It's pretty clear by now I was never caught up in the Obama thrill. I never really saw what was new about him other than being the child of a man born in another country (a plus, if anything). All the fine talk rang hollow, and I'm suspicious of popularity anyway. That's all by the way: I'm perfectly fine with him being President -- he's an amazing person and so long as he doesn't end up under the thumb of those legendary Washington interests, he'll make his mark.
So long as he doesn't. If he's serious about appointing Hillary as SecState, I think we can all agree that dream is officially over: The consummate power player, and wife of an ex-President whose fingers are in every lucrative pie in the world, being named Secretary of State. It was a fun little revolution, wasn't it? I hope you enjoyed it.
It's a little early but I'm thinking Daniels/Rice 2012. I don't like Jindal -- he's a creationist nutjob -- or ANY of those clowns who ran against McCain. I admire Dr. Rice completely, and Daniels, recently re-elected governor of Indiana, has a get-it-done tight-budget reputation. That's all I know. It's enough for now.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Don
I'm too serious
Tell me, tell, me, if you think you know
Labels
- About Me (15)
- aminals (25)
- architecture (3)
- burningman (41)
- ceaseless self-examination (19)
- history (17)
- inchoate entrepreneurialism (2)
- kid stuff (24)
- long unedited essays (22)
- music (4)
- NaNoWriMo (29)
- nanowrimocrastination (3)
- oh my godless (2)
- OMG IM OCD (4)
- people are strange (2)
- people are stupid (11)
- people what matter (18)
- perpetual picture-taking (24)
- politics (67)
- random life events (59)
- random whining (14)
- reading (4)
- San Francisco (11)
- shameless sexism (1)
- short fiction (3)
- short unedited essays (10)
- society (14)
- sports (2)
- thinking too much (9)
- Thursday Thirteen (6)
- travel (53)
- wha-a-atever (25)
- wordless wednesday (6)
- work (34)
- writing (15)
- xmas (13)
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(185)
-
▼
November
(25)
- Okay. Next?
- 47k
- For years we kept all the old soft cuddly toys and...
- A Dog and her Bark
- F O R D*
- Victory in Iraq Day 22 Nov
- Stuff to Post While I Gear Up To Write Some More II
- Stuff to Post While I Gear Up To Write Some More
- Presidential Prototype?
- Business As Usual
- Musing
- 21825
- Crossroads
- Casino Royale
- 15004
- So Then What
- NaNoMoment 7279
- Obamanic Relations
- Emotional Mixtures
- Spirits
- I'm Missing All The Fun
- PuDaNaNoDiMo II
- PuDaNaNoDiMo
- 1717
- One Point Two Five Percent
-
▼
November
(25)
16 comments:
Rice is utterly steeped in the Bush-Cheney KoolAid. She's dead in the water because of that. By 2012 we'll be seeing even more of the horrors of that administration. Tell me, if everyone was trying to dissociate himself from Bush in 2008, what makes you think the ultimate Bush apparatchik will be entertained for even a minute in 2012?
I don't see that Clinton is BHO's best choice, but she'd be a fucksight better than Ms. Uhhh...
The history of it is too fresh to tell, but by 2012 we won't really know if the horrors we see are because of that administration, or in spite of it. Regardless, Rice will have had the opportunity to differentiate herself by then. Of course, I'm biased: Recent history has vindicated my pseudo-neocon outlook. All peoples now look to democracy as their goal and are increasingly suspicious of tyrants. I see no contradiction should Obama, under another label if necessary, continue the policies that Dr. Rice has so often and eloquently articulated.
To the question, everyone was disassociating from Bush because of his low poll ratings. By 2012 he will be history and thus of little interest to the bulk of Americans. Someone who performed well during his time will be judged more on her own merits than on his lack thereof.
Yeah, I never was all rah rah for O either. He seemed just another Chicago politician, despite his lurvely tan. And that is what he is, as peeps should see now as he gives away the plum jobs to his buddies and recreates the Clinton admin. But I'm not complaining! I don't want a whole bunch of radical change, and a repeat of the Clinton admin (minus the blow jobs) wouldn't be such a bad thing.
more blow jobs for all! i know, us liberals are just no damn good.
cracks me up. the guy isn't even in there yet, and already he's no good. here's an idea-give him 8 years to fuck things up, like his predecessor.
I never said he's no good. I'm just a little reactive against all the floating amongst rainbows that his supporters have indulged in. Feet on the ground, he will be business as usual. That predictable fact is not what compelled so many to vote for him, and I hope they learn from it. I'm all for more blow jobs, and if nominated will happily serve in any capacity in the Department of Cunning Linguists.
"...but by 2012 we won't really know if the horrors we see are because of that administration, or in spite of it."
Dude, this remark really blows my mind. We are already seeing the horrors these swine have perpetrated. We're living in the midst of them. It isn't too soon to tell have much they've fouled things up. Bush squandered everything he was handed for the benefit of God-Knows-Who, for reasons that were never made clear. His brand of cronyism now permeates the federal government on a level unseen for generations. He shucked and jived and lied and dissembled for the whole eight years. Nevermind the sandwich, we've been served a big shit dinner and even if we don't eat we have to smell it.
I think all the rainbow floating is a reflection of just how bad things have gotten, and how much people are looking forward to some potentially positive change and a president with an intellect and a vision other than to be "CEO" of America.
Jesus! I am glad that little shitbird is on the way out. He has been almost completely rotten from the word go.
rainbow floating is a reflection of just how bad things have gotten
Meaning irrational decisions are justified by previous disappointments. Not that Obama is an irrational choice -- far from it -- but overwrought emotionalism and blather about people flying their flags again etc. is no reason to have voted for anybody.
Seems you are one of those many people who misunderstood what the CEO comments meant. Personally I think running the country as if it were a corporation responsible to its accountants and stockholders would be a great thing to try. Obviously Bush never tried it, but it was a nice idea.
Check out the hyperbole in your second paragraph, and take a long historian's look at events. You have no way to predict the cause and effect. Tell me the horrors we are seeing now. Compare them to the horrors we might have seen by 2012 if we had given Saddam his pass, not learned of Iran's nuke program for a few more years, or of Libya's, as well as shown the world that the U.S. is just as emasculated as the United Nations. Can you truly separate the consequences of all that from the consequences of our Iraqi adventure?
I think you're interpreting it in the wrong way. There are always people who get caught up in the irrationality of an image presented, a figure they perceive to be a savior. Look at the far right's, and even the not so far right's adulation of Palin, who'd done nothing to deserve it other than be pithy at the convention and be snarky in the way they wanted to hear it.
People want a leader they can believe in on an emotional level, and Obama gives democrats that for the first time since Bobby Kennedy. However, that doesn't mean that's all the person delivers. I still think you are selling Obama short by simply categorizing him as another Chicago politician.
On the CEO thing, I didn't misunderstand it, but I object to the idea that the US is a huge corporation to be run as such. Besides which, Mr. Bush was a rotten CEO when he did try it. He turned everything he touched to lead.
More tomorrow on the rest.
Ummm...what Harry wrote. Before logging on,I was relaxing outside in the twilight. I was wondering how so many people have seemed to miss the mayhem that millions of people like me have witnessed under Bush 2? Parallel universe(s)?
Those were the saddest, scariest eight years of my life thus far. And I dare any politician to come along and top what that fuckwit has done to us ALL.
Parallel universe(s)?
A lot of people seem to be inhabiting alternate worlds, huh? It's easily shown that us humans tend to see what we expect to see. It takes a remarkable set of circumstances for everyone to see the same thing. It's an interesting phenomenon.
I don't see mayhem so much as prideful mismanagement, criminally poor communication, and egregious violations of Republican principles. None of that changes the brutal realities of global power shifts that are and have been underway since the collapse of the USSR, shifts which the US must respond to one way or another. Iraq is shading towards irrelevant now and I hope Mr. Obama doesn't waste energy doing much more than maintaining the very real gains we have made there. Much bigger fish are coming round the corner. On bicycles!
Right. So what damage are we living with right now that needs to be undone?
The politicization of the federal justice system; Gonzalez, et. al.
who famously uttered, "There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution. There's a prohibition against taking it away."
Huh? How do you take away something that isn't granted?
Putting this worm in charge of the Justice Department goes way beyond prideful mismanagement. It's putting an intentional stooge in there who will limit civil liberties and not ask questions. Even Ashcroft couldn't agree with some of their shenanigans.
Next, there's the attempt to remove habeas corpus. The Constitution specifcally says that it shall not be removed except in cases of rebellion or invasion. We didn't have either. That is the pillar of our legal system. Because of Hamdi- vs. Rumsfeld, citizens' right of habeas corpus is protected. No thanks to the administration.
We are mired in the Great Clusterfuck of the Iraq War which was fought for a variety of stated reasons, each of which came up as justification when the previous one was shot down. We already knew about Iran's nuke program and Libya's as well. There was no need to invade Iraq to find those facts. Now we have a much strenghtened Iran sitting pretty with MORE not less potential influence over the flow of all that oil. Potentially over 100,000Iraqis have died because we changed our minds about a dictator we previously supported, because even after defeating his army and capturing him the Bush Administration inserted loyal political appointees who would carry out their agenda rather than anyone with talent to administer the situation (or talented people who stuck with the agenda) and we're stuck there spending huge amounts of money for something we should've been out of years ago. Of course, it seems the Bush Administration never intended to let go in the first place.
Our standing in the world is greatly diminished, which is bad if we are combatting terrorism all over the place.
The deregulation mess is a bit above my head, but it seems as though Bush pushed Congress to provide this money, and what portion has been released has not been used as intended. It's as though he and his boys are robbing the cash register before leaving work for the last time. This after continuing to put us in such hock to China that I sometimes wonder if I will ever buy anything again, other than beer, that isn't made in China.
Part of what makes us strong, and Obama isn't the first to have said it, is our standing among nations. Bush tore that down by talking the talk and absolutely not walking the walk. He lied through his teeth for the whole eight years about nearly everything. What gives you the indication that any of his justifications for foreign adventures were real? What makes you think that it wasn't just cover for grabbing territory that had oil or gas reserves? All his blather about freedom was complete eyewash. You have only to read up on new rules for FBI agents to see that:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/opinion/04tue1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
There's more to being damaged than just being attacked by some enemy that someone says is a threat someday. There's damage from the inside out. Even given outside threats, why do the new security apparati seem to constantly get penetrated? He's definitely left the country in worse shape than he found it. He deserves to go down in history, all the way down.
I tried to respond but there's too much hyperbole still, and I need to move on. The bottom line is still this: "The history of it is too fresh to tell, but by 2012 we won't really know if the horrors we see are because of that administration, or in spite of it." It's shocking to me how few people can see the world other than how the mass media presents it, and are unable to grasp the complex and dynamic system of which we are just a part. An intelligent analysis recognizes that if the past eight years had gone differently, we would be seeing different horrors but not lesser horrors -- and that whatever concerns us the most in 2012 might actually reflect trends we simply could not stop, rather than trends set in motion by Bush. I'm not defending Bush in the slightest, by the way, just reason, as always.
It's easy to see past the hyperbole. Just take the items one by one. We don't need to wait for trends to develop to know what Bush adn his mob have done. On their face these are corrosive events for our nation/society. I don't give Bush the slightest bit of credit for having the kind of vision it takes to look down the road and see apocalyptic threats coming from afar. He blew it. He had an extreme agenda and flouted law and tradition in achieving much of it, with the greedy or frightened acqiuesence of Congress.
heh heh.
The "dream" is over. It was all based on an illusion anyway.
This guy is going to disappoint you libs faster than you think. Think he'll pull the troops out of Iraq helter skelter like you want? Think again....
Post a Comment