So Obama's plan is to defend all his picks, and then turn around and say they were mistakes. If he really owned up to his mistakes, Geithner would be replaced because he is guilty of the same thing, is in a position far more embarrassing to have tax issues, and it shows the double standard more than anything.
VDH writes well. [rquoter]The Impending Obama Meltdown [Victor Davis Hanson] Some of us have been warning that it was not healthy for the U.S. media to have deified rather than questioned Obama, especially given that they tore apart Bush, ridiculed Palin, and caricatured Hillary. And now we can see the results of their two years of advocacy rather than scrutiny. We are quite literally after two weeks teetering on an Obama implosion—and with no Dick Morris to bail him out—brought on by messianic delusions of grandeur, hubris, and a strange naivete that soaring rhetoric and a multiracial profile can add requisite cover to good old-fashioned Chicago politicking. First, there were the sermons on ethics, belied by the appointments of tax dodgers, crass lobbyists, and wheeler-dealers like Richardson—with the relish of the Blago tapes still to come. (And why does Richardson/Daschle go, but not Geithner?). Second, was the "stimulus" (the euphemism for "borrow/print money") that was simply a way to go into debt for a generation to shower Democratic constituencies with cash. Then third, there were the inflated lectures on historic foreign policy to be made by the clumsy political novice who trashed his own country and his predecessor in the most ungracious manner overseas to a censured Saudi-run press organ (e.g., Bush is dictatorial, the Saudi king is courageous; Obama can mend bridges that America broke to aggrieved Muslims—apparently Tehran hostages, Rushdie, serial attacks in the 1990s, 9/11, Madrid, London never apparently occurred; and neither did feeding Somalis, saving Kuwait, protesting Chechnya, Bosnia/Kosovo, billions to Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians, help in two Afghan wars, and on and on). Fourth, there was the campaign rhetoric of Bush shredding the Constitution—FISA, Guantánamo, the Patriot Act, Iraq, renditions, etc.—followed by "all that for now stays the same" inasmuch as we haven't ben hit in over seven years and can't risk another attack. Fifth, Gibbs as press secretary is a Scott McClellan nightmare that won't go away, given his long McClellan-like relationship with Obama (McClellan should have been fired on day hour one on the job). Blaming Fox News for Obama's calamities is McClellan to the core and doesn't work. He already reminds me of Reverend Wright's undoing at the National Press Club—and he will get worse. Six, Biden is being Biden. Already, he's ridiculed the chief justice, trashed the former VP, bragged on himself ad nauseam in Bidenesque weird ways, and it's only been two weeks. And the result of all this? At home, Obama is becoming laughable and laying the groundwork for the greatest conservative populist reaction since the Reagan Revolution. Abroad, some really creepy people are lining up to test Obama's world view of "Bush did it/but I am the world": The North Koreans are readying their missiles; the Iranians are calling us passive, bragging on nukes and satellites; Russia is declaring missile defense is over and the Euros in real need of iffy Russian gas; Pakistanis say no more drone attacks (and then our friends the Indians say "shut up" about Kashmir and the Euros order no more "buy American"). This is quite serious. I can't recall a similarly disastrous start in a half-century (far worse than Bill Clinton's initial slips). Obama immediately must lower the hope-and-change rhetoric, ignore Reid/Pelosi, drop the therapy, and accept the tragic view that the world abroad is not misunderstood but quite dangerous. And he must listen on foreign policy to his National Security Advisor, Billary, and the Secretary of Defense. If he doesn't quit the messianic style and perpetual campaign mode, and begin humbly governing, then he will devolve into Carterism—angry that the once-fawning press betrayed him while we the people, due to our American malaise, are to blame.[/rquoter]
post-Daschle, the Geithner ****-up looks worse than ever. even my wife, who is a staunch Obama supporter (democrat supporter, in fact) thinks that Geithner has to go.
six years and thousands of dead people later. but oh noes, obama has appointed some people with some tax issues that they took care of before they were even nominated! he's the suck!
I can't believe you share a bed with a Dem. I guess she has other redeeming qualities about her. I just hope she's not a Jazz fan.
Hilarious. If anyone's guilty of hubris, it is VDM. His pomposity knows no bounds. And the Dick Morris comment tells you everything you need to know about the seriousness of his argument.
They took care of it in order to get nominated. Don't confuse yourself. You don't settle your IRS debt the day before your nomination and think that is any better than the day after. I applaud the Obama team for making Daschle & Geithner fix their returns and pay up.
If true, and if your online persona is anything like your real one, I think your wife's ability to evaluate character probably kind of sucks
i think Obama needs to appoint a commission to conduct a three year study as to why his vetting committee keeps proposing nominees who are ethically challenged.
I'm looking - I see a true internet champion. In basso I see the internet version of Shemp. But not as successful as Shemp. And not as well intentioned. So sort of a poor-man's shemp, but more deceitful. In terms execution and competence though they are both on a level.
I'm still waiting for Bush to admit he screwed up on Iraq, and come clean that there were no weapons there. Lil Texxie and Traitor Jorge are going at Obama for admitting that he screwed up. All the while their money man's screwup has led to unnecessary deaths of many US citizens. Hypocrisy is so interesting to watch....
He did admit there were no WMDs. He doesn't want to call it a mistake, but said they could have been. He has admitted that Iraq did not go according to plan.
Tell that to the families who lost people in the war....when we were supposed to find some WMD's that we now say aren't there....
