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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Wow, you got the guy elected. He's showing more commonsense than he did in his campaign now during his transition. He's picking people with experience and who are respected nationally and internationally. He's making noises like he really understands that he can't just tax business into the ground and expect the economy to rebound. He's listening to wise old soldiers and politicians who have been around the block many times and who are sharing their wisdom with him. He's not integrated his cabinet yet with enough Republicans to make me really happy but I feel like there is hope.
I didn't vote for him. In fact, I was really bummed that he won. I didn't think he had enough experience and commonsense to do the right things. He is proving me wrong with a bunch of the choices he's made in flexible position statements and in appointments.
For the first time since the election, I have some hope. Hope that our country isn't going down the tubes in some leftist orgy of craziness in spending, taxing, government interference. That might be silly hope but I sure hope not. I won't mind seeing some of the changes on some levels but I sure hope pragmatism will rule Obama's hand more than anything else.
Thank God he is showing his centrist leanings. Thank God we don't have a leftie crazy in there just like I'd say thank God we didn't get a right wing crazy in there (and I am not writing about McCain - he's not right wing, he's centrist!).
I'm trying to give this guy a chance and maybe he can win me over some more with evidence of the wisdom of his commonsense intelligence and centrist approach. Thank God for revived hope. It's a small glimmer for me but at least I don't feel so much like the sky is falling as I did earlier this month.
Now, lefties, quit whining and let the guy do his job. When he actually gets in the office and makes a bunch of screaming mistakes, OK, blast him. But for the meantime, just shut up. I have, why can't you?
After being lulled into a state of uncritical acceptance of Obama, progressives are finally proving that their brains remain functional. Recall when Bill Clinton called Obama's famed opposition to the Iraq war a fairytale. That comment earned Clinton the Most Racist of 2008 award. But now, progressives are scratching their heads and wondering whether Bubba was right.
Despite saying that Clinton showed a lack of judgment on the war, Obama picked Biden, who voted for the war, as a running-mate. Now Obama is ready to name Clinton as Secretary of State -- and allow her to pick the entire staff of the State Department. This is a very sweet moment. The Left was most neurotic about "distinguishing" Clinton from Obama in the context of foreign affairs. Obama simply fed progressives what they wanted to hear. He beat down Clinton on the war because it won primaries and caucuses, generated donations, and turned him into an international pop star. Apparently, progressives needed hope so desperately, that they forgot Obama was a politician.
During the general election, Obama barely mentioned the war, and his political appointments indicate that he is not a leftist in foreign affairs. And if Larry Summers becomes his Senior Economic Advisor, I do not expect him to be progressive on domestic issues either. Hillary Clinton took a bullet on healthcare almost two decades ago; so, even that is now a moderate issue. So what remains of the Obama-as-Leftist fantasy? Not much.
http://dissentingjustice.blogspot.com/2008/11/governing-in-prose-obamas-cabinet-picks.html
I did breathe a sigh of relief when Penny Pritzker took herself off the list for Secretary of Commerce. If Obama was really seriously considering her, that's one surprise mark against his brains and common sense, and against his promise of departure from politics-as-usual. She would have been one big ol' heaping can of worms.
Obama seems to be choosing people that are competent and get things done.
Idealogically-driven leadership, left or right, sucks. Ideology is important, but it belongs on the side, influencing thought and debate, not running the show.
It has been clear to me for months that Obama is a pragmatist. That's a good thing. We need pragmatism (implemented by wicked smart people, which Obama has in surplus).
My message to progressives: Obama's the best thing to happen for progressives since, well, I don't know- LBJ? Don't get greedy. We may not be a center-right nation, but we aren't all that leftist, either.
Also, he's inheriting a big crock of crap that he has to get through first, and doing so is going to require skill.
I, personally, have been enormously impressed with Obama's recent stances on a progressive issue that is important to me- energy policy. His "shock and trance" characterization of US reaction to changes in oil prices was brilliant, as was his statement at Arnold's climate conference in CA- "Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response."
So far, pretty much everyone who has second-guessed Obama on something has been wrong. The man's not going to be perfect, but he has shown an insane amount of promise over the last few months. Let him, I don't know, govern first before passing judgment.
I'm perfectly happy with Obama holding mostly center. Ensure my family can get healthcare, give better attention to the middle class worker, push back on crony capitalism/corporate welfare, effect decent regulation of capitalism, give me a sane foreign policy, and be 1000 times more intelligent than Bush, and he can drive all the far lefties nuts as far as I am concerned.
First he better find a way to save the economy, because it is a LOT worse than you all think. Throwing money into the pet left wing programs is not the way to ensure we survive at this time.
As Obama made his Wall Street vs Main Street speech back in September, directly behind him, grinning like chesire cats were Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, two of the four men (Greenspan and Graam the others) most responsible for the financial conflagration devastating economies around the world. Summers is now Obama's director of the NEC, and Timothy Geithner, a Rubins protege the new SecTres. Lol!
See
From the NYT, The Reckoning--Taking a New Look at a Greenspan Legacy; Oct. 8, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/6yzsff
Ms. Born was concerned that unfettered, opaque trading could “threaten our regulated markets or, indeed, our economy without any federal agency knowing about it,” she said in Congressional testimony. She called for greater disclosure of trades and reserves to cushion against losses.
[snip]
In early 1998, Mr. Rubin’s deputy, Lawrence H. Summers, called Ms. Born and chastised her for taking steps he said would lead to a financial crisis, according to Mr. Greenberger. Mr. Summers said he could not recall the conversation but agreed with Mr. Greenspan and Mr. Rubin that Ms. Born’s proposal was “highly problematic.”
Also,
Citigroup Saw No Red Flags Even as It Made Bolder Bets; nyt; nov.23, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/5t9259
See also,
Robert Rubin: What Meltdown; CNN Money; Jan. 31, 2008
In a talk on Wednesday, the Citigroup director said the current financial upheaval is just cyclical. And none of the blame that there was to assign went to Wall Street.
http://tinyurl.com/6ara42
Where Was The Wise Man [Rubin]?; NYT; April 27, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/4p7v58
Advisers! You betcha! I bet they were. Citi is now into the taxpayer for $306 billion guarantees. You gotta know the right people, of course.
Lol!
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
