Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

AIR. BREATH. FRESH. AAAAHHHH.





From the president’s Costa Mesa town hall: “[T]hese bonuses, outrageous as they are, are a symptom of a much larger problem. And that's the system and culture that made them possible. A culture where people made enormous sums of money taking irresponsible risks that have now put the entire economy at risk. So we're going to do everything we can to deal with these specific bonuses. And I know Washington's all in a tizzy and everybody's pointing fingers at each other and saying it's their fault, the Democrats fault, the Republicans fault. “Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president. (APPLAUSE)
So -- we didn't draft these contracts. And we've got a lot on our plate. But it is appropriate when you're in charge to make sure that stuff doesn't happen like this. So we're going to do everything we can to fix it. So for everybody in Washington who's busy scrambling trying to figure out how to blame somebody else, just go ahead and talk to me. Because it's my job to make sure that we fix these messes, even if I don't make them. (APPLAUSE)”

15 comments:

TAO said...

Two major points:

1. He took responsibilty
2. He acknowledged that it
was a societal issue.

Not that this insight will get very far with a large portion of our media outlets.

Ruth said...

Already have seen some of the media read on this; the president is 'taking advantage' of a time of crisis, and is taking another swipe at the former maladministration.

You knew it would happen. Your media just can't handle stature.

Shaw Kenawe said...

I wonder, did the media say that about GWB when he took advantage of 9/11 and invaded Iraq? Passed the Patriot Act? Wire-tapped the American people, not just "terrorist conversations?"

Of course not. IOKIYAR.

Seriously,

The media, essentially, are whores and WATBs, always looking to individually promote themselves as hard news bloodhounds when they're actually insecure junior high school heathers.

"I get all the news I need in the weather report."--P. Simon

Dave Miller said...

Shaw, look Obama did take responsibility for the AIG debacle, and that is a real breath of fresh air.

But, again, Obama misunderstood the politics of the event.

My concern, his taking responsibility aside, is that this seems to be developing into a pattern.

Think Jeremiah Wright, Daschle, Geithner, Kirk, etc., etc.

It seems as if he only thinks these are problems after they come to light and the American people are upset or outraged.

Why is he unable to see the potential danger earlier and avoid this type of stuff?

Shaw Kenawe said...

Dave,

Because he is one man dealing with innumerable, large, complicated issues here at home and worldwide. He's going to get some of them wrong.

Why didn't JFK, say, see that invading the Bay of Pigs would be bungled?

Why didn't Johnson see that expanding the Vietnam war would be a quagmire?

Why did Nixon allow the secret bombing of Cambodia?

Why did Ford pardon Nixon?

Why did Jimmy Carter allow the Shah of Iran into the US?

Why did Reagan not see that his administration was illegally selling arms to the Contras?

And GWB? Why did he continue to keep Rumsfeld as his SoD when his policies were ruinous for the Iraq war?

Etc., etc.

It feels like Obama's been president for two YEARS instead of two MONTHS.

Because of non-stop cable news and blogging, and our various forms of instant communications, we're being bombarded with WH minutia, fits and starts, and stuff we normally, in other eras, would never have known anything about.

Obama himself said he's going to make mistakes, he's not perfect, and that when something doesn't look like it's going to work, he'll try something else (example: the idea of offloading veterans' insurance--people hated it, he discarded that idea.)

Problem is that it was a firestorm on the internet and cable news when it was ONLY an idea. It never happened!

I've never seen this much nitpicking over every move a president makes.

And NO. I did not follow Bush's first 100 days like this. After my initial disappointment that the SCOTUS selected him, I went about my business and didn't worry over every move he made--until 9/11. Then I took notice of a lot of what he did.


But now??


I'm having FIRST ONE HUNDRED DAYS fatigue.

Arthurstone said...

Reverend Wright?

Sheesh. Enough already.

No one cares. Folks realize what a non-issue this is and reasonable people realize how grossly the Reverend's views have been distorted, exaggerated and grossly misrepresented.

I've yet to meet a single person 'outraged' by the Reverend Wright. Or Geithner or Kirk or Daschle. Perhaps disappointment in specific business dealings or policies. But no actual outrage. What little outrage there seems to be is reserved for military adventurism in the Middle East, domestic spying and failed economic policies of previous administrations.

But I can always find 'outrage' on Fox or talk radio or the right-wing blogosphere. The real world has more important things to do.

dmarks said...

@shaw: Add "tweeting" to the mega-coverage.

@arthur: "But no actual outrage. What little outrage there seems to be is reserved for military adventurism in the Middle East...."

Well, no outrage there, because there hasn't been adventurism.
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But anyway, I find so many conservative bloggers AND radio hosts taking the side of the greedhogs getting the bonuses on this, and vilifying the President. I stand with the President on this one. Whether or not I disagree with him on other issues, and whether or not he could have stoop up to this before.

I only wish the proposed tax on the bonuses was 110%. That would discourage the greedhogs from taking the bonuses in any form whatsoever.

Handsome B. Wonderful said...

On a side note, that picture is of the Maroon Bells mountains in my state of Colorado. They are even more gorgeous in person. :)

Dave Miller said...

Oh c'mon guys. You all know I'm an Obama supporter.

But let's be realistic. His team has bungled a lot of stuff politically so far.

Not the issues, the style, and unfortunately, style counts these days.

Shaw, you are correct in the assessment of time. It does seem Obama has been in office a long time already because of the non stop reporting and 24 hr. cable availability.

But that is, and will be a given that we will have to either deal with, or at least endure.

dmarks said...

Dave: "But let's be realistic. His team has bungled a lot of stuff politically so far."

I could have mentioned before that he could have done the proper thing and veto that spending bill until they sent him one with 0 earmarks in it. And sacked Geithner as soon as he found out Geithner was a tax crook.

Shaw Kenawe said...

dmarks,

Eliot Abrams and John Poindexter served in Bush's administration.

During investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair, the special prosecutor handling the case prepared multiple felony counts against Abrams but never indicted him. Instead, Abrams entered into a plea agreement that ultimately led to a conviction without imprisonment on two misdemeanors of withholding information from Congress. He was fined $50, placed on probation for two years, and assigned 100 hours of community service. Abrams was pardoned by President George H. W. Bush as he was leaving office following his loss in the 1992 U.S. presidential election.

[A presidential pardon, if you remember, is given only when the person receiving it admits guilt.]

John Poindexter was a felon. Poindexter was convicted on multiple felony counts on April 7, 1990 for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury, defrauding the government, and the alteration and destruction of evidence pertaining to the Iran-Contra Affair. The convictions were reversed in 1991 on the technical grounds that the prosecution's evidence may have been tainted by exposure to Poindexter's testimony before the joint House-Senate committee investigating the matter, in which Poindexter's testimony was compelled by a grant of 'use immunity'. The prosecution was not able to re-try the case.

IOW, he got off on a technicality. Just like some Mafia thugs used to.

Both men served under Bush.

Timothy Geihner was never convicted of anything. He failed to pay income taxes, but has since reconciled his delinquency with the IRS.

And we haven't even addressed the awful behavior of Alberto Gonzales.

Handsome,

Maroon Bells mountains? What a gorgeous name! Thanks for telling me!

Dave,

I know you support Obama as I do, I'm just saying that he's been under a microscope on every move he makes--crikey, Joe Scabrous on Morning Joe today even wondered out loud if it was beneath the Office of the Presidency for Mr. Obama to appear on the Jay Leno show!

I have absolutely no idea what George W. Bush was doing the first nine months of his presidency, except for what I saw on the evening news.

There was nowhere near the 24/7 scrutiny then that there is now.

It's brutal.

dmarks said...

Shaw: Sorry, I should have called Geithner a "Tax Cheat" instead of a "Tax Crook". Is that better? Either way, it is pretty bad to nominate someone who only pays taxes when they are "caught" to head the Treasury. And I'm sure you would have gone after him great guns if he had been a Bush guy.

Arthurstone said...

dmarks typed:

'Well, no outrage there, because there hasn't been adventurism. '

Heh. Heh.

Keep telling yourself that dmarks.

Repeat as needed.

shaw mentioned:

'And we haven't even addressed the awful behavior of Alberto Gonzales.'

Who was recently spotted on a freeway offramp in San Antonio holding a cardboard sign reading 'Will Waterboard for Food'

Poor old Alberto apparently can't find a job.

There is a silver lining to the poor economy after all.
'

dmarks said...

I will say this until I find evidence of "adventurism" :)

Gordon Scott said...

Oh, yes, he took responsibility. He points out that everyone is blaming everyone else, so he says, oh, hey, just blame me. It's a wordy version of "my bad." Then he goes on to say that it wasn't his fault, really.

Much like the non-apology apology, this is the non-contrite contrition.