The Snake Pit
This postpartisan thing? Count me out. Throughout his campaign, but particularly after assuming office, Obama indulged in a fantasy few capable of fogging a mirror would entertain: that Republicans could be responsible partners in this experiment we call Democracy. The guy went to Harvard, and he believes that? I confess I hoped he was lying. Furthermore, given the widespread evidence that every idea that ever popped into a Republican head for thirty years was both deliberately false and demonstrably disastrous, it wasn’t much of a stretch, politically, to say so, and tell the blatherers of the right to put on their dunce caps and sit in the corner for a decade or two. Obama did not do that, and has put himself in political jeopardy because of it.
The first genius move that gave rightfully embarrassed Republicans new and undeserved hope was retaining the Bush military apparatus. Papier-mache MacArthurs like Petraeus, Gates, and McChrystal should have been canned without comment, and replaced by normal people who understand the limits of American military power, and, incidentally, respect the chain of command. Instead, Liz and Dick Cheney now have all kinds of military brass on their side, and the rest of us get to pay for a war to nowhere, at the expense of everything else. A chickenhawk in every pot, you know.
Then, there was the scandalous worship of the discredited “intelligence community,” which was widely recognized to be a teeming cesspool of liars, torturers, and self-interested scofflaws, but nonetheless was treated with such kid gloves as to splatter the Obama Administration with the lawless offal of the Bush years, squandering its moral authority while making America less safe in the process. Does Obama think the pro-torture vote might help in Indiana or something? If so, maybe Sarah Palin is smart enough to take him on.
Worst of all, from a political standpoint, was his unseemly embrace of the very banksters that permanently tarred Bush. The teabaggers are naturally confused, not knowing for sure whether it was Bush or Obama that gave all that money to Wall Street, but for once they’re right; I can’t tell the difference myself. Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio put it best, saying that Democrats ought to be embarrassed to be considered the party of Wall Street, but if the Gucci loafer fits, wear it. And if the current situation weren’t bad enough, a “leak” to the NY Post today said that if the embattled and corrupt Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is finally booted, the Obama Administration might consider a reformer from JPMorganChase. Wile E. Coyote is starting to look smart at this point; was no one from ACME available?
As a comical coda to this self-destructive accommodation, Obama recently appointed none other than Dana (What Cuban Missile Crisis?) Perino to a seat on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America and other pro-US propaganda broadcasting; at least in this case the resume lined up to the job, so you’d think maybe such a token gesture like that wouldn’t be as boneheaded and calamitous as all the others. You’d be wrong, of course. A couple of days later the eternally grateful and gracious Perino, still awaiting Senate confirmation, was on her usual paid gig at FOX and said, comparing Obama unfavorably to her old boss:
“One of the ways that he kept a clear head was to be able to exercise a lot but he decided not to play golf early on in his presidency,” Perino said of former boss President George W. Bush. “In fact, I think President Obama has already played golf more than President Bush did in eight years. I don’t begrudge him for playing golf but you have to understand when you have the B roll of the video that shows the president playing golf while there is a 10.2% unemployment rate, while his senators are basically having to twist arms in order to get this party line vote, while KSM is headed to New York City for trials, while we have the Gitmo detainees possibly coming to Illinois — they have to understand that people could look at that and say, ‘Oh, and by the way General McChrystal has been waiting 86 days for a decision about Afghanistan.’”
Welcome, Dana, to the Obama team. It looks like you’ll fit in well.
Space shots …
http://rawstory.com/2009/11/british-military-leader-called-bush-team-arrogant-group-martians-iraq/
Two things, ‘Hag…
One, Obama has his Moon in Gemini. His whole life, he’s been able to charm people and persuade them to his way of thinkng, at least as far as appearances go. At Harvard, he probably didn’t run into very many unelite conservatives, either.
Two, the Martian thing? We vote on Tuesday every year, the day of the week that is ruled by Mars. That probably made sense after the Revolution, when our military might was more necessary than it is now. And I’m sure the founding fathers were completely aware of that symbolism, classically educated as they were.
It would make far more sense to vote on Thursdays (unless you’re a Republican), as that is the day ruled by Jupiter, symbolic of high-mindedness, generosity and a concern for philosophy and spiritual matters. It is also the ruler of the 9th house, where “government” resides.
Mr. Projection, forever angry that his chance in the real media failed due to an inability to write or reason, leads off with a boatload of the usual kvetch and then the reincarnated Jean Dixon skips the atheist diatribe and goes for the wackiest of psuedo religions, astrology. What mental institution is the home field for this pathos?
Mark Sanford is a very small Martian, but a Martian nonetheless.
Pesky ethics violations… 37 or so? It’s that old Appalachian Trail; it’ll get you every time.
To whom would you be referring, Tom? I never attempted to be a part of any “real media,” having chosen a rather different career path over the last quarter century. No one’s putting a gun to your head and forcing you to read what I write each day, in between NRO and the Freepers.
Your role as the dirt under the fingernails of political discourse makes you open to the same warped criticism that you give to others.
Small Martians speak …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/23/palin-supporters-struggle_n_367800.html
A bit more on the big American Martians …
http://rawstory.com/2009/11/discussed-iraq-regime-change-month-bush-office-british/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6643302/Iraq-inquiry-British-officials-heard-drum-beats-of-war-from-US-before-911.html
Big Martians rampaging around the world, outside the law …
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#34126145
That’s nice. Blackwater conducts wars entirely on its own. Who needs a stinkin’ Congress?
Doings of the big Martians; another take or two …
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6929604.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/24/iraq-inquiry-head-chilcot
Well, his previous life pattern has come to an end. What is his capacity for course correction? I’d like to know.
Hag, you’re exactly right. I can scarcely understand how a guy who seemed so bright, who seemed to assemble such a smart political team for his campaign, and then won!… turned around and instantly became so naive in dealing with his political enemies. It’s nice and all that that he didn’t want to frame it as political “enemies”. But his enemies have no such delicate scruples. Did he really not understand this?
One does wonder, jjl. Is it equally likely that Obama has joined the circus, as it were, wherein the US Government does what it wants without pesky interference from the people? (My cynicism is running higher than usual… I just read Matt Taibbi on the plane to LA….)
Obama could win a lot of these battles, and he isn’t trying. It’s pretty frustrating.
Imagine a myriad of Glenn Becks on every channel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8369914.stm
__________
The Pakistan media are outdoing Murdoch and Ailes.
Who will, I’m sure, strive to catch up.
Which means there’s no future in the GOP for compromise and “date rape”.
__________
* * * * *
* * * * * “My name’s a verb now.”
* * * * * - – Dede Scozzafava
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Those fans were some real geniuses, sysprog. My friend and I both got a good laugh at some of their “facts.”
The Murdoch/Ailes template seems to work the whole world over, doesn’t it?
Please tell me you’re kidding about the whole Dana Perino thing. I suppose the only saving grace in the appointment is that she’ll be too busy with her board activities to accept any speaking engagements. Silly, mixed up language slaughterer.
I wish I were imaginative to make such things up, but unfortunately, truth beats fiction every time. If there was a seat saved for a former Bush flack, why not Scotty McClellan, who at least got an attack of intergrity otward the end. Btw, ‘Manda… I’m in LA drinking out of a pineapple in the sun as we speak…..
Dana’s mumbo jumbo about Obama playing golf “early on in his presidency” and making a meal out of that in relation to the spike in unemployment (while practically sanctifying her old boss’s golf habit) is nonsense.
Yes, Obama did play a number of rounds last summer and was seen gaily bouncing down the fairway in a cart. But he’s not played since then as far as I can tell, and certainly doesn’t seem to be as much a golf nut as Bush. In the world of Bush entitlement, W. was practically born with a mashie in his hand and a reserved window seat in the club dining room.
Who’s kidding who?
I happened to attend the last day of the 1999 Ryder Cup tournament with my lite beer-drinking Boston buddies. And at one point I was standing along the right side of a hole on the front nine at The Country Club in Brookline (as High Wasp a club as they come), and across the fairway, sitting in the rough with a sweater looped around his neck, was W, along with Poppy, some friends, and no doubt some Secret Service guys pretending to be scratch golfers.
There were some black guys walking the course that day, including Tiger Woods. But I never saw anyone who looked like the then state senator from Illinois.
But y’know – W, toward the end of his first term, made some noise about not playing golf as much as he had been (or had been used to) because he wanted to “honor the troops.” Trouble was, reporters noticed later he was playing on the sly anyway.
Dana not only is fuzzy about the Bay of Pigs. She’s also out of the loop about the golfing habits of her former boss, and the recent record of golf rounds notched by our new president.
Perino is still stuck in Bush mode, “Lie, even when the truth would sound better.” When you have to memorize all those lies, who has time to learn facts?
Then again, Dana may be able to count.
I’m in chagrin mode. I don’t play that much, and don’t hold the fate of the world in my putting hands.
http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910/obama_ties_bush_on_golf.html
Still, the Bush flim flam about golf stands …
http://crooksandliars.com/2008/05/14/ultimate-sacrifice-bush-quit-golf-for-the-troops#comment-583343
Golf grub …
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#34146083
Boner, with his handicap, could beat the crap out of me. But then, I wouldn’t pay to play in his cheesy tournament; and I’d bet he’d be too unnerved to show up at my local muni, in his shorts, tanned and ready to take me on (He’s kind of my idea of what Silvio would look like if he were from Ohio). Anyway, sensible golfers in Connecticut, even low scorers, wear sweaters, windbreakers, and cords on golf courses during the fall. That might hamper Boner’s balletic swing somewhat.
I just bought an old Ping putter the other day.
I’m deadly from 20 feet now.
C’mon, Bronze John. Bring it on!
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29881.html
Don’t forget, Obama offered a cabinet position to Judd Freaking Gregg. That douchebag.
Insult to douchebags.
Ooooh. That nastiness had slipped my mind. Couldn’t there be some sort of happy medium between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama when it comes to recognition and treatment of “enemies?”
That’s funny because I’m sipping Jagermeister from a paper bag in my desk drawer. It’s almost time to gargle and stagger home. Happy Thanksgiving!
An influential Brit says Obama is dithering …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6646179/Bob-Ainsworth-criticises-Barack-Obama-over-Afghanistan.html
Is there an echo?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/24/robert-baer-what-were-fig_n_369760.html
What did Blair know and when did he know it?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6932597.ece
These pictures on your site are great. Do you know where I can find more for sale?