Sunday, January 18, 2009

Hope And Change And A Reality Check

Despite the tone of the previous post regarding the Obamagasm, I really do look forward to the inauguration on Tuesday. I am very curious to see and hear the tone of then President Obama.
I do not know if it will truly be a speech to remember, as few inaugural speeches are. But, there are signs that along with the Hope and Change, it may be a really bumpy ride for our soon-to-be 44th president.
Take relations with congress.
Both houses of congress may be controlled by the Democrats, but they are not going to be controlled by the White House of President Obama in any significant way.
Take this interview with Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, on Fox News Sunday. She is certainly still suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome, BDS. She is going to let lefty loon congressman John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee go on a witch hunt of the Bush administration. And, that is what it will be. A witch hunt.
On the senate side, Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid is not going to let Vice-President-elect Biden participate in the weekly lunch of senate Democrats. A big mistake. It shows that the senate does not want to take any suggestions and or advice from the White House. And, it keeps both sides on different pages.
Then there are some of the appointments that President-elect Obama has made to his cabinet. Of course there is Secretary of State designate Sen. Hillary Clinton. I can write a whole post on this one. But, my only comment is that there has to be more of a payoff to Sen. Clinton than this. Otherwise, she may be lucky to last in the post around two years and go off into the sunset. Back on point.
There is the Treasury Secretary designate, Timothy Geithner. He has been caught not paying taxes. To the tune of about $47,000. Rick Moran has an excellent post over at Right Wing Nut House as to why Mr. Geithner should not get the post. Lets be clear. Just because there is a very deep recession, we do not let the chickens guard the hen house. Mr. Geithner is part of the problems that we are in. He is an acolyte of the current Treasury Department dictator, Henry Paulson.
Then, somewhat related to the Conyers witch hunt is the case of Attorney General designate Eric Holder. In testimony last week, Mr. Holder flat out said that water boarding is torture. That gives the opening to whack jobs like Mr. Conyers to begin the witch hunt and harass members of the Bush administration if not President Bush himself. Ridiculous.
More ridiculous is that the Republicans in the senate are not taking any of this seriously. These are going to be the people heading the most important posts in the day to day governance of the United States.
And those promises that President-elect Obama has made, including and not only nationalized health care.
What happens if he can not deliver on that within the first two years in office? If the 2010 mid term elections follow traditional patterns, the Republicans will make reasonable gains in both the House and Senate and that would make it more difficult for a President Obama to enact major portions of his domestic policies.
But what should be the thing to worry about is unforeseen events.
Ask President Bush.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 totally changed the Bush presidency.
Now, that was a major and traumatic event in the history of the United States.
But, there can and will be some event that this soon-to-be president will find either out of his control or handled poorly.
For every president makes mistakes in office. Some offend the opposition. Some the supporters. And some offend all sides.
But, mistake coupled with unforeseen events can do the most damage to a presidency.
And, a President Obama will have to realize that what got him to the White House is not just Democrats. But a majority of independent voters. And smatterings of Republicans.
If those voters begin to turn, then what? Revert to the base? That is not where a President Obama wants to be.
There are more potential forks in the road for this man about to become president than for almost any other in recent memory.
It will be how he deals with those that determine what kind of presidency Barack Hussein Obama is about to endeavor to.

1 comment:

Rightwingsnarkle said...

Dude, you just don't understand the Senate.

It's a place for sitting Senators, not former Senators. Or Vice Presidents, unless they're acting in their narrowly proscribed capacity of presiding over the Senate.

They're very protective of their roles and position, and their ultimate loyalty is to each other (witness Joe Lieberman campaigning for Susan Collins, Daniel Inouye standing up for Ted Stevens, etc.).

As the terrific biographer Robert Caro has said, LBJ was indeed Master of the Senate. That is, until he became Vice President, and then President. He did what he could to keep twisting arms, but it was an entirely different role.

As for your lamentations regarding a "witch hunt," I guess you didn't support the politicization of a blow job, either.