Has there been a worse president in our lifetime than Barack Obama? Well, that depends on your longevity. But no one I know has lived as long as Andrew Johnson.
Even his enablers-in-chief at the New York Times are getting nervous (Frank Rich?!). Their editors are concerned with the lack of promised transparency. Hint to the editors: Don’t worry about transparency. There’s nothing (of substance) to see. Here’s a short list (I’m missing plenty):
The healthcare plan is an ever-shifting pile of papers from the secretarial pool. Was there ever really a plan? Everything is being done in such a rush it makes the Mad Hatter seem like a slow poke.
The stimulus plan is mostly unspent and what is spent has gone for the most part to cronies. (Sen. Thune says we should use the unspent 330 billion to pay down the debt and he’s probably right.) Moreover, it’s not working and the president seems to have no idea what to do.
Afghanistan — supposedly Obama’s war — is a mess with the president apparently furious at his own general for being honest.
The Olympic fiasco — I won’t even go there.
Democracy movements in Iran and Honduras are dissed in favor of cozying up to dictators. (This is the most disgusting and reactionary to me.)
Israel given the back of the hand.
ACORN, Chicago, etc., etc.
And now (ht: Fred Siesel) even the Dalai Lama gets left out in the cold!
In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks.
For the first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president. Since 1991, he has been here 10 times. Most times the meetings have been “drop-in” visits at the White House. The last time he was here, in 2007, however, George W. Bush became the first sitting president to meet with him publicly, at a ceremony at the Capitol in which he awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest civilian award.
Well, that’s it for now. [Are you really sure he’s lost the Richard Gere vote?-ed. No, some toadies will always be toadies.]
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