Wanna hear something strange? The President I love to hate, Alfred E. Urkelbama (What, me do that?) and I actually have a lot in common. We’re both nominally “black,” (though, I didn’t grow up in Hawaii, I don’t have a white parent, and I don’t try to mute or exploit my blackness at other black people’s expense for personal gain, but other than that…) and, like him, I don’t like labels. Okay, so that doesn’t exactly qualify as “a lot” in common, but it is more than I thought, and “a lot” more than I really want to admit. I really don’t like the guy, okay?
Other than a recent declaration that President Black Obama considered himself a “New Democrat,” assumedly aligning his political ideology with a faction of the same Democratic Leadership Council he once defiantly, uncategorically, denied, Oblahblah has consistently resisted being pigeon-holed. This is understandable, given his early primary and caucus appeals to Republicans to crossover and support, vote for, and donate to him. I mean, what do you call a guy who does that? “Opportunist” if you’re kind, “traitor” if you’re not?
I’m not.
It also makes sense that he would reject the label, “liberal,” even if his philosophy leaned that way, (which, I’m not hardly sure of) since Republicans have made that term synonymous with “rabid Democratic champion of the shiftless and unworthy.” Who, besides Jesus, would want to be thought of like that, huh?
During the contentious Democratic primaries, now President, then Senator Black (Selma Got Me Born) Obama and his Band of Merry Men bitched and moaned daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word? you get the idea) about his superior opponent’s “refusal” to release her tax returns. From his unearned perch upon his high horse, he looked down his nose at every opportunity and demanded with all the righteous indignation he could pretend to muster, “Where’s your tax returns, huh? Whadd’reya skeered of, Hillary? Hiding something?” When he wasn’t browbeating her directly, he was scratching his head and feigning innocence, “I don’t get it. Why won’t she just let the American people know the truth?” Jerk.
“I’ve released my tax returns,” Obama said today on his campaign plane, noting that Presidential candidates have a duty to be transparent and accountable.
He said, “The American people deserve to know where you get your income from.”
When Bill and Hillary Clinton didrelease their returns, Camp Obuhbuh, as well as the “objective” CDS-obsessed, drive-by media squads masquerading as “journalists,” hired teams of forensic accountants to go through them line by line looking for any little uncrossed “t” or undotted “i,” and when they found one, that invariably turned out to be nothing, they crowed, “aha!” triumphantly anyway. Which was, of course, good for at least two news cycles before the media whores were forced to mumble a retraction, clarification, but never apology, and reluctantly move on to the next non-”gotcha” moment in Sir Snob’s routinely self described “silly season.”
Now that he has Astroturfed his way to organizing the national community, the rules seem to have changed. No longer is “tax return tag” such a fun game. Nobody seems to have told him that the rules are different when one of your guys is “it.” Suddenly, five-figure “mistakes” are no big deal. And, just when he thought it was safe to go back in the water, after he went to bat for a tax cheat to handle nation’s money during what he calls a potential national financial “catastrophe,” and reluctantly accepted the withdrawal of two other tax cheats, then squeaked in one other, here comes another one. That nose in the air must be plenty out of joint by now, doncha think?
During one late night/early morning informal discussion on The Confluence, the name Robert Wolf, and his influence on Barack Obama, came up. To be honest, I didn’t know Robert Wolf from the man in the moon, and still don’t. However, I have looked into the question of whether or not he might be “the guy” who’s responsible for foisting the fraud that is our current president onto our nation via our easily bedazzled and bamboozled breth-and sist-ren, and, have concluded, probably not. Though, he is a rather strong candidate, worthy of PUMA scrutiny and investigation.
Robert Wolf is the President and Chief Operating Officer of UBS Investment Bank, as well as Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of UBS Group for the Americas. That comes straight from the UBS website. The company is a global financial institution based in Switzerland, whose name (USB) comes from it’s original, pre-merger with Swiss Bank Corporation name, Union Bank of Switzerland. The AG is initialized form of a Swiss word basically meaning shareholder corporation. UBS AG, along with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley are among the financial groups who gave Googles of money to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, either through employee contributions, direct personal donations, contributions to PACs, and/or bundling. Wolf’s and UBS’ political contributions to date can be tracked here, here, and here.
On February 6, White House.gov posted a press release announcing President Black Obama’s newly established Economic Advisory Board, designed to brief the president as he makes up an economic strategy on the fly, then tries to sell it on the campaign trail and run it up the public opinion flagpole and Chris Matthews’ leg, as David Axelrod runs focus groups whose results he can doctor and leak to the press. The board will tell him what to do for two years, then he will revisit the question of extending their term of service and basically do whatever they tell him to do. (Okay, the press release doesn’t exactly say that, but, c’mon, we know what’s up.) Anyway, besides Paul Volcker, Penny (first Commerce Secretary name withdrawn) Pritzker, and Austan (NAFTAgate) Goolsbee, the most interesting name on the list was…(drumroll, please)…Robert Wolf (rim shot).
Obama met Wolf in December of 2005 at a George Soros-sponsored “meet the bundlers” matinee soiree, and, according to an April 16, 2007, New York Magazine article, it was man love at first sight. Conversation was had, numbers were exchanged and a relationship was born. To make a long story boring, seems both were a little miffed at the “old school” dominance of the stuck up, cocky Clinton Machine, so the ambitious Obama jumped aboard the put out, mega-rich, political playa wannabe’s train, and together, they formed a younger rainbow money posse and rode off into the sunset, creatively plotting to take over the world with their new, invigorating “hopey changeness.”
Except…
Since it was George Soros’ party, and Soros supported Obama, it seems likely to me that, if there was a big player to exploit, Soros put the “suck up to that guy” bug in Obie’s ear. Also, a Washingtom Post article dated 2 days later, had already identified Goldman Sachs as Obama’s biggest donor, a title I don’t think GS ever relinquished. At that time, WaPo listed Obie’s Big Givers as:
The figures reflect giving from the employees of Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, as well as Goldman and UBS. Goldman employees gave about 50 percent more to presidential hopefuls than the next-highest set of givers, at Citigroup.
Remember, this is April ‘07 we’re talking here, before a single primary/caucus vote was cast/stolen. It’s doubtful that Wolf was able to snooker so much financial support from his business rivals unless there’s been some major collusion going on for quite some time.
Which is possible…
According to Wikipedia, Wolf assumed his current position as Chief Operating Officer with UBS in January, 2007. After a company shakeup in October of 2007, due to a “writedown” caused by the “deteriorating conditions in the US sub prime residential mortgage market,” Wolf was named President, Investment Bank. May, 2008 saw more UBS writedowns and job losses.
In the midst of our world-wide economic crisis the story of the troubles UBS is currently facing is not getting quite the attention it deserves. One of the skeletons in Obama’s closet is that the banking conglomerate which employs one of the President of the United States’ financial advisers is currently under investigation for income tax evasion, which could have major implications for the entire banking industry and global reprecussions.
In February of last year, Reuters quoted a Wall Street Journal report that UBS was facing “subprime mortgage investigations:”
U.S. government prosecutors are investigating whether Swiss banking giant UBS misled investors by reporting inflated prices of mortgage-backed securities it held despite knowing those valuations had eroded, the Wall Street Journal said on Saturday.
According to a May 7, 2008 Bloomberg piece, the company was facing a tax probe:
UBS AG, the world’s biggest money manager for rich individuals, said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the Swiss bank helped clients evade American taxes.
One senior bank employee was “briefly detained” by U.S. authorities as a “material witness,” the firm said in an e- mailed statement. The Financial Times reported that the employee was Martin Liechti, the Zurich-based head of UBS’s international wealth management business for the Americas. Rohini Pragasam, a UBS spokeswoman in New York, declined to comment on the FT report. Liechti could not immediately be reached for comment.
In June, ex-UBS employee, Bradley Birkenfeld plead guilty to charges against him that had been filed in May, that he was “incetivized” by the company to help clients hide assets. By July, ABC was reporting that Senator Carl Levin was going after the company for helping US tax cheats hide taxable assets, and wanted the company shut down. In November, another UBS big shot, Raoul Weil, was indicted in Miami for doing the same thing for a lot more clients. In December, WSJ reported that the Feds had added Credit Suisse and HSBC to the probe list.
Now, in a series of rather confusing developments, USB has agreed to pay 780 million dollars in fines and open up its hallowed books to the government’s prying eyes. Despite the agreement however, Raoul Weil is still being sought separately, and still considered a fugitive, as he has been since January. It also seems that the Internal Revenue Service/Department of Justice has initiated a separate civil suit seeking enforcement of a “John Doe” summons that would require the company to reveal the names of up to 52,000 American customers. The official UBS statement can be found here.
While there is no shortage of Soros conspiracy theories, some of them, regarding Obama and the Soros-backed, John Podesta-led Center for American Progress, of which Tom Daschle was a Distinguished Fellow, have even been explored here, I don’t think Soros is “the guy” anymore than I think Wolf is. Unless Wolf has some secret plan to take down his own company from the inside, I can’t see how his Obama investment money has been well spent. I do think that, as was pointed out in the PBS special “Inside the Meltdown,” the whole credit crisis was rumor generated, so that it, and all the other social media, internet, financial, political, and other manipulation that so fortuitously worked to Obama’s advantage could have been implemented by one savvy guy with his ear to the ground, his finger on the nation’s pulse, and a brick-sized chip on his shoulder. I also believe there is such a guy, but his name ain’t George or Robert.
Let’s face it, most PUMAs are sick to death of Barack Obama. We recoil from the sight and sound of him stumbling through ghost-written, TelePrompTer read speeches on our television screens, tens, that feel like thousands, of times a day, droning incessantly about something that only he can so successfully make seem like nothing. And vice-versa. However, where we once railed against the excessive exposure, shouting at our computers and TVs every time he, his name or likeness popped up in yet another puff or fluff piece of a sad excuse for a print “news” article or op-ed column, or tedious You Tube lecture, or “get your very own useless Obama trinket” commercial, we now just sigh.
We’re simply getting tired.
“Obama fatigue” was all the rage this summer after a Pew poll showed that Obaexposure had reached saturation point. Coincidently, about a month thereafter, the economy tanked, an event which diverted attention, and predictably, allowed the Obamachine to go into Obadrive with layers of Axelrod brand Astroturf and effectively counter all the prior negativity. To allow this sort of signature combat maneuver to continue to go undefended is just as dangerous now as it ever was because it allows crappily written pump ‘n’ prop him up pieces of “ain’t he just the greatest thing since Mickey D’s” drivel to sneak into the public consciousness unchecked, except for rightwing Republican kneejerk “everything he does sucks” often baseless, yet predictable partisan responses, which can be easily refuted. We PUMAs just cannot afford to be complacent without accepting at least some of the blame for his further chicanery and incompetence.
Frank Rich in the New York Times, and Pamela Gentry in the Huffington Post, both have “hush the Obama naysayers” pieces today touting the Nascent Neophyte’s “triumph” of getting the massive, unread “stimulus bill” through Congress that many economists claim won’t stimulate anything except the libidos of the crooks who porkified and passed it in the dark. Though Rich’s piece is interminably longer than Gentry’s, both give literary raspberries to those critical of both the bill and the stumblebum method of passage. According to these two, the mere fact that the bill was passed proves Obiteme is not only not incompetent, he’s shrewd, skillful and he’s smarter than everybody on the planet, to boot.
Of course, the fact that he still doesn’t have a Commerce or Health and Human Services Secretary, and his Treasury Secretary is a tax cheat nobody in the world has confidence in, is not mentioned by either opinionist. Nor is the fact that Oblahblah and Associates have mounted a “lowered expectations” media campaign relative to his victorious, historic, stimulus bill, while ducking legitimate questions they don’t like.
And, just what is the great accomplishment of which they crow, anyway? His attempt at bipartisanship was an utter failure, allowing Sen. John McCain, Sen. Lindsay Graham, and young Rep. Aaron Shock to access the airwaves all day Sunday trashing him and it, as John Boehner did on the floor of the House. In fact, the net effect of the reality of Obama’s support for the bill is that more Democrats voted against it (7 in the House) than Republicans voted for it (3 in the Senate).
The main reason such cheerleading must be countered is that if it is not, the Obama “brand” becomes further entrenched in the American psyche without challenge, which is as fraught with danger as allowing Peanut Corp. to continue selling its products without reporting the salmonella outbreak. If nobody raises a stink, people will keep right on buying Jiff because they like Mr. Peanut, regardless of the fact that he represents another company.
Kevin Price of BizPlusBlog, someone I know nothing about, underscores my point that the vast majority of Bicardi ‘n’ KoolAid drinkers know next to nothing about politics, and are those deliberately targeted by the Obama campaign, being overly susceptible to “branding.” Price argues that Obamacamp’s manipulation of the “gotta do someting, anything’s better than doing nothing, or we’re all gonna die” or, “the ship is sinking, hurry up and jump aboard!” theme was directed at these folks:
There are two basic views of government. One sees the best government doing as little as possible and being focused on protecting individuals from other individuals and our country from foreign adversaries. The opposite extreme is that government should play a pervasive role in every aspect of our lives and that it should be the primary driver of our economy and society. The vast majority who have an opinion fall some where in between. Far more than those with an actual opinion have no real view at all. Those people are my concern here.
This uniformed majority are the same people who are driving Barack Obama’s extremely high approval ratings. They don’t really know what they are doing, or what they believe, they are merely very sincere. They think some action is, at least, action. But the actions of this administration will take generations to pay off and they promise to make things far worse than better.
Here’s the rub, most PUMAs are not political science majors, either. We’re simply politically aware bullshit detectors. The danger we face is that, like most fertilizers, the odor of Obandini can become tolerable with enough constant exposure. That’s bad enough, but when the super slick fertilizer salesman touts the benefits of using his new chocolate flavored product on store bought vegetables, and even as an ice cream topping, some gullible folks can be persuaded to forget they’re swallowing bullshit whole. Unfortunately for the rest of us, there are so many more of them. And they’re more than willing to let the government promote the notion that fecalized fast food is nutritious and delicious while they sell it to us and our children by the pound.
We PUMAs just don’t have the luxury of Obama fatigue.
What’s up with the Most Transformational Super Fantastic Bombastic Charismatic Political Figure Who Happened To Be Black And Blessed, that he can’t pick a cabinet for shit? According to Fox News, Commerce Secretary appointee, Judd Gregg has officially said, “bump this noise, I can’t hang,” only not exactly in those words:
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire has withdrawn his nomination to become President Obama’s commerce secretary.
In a statement released by his office, the New Hampshire senator cites “irresolvable conflicts” on issues including the economic stimulus package.
Gregg was named the Commerce nominee a week ago after the withdrawal of former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
So while Oboyi’mboss trots around the country today being just black enough, killing two racial birds with one stone by celebrating Lincoln’s birthday, which conveniently falls during Black History Month so he doesn’t actually have to mention it, in the “symbolism over substance” manner of the 16th President, his much touted “superior judgment” is proving to be equally insubstantial. His scandal plagued Treasury Secretary, Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner, tax cheat, (TTTG,tc) has shown himself to be not only not the only guy on the planet capable of leading us out of the wilderness of our economic crisis, but excruciatingly boring as well.
Obuyme’s first Secretary of Commerce choice, Bill (Judas) Richardson, is another big ol’ heap o’ trouble waiting to fully develop like a Polaroid picture, according to Politico:
A grand jury in New Mexico is currently investigating whether the financial services company CDR funneled more than $100,000 in campaign contributions to Richardson’s PAC in order to win state bond and construction finance projects. Several other financial firms and banks, including UBS, are also accused of contributing to the PAC in order to gain contracts.
Richardson’s office has been subpoenaed to hand over correspondence with the Democratic Governors’ Association, which received contributions from UBS during Richardson’s time as DGA chairman that alone total more than $400,000.
And the governor’s former chief of staff was recently identified in another alleged pay-to-play scheme; the allegations are that a Chicago investment firm was awarded a contract to handle the state’s pension fund because it contributed $15,000 to Richardson’s PAC. The fund lost $90 million under the company’s watch.
In addition, Richardson has come under criticism for awarding state contracts to political allies. Local news outlets have chronicled how one local firm stacked with Richardson allies has been awarded $7.8 million in state auditing contracts since he became governor. In the five years prior to his 2002 election, the firm received $274,000 in such contracts, according to the New Mexico Independent.
The latest trumpeter of the “Obama Drama Equals Bad PR” song, Marc Ambinder is the most recent addition to the growing chorus of Obama fluffers playing what’s rapidly becoming a hauntingly familiar and disturbingly discordant tune. The reason the American public is getting impatient with the whole stimulus bill kerfuffle and the Spokesmodel in Chief’s early performance of presidential duty is not because they fear it is a bloated, most likely ineffective bill that will probably cost them money in the long run, or they’re afraid that he really is the empty suit he’s been accused of being and now actually appears to be, but because the Republicans got to tell the public more bad stories than the Obama team could effectively Astroturf over. We, the people, are only upset with Obama’s cabinet picks’ lack of ethics and stuff because Fox News made a big deal about it, so the theory goes. News outlet after news outlet is putting forth variations of this Axelrod-generated theme, straight-faced, no chaser, and offering the sage advice that all that’s needed to lead us transparently on the way to financial recovery is a really good TelePrompTer-read speech, the kind the candidate Obama used to read in front of thousands of people who had already pledged their love and devotion to him by attending his campaign rallies. That anyone would dismiss legitimate criticisms of a president’s performance as merely opposition pushback in a spin war is bad enough, to use it as a defense for incompetence is appalling. To forget that half the country is not predisposed to embrace anything that comes out of his mouth as gospel is stupid.
If Obama sucks, he sucks because he sucks, not because Rush Limbaugh says he sucks. Whether Obama forcefully denies that he sucks or not, does not change the fact that he does or he doesn’t. So, why are so many people in the media, mainstream and otherwise, rallying behind the “he’s just been getting bad pr” theme?
Like Politico, Ambinder blames the lack of bipartisan support for Obama’s stimulus plan, and all his other problems in the first two weeks in office, on the White House email system. According to these guys, the problem is not that Obama was trying to stuff the cabinet with crooks, and shove a high-fat and cholesterol pork-laden stimulus plan down the country’s throats on top of the mystery-shrouded TARP, or that his bumbling outreach for Republican support was clumsy, stupid and unnecessary, it was because the ancient email system didn’t allow reporters to get their talking points in a timely enough manner:
When news of Daschle’s car-and-driver tax problem was disclosed, the White House faced an immediate communications challenge. Mr. Obama had campaign on a platform of single standards and transparency, and here he seemed to be making an exception for a good friend of his on the basis of, well, nothing but the friendship.
He campaigned on a platform of blocking lobbyists from serving in his administration, but he had just given several of them a waiver, and here was standing by a Washington insider who ostensibly (although unintentionally) broke the law to the tine of over $100,000.
I know White House aides were worried about this appearance, but I also know they had a tough time figuring out which reporter was working on which story, and they didn’t respond to events as quickly as Republicans in Congress were able to exploit them.
During the campaign, Mr. Obama’s team was known for its ability to proceed along several tracks simultaneously. It’s been harder in the White House.
The trouble with Daschle bled over into the debate about Mr. Obama’s stimulus principles, forcing the White House to use Mr. Obama’s personal charm as a pitchman. He spent three hours of daylight in television interviews on Tuesday.
Nobody is offering any practical advice on how to fix the bill in a way that efficiently serves the public’s interests, or pushing for Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner, tax cheat to be fired and replaced in an effort to shore up the Neophyte Naked Emperor’s ethical transparent government creds. Nope, just give a speech, send out some emails, manage the message, massage the messengers. Why not? That’s what got him elected. But the presidency is not a 4 year campaign for the next election, or at least, it shouldn’t be. And even if that is an element of a politician’s life, it is not the goal of governing. You don’t perpetually run for office and do a little of the people’s business on the side. Unless you’re Barack Obama.
That’s why he has met his ultimate Peter Principle level of incompetence, and will ultimately fail. He probably reached it earlier, but the miracle of elections as popularity contests obscured that particular truth until now. Unfortunately for him, and us, there’s no higher office to try to attain; it’s put up or shut up time. And sadly, his media baby sitters, enablers, and defenders don’t realize that every time they blame his setbacks on the opposition’s better campaign spin, rather than a rectifiable lapse of some sort on his part, they admit he’s got nothing else.
Somehow, the Post-Racial President’s “it ain’t perfect, but it’s something” argument in support of a 900 billion dollar spending spree during yet another “this is our moment” rah-rah, just doesn’t cut it for me.
Now, I believe that legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it’s received, and you will get another chance to vote for this bill in the days to come. But I urge all of us to not make the perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right.
Poor President Black Obama. Life as leader of the free world must be so very much different than he thought it would be back in the days when he read about it in the news and decided that gosh darnit, things needed to change. I mean, how was he to know that getting people to give up old ways that worked fine for them all their lives would be hard, really hard, as really, really hard as George Bush found the job to be, too? Back when Obie was conjuring up hypotheticals to challenge the young minds of privileged youth as an “all but what it lack” constitutional law professor in the cloistered confines of the Hyde Park enclave’s Ivy League equivalent, the answers had to seem so obvious. Forget the “duh” factor involved since he was the one who made up the questions; mingling with sharks, tigers, barracudas and lions and trying to turn them into pussycats, puppies and pretty, pretty sparrows is not as easy as you might think from the comfort of your ergonomic Barcalounger. Running smack into the “I hope you take your change and stick it where the sun don’t shine” reality of the “survival of the fittest” predatory jungle that is D.C. politics has to be a cold, cruel wake-up call to the man who dreamed ObamaLand. Oh, well.
Looking out the window of a Rezko subsidized McMansion, the fact that lobbyists are bad, bad, bad, and the country needs clean, honest, transparent government is such an obvious no-brainer. Don’t need a Harvard Law degree to figure that one out. But, funny thing, that. Not only do those stubborn lobbyists not want to give up a single iota of power and influence, (can you imagine?) everyfuckingbody is one! And, they’re all crooks to boot! Even people you like a lot. I mean, sheesh! What’s a Spokesmodel Pres to do?
Barack Obama promised a “clean break from business as usual” in Washington. It hasn’t quite worked out that way.
From the start, he made exceptions to his no-lobbyist rule. And now, embarrassing details about Cabinet-nominee Tom Daschle’s tax problems and big paychecks from special interest groups are raising new questions about the reach and sweep of the new president’s promised reforms.
Maybe he shouldn’t have promised so much, some open-government advocates say. They’re willing to cut him some slack — for now.
The delusional Associated Press is obviously in denial too, since they seem oblivious to the “if it was a snake it woulda bitcha” truth staring them in the face that slack-cutting has become a way of life for those charged with monitoring and assessing the performance of the Baby Pres-In-Training Wheels’ nascent administration.
There was slack-cutting aplenty going on when the “aahh, fuhgeddaboudit” press pass was issued to Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner, tax cheat, via the access given Astroturfing Obacrats assigned to speak on, and off, the record excusing his “innocent” transgressions between proclamations of his stellar qualifications as worthy Obamessiah acolyte. Snip, snip, slack abounds. More slack was paid out in the noose line that threatened to choke the life out of the appointment of another TelePrompTer Jesus disciple, Eric Holder, approved by the bishops just today. And Williams Lynn and Corr were snuck onto the Fisherman’s boat with slack sufficient to jump rope with, despite Lord Changey Hope’s oft-issued earlier proclamations from on high:
However, William J. Lynn III, his choice to become the No. 2 official at the Defense Department, recently lobbied for military contractor Raytheon. And William Corr, tapped as deputy secretary at Health and Human Services, lobbied through most of last year as an anti-tobacco advocate. Corr says he will take no part in tobacco matters in the new administration.
“Even the toughest rules require reasonable exceptions,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
That was a big step back from Obama’s unambiguous swipe at lobbyists in November 2007, while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. “I don’t take a dime of their money,” he said, “and when I am president, they won’t find a job in my White House.”
So, now that absolution has been granted to so many other transgressors, Tax Cheat II, Tom Daschle, is almost assured forgiveness, despite the fact that he’s a liar who has had to confess to the dreaded lobbying sin, too:
For Tom Daschle, life out of the Senate has been lucrative. In addition to his work as an adviser to a Washington law firm and as chairman of the board for a private equity firm, Daschle has been paid $195,000 to give speeches to health care industry groups — the very sector President Obama has designated him to overhaul.
While it is common for former lawmakers to engage in paid speaking and lobbying, the fees Daschle received and his work as a special policy adviser to health care clients with the lobbying and law firm Alston & Bird raise fresh questions about his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary, a selection already thrown off track by revelations that he amended his tax returns on Jan. 2 to pay the IRS roughly $140,000 in back taxes and interest.
Hey, it’s not like Little Lord Wannabe’s doing any Blago-type pay-to-play shenanigans with Senate seats, or nothin’. Is he supposed to know that sometimes the people you appoint for all the right reasons have skeletons in their closets, like trying to abolish the very department you seek to have them head? These things are simply not his fault! It’s just that painting rainbows on graffiti filled alley walls is hard.
John Ridley is KoolAid drunk and righteously buzzed on Hopium, dude. The brother is on full, knowwhatumsayin’? Looking around the blogosphere for something interesting besides predictably tired mea culpas from tax cheating cabinet appointees, or increasingly serious pay-to-play allegations that would, and have, run a politician without friends out of office, against former cabinet appointees, I found this link to a PBS commentary on Stop The ACLU. (Toldja I was desperately seeking something.) Anyway, if you have a strong stomach, or, if you too have a powerful all American man-crush on Brother President, (in which case you’ve either stumbled here by mistake, or are just as desperate for somebody to say or do something noteworthy as I am) take a look at this obsequiously unctuous pean to the bronze god, Obamacus Amerikos.
No lobbyists! Change Washington! The old ways must go! Blah, blah, blah. The Spokesmodel-In-Chief, Black Obama, has used, and, continues to use, these and other similar rah-rah phrases as his stock-in-trade bamboozle shtick, reading variations of them from cards and TelePrompTers, ad nauseum, throughout his national career, riding them to the White House like a gangster rapper in a pimped out Escalade,(or a good old boy in a cherry F-350, or a bailed out executive in a fully appointed private jet, or…you get the idea). And, to paraphrase Steely Dan, the poor people keep sleeping with the shade on the light; dreaming they’re awake, participating, and even (giggle) making a difference.
Have a house party and talk about me! Play poker with Obama playing cards, use Obama coins for chips! Read my quotes in your little blue Pocket Obama books while wearing your official Obama drawers, panties, and sneakers! Tell me what you would do if you were me! Pay no attention to what I’m doing behind this curtain, how I spend your money is my business! And, the(L)Obotomized sheeple gleefully dip into their meager financial reserves, toddle off to Smart ‘n Final for mega-sized Tubs O’ Treats so they can stimulate themselves and other like-minded Obots into a frenzy over the fact that the Mean Ol’ Republicans won’t help their Obamessiah screw the people exactly the way he wants to. Boo fucking hoo.
While the Great and Powerful Odd transforms Washington into a new, improved model of the Same Old Shit (copyright pending) the nation’s attention is skillfully diverted by the spectacle of the masterful artistry of the Wizard’s prestidigitation skills while tap dancing. And, indeed, it is a wonder to behold. For, the man who swore that lobbyists would have no place in his shiny new, bright, clean, articulate, transparent Washington is not-so-quietly assembling a team of cheats, liars, and (horrors!) lobbyists, right in front of your face. Par-tay!
Faced with the J. Edgar Hoover-like 7 page vetting questionnaire cabinet appointees were required to fill out, New Mexico Governor and Commerce Secretary-designate, Bill Richardson decided to cut and run, getting the hell out of Dodge before anybody could turn his pay-to-play allegations into a Blagojevich-type full-fledged media assault and impeachment.
Turbo Tax Cheat Timothy (Ooops!) Geithner revealed to Transition Team O that he had made a bunch of “innocent mistakes” on his own taxes as he was about to be confirmed as the country’s Treasury Secretary and overseer of the Internal Revenue Service. No mind, they were Turbo Tax’s fault, and he made good, so no sweat. Besides, Oboyi’mpresident really likes him ‘cuz he’s the only one, in the whole wide world, who can lead us out of the financial crisis he helped put us in. Duh.
Two days after proclaiming from on high that lobbyists would have no place, get it, no place, I tellya, in his administration, Obiteme quietly put out the “except for” word on one guy, and then snuck a whole buncha more guys in while the door was open. Sssshhhhhh!
The latest O’Kerfluffle combines all the elements of the classic O’Drama, lobbying and tax cheating and other stuff, oh, my! Tom Daschle, Obuhbuh’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, is going to work in a similar capacity in the Obama administration whether his newly revealed tax troubles prevent him from being confirmed or not, since he’s also been tapped as Director of the White House Office of Health Reform for backup. Daschle, the “consultant” for lobbyists who suddenly remembered he had tax issues, is married to a lobbyist, and is himself being lobbied by health care groups who have paid him money in the past. Gotta cover all those bases, right? From Politico:
Tom Daschle, tapped to be President Obama’s health czar, was paid more than $200,000 by the health-care industry in the past two years, according to documents obtained by Politico.
The former Senate majority leader, who gave speeches to firms and groups with a vested-interest in the administration’s upcoming health reform, collected the checks as part of a $5 million windfall after he lost reelection to his South Dakota seat.
This weekend, Daschle’s nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services became embroiled in controversy over the last-minute revelation that he had only recently paid long-overdue taxes.
Daschle also “forgot” to report on his taxes that somebody paid him more than most people make in a whole year, according to the Associated Press:
Daschle also had unreported consulting income of $88,333, in 2007. He also had reductions to charitable contributions totaling about $15,000 over the three years covered, according to the Senate Finance Committee document. The document, marked “Confidential Draft,” is a committee statement concerning Daschle’s nomination.
No worries. Our new Twinkletoes the Magnificent president just waved his magic wand (issued a statement) that made the appearence of impropriety go away, just like he did for Turbo Tax Timmy:
White House spokesman Bill Burton said Daschle’s role in the new Obama administration was not in danger.
“The president has confidence that Sen. Daschle is the right person to lead the fight for health care reform,” Burton said. “In preparation for his nomination, Sen. Daschle and his accountant identified some tax issues and fixed them. They filed amended return with the IRS and made payments with interest.”
Ah, well, it’s a good show. At least we know that with the continued early morning daily Axelrod approved Astroturf talking points delivery to CNN’s James Carville and Paul Begala, direct from the White House via Rahm Emanuel, we’ll get the Michael Jackson-in-his-heyday quality spin we’ve grown accustomed to. And, if you’re on the official Obie sucker donor list, you, too, can give a stimulating stimulus party to celebrate how the wheels on the bus go bumpety, bumpety bump all over the people under it.
If the story first reported by the National Review’s Byron York is true, that President-elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, not only neglected to pay his taxes but was reimbursed for the taxes he didn’t pay, it seems hard to justify anybody’s continued support for his confirmation.
The IMF did not withhold state and federal income taxes or self-employment taxes — Social Security and Medicare — from its employees’ paychecks. But the IMF took great care to explain to those employees, in detail and frequently, what their tax responsibilities were. First, each employee was given the IMF Employee Tax Manual. Then, employees were given quarterly wage statements for the specific purpose of calculating taxes. Then, they were given year-end wage statements. And then, each IMF employee was required to file what was known as an Annual Tax Allowance Request. Geithner received all those documents.
The tax allowance has turned out to be a key part of the Geithner situation. This is how it worked. IMF employees were expected to pay their taxes out of their own money. But the IMF then gave them an extra allowance, known as a “gross-up,” to cover those tax payments. This was done in the Annual Tax Allowance Request, in which the employee filled out some basic information — marital status, dependent children, etc. — and the IMF then estimated the amount of taxes the employee would owe and gave the employee a corresponding allowance.
At the end of the tax allowance form were the words, “I hereby certify that all the information contained herein is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and that I will pay the taxes for which I have received tax allowance payments from the Fund.” Geithner signed the form. He accepted the allowance payment. He didn’t pay the tax. For several years in a row.
Michelle Malkin has a follow-up which seems to corroborate York’s interpretation, and the story has also been picked up by AOL. A Wall Street Journal opinion piece questions the wisdom of allowing a man so incompetent with his own taxes to oversee everybody else’s. While some may dismiss these allegations as mere partisan griping, the questions, in my mind, seem fair. The New York Times‘ assertion that Geithner’s “skill” may trump concerns because if he were a bank he would be considered “too big to fail,” just sounds silly:
In better economic times, Mr. Geithner’s confirmation to be President-elect Barack Obama’s Treasury secretary might be in danger after the disclosure this week that he had paid more than $48,000 in delinquent taxes and interest. But with the economy so fragile, many senators are loath to rattle financial markets by rejecting someone with Mr. Geithner’s qualifications and international respect. By late Wednesday, Republicans as well as Democrats were predicting he would survive the controversy and be confirmed next week.
So, with the economy in the tank, what we really need is a tax cheat in charge of the government’s money? The 350 million bailout dollars Obama is fighting tooth and nail for should be turned over to this guy to spend? U.S. News and World Report’s Michael Barrone, who had dinner with the Obamessiah, (who promised to Astroturf Geithner through) seems to think so, even though he admits that he can understand why some Senators might be a little miffed:
If I were a senator, I’d be inclined to vote for the nomination of Timothy Geithner to be treasury secretary, for reasons suggested by Nina Easton. By all accounts, he’s very able and knowledgeable, and he’s already been part of the nation’s lead economic team as chairman of the New York Fed. And it’s very important to have a treasury secretary in place these days. But I have to say that his failure to pay self-employment tax is troubling and could certainly provide a reasonable basis for a senator to vote no. I have income from which no taxes are deducted and I make sure to pay my taxes on it (today, by the way, is the deadline for filing your quarterly returns). I can’t imagine what he was thinking when he didn’t pay.
CQ Politics claims that the Senate’s wussy response to charges, some of the sort that caused immediate outrage derailing other appointees in the past, is due to the overall wussiness of the current Congress and the Obama transition teams’ tap dancing ability. And, according to a David Brooks/Gail Collins New York Times article, the Astroturfing of the MSM to promote the president-elect’s Obamacanacracy philosophy is working way beyond anybody’s wildest expectations. From David Brooks:
As for me, My O-Meter is in the ascendant. I was very high on him about a year ago, then I soured a bit last summer, but now we’re peaking again. Not because he was thoughtful enough to have dinner with some of us right-leaners this week, but rather because his transition has surpassed all my expectations.
edit
It’s true, I did break bread with Obama. It was amazing. He was carried into the house by cherubs, Bruce Springsteen and Oprah Winfrey spread rose pedals on the carpet where he was about to walk and he very considerately asked me what vintage of wine I wanted my water turned into.
It’s not as clear that the last quote was as snarky as you would expect a right-winger’s comments to be, since Brooks basically waxes poetic about how impressed and comfortable he is with Obama. While Obama’s smartest pick, Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, rightfully sails through the confirmation process, and Tom Daschle’s appointment is quietly being held up in committee, look for the handiwork of Obama’s brain, political ventriloquist and Astro-gardener, David Asselfuck’s handiwork in smoothing the way for Geithner and Attorney General wannabe, Eric Holder, as well as in the media response to Obama’s stimulus plan and TARP request. Roland Burris will likely esacape any further Asslefuck media influence manipulation, now that he’s been sworn in, but the man who appointed him to the Senate, Rod Blagojevich, will continue to be Asslefucked into perdition.
In an apparent attempt to avoid answering potentially embarassing questions about his relationship with Senate seat salesman Rod Blagojevich, President-elect-to-be Barack Obama announced his new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, at the crack of dawn, without fanfare. From Politico:
In a twist on his use of new media to make news, President-elect Barack Obama used his weekly radio address this morning to announce his pick to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Obama appointed New York City Commissioner of Housing, Preservation and Development Shaun Donovan to the post, a move his transition apparently leaked last night to The New York Times. The paper has been a strong backer of Mayor Bloomberg and of his housing plans.
The announcement came in a radio and video address released on Saturday morning at 6 a.m., leaving no opportunity for reporters to ask questions, as they typically can when Cabinet announcements and other large initiatives are announced.
Unlike the last announcement of the appointment of Tom Daschle as head of Health and Human Services when Obama was peppered with questions about Blagobitching, today’s appointment came with no opportunity to pursue the matter. Coincidence? Sure.
President-elect Barack Obama’s personal news network MSNBO, says the Prom King President wants you to tell him how to run the country, specifically by having holiday, “how to fix health care” house parties. And, oooo goody, Tom Daschle just might attend yours and report back. How fun, huh?
In between the tree trimming and gift-giving, President-elect Barack Obama is inviting Americans to spend part of the holiday season talking about health care — and report back to him.
As he gears up for major health reform legislation next year, Obama is encouraging average Americans to host informal gatherings to brainstorm about how to improve the U.S. system.
The sessions, which could take place at a party, over a Menorah-lighting or at the annual Christmas cookie bake-off, are to be held Dec. 15 to Dec. 31. Former senator Thomas A. Daschle, Obama’s point person on health, will attend at least one and prepare a detailed report, complete with video, to present to the next president.
By seeking broad public input early in the process, the incoming administration hopes to avoid some of the mistakes of President Clinton’s failed initiative 15 years ago, said Daschle, who is also Obama’s choice for secretary of health and human services.
You remember, don’t you guys? Everybody knows that the reason we haven’t been enjoying affordable health care these past fourteen-fifteen years is because Hillary Clinton, with her hubris, the witch, didn’t have sense enough to ask us for permission and suggestions. Makes you wonder why America’s TelePrompTer Idol would even ask his precious donors to help retire that cow’s debt, especially after all the time he’s been over-milking them for his own benefit. I mean, really, how much money is all these soon to be unemployed “small donors” even capable of generating? They’ve got the DeaNC, the DSCC, the DCCC and all the other Democratic election entities facing a shortfall to bail out too, for Goodness’ sakes. And, let’s face it, it’s gonna be a while before the new Lord of the Thieves will be able to put ‘em all to work fixing potholes and installing computers in schools and stuff.
It makes you wonder though, why bother with government programs and whatnot at all? Since the people who voted for the Community Organizer-In-Chief are so smart and have so much money to throw around, why not just tap the database, unload all the country’s problems on them and let ‘em donate and suggest us all out of crisis?
There’s a political war being waged in America, with the internet being it’s primary battlefield. No, it’s not between the Democrats and Republicans, that one’s over for now. Nor is it the over-hyped, fake Clinton/Obama Drama, orchestrated just to keep the bad boyz of the blogosphere busy by allowing them to pretend to be relevant. It’s not the war between the mainstream media and the blogosphere either, given the corporate influence and partisanship of most publications and blogs, the blogger bully “pioneers” have now seamlessly been integrated into the “establishment” and are little more than their ideology enforcers. This point is explored by the National Review Online in an article about how the Center for American Progress-lead progressive left movement beat the GOP at it’s own game with the election of Barack Obama as president:
The Left has created not just a collection of unshaven bloggers but a machine that beat the Right at its own game. The Left’s response to idea mills like the Heritage Foundation and AEI is the Center for American Progress, except that it produces few ideas: A reported 40 percent of its budget is given over to marketing. The tip of the spear is ThinkProgress.org, a site written ostensibly by CAP policy wonks. Its sole function seems to be to discredit conservative candidates and personalities; it contains 11,000 pages with the words “Sarah Palin” on them, according to Google. ThinkProgress entries aren’t all that original, but they frequently serve as jumping-off points for the left-wing blogosphere and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
The entire article is worth a look, but, as I said, I don’t think this is exclusively a “progressive/conservative” battle. The Soros-backed Center, lead by Obama transition team leader, John Podesta, does seem to be the architect of a “psuedo-movement,” however, it’s just part of the story. George Soros has not hidden his desire to remake the Democratic party in an image more to his liking, and it should be noted that in the primaries, he backed Obama over Clinton, even though she is supposed to be a co-founder of CAP. He did, however, claim to be fine with a Clinton win, and I take him at his word on that. Whether it was Soros himself, the Center for American Progress, the Democratic party, or some other, unknown entity who was crafting the game plan is not important; it seems clear, at least to me, that whoever the ultimate power brokers are, they were indeed fine with a win by either Democratic candidate.
The Black Agenda Report has been making the case all along that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were war-mongering, corporatist, ideological twins with not a soupcon of difference between them. Whether or not you agree with their assessment as a whole, it’s hard to argue with the main thrust of it, Clinton and Obama agree on more than they disagree. Both candidates have themselves made that point. So, their primary battle was not about ideology, but the methodology of implementation of their mutual policy philosophy; Clinton representing the old-school, tried and true fundraising and campaign approach, Obama, the new, experimental Howard Dean, web-based, 50 state one. If the trail-blazing, Wild, Wild West of the internet approach paid off, so much the better; if not, as many of the major donors and architects likely believed, their first choice would be enshrined in the Oval Office. Win-win, no difference, safe bet. Considering that a Democratic victory was almost a sure thing, such a gamble was pretty much a sucker bet, guaranteed to pay the house no matter what.
Many groups and individuals enthusiastically took that bet, though, believing that their efforts would pay off in a way that we now see will not come to pass. A lot of the cheerleading was done by those with a vested interest in the outcome, either financial or political, some were volunteers, some were big-time, self important bloggers, others were supposedly “objective” faux journalists. Then there were those who were skeptical all along, sensing that the primaries were a sham, the outcome was a done deal, and the fix was in, without being able to put their fingers on just what was wrong. A lot of that skepticism came from reasonably informed, but not overly invested, regular voters. The kind of workaday everyman and woman people who are the backbone of politics, though the outcry came from the slightly more involved faction of that group. In other words, PUMAs.
Lets face it, the average American voter on either side is not steeped in the knowledge and traditions of the respective political parties and their policies and positions, most folks could not care less. Most Democrats see the Republican party as the predominantly white, holier-than-thou, stingy busybodies who screwed everything up. The Democrats are everybody else. Most of the time, this rather simplistic view, and it’s equally simple alternate, work just fine. We are only called upon to exercise our obligations to decide who will make decisions for us every two to four years, and we’re content to believe that if we will only vote for the best-looking candidate with the most money who we like the best, everything will be cool. Frankly, we don’t have time or energy to dedicate to becoming better informed and more involved, we’re too busy working, raising families, paying taxes and doing all the things we rely on our government to help us do, to worry about political science. And our elected officials know it, in fact, they depend on it, it’s how they keep getting elected.
But a funny thing happened when the machine tried to run it’s usual game a slightly different way this time. The very means they tried to exploit, the internet, allowed those usually docile housewives and husbands sitting behind their laptops at the kitchen table, at their makeshift home office/den/bedroom desktops, in cars, trains, buses with Blackberries and I-Phones, in office cubicles, in coffee shops and libraries, or wherever they found internet access, to actually become not only informed, but involved. Unsatisfied with the unwitting accomplice role into which they had been cast in the farcical theatricalization of the democratic process, some of them began to howl in outrage. “Party unity, my ass!”
Without funding from the shadow forces, or donations from influence peddlers or seekers that power campaigns, with no access to daily talking point memos or press releases designed to tell them what to tell other people to think, these “kitchen table PUMAs” took matters into their own hands. When their indignant objections to the party line pushers got them kicked off the mainstream media enforcement-arm blogs, they founded Blogger, WordPress and Typepad blogs of their own, countering the party driven propaganda being spewed by dedicated, though misguided partisans convinced that the official party endorsement of their point of view regarding their candidate made it not only superior to anyone else’s, but them solely responsible for his/her success. Unlike the party-supported mainstream blogs whose proprietors were motivated by either party influence or financial reward, PUMAs are motivated only by principle. We know that when the illusion of democracy is shattered, the whole house of cards falls apart. Americans have to believe that the smiling, handsome, well funded guys we elect are nobly motivated, and the process fair. Otherwise, we have to suspend our complicity and really get involved.
Thus, PUMAs objected to the caucus fraud and crossover primary voting exploitation, as well as the results of the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting, not because they promoted a candidate they didn’t like, but because those activities made a mockery of democracy, and rendered the democratic process moot. Those same Democrats, former Democrats, Independents and even some Republicans comprising the PUMA membership were equally outraged by the treatment of “Joe the Plumber” and Sarah Palin for the exact same reasons.
So, while we consider the future direction of our own patriotic “movement,” as well as the recent appointments of people like CAP’s Melody Barnes, Tom Daschle, and John Podesta, by president-elect Obama, and of his entire economic team, and what it all means, I submit we only need to continue doing what we started out to do, monitor the process. The uncontrolled, uncontrollable American voters whose ultimate allegiance is to country, not party are the bane of the establishment’s existance. Since we can no longer expect the press or the media to objectively report or investigate, if, indeed we ever could, we now have the means and opportunity to assume that role for ourselves. As we become more knowledgeable and enlist more of the disgruntled, kitchen table electorate, our path and direction will continue to make itself clear.
We’re the squeaky wheels, the masses who reject the opiates, answering to no one, now fully awake and ready to roar. And if we keep making noise, we will continue to grow, we will not be silenced, and we will be heard. And our David will ultimately defeat the political Goliaths, because we’re right, and there’s a lot more of us than them.
For many of us, this year’s election cycle has seemed to be nothing more than theater, a scripted playlet mounted on the world stage with a predetermined outcome, performed to appease, rather than entertain, enlighten or engage the masses, at the same time occupying the time and attention of the fourth estate in order to minimize their relevance. I’d like to make the case that, at least for the Democratic party, that’s exactly what happened. So, get your tinfoil hat strapped on tight, your Orville Redenbacher ready, and your Barcalounger seatbelt tightened. We’re going on a bumpy ride.
At about 2:20 on the above You Tube clip from Yearly Kos, August 2006, Senator Clinton says:
We are certainly better prepared and more focused on, you know, taking our arguments, and making them effective, and disseminating them widely, and really putting together a network, uh, in the blogosphere, in a lot of the new progressive infrastructure, institutions that I helped to start and support like Media Matters and Center for American Progress.
Now, most of the information about this quote and what it means for future generations, blah, blah, blah, comes from conservative sites who seem to have had a real bug up their butts about HRC’s “confession” at the time. The other side seems noticeably silent on the issue. Discover The Networks, American Thinker, and Newsmax have all spun tales of evil Hillary witchery at political play in conjunction with equally evil billionaire Georege Soros. The theory goes, Hillary Clinton and George Soros hatched a plan in 2003 to take over the world. Or, at least, the country. The means for doing so, was to establish a think tank (Center for American Progress) and a media watchdog group (Media Matters) to manage the message and combat the “vast rightwing conspiracy.”) In 2006, the Washington Post ran an article claiming that CAP was funded by a group of mega-money men, Democracy Alliance, Soros included, who determined which “progressive” entities received funding, and which ones didn’t. One that didn’t is the Clinton-centric Democratic Leadership Council. What’s up with that? Why would a group reportedly founded to fund “progressive” entities give money to one organization supposedly founded by the Clintons and not another? Is the DLC an old school Bill Clinton faction and CAP Hillary’s new way of doing things? If so, where does Rahm Emanuel fit in? Tom Daschle? Are the Clintons the architects of the Democratic resurgence using both the DLC and CAP? Too much tinfoil?
Okay, moving on. On November 18, Bloomberg News ran a piece claiming that CAP was setting Barack Obama’s foreign policy. Say what? The Bill Clinton chief of staff-lead organization Hillary Clinton helped found, by her own admission, is now at the forefront of the new Democratic president-elect’s policy panel? Huh?
Thanks in part to funding from benefactors such as billionaire George Soros, the Center for American Progress has become in just five years an intellectual wellspring for Democratic policy proposals, including many that are shaping the agenda of the new Obama administration.
Now, in case you’ve forgotten, Barack Obama is said to be “thisclose” to naming Hillary Clinton Secretary of State. The recent media reports have been full of speculation about the impact and implications of such an appointment, with some praise and much gnashing of teeth, but there also has been specualtion that this deal was done in June when Obama and Clinton met at Dianne Feinstein’s house, though MSNBC says the Obama/Clinton “good vibrations” relationship began to evolve after the Democratic National Convention. Not only does MSNBC’s characterization seem unlikely, it also seems irrelevant.
Hillary Clinton is “dragging her feet” in accepting Barack Obama’s “unofficial offer” because it too, is irrelevant. This seems to me to have been a done deal all along. With the news that Clinton will choose her own team, with Obama’s loyalists being relegated to White House staff, or booted completely, it’s hard not to see this as a preordained fait accompli. Not that everybody was in on the deal, that wouldn’t be necessary, in fact, too many people in the know would likely screw things up. It’s not even like the outcome of the primaries was absolutely fixed, the deck was stacked to increase the likelihood of the ultimate desired result, but Clinton as president wouldn’t have been considered failure. After all, the goal, as stated by HRC, over, and over again, was to “get a Democrat in the White House.” However, Obama as president allows the Democratic party to not only re-brand itself while reinforcing it’s inclusive image, it redirects the party in the age of the internet in the manner John F. Kennedy did in the age of television. Therefore, with Obama as the puppet-face of the Democrats and Clinton actually wielding the power, an argument could be made that an impressive win-win situation resulting from a well-planned, long-term “plot” has been achieved.
Maybe all the angst and interplay between competing Democratic factions played out in the news and blogosphere was merely smoke and mirrors distractions all along. Perhaps PUMA was born out of the frustration of knowing something was wrong that we just couldn’t put our finger on. Could it be that the frustrations of those feeling disenfranchised by the results of the Rules and Bylaws Committee and the subsequent farce of the Democratic National Convention were just a byproduct of the implementation of a foregone conclusion? Is that why Obama selected an HRC supporting veep nobody would pay much attention to?
Could be.
Or, not.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Wanna hear something strange? The President I love to hate, Alfred E. Urkelbama (What, me do that?) and I actually have a lot in common. We’re both nominally “black,” (though, I didn’t grow up in Hawaii, I don’t have a white parent, and I don’t try to mute or exploit my blackness at other black people’s expense for personal gain, but other than that…) and, like him, I don’t like labels. Okay, so that doesn’t exactly qualify as “a lot” in common, but it is more than I thought, and “a lot” more than I really want to admit. I really don’t like the guy, okay?
Leadership Council he once defiantly, uncategorically, denied, Oblahblah has consistently resisted being pigeon-holed. This is understandable, given his early primary and caucus appeals to Republicans to crossover and support, vote for, and donate to him. I mean, what do you call a guy who does that? “Opportunist” if you’re kind, “traitor” if you’re not?
During the contentious Democratic primaries, now President, then Senator Black (Selma Got Me Born) Obama and his Band of Merry Men bitched and moaned daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word? you get the idea) about his superior opponent’s “refusal” to release her tax returns. From his unearned perch upon his high horse, he looked down his nose at every opportunity and demanded with all the righteous indignation he could pretend to muster, “Where’s your tax returns, huh? Whadd’reya skeered of, Hillary? Hiding something?” When he wasn’t browbeating her directly, he was scratching his head and feigning innocence, “I don’t get it. Why won’t she just let the American people know the truth?” 
During one late night/early morning informal discussion on 
Let’s face it, most PUMAs are sick to death of Barack Obama. We recoil from the sight and sound of him stumbling through ghost-written, TelePrompTer read speeches on our television screens, tens, that feel like thousands, of times a day, droning incessantly about something that only he can so successfully make seem like nothing. And vice-versa. However, where we once railed against the excessive exposure, shouting at our computers and TVs every time he, his name or likeness popped up in yet another puff or fluff piece of a sad excuse for a print “news” article or op-ed column, or tedious You Tube lecture, or “get your very own useless Obama trinket” commercial, we now just sigh.
What’s up with the Most Transformational Super Fantastic Bombastic Charismatic Political Figure Who Happened To Be Black And Blessed, that he can’t pick a cabinet for shit? According to 
enough, killing two racial birds with one stone by 
The latest trumpeter of the “Obama Drama Equals Bad PR” song, 
Poor President Black Obama. Life as leader of the free world must be so very much different than he thought it would be back in the days when he read about it in the news and decided that gosh darnit, things needed to change. I mean, how was he to know that getting people to give up old ways that worked fine for them all their lives 
John Ridley
No lobbyists! Change Washington! The old ways must go! Blah, blah, blah. The Spokesmodel-In-Chief, Black Obama, has used, and, continues to use, these and other similar rah-rah phrases as his stock-in-trade bamboozle shtick, reading variations of them from cards and TelePrompTers, ad nauseum, throughout his national career, riding them to the White House like a gangster rapper in a pimped out Escalade,(or a good old boy in a cherry F-350, or a bailed out executive in a fully appointed private jet, or…you get the idea). And, to paraphrase Steely Dan, the 
If the story first reported by the 
In an apparent attempt to avoid 
President-elect Barack Obama’s personal news network 
