Here's where Barry went wrong:
He should have, Day One, launched investigations in to every single, questionable, thing that happened during the Bush-Cheney years...all eight of those years.
Start with the 2000 election, move through the Cheney energy meetings, proceed to the Iraq War and glide along with Katrina, Gonzales, Abu Ghraib, Valerie Plame and the Wall Street "Meltdown." Not to mention Enron, Guantanamo and all of the other events of 2000-2008...
No need to be partisan or vindictive. I hear ya..."Post-Partisan Politics" and all.
Don't want to "look back."
Got it. A new page...a "New Dawn."
"Just the facts M'am."
Send in Joe Friday...uh, I mean Henry Waxman.
Find out what happened. Really.
Then, once that's been "accomplished" you can assess responsibility...you can point the finger.
You can assign blame.
You can stop the bleeding that's going on, right now, in the Media, in Washington, on Main Street.
Everybody's yelling at Obama. Everbody's saying that it's all his fault.
Well, maybe some of it is. But maybe some of it ain't.
Maybe the mess we're in, or "deep, deep Gumbo" as the great Bob Herbert called it, is not Barry's fault.
Maybe he inherited it. And maybe it doesn't matter at all how much time goes by between the birth of the problem and it's solution. Maybe the people who started it will still be responsible...
...and not on a beach somewhere counting their money, sipping cold drinks and laughing while Rome, and every other world capitol, burns...some literally.
Maybe some people will go to jail. Maybe some will have to pay the money back and give back their medals (there were allegations made about Paul Bremmer and, if proven true, he could get a twofer there...) Maybe some will have to go to the homes of the families of the thousands of fallen heroes on the Fourth of July and explain to the grieving mothers and fathers why in God's good name their children are dead.
Maybe then Barry's presidency will have fulfilled the Promise of Denver.
Maybe then "change" will really happen.
Maybe pigs will fly.
BLT anyone...?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Ten Hut!
On the other hand what do we expect?
President Obama has a problem with General McChrystal.
But it's not the way in which The General characterized the White House.
It's with the disconnect between theory and practice.
Once again we are confronted with a civilian authority planning and ordering a military operation and then having the professional soldiers carry it out. And then being miffed at the way in which the pros behave...
"Those who do, do, those who can't, teach" to which Uta Hagen replied, "Only those who can should teach" or something to that effect.
It is recently, in our system of government, always those who never have who order those, who in fact have, to prosecute a war.
It's like a medical student telling a junkie what heroin addiction is all about. It's fine on paper and in a textbook...but try a needle in the arm, pal, and see how easy it is for you to overcome your addiction.
The General may have been "indiscreet" as Maureen Dowd said, but, again, what do we expect?
These are soldiers. Tough as nails, bourbon drinking, prostitute engaging, entrails eating muthas!
They are trained to take BS from nobody. They are, literally, trained to "take no prisoners." We expect them to be tough. We want them to be tough, or to paraphrase Jack in "A Few Good Men", we "need them to be tough"
After all they are doing the job few of us want to do. Just like the migrants in the fields and the immigrants in the washrooms.
They do the dirty work we don't want to do so we can enjoy our lattes and BBQs...and SUVs (while we're at it)
So they talk like soldiers. So they disparage the "clowns" that tell them what to do.
They ARE soldiers and in most cases their "superiors" ARE clowns!
(Do you hear that Mr. Atty General...?)
GET OVER IT!!
If you're going to fight a war...fight it to win!
Learn to swear. Learn to shut the f%$@ up! Learn to love entrails...
With a little Tabasco they ain't half bad. Especially washed down a with a snort of
Maker's Mark.
HOOO YAH!!!!!
President Obama has a problem with General McChrystal.
But it's not the way in which The General characterized the White House.
It's with the disconnect between theory and practice.
Once again we are confronted with a civilian authority planning and ordering a military operation and then having the professional soldiers carry it out. And then being miffed at the way in which the pros behave...
"Those who do, do, those who can't, teach" to which Uta Hagen replied, "Only those who can should teach" or something to that effect.
It is recently, in our system of government, always those who never have who order those, who in fact have, to prosecute a war.
It's like a medical student telling a junkie what heroin addiction is all about. It's fine on paper and in a textbook...but try a needle in the arm, pal, and see how easy it is for you to overcome your addiction.
The General may have been "indiscreet" as Maureen Dowd said, but, again, what do we expect?
These are soldiers. Tough as nails, bourbon drinking, prostitute engaging, entrails eating muthas!
They are trained to take BS from nobody. They are, literally, trained to "take no prisoners." We expect them to be tough. We want them to be tough, or to paraphrase Jack in "A Few Good Men", we "need them to be tough"
After all they are doing the job few of us want to do. Just like the migrants in the fields and the immigrants in the washrooms.
They do the dirty work we don't want to do so we can enjoy our lattes and BBQs...and SUVs (while we're at it)
So they talk like soldiers. So they disparage the "clowns" that tell them what to do.
They ARE soldiers and in most cases their "superiors" ARE clowns!
(Do you hear that Mr. Atty General...?)
GET OVER IT!!
If you're going to fight a war...fight it to win!
Learn to swear. Learn to shut the f%$@ up! Learn to love entrails...
With a little Tabasco they ain't half bad. Especially washed down a with a snort of
Maker's Mark.
HOOO YAH!!!!!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Fat Chance...
The Fat Lady is singing and nobody's listening.
It seems that wherever you turn everyone is screaming about the state of affairs around the world.
Whether it's Afghanistan or the Economy or BP ...or even the World Cup...it's all dire, dire, dire.
And of course, it's all President Obama's fault. Never mind that the current series of problems were inherited...the seeds were all sewn during previous administrations(Democrat and Republican alike)
Obama didn't cause these things to happen. Ok, maybe he has been slow to respond and maybe there has been some foot-dragging and possibly even avoidance...but he's not the cause.
After all...who created the problem in Afghanistan? Some would argue it was the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. But now we learn that Afghanistan is rich with minerals. Any possibility that the, still, secret meetings held by former Vice President Dick Cheney about energy would yield some explanations as to why we're really in Afghanistan? Any possibility there?
And the Wall Street meltdown. Any chance that the upcoming trial of Goldman Sachs (and possibly Messrs. Paulson, Geithner and Rubin...) will provide some light on the subject of why we almost went over the cliff because of derivatives (whatever they are...)and would have had it not been for the Stimulus?
And who caused the mess in the Gulf? Was it the MMS and Interior being too lax with Big Oil...way before Obama came into office? Any chance of that?
The only thing that I can hold Obama responsible for is the World Cup.
He's a basketball fan and amateur player. If he truly believed in world peace and harmonious coexistence he would install a soccer pitch on the White house lawn and send a bill to Congress calling for Soccer to be named the official sport of the U.S.
Not American Football or Baseball or Basketball or Hockey.
Soccer...or Football as it's known everywhere else on the planet.
We don't need Madonna and her adoption obsession. We need Maradona and his Football obsession.
And if we won a World Cup then maybe the rest of the world would see us as true champions. Not simply a country whose government hides behind its' military as it tries, desperately, to hold onto its' declining reputation in an ever changing world.
Vuvuzelas of the World Unite!! Let The Fat Lady try to sing with those as her accompaniment...
Impossible!!!
It seems that wherever you turn everyone is screaming about the state of affairs around the world.
Whether it's Afghanistan or the Economy or BP ...or even the World Cup...it's all dire, dire, dire.
And of course, it's all President Obama's fault. Never mind that the current series of problems were inherited...the seeds were all sewn during previous administrations(Democrat and Republican alike)
Obama didn't cause these things to happen. Ok, maybe he has been slow to respond and maybe there has been some foot-dragging and possibly even avoidance...but he's not the cause.
After all...who created the problem in Afghanistan? Some would argue it was the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. But now we learn that Afghanistan is rich with minerals. Any possibility that the, still, secret meetings held by former Vice President Dick Cheney about energy would yield some explanations as to why we're really in Afghanistan? Any possibility there?
And the Wall Street meltdown. Any chance that the upcoming trial of Goldman Sachs (and possibly Messrs. Paulson, Geithner and Rubin...) will provide some light on the subject of why we almost went over the cliff because of derivatives (whatever they are...)and would have had it not been for the Stimulus?
And who caused the mess in the Gulf? Was it the MMS and Interior being too lax with Big Oil...way before Obama came into office? Any chance of that?
The only thing that I can hold Obama responsible for is the World Cup.
He's a basketball fan and amateur player. If he truly believed in world peace and harmonious coexistence he would install a soccer pitch on the White house lawn and send a bill to Congress calling for Soccer to be named the official sport of the U.S.
Not American Football or Baseball or Basketball or Hockey.
Soccer...or Football as it's known everywhere else on the planet.
We don't need Madonna and her adoption obsession. We need Maradona and his Football obsession.
And if we won a World Cup then maybe the rest of the world would see us as true champions. Not simply a country whose government hides behind its' military as it tries, desperately, to hold onto its' declining reputation in an ever changing world.
Vuvuzelas of the World Unite!! Let The Fat Lady try to sing with those as her accompaniment...
Impossible!!!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Come On, Barack!!
God damn it Mr. President!
Let's go...let's "get it on!"
Frank Rich, a columnist for The New York Times, headlined his 6/6/10 column by suggesting that the President "Get Even."
Mr. Rich is a much more learned and articulate writer than I but, with all due respect, I'm not feeling that vindictive.
I just want POTUS to do something!
I remember when Bill Clinton was first elected. We, who voted for him and were, at the time, disillusioned (so what's changed...?) with the ways of Washington, were waiting, with baited breath, to see him enact sweeping change. Real, effective change.
He sort of tried, and then sort of failed and then his presidency tanked, albeit in large part because he couldn't keep his little Cabinet advisor in his trousers. The only real reason, I suspect, that he was re-elected for a second term was that he ran against Bob Dole. His attempts at "change" and his legacy were, forever, tarnished and marginalized.
So now we have Barack Obama. Elected at a time when we were (and still are) disgusted with Washington politics and are craving a real substantive change...not just a handy slogan with the word "change" in it.
And once again, the "Bright One"...the intellectual prodigy (Clinton: humble roots, boot straps, Yale, Oxford, young governor...blah, blah, blah...)is poised to dissapoint.
But this time it seems more tragic. In the 90's things were tough...but they didn't seem as perilous as now.
We weren't at war(s). We were about to enjoy a Federal budget surplus. We were seen around the world as, generally, okee dokee partners. Michael Jackson seemed normal.
But now...Holy Moly...Iraq, Afghanistan, Enron, BP, Goldman, MMS, unemployment, foreclosure...and Michael Jackson is dead.
And President Obama doesn't seem to give a damn. Hollow rhetoric and fake emotion isn't cutting the mustard. The man just doesn't seem to care. Doesn't seem to know how...
He can make 100 trips to the Gulf but until he starts to relate, directly, to the ongoing (and worsening...) plight of average Americans, his Presidency is doomed.
He may very well be re-elected in 2012...possibly because the Republicans will undoubtedly nominate another loser...another Dole...Palin or Paul or Polently or the famously opportunistic Romney.
(Incidentally...if I remember my history...wasn't the orginal Tea Party about taxation without representation? Now we have taxation with representation. This time it's not tea we should be throwing into Boston Harbor...unless we put the tea in the Harbor in the winter and then pump it out with huge New England winter ice chunks and bottle it and sell it in the sweltering Boston summer as iced tea...and make a lot of money and give the money to the state to improve the schools and highways and infrastructure...)
And then we will have Barry to "kick around" for another four years. Another four years of arrogance and indifference. Another four years of political spin and double talk (and I voted for the man...)
And then...we'll really be in the soup.
Because then, even though we will need to change things even more then we needed to change them in '08, no one will be able to hear the word.
"Change"...the only thing we'll have is plenty of it...but it will be loose...and the only thing in our pockets as we watch this great democratic experiment get added to the junk pile of history...along with Rome and the Third Reich...and Michael Jackson's, once, extraordinary, career.
And we had such high hopes Mr. President.
How could you...!
Let's go...let's "get it on!"
Frank Rich, a columnist for The New York Times, headlined his 6/6/10 column by suggesting that the President "Get Even."
Mr. Rich is a much more learned and articulate writer than I but, with all due respect, I'm not feeling that vindictive.
I just want POTUS to do something!
I remember when Bill Clinton was first elected. We, who voted for him and were, at the time, disillusioned (so what's changed...?) with the ways of Washington, were waiting, with baited breath, to see him enact sweeping change. Real, effective change.
He sort of tried, and then sort of failed and then his presidency tanked, albeit in large part because he couldn't keep his little Cabinet advisor in his trousers. The only real reason, I suspect, that he was re-elected for a second term was that he ran against Bob Dole. His attempts at "change" and his legacy were, forever, tarnished and marginalized.
So now we have Barack Obama. Elected at a time when we were (and still are) disgusted with Washington politics and are craving a real substantive change...not just a handy slogan with the word "change" in it.
And once again, the "Bright One"...the intellectual prodigy (Clinton: humble roots, boot straps, Yale, Oxford, young governor...blah, blah, blah...)is poised to dissapoint.
But this time it seems more tragic. In the 90's things were tough...but they didn't seem as perilous as now.
We weren't at war(s). We were about to enjoy a Federal budget surplus. We were seen around the world as, generally, okee dokee partners. Michael Jackson seemed normal.
But now...Holy Moly...Iraq, Afghanistan, Enron, BP, Goldman, MMS, unemployment, foreclosure...and Michael Jackson is dead.
And President Obama doesn't seem to give a damn. Hollow rhetoric and fake emotion isn't cutting the mustard. The man just doesn't seem to care. Doesn't seem to know how...
He can make 100 trips to the Gulf but until he starts to relate, directly, to the ongoing (and worsening...) plight of average Americans, his Presidency is doomed.
He may very well be re-elected in 2012...possibly because the Republicans will undoubtedly nominate another loser...another Dole...Palin or Paul or Polently or the famously opportunistic Romney.
(Incidentally...if I remember my history...wasn't the orginal Tea Party about taxation without representation? Now we have taxation with representation. This time it's not tea we should be throwing into Boston Harbor...unless we put the tea in the Harbor in the winter and then pump it out with huge New England winter ice chunks and bottle it and sell it in the sweltering Boston summer as iced tea...and make a lot of money and give the money to the state to improve the schools and highways and infrastructure...)
And then we will have Barry to "kick around" for another four years. Another four years of arrogance and indifference. Another four years of political spin and double talk (and I voted for the man...)
And then...we'll really be in the soup.
Because then, even though we will need to change things even more then we needed to change them in '08, no one will be able to hear the word.
"Change"...the only thing we'll have is plenty of it...but it will be loose...and the only thing in our pockets as we watch this great democratic experiment get added to the junk pile of history...along with Rome and the Third Reich...and Michael Jackson's, once, extraordinary, career.
And we had such high hopes Mr. President.
How could you...!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
