[Rhodes22-list] Politics - Palin - Twain
Ben Cittadino
bcittadino at dcs-law.com
Wed Dec 3 17:20:40 EST 2008
Folks;
Mr Effros opines that "once again the country has decided to make the
dumbest person in the room the decider". I agree with Mr. Brooks of the
NYTimes who wrote recently:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"November 21, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
The Insider’s Crusade
By DAVID BROOKS
Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law)
will take the oath of office as his wife, Michelle (Princeton, Harvard Law),
looks on proudly. Nearby, his foreign policy advisers will stand beaming,
including perhaps Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale Law), Jim Steinberg
(Harvard, Yale Law) and Susan Rice (Stanford, Oxford D. Phil.).
The domestic policy team will be there, too, including Jason Furman
(Harvard, Harvard Ph.D.), Austan Goolsbee (Yale, M.I.T. Ph.D.), Blair Levin
(Yale, Yale Law), Peter Orszag (Princeton, London School of Economics Ph.D.)
and, of course, the White House Counsel Greg Craig (Harvard, Yale Law).
This truly will be an administration that looks like America, or at least
that slice of America that got double 800s on their SATs. Even more than
past administrations, this will be a valedictocracy — rule by those who
graduate first in their high school classes. If a foreign enemy attacks the
United States during the Harvard-Yale game any time over the next four
years, we’re screwed.
Already the culture of the Obama administration is coming into focus. Its
members are twice as smart as the poor reporters who have to cover them,
three times if you include the columnists. They typically served in the
Clinton administration and then, like Cincinnatus, retreated to the comforts
of private life — that is, if Cincinnatus had worked at Goldman Sachs,
Williams & Connolly or the Brookings Institution. So many of them send their
kids to Georgetown Day School, the posh leftish private school in D.C., that
they’ll be able to hold White House staff meetings in the carpool line.
And yet as much as I want to resent these overeducated Achievatrons (not to
mention the incursion of a French-style government dominated by highly
trained Enarchs), I find myself tremendously impressed by the Obama
transition.
The fact that they can already leak one big appointee per day is testimony
to an awful lot of expert staff work. Unlike past Democratic
administrations, they are not just handing out jobs to the hacks approved by
the favored interest groups. They’re thinking holistically — there’s a nice
balance of policy wonks, governors and legislators. They’re also thinking
strategically. As Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute
notes, it was smart to name Tom Daschle both the head of Health and Human
Services and the health czar. Splitting those duties up, as Bill Clinton
did, leads to all sorts of conflicts.
Most of all, they are picking Washington insiders. Or to be more precise,
they are picking the best of the Washington insiders.
Obama seems to have dispensed with the romantic and failed notion that you
need inexperienced “fresh faces” to change things. After all, it was L.B.J.
who passed the Civil Rights Act. Moreover, because he is so young, Obama is
not bringing along an insular coterie of lifelong aides who depend upon him
for their well-being.
As a result, the team he has announced so far is more impressive than any
other in recent memory. One may not agree with them on everything or even
most things, but a few things are indisputably true.
First, these are open-minded individuals who are persuadable by evidence.
Orszag, who will probably be budget director, is trusted by Republicans and
Democrats for his honest presentation of the facts.
Second, they are admired professionals. Conservative legal experts have a
high regard for the probable attorney general, Eric Holder, despite the
business over the Marc Rich pardon.
Third, they are not excessively partisan. Obama signaled that he means to
live up to his postpartisan rhetoric by letting Joe Lieberman keep his
committee chairmanship.
Fourth, they are not ideological. The economic advisers, Furman and
Goolsbee, are moderate and thoughtful Democrats. Hillary Clinton at State is
problematic, mostly because nobody has a role for her husband. But, as she
has demonstrated in the Senate, her foreign-policy views are hardheaded and
pragmatic. (It would be great to see her set of interests complemented by
Samantha Power’s set of interests at the U.N.)
Finally, there are many people on this team with practical creativity. Any
think tanker can come up with broad doctrines, but it is rare to find people
who can give the president a list of concrete steps he can do day by day to
advance American interests. Dennis Ross, who advised Obama during the
campaign, is the best I’ve ever seen at this, but Rahm Emanuel also has this
capacity, as does Craig and legislative liaison Phil Schiliro.
Believe me, I’m trying not to join in the vast, heaving O-phoria now
sweeping the coastal haute bourgeoisie. But the personnel decisions have
been superb. The events of the past two weeks should be reassuring to
anybody who feared that Obama would veer to the left or would suffer
self-inflicted wounds because of his inexperience. He’s off to a start that
nearly justifies the hype."
Copyright 2008 New York Times
I don't remember writing off Presdent GW Bush early. In fact there was
great hope he could be the compassionate conservative, but he ran off the
rails in ways we have already discussed. We're in a mess all right, but if
it is possible to use our brains to get out of it, then Obama has surely
recruited the best the most intelligent people in the country to get down to
business.
Remember David Brooks is well known and accepted as a conservative
Republican by all reasonable comentators. I'm going to withhold judgment
and give Mr Obama his fair chance at tackling the issues, and I encourage
everyone to do the same.
Ben C.
benonvelvetelvis wrote:
>
> Save me some room in the storm shelter (we hit water when we dig down
> here).
> I'll bring my share of the plastic sheeting and duct tape!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Bill Effros
> Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 15:30
> To: The Rhodes 22 Email List
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Politics - Palin - Twain
>
> Rummy,
>
> We didn't have to wait for Bush to get into the White House to write him
> off.
>
> They both ran as "outsiders" and "agents of change" who were going to
> change Washington "business as usual".
>
> But what do we see? Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Gates,
> Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden--same people, different day.
>
> The Democrats are awarding the "spoils" to the people who elected them:
> Lawyers; Wall Street; Organized Labor; Big Farmers.
>
> Meanwhile, the country is spiraling downward, the Democrats will have to
> go to continuous feed web presses or larger denominations to print the
> money fast enough, the "global warming" opposition will be chucked under
> the bus as the "public works projects" start to gear up. The rest of
> the world has its own problems -- they're not going to bail us out this
> time.
>
> And what about Afghanistan? You think Vietnam was tough terrain? Not
> to mention the fact that Afghanistan is twice the size of all of
> Vietnam. How many soldiers did we have in South Vietnam when you were
> there? How many do you think it will take to lose in Afghanistan?
>
> There is zero evidence that this guy is a smart man. This country has
> again made the dumbest person in the room "the decider". I really
> didn't think people would make that same mistake again, but, here we are!
>
> Professional politicians continue to run this country. They are running
> it into the ground. We should let the banks go bankrupt; only
> profitable automobile companies will survive; if people overpaid for
> their homes they should give them up; if people don't have jobs they
> should stop going to the mall; if we think we've got to fight wars all
> over the place, lets draft the soldiers; building dams and roads will
> not make the earth greener; public works projects don't end depressions.
>
> We haven't heard one good idea from this guy. When push comes to shove,
> he always reneges. And you think we should wait for 4 years before we
> call him on it?
>
> Not me. We're heading for tough times, and everybody is to blame. But
> blaming won't help. Burning food, bailing out ridiculous union
> contracts, letting people live in homes they can't afford, printing more
> money, paying off debts with worthless paper -- will only make things
> worse. I'll speak up now.
>
> Bill Effros
>
>
>
>
> 2RumRunner at aol.com wrote:
>> Bill,
>> Lighten up. Your blood vessels in your head are about to explode. Obama
>> isn't even in the white house yet and you are writing him off already.
> Yes, he
>> certainly has his hands full, cleaning up the mess from the last eight
> years,
>> but he's a smart man and will get the job done. Cut him a little slack.
> In
>> four years if he hasn't done a good job, then you can replace him. Until
> then,
>> lighten up Francis.
>>
>> Rummy
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 12/3/2008 12:17:17 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>> bill at effros.com writes:
>>
>> Too bad it didn't work...she was unable to get out the Republican vote
>> while Obama's field offices brought out the Democrats en masse...
>>
>> It's less than a month later, and the Democrats don't seem to have a
>> clue that they've got a real problem.
>>
>> Did you notice that China has announced they aren't going to bail us out
>> this time?
>>
>> Bill Effros
>>
>> Brad Haslett wrote:
>>
>>> "The report of my death is greatly exaggerated" - Mark Twain
>>>
>>> So, Sarah came down to Georgia.
>>>
>>> Brad
>>>
>>> ------------------
>>>
>>> Chambliss: Palin 'allowed us to peak'
>>> By: Andy Barr
>>> December 3, 2008 11:29 AM EST
>>>
>>> Fresh off his runoff victory Tuesday night, Georgia Republican Sen.
>>> Saxby Chambliss credited Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with firing up his
>>> base.
>>>
>>> "I can't overstate the impact she had down here," Chambliss said
>>> during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News.
>>>
>>> "When she walks in a room, folks just explode," he added. "And they
>>> really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a
>>> great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the
>>> Republican Party."
>>>
>>> Chambliss said that after watching her campaign on his behalf at
>>> several events Monday, he does not see her star status diminishing
>>> within the party.
>>>
>>> The Republican also thanked John McCain and the other big name
>>> Republicans that came to Georgia, but said Palin made the biggest
>>> impact.
>>>
>>> "We had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Gov. Romney and Rudy
>>> Giuliani, but Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around
>>> and, man, she was dynamite," he said. "We packed the houses everywhere
>>> we went. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired
>>> up."
>>>
>>> But as Chambliss heaped praise on Palin and other big-ticket
>>> Republicans that came to Georgia on his behalf, he questioned why
>>> President-elect Barack Obama would not use his star power to aid his
>>> Democratic opponent Jim Martin.
>>>
>>> "I have no idea why he didn't come down," Chambliss said.
>>>
>>> "His people were here. His organization was here," he added. "They
>>> really did a good job in the general election of turning out people.
>>> And whatever their game plan was this time, if he had been here, I
>>> have no idea whether it would have worked better."
>>>
>>> (c) 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC
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