Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ManintheMiddle]

I'm beginning to wonder.

He and his campaign managers vowed a squeaky-clean administration (sort of reminds me of Carter in 1977) based on principled governance.

-But we've got a Treasury Secretary who ran from the IRS before running it.

-Not that I care, but we've got a UnderSecretary of Defense who lobbied for Raytheon (evidenty Halliburton is considered more egregious).

-We've got a President who in his inaugural address chastized Communist and authoritarian states like China and North Korea (the only difference being he didn't mention them by name but Chinese central television blacked out that portion of his speech, so they got the message just the same).

-He appoints Rahm Emmanuel, a political insider in one of the country's most corrupt cities, Chicago, as his Chief of Staff

-He talked of the need to bolster the public schools but then sent his daughters to an elite private school in the capital (again, not that I care, only Bush's daughters attended public high schools in Austin, and one went to a public university afterward)

-The crowing Democratic leadership in the House couldn't even so much as provided a seat at the table for the recent budget negotiations over the bailout bill, a deliberate oversight that at least Obama tried to smooth over a few days later when visiting minority leaders in Congress.

And now we see lobbyists in major positions of power:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090128/pl_politico/18128

Yes, one has to wonder if the rhetoric that went into the pristine stratosphere wasn't just so much more liberal sanctimony. Of course, the mainstream media will give this a pass once again.

And the White female voters are still almost orgasmic over Obama, with his sistas rallying to his every word. So no help from that corner.

So where is the dissent? Oh, I know this is the honeymoon period and he's entitled to more smooching from his would-be critics. But what galls me is how anything of the same sort done by Bush immediately smacked of deceit and corruption for the bashers.

P.S. I voted for Obama, although with serious reservations and only after Powell's endorsement, so I can't be branded a partisan here.

Which raises a question:

Has Obama, who presumptuously likens himself to Lincoln as no president before has ever done, aimed his sights to high? Has he set unrealistic expectations for himself and his administration that might come back to haunt him? What say you?

[bucheon bum]

Welll he's a lot more active than his predecessor. He's got the stimulus plan passed, he's already visited capital hill, and he's being pro-active towards Guantanamo.

I'd say he's a change from the past administration.

[khyber]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Business as usual? I don't know. The House just passed their version of the stimulus package 244-188 and after all the cocktail parties, private meetings, and reaching across the aisles to include Republican ideas, not one single Republican voted for the bill. So partisanship is still alive and well.

It looks right now as if the Republican House members have figured out a failsafe method: bargain hard and some of what you want in a bill and then vote against it. That way, you get to have your cake and it too.

[ManintheMiddle]

Maybe it has something to do with the many extras in the spending bill that have nothing to do with stimulating the economy. Ya think maybe?

[Gopher]

Yeah. My favorite one was tens of millions of dollars for STD educational programs. Some of them, ManintheMiddle, are exploiting the crisis to further their non-crisis politics re: social spending -- just as they exploited the crisis to get all the pork they could the first time around.

Congress generally sucks.

[bacasper]

See my previous thread on "Not a dime's worth of difference."

[mises]

Geithner is a terrible pick. I only hope he is a patsy.

[chris_J2]

It seems that even Illinois has standards:

Blagojevitch ousted as Illinois Governor:

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2478385.htm

[ManintheMiddle]

Yes, Chris 72, now if we could only get them to work on Louisiana's parishes.

Bruddah, Honolulu could use some cleaning up too now that my alter ego is gone from Iolani Palace.

Gopher:

Don't you just love it? The pork barrel was rolled out on the House floor yet again. I just hope the Senate can trim the fat before it's enacted into law. But Pelosi is passing off to Feinstein and they'll probably get their way. Never known a Californian liberal who didn't like government money. No wonder the state's broke.