “people” actually believe what you write? I swear…I haven’t seen a more ignorant group of “people” since the RNC Convention. Damn…I’m impressed.
Texas A&M University holds an annual competition for the Most Appropriate Definition of a Contemporary Term. The category in 2007 was ‘Political Correctness’. This was the winning entry:
Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous main stream media, that holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.
Uhm… NONE of these qualify as crisis. Has any President in history ever appointed an entire cabinet without opposition? Funny enough, neither has Obama. I don’t think that means he’s wimpy/incompetent or any of the unflattering adjectives the frothing repubs seem so ready to attach to him. (appoint __(fill in the blank with any Obama appointee)___!?! OMG? What the f***? B.Hussein Obama, you ___(fill in the blank with any insult), you.)
To Jennifer Rubin, who wrote this ridiculous article: come on. I know you’re right-wing, but at least save the hyperventilating for a real crisis. Like, I don’t know, the ONGOING RECESSION? or is blagojevich really more important?
I don’t know where to begin. So, I will start with Sen. Dianne Feinstein who has reach the point in her life where she speaks her mind. Well, Feinstein is not President and after Harry Reid spoke with her, it’s unlikely Feinstein will speak her mind again in such a way. Feinstein spoke up because she had someone else in mind for that position. Image a President elect to be stepping on the toes of Feinstein. How dare President elect Obama not ask Feinstein if it’s OK if he appoints Leon Panetta, because she has reached that point in her life. As for Bill Richardson, how is it a blemish on President elect Obama. Was it discovered that President elect Obama sat listening to Bill Richardson for some twenty years also. Guilty by association has run it’s course. Everyone seems to have forgotten former President Bill Clinton and the role he played in pardoning Marc Rich. In case everyone has forgotten the buck stops with the President on pardons, no matter the recommendations. Eric Holder couldn’t pardon anyone at the time. In the case of Marc Rich, his donations outweigh any recommendations Eric Holder could have made to former President Bill Clinton. Just for the record, Burris didn’t outsmart President elect Obama. He was appointed by Blagojevich, and had the right to take the Senate seat. It was Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats who spoke the loudest. If Burris outsmarted anyone, it was Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats.
The office of the president elect was created in 1963 i believe. This is what kills me. Focusing on this inside joke BS that at best no one outside of conservative bloggers care about and at worst isn’t even true. No one cares about Eric Holder. No one really cares about Blago and Obama being from the same state. No one cares where rahm emmanuel is, No one cared about ayers, wright, khalidi, NONE OF THAT. You aren’t piling up a list, you’re piling up a bunch of shrill grievances that no one cares about.
Obama right now has a report out about his stimulus package that basically says government spending will work better dollar for dollar then tax cuts and that almost dares congress to add onto the stimulus to make it more effective. Why is no one jumping on this? Why am i seriously supposed to care that rahm emmanuel is in africa?
Major storm on its way.
“Palin had the wrong qualities for the MSM and
entertainment industries. She needed to be
an A+ performer and did not get it.”
That’s false. she could not answer some simple questions (what newspaper do you read, etc…) while interviewed. Therefore, she appeared not so bright…
As much as he was hated we are going to wish old George was back in office.
JP, you have given me the best birthday present I’ve had in a long time with your quoted definition of “politically correct”-would love to hear what was given for “affirmative action”.
Back to reality: Senator John Edwards was described as the “unaccomplished Senator from North Carolina” during his failed VP bid with John Kerry. It seems that he spent most of his senate time on the campaign trial for the White House. Edwards possibly failed because he didn’t have the political machine & “alleged” mafioso ties that the “unaccomplished senator” from Illinois did. Perhaps it’s just as well due to his habit of lurking in hotel hallways in the wee hours of the morning.
Good economic news. We have not even released the second 350 million. Our actual deficit is of course on the road to a trillion but that is a long way to go. It takes time to reach econ goals. We call it the velocity of spending issue. It took months to get the tax refunds last year. a tax cut can be rapid increase in spending power. a manipulation game that semds spemnnders money 3 months down the road is a delay in results. Reagen knew better than Obams clintion recycled economists.
I’m falling on the floor laughing at some of the posts here from those I must presume are liberal Obama supporters. This is priceless. Would that I had such staunch friends to support me. The guy isn’t even in office yet look what he is doing and saying. He seems to be so self absorbed that he makes Bill Clinton seem a flagellant. For a humorous look at the inner workings of his mind take a look at this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWHFdt0480g
C’mon. wee all need a good laugh every now and then otherwise the current situation might cause a bit of concern.
John
#7
Is it your contention that you’d prefer to lived in a Socialist state run by warmed-over former Clintonians ?
You’re probably a big Caroline Kennedy fan, I suspect.
Pathetic !!!!
Obama is like the dad gum dog chasing the fire truck. What does he do now that he caught up with it?
The fun will start once PeBO discovers that Congress isn’t there to do his will. Just like Bill Clinton did in 1993.
Then will come the spending programs, Trillions of dollars will be spent propping up business that should be allowed to fail, like the Big Three Automakers. Prediction: the big three automakers will become the Amtrak of the 2000’s, every year they will have to come back to congress for tens of billions more. Their entire hope is that once they start to build the cars that America wants, that America won’t mind that they cost more than the Japanese cars that are built here do!
Add in tax increases on the rich, that somehow or other go down to the middle class? What the democrats never realize is that the money that they are taking from the rich wasn’t sitting on the rich person coffee table about to be burned, but was being spent on things for the rich people. Now what the money was being spent on, might not be what the democrats thought that it should be spent on, like gambling, Yard Care or Spa weekends, but it was being spent. And when the tax rate goes up and that spending stops, then those people that did that job are fired. Bill Clinton passed his tax increase on the rich in August 1993 and then MGM fired 5,000 people. But the government had the rich people tax money to pay out welfare.
And just wait until people start to trust the stock market again. Now many rich people are buying 10 year Federal Bonds that are paying Zero percent interest. And the reason that the money is safe there. 100% guaranteed by the Government is as safe as you can get. Yet once they start to believe in the stock market again, they will pull all of that money out of the bonds and start to buy stock. Then the government will have to find someone else to buy those bonds. And pay interest to get them to do that. So the interest rates will go up. It will most likely make the interest rates of the Jimmy Carter presidency look small, can we say 30% a year for a decade?
Sure Obama is a political dimwit but he sure reads a teleprompter Presidentially right? Thank you liberal nutters for voting in our new community organizer! Now if someone will just snip the marionette strings that Pelosi has affixed to his back.
#73 jeebus….Head on back over to The View pardner. You’ve stepped outside your intelligence boundaries today as shown by your juvenile post.
#75 Zenaida…Your name wouldn’t be a slimy way to capitalize on a phantom baby-sitter that was accused of kidnapping and murdering a young Florida child now would it? If so that would explain your sleezy, liberal slant on this topic. You must get your daily shot of “news” from MSDNC right?
drowe consult with congressional leadership and Clinton/Carter are you nuts? They are why we are in this mess. Bring in General Petraeus for war on terror and people like Schmidt from Google, Buffett, Gates, Cramer to staighten the economy. Obama had zero street smarts he may have school smarts but we don’t know even that because nobody would release his transcripts. Congress knows ZERO about the Economy and half of them should be in prison .
Where were all you cynics when GW Bush was running this country into the ground?
Obama is going to be an outstanding president. Lord knows he has a huge mess to clean up after Bush and the GOP ME First cabal.
You folks need to get out more – your bitterness is obviously eating you alive.
Jilli:
I hope to God you’re right. I hear your phrase repeated all the time. So, exactly what did George Bush do to run this country into the ground?
Jilli…Wasn’t dear leader Obama a member of Congress that was “running this country into the ground?” We harbor no bitterness. Some of us are a bit more realistic is all. We’ll “get out more” if you agree to quit following the crowd, think for yourself and get your information from other sources than Obama’s campaign website. Deal?
#90 Jill:
” Lord knows he has a huge mess to clean up after Bush and the GOP ME First cabal.”
I’ll second brother Jim Baker’s query in #91. Please reply with facts.
“Obama is going to be an outstanding president.”
Would you mind using your clairvoyance for more pragmatic purposes?
Who do ypou like for AFC Champs, the Steelers or the Ravens?
(We can win money from some people in Baltimore or Pittsburgh, see?)
ER,
Your ability to take a simple statement like “no one knows the real Obama” and follow with a series of ad hominem insults doesn’t put you on my debating team. You would not pass any of my courses even at the freshman level with that kind of tactic. The only thing we know about the president-elect is that his paper trail exists in a realm between thin and non-existent. Name for me, please, the title of a single published paper. I think that qualifies as “no one knows.” Looking at his voting record we find numerous instances where he is recorded as voting “present.” Not much to go on there either. We might make inferences about Obama based on his past associations, but that does not constitute any hard evidence. Explain to me now how any of the above statements adds up to anything more (or less) than “no one knows.”
What we do know about Obama’s public record (where any record exists at all) is that he has consistently voted (when he has voted at all) with the hard left. The fact is indicative, but not necessarily definitive. The public record never states “why” someone voted for or against a particular piece of legislation. Full disclosure: I voted for John McCain because he was a known quantity over his completely unknown opponent. Had I been offered a viable third party, I would likely have thrown my vote that direction.
Don’t bother going down the road of “Barack Obama said . . .” Politicians say a lot of things for a lot of different reasons. I will judge the new president on the results of the legislation he signs into law. Not for any other reason. The only exception I can foresee is if the man is proven to be involved in actual lawbreaking. And I’ll let a court decide that before I render my personal verdict. Given my above statements (anticipating here the usual BDS), do I think George Bush did a good job over eight years? Actually, I think history will render a mixed judgement. George Bush kept the country safe for seven years even as he abandoned his conservative principles to the ideology of his political opponents.
ER, in answer to your insults, I want you to know something else. I teach logic and semantics, political philosophy, government, economics, history and geography. My political instincts tend conservative (when I’m not playing the role of mugwump), but I have been voted “Teacher of the Year” on an otherwise liberal campus. I am annoyed with myself for addressing a lightweight like you when I should be preparing tomorrow’s lesson plan. Have you read Federalist Paper #10? I’ll bet most of my conservative brethren have. *Asshat*
Paules:
“What we do know about Obama’s public record (where any record exists at all) is that he has consistently voted (when he has voted at all) with the hard left.”
Aren’t you just the least bit curious about Obama’s very FIRST public record…his Hawaii Certificate of Live Birth?
Despite the deafening silence alternating with indignant dismissals by the chap’s defenders, I think it’s rather germane to the issue at hand.
Heck, even if he turns out to be naught but a facsimile of a native-born American, I’d have to give him chops for the sheer audacity of the scam.
“Name for me, please, the title of a single published paper.”
I suspect that he may have written something or other at some point in the past, but alas, last I heard Harvard has declined to release his student record.
Funny, that.
For a chap in a line of work that requires him to “put himself out there” on the hustings, he’s remarkably reticent about the FACTS of his past life.
No wonder the Left loves him so…
@ER…..”Moreover, I would hate to rely on John Maynard Keynes as a source for this Lenin quote”
You have good reasons to be skeptical of a Lenin quote by John Maynard Keynes….even if you don’t know the reason. Lenin died in 1922. Keynes first went to the USSR in 1925, so they never actually never met. Keynes’ wife was a Soviet ballet dancer, so he was not unfamiliar with the Soviet system and society. I rather doubt Keynes got the quote indirectly from his wife.
Re #96 Memphomaniac Re: #40 ER:
Like the “useful idiots” (a perfectly valid characterisation otherwise), the “inflation” scheme cannot be directly attributed to Lenin or anyone from his immeditaly surrounding coterie.
However, inflation (followed by financial “re-evaluation or stabilization”) was a widely taken advantage of circumstance in the 1940-s/50-s by all the Societ-inflicted regimes in Eastern Europe, for creating/maintaining a financial “Boxer & Clover” dependency to the system.
The fact that any and all governments have to, at a moment or other, fiddle with the national financial mechanism is a given for me – also I think that
the less is the better.
Mugabe has just issued a 50 billion dollars (?) note, and one inclined to ratiocinate could say that we are walking in his footsteps by injecting cash into our economy – however, no matter how much one is willing to split the hair in this matter, the US is not Zimbabwe or Venezuela. This country is a polity with active economy, production & exchange, which, largely due to lax credit policies (check with Barney for this) is in this situation where other loans with unclear reimbursement prospects got to be made.
I think that it is a bit too early to beat Paulson over the head with his take on the matter – we’ll see.
#90 Jilli:
Hello…Jilli? HELL-OOOO!?!!
Facts…Bush…bad?
Anything?
Mmmm-hmm…pretty much as expected.
(Now will come the “EVERYONE knows Bush is the WORST President since Caligula!” bit, if anything heaves-to over the horizon at all, that is…).
Don’t worry- any problems Obama encounters will be attributed to the poor state of affairs in which his predecessor left things. It will be in all the papers, I am certain.
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
The amount of ignorance on this blog makes you realize what a miracle democracy is. Thankfully you are in the minority in the USA.
Obama’s coronation is not nearly as rocky as a Republican administration; The main stream media, and Congressional Democrats, are already busy granting dispensation to appointees for their “honest mistakes” in not toeing the line on tax laws that they are responsible for legislating.
Whenever one of these “human” legislators is caught dismissing their responsibility for adhering to a law, that law should just be cancelled, so as not to unjustly snare any one else that is “human”.
Bernie Madoff is just as “human” as Charles Rangel, Barnie Frank, or Timothy Geithner.
After all, we are becoming a nation of appeasers.
100. Robert Hurley:
So why don’t you dazzle us with some of your brilliance?
OBAMA FAR OUT FRIENDS ARE GOOD NEWS FOR GOP
The far left is just what the Republican party needs.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-hope-for-gop-far-left.html
Derek….what does Jesus Christ have to do with the current situation OR your comment?
I suggest you leave His name out of it.
Use allah instead for your profane, vain babble.
What really needs to happen, now, is for the people of this country to take the reigns of government back from the politicians. Its our government. THe people coasted for years, letting politicians run things. That has to stop, and the Obama presidency is an opportunity for a real change; one where real people and not politicians run the country in a manner like the founders intended.
A here is a newsflash, Obama is not a king or monarch. The success or failure of his presidency should have nothing to do with the success or failure of our country. There is more to life than government and politics; and we need to cut those professions down to size. Government is too clumsy to do what we should do for ourselves, and when government tried to do it, it gets too big. Obama is in over his head, its time to get politicians out of government.
So Obama has been given his first tests – to nominate cabinet secretaries. One has a husband with conflict of interest problems with foreign governments and is the nominee for Secretary of State; another didn’t pay his self-employment taxes(and has “nannygate” problems)- the nominee was excused on grounds of “an oversight” (try THAT ONE next time YOU get called down by the IRS) and he is Obama’s choice for Secretary of the Treasury ( and the IRS’ head’s superior); the nominee for Attorney General not only used questionable methods for obtaining pardons for Marc Rich and for FALN terrorists who murdered a policeman( and the terrorists didn’t even request the pardons) but signed off on dragging Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint to be off to communist Cuba. Another nominee was a former member of an extreme Left wing group.
IF it were no so serious it would be like the Keystone Cops ( but one cannot criticize Deity )
HOPE & DOUBT ABOUT THE PRESIDENT-ELECT
Enough of the cult of personality and pretending to be President. Time to get serious.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/hope-doubt-for-president-elect.html