No matter how high the stakes, he tiptoes around the elephant in the room rather than confronting it head-on. Consider:
1) The Economy. Instead of taking over and restructuring rotten financial institutions, Obama throws money at them and hopes for the best, because he doesn’t have the nerve to fire incompetent executives or force shareholders to take a loss. And when all is bluffed and done, he probably won’t force AIG execs to give back their bonuses, either.
2) Healthcare. Obama wants to achieve the goal of universal affordable healthcare without bypassing its biggest obstacles, like the health insurance and pharma industries. Instead of seriously considering the single-payer approach, he wants to use subsidies and mandates to keep the insurance and pharma industries in the game. If anything, this system will only make them stronger, their reward, I suppose, for being such model corporate citizens and treating us so well over the years.
3) Accountability. Not only has Obama shown no interest in investigating or prosecuting the crimes of the previous administration, but his Justice Department appears to be actively covering for them. BushCo. will get away with every single awful thing they’ve done over the last eight years, and their young apprentices will be emboldened to do the same when they take the reins of government (which may be sooner rather than later if 1 & 2 turn out badly).
Yes, in each of these examples, doing the right thing would encounter resistance: The financial, insurance, and pharma industries all have powerful lobbies and lots of congresscritters in their pockets, but they’re also less popular than Rush Limbaugh. Real reform at their expense would generate a groundswell of popular support that would be hard to resist.
And sure, holding the Bush administration accountable for its many crimes would spark outraged shrieks of "Political witch hunt!" from Republicans and Villagers, but does anyone seriously believe that America would turn on Obama for prosecuting The Worst President Ever and his henchmen?
More than anything, Obama strikes me as a man who will spare no expense on balms and ointments to soothe a painful boil, but simply cannot bring himself to lance it.
Related posts:
- The Anti-Bush, Or Bush Lite?
- Over Half of Blue Dogs’ 2009 Campaign Contributions from Health Care Industry
- Obama Mentions the Max Tax, Gets Booed
- Holder Refuses to Stand by Statements Saying Violating FISA Breaks the Law
- Late Night: Obama Scandalizes Conservatives, Inexplicably Refuses to Cock-Slap Random Foreigners During UN Appearance
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ELI@
oopsie ELI!
SADLY@
SITTENPinOhio gave me hell for saying how dissapointed i was in PBO
heya Eli!
new cormputer here… do I look a little newer and more gorgeousy tonight?
heheheheehehe,i love Obie that is why im dissapointed
I liked him better than Hillary, but I never really expected him to be much of a Courageous Fighter Taking On The Corrupt Establishment.
The typos are mightily worthy of a new computer. Whistle atcha.
Why yes you do. It’s like you stepped in the room in a tux and everything.
Progressives need a lot more base building before we can have a prez we can vote for instead of just voting against the R.
I can’t look directly at him, he’s too shiny.
Sounds like we’ve got the ingredients for an impeachment. Throw in some crust and we’ll have an impeachment cobbler… Mmmmm good!
A Congress that backs him up or brings him along would be helpful also.
thankaverrmuch….
Eli!
JayT of the new ‘puter!
eCAHN!
Everyone braced for another round of “Leave Obama ALOOOOOONE!!1!!@!”?
FunnyDiva
‘plus ca change‘ I can’t believe…
from the French: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
“It is too early to say”
Zhou Enlai, when asked for his assessment of the 1789 French Revolution,
6 frickin weeks,
Can’t help but wonder what’s behind the curtain. What is the AIG media frenzy hiding. What kind of deals are being made, that will slide by in the fog. I’m beginning to feel the fool, went for the hope a dope.
Obama is a lawyer not an economist he just goes along with what the experts say kind of the way most folks do with auto mechanics until too many things are found to be wrong and your friends rave about their mechanic.
To bad Obama doesn’t have any friends who have good mechanics.
ok, the NIT for me,
I really hope you forgot your snark tag!
Besides, mmmmmPeach-ment cobbler is too good to be ratfood!
FunnyDiva
On point 2 I agree about Obama I disagree Obama can make the current system stronger. The increasingly worst economy is crashing all systems in society.
Is this just a symptom of having put his faith in Ax/Plouffe and seeing himself carried to the White House?
“Geitner/Summers are my picks, and no matter how implausible their industry looks, I’m sticking with my guys…”
Where is the breakpoint, the moment where an intelligent guy jettisons the Bimmer for an Apache Gunship?
But he has declared his direction pretty clearly on at least the first two of the three issues, and his actions (or inactions) on the third have been pretty suggestive.
At this point, it becomes a question of whether he’s willing or able to admit that the nonconfrontational approach isn’t working, and to change course to something more direct.
I didn’t remember that Tiny Tim played left-handed. Guess that made him the Jimi Hendrix of the ukelele.
Did you catch Gregg Levine’s earlier post.
I’m afraid you’re right–the bonus brou-ha-ha is both shiny object and tip of iceberg rolled into one.
FunnyDiva
I’d forgive one whole hell of a lot of Obama mis-deeds and non-deeds if he’d get behind war crimes investigation and follow through with indictments.
Did my part for a few low income folks today. I’m on the board of a historical society whose endowment portfolio has been devasted by the market and whose donations are down owing to the economy. Some of our low income employees (who are great) live in houses on the site in exchange for security services (checking historic houses and other buildings, making sure doors are locked, etc). Our housing program, after research, turned out to need some jiggering for IRS purposes. So the issue came up whether the heavily financially stressed organization should ante up to make the employees whole after taxes, or whether the employees should take the hit. Without much opposition, I got passed that the organization should ante up.
obama’s resistance to change would be more palatable if he didn’t run on the exact opposite platform. But then again, he didn’t run on decreasing social security benefits either although that was pretty much the first thing that came out of his mouth once he got elected.
Z
Point 3 I hope your wrong. But on the other hand as the economy gets worse sooner or later someone is going under the bus. A good war crimes trial could distract from the economy I don’t see Obama having too many other distractions lined up.
Me too … if you don’t against that, that you don’t stand for nothing.
Z
I always enjoyed Tiny Tim a lot more on acid….
Well, right now, it would be nice if there were a congress that would fight off Obama’s conservative tendencies. But that is a daydream. He’s going out of his way to turn the Ds even righter than Clinton did.
Eli, I have no quarrels with your posit above.
It’s also what I see.
And I see an administration full of those who have served the interests of the few time and time again, as Deep Capture and Francine McKenna have pointed out . . .
It’s all there, it’s in writing, with details.
The same ones got us INTO this, are now claiming they are trying hard to bail us out of it.
Harumph.
They all continue to serve their own interests, those interests that have long been stated and made obvious.
What HAS changed however, Eli, is never before in our history has so much info of guilt covering so much breadth to such detail ever been available to the masses WHILE they is being looted . . .
Whether that alone is enough to tilt for change, remains to be seen.
As you say, and I’ll put in MY own words . . . I don’t see the foxes changing the access to the hen house.
So. Given we KNOW more about the corruption top to bottom than we have EVER known before?
What next? I keep asking that . . . what next? Pressure from the masses to FORCE change?
Or, cover ups, mollifications, hang a few out to die for example by the PTB, and business as usual with the tug of Repubs V. Dems as the usual bright shiny object to distract?
What next, people? What? I ask. What next? Who will speak? Who will risk blog cred to voice an opinion on this? What next?
I love this town . . . *G*
Beg to differ and let’s not be stingy with the ice cream either…
And to put competent folk in charge who have actually correctly forseen and assessed the problems, often for YEARS, rather than hanging onto the implementors of the Failed Policies of the Past.
After 8 yrs of Bushie incompetence, I have no patience for “well…he’s not an expert in xyz.” He’s not even looking for any, as far as I can tell. He’s certainly turning a deaf ear and blind eye to much of the grassroots that got him elected. At least, all those small donors and volunteers his campaign touted so very loudly during the election.
Bah!
FunnyDiva
Plus ca “change”.
I found him hard to take back in the ’60s when I was a kid. I can appreciate the camp value now.
Good for you, eCAHN. And good for your board.
Long-term best for your historical site, too, I should imagine, to have caretakers living there.
FunnyDiva
And the blowback is killing him . . . it will soon translate to loss of positive polling among the masses.
He’s waffling, not taking charge of the REALITY, only reacting to the simple stuff, like, bonuses . . . which are really in truth, a peanut or two of the problems we face in a political structural manner . . . the kinds of problems that sank USSR . . . and sink most empire wanna be’s where money and wealth move up and the masses are left behind.
What next?
You did good. Thanks.;)
OK, big bowl and big scoop for youse, then.
Too bad it ain’t Peach season yet…
FunnyD
What frustrates me most is that his worst appointees are in the field he *most* needs to get right.
seconded
It just dawned on me today that Tiny Tim was like the first American Idol reject – you know, like William Hung.
Congress? What’s that Unkle Eli? Tell us another story!!!
I’m telling you, everybody get out there tomorrow and protest vehemently with signs calling for geithner and summers to resign (http://takebacktheeconomy.org/). this outrage must be followed by action or else they will never respect/fear it. This must be followed by action, or they’ll just pat us on the head and tell us what a great country this is becoz we have the freedom of speech … but no effect on anything.
Z
Guy plays poker with serious people with their own death squads (Cheney) this might be a bluff until he gets better cards FDR had about twice the economic downturn Obama has now that means he had twice the clout.
We keep pushing Left. We are the bad cop. Obama plays good cop to the GOP.
But as things get worse we tell the GOP the 20%ers are here cooperate or we let them get you.
um,FDR didnt make those mistakes…just sayin
He’s not wrong on point #3. See Glenn Greenwald and Emptywheel on the stuff that’s come out of the Obama DOJ. Six weeks has been plenty of time for them to have set course.
FunnyDiva
Recipe please?
You know that Ben & Jerry did a Yes, Pecan flavor. Impeach Mint sounds like the next new one.
Good Job! Extra points for a good deed!
Thank you. I needed your attagirl.
Thanks to you too. I need all the extra points I can accumulate.
Over the weekend I saw Washington Post’s Steven Perlstein and he was talking good sense. So when I saw his column on their website, I stopped to read Wall Street’s Dangerous Refusal to Learn.
He’s still making good sense. A worthy read.
And what’s this? Ellen Tauscher going to State?
thanks for the heads up, geez the longer it goes the worse it gets.
We have an Attaturk as well, but I guess that’s not as helpful.
He didn’t run on this either.
Democrats in Congress are organizing to squash a White House proposal that would require veterans to use private insurance to pay for treatment of their combat and service-related injuries.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..t_22056386
And yes, I think this whole brouhaha over AIG millions is meant to hide something. Possible where the rest of the billions went or that more billions are going the same way.
We’ve always got stem cell research, I suppose. Not thrilled with his Sec. of Education or his policies (Republican/conservative lite) as a teacher who will feel the ignorance daily; the economic mess is threatening to overwhelm him already as it already has me; his obstinate clinging to “bipartisanship” is clearly a major handicap at this point; covering for BushCo induces vomiting; surrounding himself with 5 conservative, evangelical Christian pastors gives me chills (and not the good kind); I still don’t understand why, with the popular groundswell of absolute hatred and disgust with the banking industry that Congress and the POTUS haven’t run as fast as they can to re-regulate the banks and the credit card companies and make them pay for what they’ve done; and well, we’ve always got stem cell research.
At least there are another 3.75 years for him to naviagate the learning curve. My fear is that he will lurch even further to the right and his administration will keep spouting RNC talking points and they will (in?)advertently re-legitimize the stank Republican brand for them, setting up Republican victories in 2010 and 2012. Sigh.
He was actually pretty good at what he did… although not exactly “TV pretty” to borrow a phrase from Patty and Selma.
Wha?
serious no comprende.
FDR didn’t try to make peach cobbler in mid-March?
FunnyDiva
Hey, eCAHN, good on ya for the advocacy…smart for people, smart for property.
Exactly. It’s frustrating enough when Democrats refuse to do the right thing; it’s even *more* frustrating when it’s both the right *and* politically popular thing.
Two screen names available: Attagirl and Attaboy.
I’m certain Impeach Mint would have found a niche if Ben and Jerry had released it during the Bush years.
Sorry, don’t have a cobbler recipe. My mom used to be quite good at it, sure I could master it if I took the time but don’t really eat sweets anymore. Still nice to dream about, though.
sorry meant to reply to Eli 41
I’m holding off judgement until I see how much $$ get allocated for stem cell research. Talk is cheap.
Then the GOP would have blocked all of Obama’s appointments nobody would be confirmed plus the budget, the stimulus the bank bailout would be blocked.
Granted the bank bailout is bad, the Stimulus could be better.
Newt shut down the government once for spite to hurt Clinton. The GOP will do much worse to stop a war crimes trial.
Besides delaying action on war crimes puts it closer to the next election.
And it gives us more time to dig stuff up and make a better case.
We can hardly do a budget, a stimulus and a bank bailout now. War crimes trials will need our undivided attention.
Eggzakly.
Good on you, eCAHN
does that org. have a website you could linky to? I don’t have many shekels, but maybe some kind words?
FunnyDiva
What about New Orleans, god damnit.
God Damn It!
Fix it. Beat nobody ever fixes it.
Good catch this needs to be stopped just what moron came up with this are the dems trying to lose the Vet vote?
I’ve got a great recipe for any fruit cobler. Spread fruit on the bottom of a pan, with appropriately excessive sugar, and spread a pecan, brown sugar crumbly stuff on the top. Bake however long. It also freezes before baking. I’ve got a nectarine and a pear one in my freezer, just waiting for the irresistable time.
As for Impeachment Cobbler, I’m trying to figure out what fruit would be good with mint. Can’t do lemons, as way too tart. Suggestions anyone?
maybe if just elect enough good democrats we can make a difference blah blah blah blah puke.
prunes
apple with mint?
FunnyD
Jayt!
Are you going to go out and find some girls who’ve been drinking green beer and bring them back to your place to show them your
etchingsfancy new ‘puter?gah! not “purge” cobbler, surely!
FunnyD
Hi, Demi.
At a bare minimum, they could at least not stonewall investigations and prosecutions into the Bush administration…
OK. Back later. Off home now.
XXOO
FunnyD
SAD!
but true, Eli.
but saaaaad!!!
i had hoped, just like he said to, for soooo much more.
Very good point I think the Lake needs a poll what issues do we want to focus on, and what do we think has to be done, and how are we going to pay for it or in the case of New Orleans is the cost of not paying for it to high?
Part of the discussion, unrelated to the staff living on the site discussion, was the issue that good staff increases donations, so we can’t cut back on staff (fire folks) without decreasing revenue. More generally, that concept applies to morale, as tourist visits, and the good will they create, is one of the elements of the top line. If employees hate the org, and live on-site, forget that good will.
Learning curve!?! The guy gets the biggest single bill in history passed, and that’s adjusted for inflation, bigger than the New Deal, and we’ve now got Repubs calling for the nationalization of big banks and for even more Stimulus. There are constant hints coming from the Admin (Romer’s comments from this weekend, Drug policy, single-payer, etc) that much bigger stuff is coming. They simply need more time to get public support and let some of real crooks hang themselves with the rope that’s been extended to them. This is happening right before our eyes.
What Obama has accomplished thus far is simply breathtaking. It’ll be front and center in the history books. He is way ahead of the learning curve. Who are the people that really need to start “navigating the learning curve?”
No President has done anything like this to this extent:
http://narcosphere.narconews.c…..door-again
We can get onboard and make single-payer happen, since public support is rapidly moving in this direction. Or, we can continue to “sigh.”
And at least not start with a totally low-ball stim/budget knowing that the R’s would whine and slash at whatever was originally proposed.
FunnyD
no. It’s not 11-dimensional chess. It’s plus ca “change”
What Funnydiva said.
Good on ‘ya, eCAHN!
That’s a duh. That NoLa hasn’t been fixed has now passed from a W to an Obama problem. No excuses for that.
The following is from a Mojito fruit salad recipe. Don’t have any experience to base an assessment on and don’t know if any of the fruits listed would make the transition to cobbler format but the pic of the salad looks pretty yummy.
Spearmint and Granny Smith Apples?
or rubber-stamp and expand the whole
“gotta throw out the WHOLE court case without a hearing because of STATE SECRETS!”
Bah!
FunnyD.
TCU, Glenn’s been through an awful lot of this in the last month. As has Emptywheel.
Hey. Thanks to you too. Nice to get reinforcement here.
Not that I did very much. There was no opposition to my proposal. It’s just that I spoke out first. It’s a great org, and I hope we can survive the “troubles.”
Eli:
I’ve been thinking the same thing, but the video playing in my head isn’t of Tiny Tim, it’s of this guy
And I know he doesn’t pretend to be him but that’s the video in my head
Or you can look at it as he just barely passed a probably-inadequate stimulus bill, despite having 58 votes in the Senate, and making lots of concessions to wingnut Republicans who were never going to vote yes.
way, way OT:
somehow I’ve gotten myself onto the old Nigerian banks e-mail mailing list. One mighta thunk that this old chestnut was long over, but noooooo….
I’ve been having fun seeing how many millions of dollars I’ve racked up each day.
Just got one that I’ve got to award some kind of prize. It’s a letter from a guy who is quite obviously and entirely legitimately the “Regional Head of Account Dept (CHIPS The Clearing House Interbank Payment System London):”.
Luckily for me, he has informed me:
The late Russian ex-spy Mr. Alexander Litvinenko left in our bank a huge sum of money and nobody will ever come for this money because as an ex-spy he never disclosed his transactions with anyone not even his relatives. I am the only person that is aware of this money since Mr. Alexander Litvinenko did not give to my Clearing House any next of kin to inherit his money.
I’m psyched – he wants my help.
I will give you 30% of this entire fund, 5% will be set aside for disbursement of each party while the remaining 65% shall be for me and my colleagues.
ok, so now I’m un-psyched. Cheap bastard – I only get 30%?
feh.
My own view is somewhere in between, I’m just saying that he had a *hugely* favorable playing field.
Sounds like you’ve got some other really smart, far-seeing, long-term thinking, humane folks on that board with you. Good. Please let them know that it’s appreciated here at The Lake.
FunnyD
Hmmm…..as a poker player I’d say I know another poker player when I see one.
He did this rope-a-dope all campaign season with everyone, progressives included, thinking he was going to fail. And he pulled out a win on the river.
I’m betting he’s got the goods.
soytenly! It’s a little early yet though.
Cobbler has to be baked. Not sure how melons would stand up to that. But berries and papaya, probably.
TCU, apples and mint sounds like a keeper. Next October, when apples are in season.
Hey Diva! Strange times, huh? I don’t feel sorry for nobody. But, I am worried for everybody.
Well what if we serve it to Bush and Cheney? Hmm? put some jalapenos in a juicer with tomato juice to chase the purge cobbler down?
Personal note that drink
nearly killedmade me and my Dad wish we were dead.Oh, good idea. The entire board needs attafolks in these difficult times. I’ll surely pass on the good vibes. And thank you all for reinforcement.
Well said and to the point Eli. It’s too bad we can’t get Obama or any of his help mates to take this seriously.
Pretty disgusted at this point.
Thanks I was getting worried see my 46
More than anything, Obama strikes me as a man who will spare no expense on balms and ointments to soothe a painful boil, but simply cannot bring himself to lance it.
Quite likely. For sure, he isn’t inclined to go against the people who have created these messes. Whether that’s out of naked self-interest or genuine desire to avoid conflict, I don’t know and I’m getting to the point where I don’t care.
The fact is, he will only go where he’s forced to go. Until he’s in danger of losing political power, nothing will change.
I think I might try that myself Washington has Great Apples.
what? 102 comments, and no Digg?
The solution to this crisis will involve disgorgement, or the crisis will become what Chuck Norris uses to become President of Texas with Glenn Beck as Secretary of Buffoonery. But really. People are getting fucking mad. The time will come when such people start reaching for the guillotines unless shit gets correct, in their view. And by that time, they won’t know correct from karate.
Alan Grayson was in the comments here saying that there was some big stuff in the works that he was excited about. It was amusing to see FDLers demand the vaunted “links” for “evidence,” and then Alan appeared befuddled by this request and then says (paraphrase), “I talked to Obama himself about it for half an hour. That’s my evidence.”
Obama did not create the corrupt system in DeeCee. He is navigating incredibly dangerous waters, and probably life-threatening IMO. In spite of this, he has already done more to shift public sentiment to the Left, and enacted the most Liberal policy any President has ever done in my lifetime, by far. What do people think he means when he says, “We’ve got to fundamentally change our system from the bubble-burst cycles.” To me, this is like the old Monty Python skit, “wink, wink, nudge nudge.” Let’s go!
Single-payer is dangling right out there in front of us. It’s up to us to go and get it. Incessant bitching ain’t gonna git ‘er dun, and certainly won’t bring more people over to our side, which is necessary for fundamental changes.
Can you explain Obama’s economics appts if you think he’s got the goods?
Dugg. thanks.
eCAHN! So nice to see you going with the we all need to feel good thingy. I’ve been pushing it for a long time here. Some have resisted. Others not.
We all need to feel good and be nice to each other.
Harrumph-dumph. :)
Dugg!
Dugg!
Eli is right.
And cue it in 3,2,1 “Leave Obama Alooooooone!” I disagree with you 100%. The stimulus bill was too small and hobbled from the start by his giving the Republicans what they wanted BEFORE negotiations even began and he fumbled a great opportunity on the omnibus spending bill. BetweenThe call for nationalization is simply going the opposite way Obama’s Wall Street cabinet picks have chosen. The leaks about veteran’s having to pay for their own health care, “reforming” social security, and the defense of the supreme presidency in cases of torture are all major mis-steps from my point of view.
I can sigh if I damn well want to — I’ve been working hard at this political game for nigh on 30 years now. The mis-steps on several key cabinet positions was embarrassing enough after the Bush fiasco years and the historically high public goodwill the President enjoys now will blow away like chaff on a big wind if he doesn’t do something big soon about his Wall Street insider advisers. Us working class ignorant sighers are at the breaking point and our patience is wearing pretty thin. I worked for the damn campaign and helped Florida turn blue this year and I have a right to question why, what, when, how, and who at every opportunity I get.
I hope to gawd he does have some super-duper, secret plan for everything because this country’s swirling around the bowl and it won’t be much longer before we hit the drain. Single payer my ass — I can’t even pay my electric bill right now while the millionaires from all the damn banks are taking home multimillion dollar “bonuses” for destroying the world economy. And as I was reading earlier inviting the insurance industry to be the first voice at the table doesn’t instill me with confidence on any kind of true health care reform. I remember and worked for the Clinton disaster.
Don’t give me that “Obama’s brilliant!” nonsense. He’s an inexperienced but intelligent man whom I admire in many ways but I’m not happy with what I’ve seen so far and how he has treated me and others who got him elected. Super-duper secret plans notwithstanding.
I specially asked Grayson to “do tell,” since the rest of us could only draw conclusions from the evidence that we have. Grayson was noticeably silent to my request for revelation. Thanks for reminding me of that.
He is creating the conditions for that to happen but its not only him its the entire system GOP and Dem who risk losing power.
Newt has to having Nightmares of the French Revolution
Yeah, when Obama plays the brilliant magical secret hand he’s holding, I’ll be happy to applaud. But I have no reason to believe it exists until I see it.
Here’s a good compare and contrast with the Great Depression.
Obama is not going where we want him to go, with or without pressure. He has his own agenda, bought and paid for by Wall St. Taxpayer raiding continues unabated.
Grayson can’t tell if its a surprise and if he is lying we will… get him!
Put another way, I have the same feeling I had when Pelosi declared impeachment to be off the table. Obama hasn’t announced it like she did, but everything that would severely damage the corporate lobbies and the Bushies is off the table right now.
Will any of it be on the table later? Maybe so, but it isn’t there now.
The hand is public anger at the rich the banks etc and its growing.
Nothing we want is “on” the table. Get real.
Didn’t I just say that? I’m allowing the caveat that Obama has some Grand Secret Master Plan that will make me look like a carping idiot, but if he does, it’s secret indeed.
AIG is killing my tits.
-G
Shit, you mean Grayson’s in on it too! Damn! First Donna Edwards, and now Alan. Why don’t they simply just do what we say!
thanks for the links last night to deep capture. i spent a bunch of time there and it helped my understanding of what’s been happening.
I came late but there used to be moderate Republicans and ideologically I see Obama most comfortably fitting in with them.
AIG is killing my tit.
-MM
I’ll be more than happy to be proved an idiot too, Eli, LOL. I know what I know from experience and I judge what I see. I can’t vouch for the super-secret devilishly smart gobsmacking poker hands since I wasn’t invited to play.
Obama got in office when? I think Raven said 6 weeks ago? Why launch a big plan now when you can wait for Al Franken and then you only have to compromise enough to get 1 GOP Senate vote to stop a filibuster.
Obama is getting what has to be done now done. I grant you that on the Vets pay thing he is wrong. On the bailout he is wrong.
Fair enough.
I personaly am looking forward to the Grand Secret Master(bation) Plan.
NaturePolitics abhors a vacuum.707.
-G
But how can it be both? One argues that he wants to “change how things are done in Washington” and work together on compromises and another argues that he is simply keeping a poker face and waiting for Franken and 1 Republican turncoat. Time will tell, I suppose. I sure don’t remember feeling this afraid this far into any other presidency except maybe Ronnie Raygun’s. : )
So all the pro-corporate stuff and covering for BushCo. is just some kind of feint? I don’t buy it. I think he’s chosen his course, and if he changes it it’ll because he realizes it’s not working, not because of some grand master plan.
NaturePoliticsabhorsis a vacuum.Don’t we all…
“Sigh on You Crazy Diamond”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyqgjCKm9nQ
I would also add to Eli’s list Iraq. We are now looking at a withdrawal of only a few thousand this year which puts Obama’s 16 month plan seriously in doubt. On top of that, he looks committed to leaving 50,000 troops in the country. At least this is what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen said the last time he was on Charlie Rose. He first said 35-50 thousand and then corrected himself and said 50 thousand.
So explain to me how leaving 50,000 in Iraq equates to leaving the country?
Maybe that is the same thing. The citizens will force his hand. I have never seen so many pissed off people. Everyone.
The plan is a choice the GOP can risk French Revolution level chaos as the 20%ers with guns who lost their homes and jobs realize that brown folk don’t have much cash but the Corporate wing of the GOP does.
Or they can cooperate with us and the 70%er majority. Things must get worse before they will get better. Reverse Shock Doctrine time the GOP will never agree to cooperate unless they fear losing everything.
Well, if he *does* change course because he realizes he’s headed off a political cliff, I’m sure we’ll be hearing that this was his plan all along, and he was just waiting for the political climate to ripen.
Not to mention that the sure way to reduce insurgency is to stop occupation.
and for me, the conclusion from that is that he has a different agenda.
exhibit a: campaign contributions from banks and wall street.
exhibit b: voted for fisa during the campaign
exhibit c: during the campaign was up on capitol hill rousing the
dems to vote for a 700 billion bailout with no oversight.
Occam’s Razor.
The Master(bation) Plan.
This will turn out to be the scam of the century.
http://www.cbsmarketwatch.com
U.S. Treasury says it will make AIG pay taxpayers back for the $165 million in bonuses the insurer paid employees and deduct the money from the next $30 billion federal aid installment.
Just follow the paper trail which not one congressman or senator seems willing to do. I wonder why?
What a surprise to see Goldman Sachs as the largest single $ recipient from the aig bailout “taxpayer benefit program for the already ultra wealthy”. gee, the chairman of Goldman sitting on the committee to save aig, who could have seen that coming?
An educated guess would surmise that the payment per recipient amounts recently divulged is small potatoes related to the real reason aig was left alive.
Could it be that some firms (gosh, i wonder who?) also wrote LARGE dollar amounts of credit default derivatives on aig paper? enough to sink these firms writing the credit default derivatives should aig have been allowed to file bankruptcy. might we surmise if aig were allowed to fail during the duration of coverage of these credit default derivatives, one or two very prominent firms would have gone bye bye? gosh, I wonder what major investment bank (oops there are no investment banks anymore, they are all banks now) had a ton of credit default derivatives on aig related paper?
Wouldn’t it be a surprise if the cost of paying off those credit default derivatives, on a default by aig, was of a $ size MANY magnitude larger then the funds so far payed out to aig winning bet counter-parties. as soon as those credit default derivatives time limits expire, so will the necessity of keeping aig alive.
Might this be the real reason the taxpayers have been forced to shovel well over $180 billion into aig? so the parties who wrote credit default insurance on aig do not have to pay up? The old magicians trick, mis-direction. while everyone focuses on the small potatoes (what an ironic use of the term but probably correct in relevance in this case) of who got paid out the obscene $75 billion or so for winning bets, they fail to look for the likely real, and much large $, reason aig was kept alive at taxpayer expense:
The question the public should be asking is what favored firm would have been on the hook for hundreds of billions in credit default derivatives if aig had filed for bankruptcy last year (gee, could it be someone also on the recently released list of $’s received from aig?). Also, regarding the term “credit default derivative” don’t get hung up on the exact wording. it may not be called “credit default derivative” but you get the idea. nothing like being able to answer a direct congressional inquiry in the negative, because the terminology is not a perfect match for the question asked. Time reveals all. Nothing like taxpayer charity for the already ultra wealthy.
Luckily the above scenario could not be the case because the U.S. markets are self regulating and free of corruption and self dealing. i know this because Alan Greenspan and others have stated this, so it must be true.
Time will tell there are 2 possible paths right now we must wait and see, but it is one hell of a ride:)
I disagree, fwiw. They will risk everything if there’s even a squeek of electoral advantage. They are not the party of “No” any more, or perhaps they never were. They are a bunch of nihilists.
Meh. In all cases, I have to say, consider the reaction of Obama went for the full-throated liberal response off the bat.
I believe that his goals are solidly progressive, but having come into political maturity watching Clinton(s) (particularly on health care), that he wants to be strategic and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
He’s taken plenty of bold steps, but on other issues he’s been more cautious. As far as I’m concerned, he could release 75% of Gitmo detainees immediately and institute trials for the rest. But then again, I don’t have to be responsible for the results or deal with Congress or military putting up Nuremberg defenses etc.
But again, particularly on health care. If you have a system of “mandatory coverage”, sufficient subsidies, etc, pretty quickly the insurance companies become just paper pushers (instead of paper pushers trying to make a profit by denying you health care). If you achieve that, they become no more than minor contractors, and it becomes pretty easy to roll in universal health care.
He’s not going to please everybody with every decision, especially when it comes to genuine liberals and long-term goals vs short-term strategy, but so far I’m pleased with how he’s doing. For the first time in my life, I feel like we elected a dude who’s canny enough to get the job done and shares the same goals I do (which, in case you haven’t been paying attention, include universal health care).
I really, really wish he’d be bolder on the financial crisis – but if he went out hardcore, it could cause a lot of nervousness in the market and legitimize blaming him for the whole clusterfuck. Making more cautious steps, then making bolder steps when the shortcomings are apparent, is really excellent politics.
Again, as a liberal, I would cheer much more aggressive approaches. But as an adult, I’m satisfied – for now.
yes, do please pass on our “attafolks”. No, really, if I was there, I’d squeeze their hands warmly and look deep into their faces and say “you did the right thing. thank you. bless you. I just hope I grab the chance to do the same if it comes my way.”
FunnyD
Its not a feint things like the budget the stimulus have to get done now without Al. They have to get done nice or none of Obamas secretaries would have been appointed if we led off with war crime trials.
Al is a card once he is in Obama’s hand expect Obama to raise the stakes.
As the economy gets worse thats another card expect the media to complain that the mob is pulling Obama left.
Never mind that the mob will scare the GOP into cooperating the MSM will never say that.
i don’t buy obama’s fake outrage for a second–it’s called collusion.
i want to know what obama knew about the provisions for limiting bonuses, and who was responsible for stripping them from the legislation.
i could care less about his faux contrition for the failed daschle nomination; i want him to tell the truth about–and accept responsibility for–these mistakes. wasn’t he just calling out companies for purchasing new corporate jets? and yet someone in the administration actively took steps to thwart the limiting of bonuses. who do they think they’re kidding?
aka 15-dimensional chess, upside down, under cold oatmeal.
FunnyD
AIG should just be taken over just as any failed banling concern should be. And to pay bonuses to those who caused the company’s demise is just plain ass wrong on oh so many levels!!
Hey Neuro I Dugg your DIGG and left a comment!!
Erin go braless! Happy St Paddies day to all… Have a shot of Bushmills for me!
So let me try to understand the sentitment that dominates these threads night after night, day after day…
The biggest Liberal expenditures and most Liberal policies enacted since probably the 1960s are cool and all, they’re just not enough. And because they aren’t enough, Obama is a BigMoney shill. Oh, and if only he were more skilled and experienced in the ways of Warshington, he would’ve been able to spend more and correct all of the Repubs evils enacted over the last 30-40 years, including Clinton’s horrendous bills like NAFTA, Telecommunications Act, Repeal of Glass-Steagall, etc.
Did I get that right?
If so, I totally disagree. Things are lining up for massive, fundamental change to the American system, and this is happening largely through Obama’s approach to problem solving. He doesn’t need a learning curve because he’s creating an entirely new equation. Over and out.
Love Pink Floyd. Thanks!
Great comment. Thanks for that.
I am willing to grant your idea might be right. So then we have no choice but to squash them. But by being nice we show the moderates we gave the GOP every chance to change this buys us moderate Cred.
I can’t see much difference between what Obama is doing and what Bill Clinton would most likely be doing.
They are both pro-corporate Dems who cater to monied elites. The critical factor is that our present circumstance requires someone with a deeper vision than Bill Clinton ever had and Obama does not seem to have it also. so far as I can tell.
Cool. Here’s some more, from my side of the opinion divide…goes out to 95% of the FDL comment crew:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..re=related
completely agree…..refer to the poker references
look at how the Repubs are screaming and whining about the smallest thing and Obama looks cool and in control
a good poker player would let that whine continue until the real players at the table pay no attention
it’s already happening
(you even have grassley asking for hara kiri!)
keep the faith…he’s got pocket aces
So ‘we’ are supposed to get some ‘hints’ and pick up the ball for the President? I thought maybe he could uhm…lead and just spell it out loud and clear and even go so far as to call out in public whoever is holding up the change we need, if this is a ‘historic’ crisis, then why the games? He could then as our ‘leader’ implore the people to besiege the bottleneckers instead of this incessant bitching…He simply doesn’t have the political will (life threatening or no, he is the President) to accomplish what is needed. I’m starting to think of Charlie Brown and him trying desperately to kick the ball (down the road) and always missing…Harsh? you bet our collective futures hinge on what decisions happen (how is commerce governed?). I thought with pressure we were going to swing the balance back with Obama, all that’s happened is it’s slowed down a bit and that was gonna happen anyway…I think our current government and the mega corporations are sufficiently married that it really doesn’t matter which party is in power, wait we just need a few more senators in 2010…or 12.
Saddened by what I’ve seen so far…
Bill Clinton NEVER did this. In fact, he did just the opposite!
http://narcosphere.narconews.c…..door-again
Massive difference.
Well, in a word, no. No one is asking for an overnight progressive extreme makeover. (Some may be; I know better). I’m not sure what in the world you are talking about when you say “biggest liberal expenditures” and “most liberal policies”. In many ways Richard Nixon was far more liberal than Obama has been so far. I don’t want to write a long answer but delving deep into his education policy, for example, as my own metier, I find a very conservative slant on most everything. Even Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education under Bush, said that Obama’s policies are the 3rd term of Bush and Arne Duncan, the new Secretary of Education, is Margaret Spellings (Bush’s Sec. of Ed) in drag. She wasn’t being complimentary. As to the economic policy and appointments — show me 1 liberal. Buehler? Buehler?
small world, Oaktown version: I just bumped into that Kos fellow (a neighbor of sorts) while leaving work.
I think it depends on whether you believe that this is all just the first step of Obama’s grand master plan, and that he’s going to accumulate more power and use it to take off in newer and bolder directions, or whether you think he’s a cautious moderate who will only stick his neck out so far.
Obama has disappointed too many times for me to believe he’s any more progressive than Clinton. He may muddle through and be a halfway decent president, but he’s not going to be transformative. If he is, it’ll probably be despite himself.
It’s really just simple checkers. He’s clearly said what his approach is and what he hopes will happen from the first day he’s been on a national stage. Change comes from the ground up, not from one individual.
I think this is a fair description of Republicans. But it irks me like anything to listen to a Congressional hearing and find only the Republicans are asking anything like tough questions.
And I think too that nihilism describes our political elites in general. Look at George Bush even not preventing 9/11 he could have governed as a fairly benign non-entity (and might even have been regarded with a certain level of affection, a dope but a likeable dope). Instead he morphed into the worst President in our history.
Now we have Barack Obama at a time when we need effective, forceful action to take over and restructure a hopelessly corrupt and dysfunctional financial sector. And what does he do but put Wall Street cronies in charge of his effort and at every step he does so much less than what is required.
It is like becoming President unleashes some hidden spring of destructiveness aimed not only at themselves but at the country as well.
oops, last post was reply to 149
God, I hope you saluted.
ah, there’s that phrase again, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, LOL
and, no, obama’s goals are not solidly progressive, and especially not on health care, and especially not the way you’ve described it: as some system wherein the insurance companies “quickly become paper pushers” who then become disappearing minor contractors. with all due respect, you don’t know what you’re talking about here. i’d recommend going to democracy now’s website and listening to some of the recent debates on obama’s “reform” vision vis-a-vis universal health care.
as for the matter of telco immunity, the unitary executive, indefinite detention, obama has most certainly not broken with the last administration.
so yes, i’m aware that he is not perfect, and i’m also aware that what he’s been doing is not good. far from it.
Completely. They relish the role of populists, and are taking the bull by the horns. Some of them were excellent today.
Obama can’t alienate the torturers and torture apologists if he wants to be inclusive and bipartisan.
Yes, it’s snark.
more stealth chess? LOL
In a time of crisis, I want to see the President rise to the occasion and kick major ass. But the *right* ass, and competently.
I flashed my FDL gang symbol and he backed off. :~)
If the Republicans end up channeling the outrage to become the populist party, the Democrats are toast and deserve to be.
But it’s hard to see how the Republicans can become the anti-corporate party.
Jumping in here. Eli, have you been on vacation? Or have I just totally missed your posts. (Don’t think so…I usually check back.)
It’s true. But for today they seized the mic, and I found myself wishing some earnest Dems had stepped up thusly.
Must say, they mostly came down on the side of letting the big guys fail, which was predictable. But compare the lukewarm Tester to most of teh Goopers today – they scored.
Edit: they are taking it one day at a time. Tomorrow they may be back to their old selves.
Poker as the way to understand Obama I hope the GOP does not catch on:)
I haven’t gone anywhere. I still post on Tuesday and Friday nights – I haven’t put up many ad-hoc posts lately, though.
Him?? Or you??
Hey Hon. Will you check your email in a little bit? Thanks.
Atrios was wondering the same thing. Great minds think alike….
Will They Manage?
“I’ve been sitting her for months wondering if Republicans would ever be able to get away from reflexively leg-humping Big Money and their general love of handing taxpayer money to rich people and start out-outraging and out-populisting Democrats about this bailout stuff.
Some signs today they might be going there. It’s an obvious route, even if it means going against the money boys. Can they manage?”
-Atrios
A French revolutionary mob passes by a politician is seen 5 minutes behind them and says I must get in front I am their Leader.
Mob politics moves faster than government can.
I think it’s more a question of how can they finesse it so they talk the anti-corporate talk while continuing to walk the pro-corporate walk.
I’m pretty sure the corporations could care less what the Republicans say about them, so long as they keep treating them right.
Obama didn’t create the corrupt system. He has to start with where things are at. Change comes from popular uprising. It can’t be just one person, since all they would have to do is take out that one person. He’s covering all flanks. Brilliant. Most here don’t agree or realize/ignore these dynamics. Whatever the case, it’s not gonna change sitting here scouring for “links” (TM). Really gotta go now…!
T-Shirt:
I voted for a radical progressive and all I got was this wimpy, establishment moderate.
My fault, really.
yes, the unraveling of so much of our democracy was already in place before obama was inaugurated and he’s not rolling back all the nasty loss of civil liberties. i figured him for restoring habeas corpus immediately and i’m horrified to see that it’s nowhere in sight.
What we got symbols, what are our colors, why doesn’t anybody tell me these things?
Well good. I’ve been swamped and miss half the goodies.
He’s actually only a little bit worse than I expected. Possibly even slightly better.
Sure!
“Admittedly, it’s still very early in Obama’s term, but so far I’ve seen precious little evidence that he has the
stomachballs for it.”Fixed it for you.
I don’t mean any offense to you but I find this very funny. We have had the bursting of a major bubble, a recession, a financial meltdown, and our current economic situation can be called depression, anyone who isn’t nervous hasn’t been paying attention. As for blame, if Obama fails, and his policies seem to guarantee this, he should be blamed.
I have seen on this thread praise for the Obama stimulus but it is half the size it needs to be, it creates (at best) one third the jobs needed, it will have little effect this year, and its effects will largely dissipate in the first months of 2011.
I have used examples like this before but if you are in a boat in a storm taking on water fast, and the captain decides that he/she will run the pumps to remove water at half the rate it is coming in. You would think they were being dangerously negligent. Well, that’s Obama. Just because Bush would have knocked holes in the side of the ship doesn’t mean that the result won’t be the same.
I had to improvise?
Yes, unfortunately it’s a long, long list of things that will need to magically happen once the hand is finally laid down on the table, or the chess move is finally made in the 15th dimension, isn’t it? Now it will be bailout ass-covering and scapegoating for the foreseeable future and more moves to the right on bread-and-butter democratic party issues to stave off the republican howler monkeys and the press all while dancing around the core issues that mean real “change”.
But we’re going to drown *slower*! You don’t think that’s awesome?
(And I can totally picture Dubya explaining that he had to punch holes in the boat to let the water drain out.)
OK, that made me spew with laughter. Time for bed for me. Peace to all!
i’ve done my part for st. patrick’s day. was out at the irish bar listening to fiddlers imported from ireland.
Eli’s comin’. The honeymoon is OVAH!
This man has lied to US about nearly everything. No healthcare or “health care reform” over the next 10 years and now throw the vets to the insurance companies.
OH! Just saw this ” New World VIEW” on Olbermann with O’s pic on it. Is that Newspeak for “New World Order”?
By the time America wakes up from her love affair with HOPE, we’ll all be starving in the streets.
Simply LOVE Rahm’s “compulsory service” for those between 18 and 24 years old. ( Obama Youth?) There’s plans for the retired too…..wonder what those will be.
Nothing more interesting than watching my country disintegrate to the tune of a “charismatic leader”.
Me singing like a four year old: I get to see Loo Hoo. I get to see Loo Hoo.
I am afraid to ask what is our gang sign now?
And I posted THE GREATEST ST. PATRICK’S DAY VIDEO OF ALL TIME.
and won’t Captain, our Captain look like a genius when we don’t. quite. all. drown. at the last second!
F.E.H.
FunnyDiva
No. It’s not 11-dimensional chess. It’s plus ca “change”.
you didn’t get your welcome packet?
(just kidding – drive-by blogging could get dangerous if gang signs were involved)
Yeah, Eli, that about describes my POV.
Politics being the art of the possible, I’m still willing to give O some slack here.
But I must admit I’m getting to the end of my rope. Re the current economic crisis, his putting Geithner and Summers, old Wall Street insiders, at the head of his economic team sent a cold shiver down me spine.
Getting colder as the weeks drag by…
Yer welcome. I’m a bit disconsolate that folks across the blogosphere are not using that blog, it’s reporting, and that of Francine McKenna and others to really hammer it home how crooked the gamed game is.
It’s certainly one thing to criticize AIG and bonuses, but the problem(s) we face is/are endemic and top to bottom thru out our lives in every aspect.
I maintain that there’s never been this much info out in the open, accessable to the masses, about this level of corruption, that details who the bad guys are.
And I’m crestfallen that the torches and pitchforks being wielded by the progressives and their blogs are pointing to small ‘taters . . . . when we’ve all got access to the info that speaks of how LARGE the damned spoiled potato really is.
Again, thanks for the reply.
Share the links, ask people to voice opinions about them. Debate their veracity, even . . .
But there it is, whoomph. Right there. All ’splained out. Top to bottom.
Now.
Where do we go from here? Where WILL we go from here?
And to stay OnTopic W/ Eli . . . . is Obama with us, or is he shillin for the bad guys, cus his admin is FULL of them who got us here . . .
In reply to FDL’ers who maintain hope for and support for Obama and his intentions (whatever they may be, good or bad, we CAN’T tell at this point) I say, damn I hope he’s one of us. And to that end we should recall his posit:
“Make Me Do It.” Loosely taken and attributed, but that’s his mantra . . . make him do it.
I’m wondering if he wants us all in the streets with our second amendment right . . . cuz THAT’S a bit harsh.
However it all goes, if it don’t go better, we WILL make him do it, I have NO doubt of that.
Otherwise he’s a one term leader of change in one of the most PIVOTAL moments in our history, and likely the history of the species . . . we either grow from this and change, or it’s back to business as usual and the ones with power rule and fight to get more . . . with that paradigm, we’re all dead sooner than later.
Obama has the seat on the throne in the moment of a thousand lifetimes.
How will he sit?
(bowstogreenwarrior)
Attackerman is upstairs at the top!
I Said I Said What I Said
Drive bys great we are a gang I thought those Seattle police were eye ballin me!
by default, republicans are very bad at poker
libertarians, pretty good :)
Moderate Republicans? And where do they stand with the raping and pillaging that’s gone down on behalf of their party, and the other party’s?
I don’t find Moderate Republicans to be less culpable for where we’re at.
Do you? If so, and I DO bow to yer wow, always . . . but how are they different?
The system’s endemically corrupted. How can ANY grouping be other than the labor masses be NOT culpable for what’s gone on?
Again, always appreciate your musings and thoughts . . . .
Not to mention NSPD 51
you representin’?
But so far, Republicans (and lobbied elected officials) suck.
Just like a vacuum. *G*
I think the moderate Republican was hunted to extinction several years ago, actually. I guess it just wasn’t adapted for survival in today’s climate.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
LOLOLOLOL!
(bows to the snark)
or evolved into a fiscally conservative socially liberal D like I did.
You honestly think he don’t know he’s headed off a cliff? Not cuz the GOP is on his ass, but because the media, and US, the blogosphere, is on his ass?
Hell, even the STRAIGHT MSM NEWS is bad news for Obama these days! Every day! He’s failing!
You think he don’t know it?
So let’s accept he knows it.
What’s he gonna do?
yes, there’s no place for that in a democracy.
all right luvlies, it’s time for me to lay down my head. i so appreciate that there are folks who are paying attention to what’s happening. g’night all.
“town”? What town? This is a lake. Didn’t you read the name of the site?
Everybody comes here for the waters. Isn’t that why you’re here?
Of course some live blogging from the Village tomorrow could be very fiery!
oh ot:
i saw the most amazing movie today at south by southwest. it’s called Over the Hills and Far Away. here’s the LINK to play the trailer.
don’t miss it when it comes to you.
To me the first sign that he realizes it’s not working would be if he fires Geithner and replaces him with one of the people who’s been calling for him to start seizing zombie banks instead of funding them.
We’re just finishing up another viewing of the Yes, Minister series and are about to move on to Yes, Prime Minister. Brilliant writers and cast. Absolutely, bang-on. Highly recommend. Cheers.
And he will have (or would have had) all the political capital he could have possibly needed. He is running out of it fast, IMO.
What was it, $300B to get Obama elected? And NOW you say what you really want is action and not just the nice words & great suit. Sheesh.
Isn’t there a ‘forces’ agreement with Iraq which requires us to have everybody out by the end of ‘11 or ‘12?
What peeves me about the slow drawdown is the cost of still being there and, of course, the human lives which will inevitably be lost by simply being there.
By the way, I gave the wrong date for the demonstrations, they are Thursday not tomorrow.
obama is pulling his cool act right now … acting like everyone is overreacting. this is a ploy and test for us. they will continue acting like it is no big deal until we make it a big deal by getting out and being heard and being disruptive. this movement against these crooks … that obama has apparently decided to ally himself with becoz they got big money … needs some some synergy and this is our opportunity. So, I urge everyone to read my previous post and get out there on and demand change … or otherwise we will not be taken seriously and continue to be marginalized. We need to create change not listen to someone pontificate about it whose obviously got no damn intention of bringing enough of it about.
Z
or sawing off the airplane’s wings because they’re weighing the airplane down!
God knows what he said to the Canadians.
Cuts deep. *G*
Yeah, Deep Capture and Francine pretty much cover all that . . . and the accounting firms who audited it all and made it legal to the SEC. The crooks cover the spectrum from investor to politician to regulator.
Question is, what will be DONE about all this?
We KNOW the how, the who, the why.
Now, WHAT WILL BE DONE?
Ain’t it though . . . from McCarthy to Big Brother Exposed.
Boomers seen it all . . . *G*
Is he with us or agin us?
Raised middle finger?
Symbol, raised middle finger.
Color, chartreuse.
‘Life is simple, don’t fuck it up.’
*G*
Then here’s to one more play of The Devils Dream . . .
Even Kids Have Devil’s Dreams
I like that, and Geithner is an OBVIOUS Spring Lamb For Easter. *G*
I’d like to see more pressure on Rahm, and more transparency about HIS reality, too.
My guess is if I HAD that transparency, I’d want HIM sacrificed with some EVOO, garlic and lemon and rosemary over a hard wood fire, too . . . *G*
Thanks again for all you post and for your replies to my thoughts and comments.
Against my every inclination, I’m starting to agree.
What I don’t get is how this can possibly seem like a politically savvy course at present, especially to one who is clearly a consumate politician in all the best senses.
Somehow the idea that our President is in Wall Street’s pocket or somehow beholden to Messrs. Geithner and Sumner does not seem plausible to me. If I had, say, taken contributions from the Wall Street buccaneers or if they knew where any of my skeletons were buried, I’d start my term by denouncing them as creatures of the old Republican regime, as economic traitors, etc. I’d whip up public fury, unleash the fraud squad, audit books, sieze banks, and have daily perp walks featuring all of the self-proclaimed masters of the universe in succession. I’d make so much noise my own failings would never get a word on the nightly news. That’s what’s great about dramatic action in a crisis with nice larger than lie villains–even the tame media can’t ignore the drama.
I’d plan on coasting through my first two years talking about nothing else. I’d never have to take blame for anything during my first term, and, no matter what came of it all, I’d like my chances of ending my second term revered as America’s greatest president ever.
But instead we get this boring rank-smelling business as usual approach to the crisis, which has no political upside that a naif like me can see and is easy for the media and the Republicans to spin (just saw McConnell calling for ultimata and investigations–under my imagined scenario he’d be lucky to be on his way back home mounted on a rail and crudely dressed as a fowl by now).
So why this strategy? If our President sincerely believed that he is doing the right thing, he’d be dumber than I think possible.
So what gives?
In 2008, the AIG criminals got $1,000,000 each:
http://uppitywoman08.wordpress…..n-bonuses/
Why didn’t George Bush, Paulsen, and Bernanke step in? AIG was calling them ‘retention bonuses’ back then. Oh that’s right! They wanted the next president to deal with the biggest shit pile in the history of America, you know, the shit pile that can still be seen via satellite.
And President Obama is being blamed for all of it! Yippee! He’ll be impeached by the end of the year and the republicans of America will rejoice! They have a lot of help too. Thanks conservadems for your patriotism. While the real criminals go free, you’re all going after the guy whose been in office for 2 months. Nice.
The neocons and the conservadems are too big to fail! Impeach, impeach, impeach to show us Americans how to impeach a president!
Who is that?