Pajamas Media

68 Comments

1. vivo:

Jennifer Rubin:

What’s your f….g rush? How do you know he’s not making decisions? Did you write about rushing the Katrina decision making? You just love to smear people’s reputations. Why don’t you make some specific suggestions to “rush” the process?

“This may also be a sign of things to come.”
Yes, it is. Good decisions require thinking and planning, not feeding the attention deficit disorder of your dear compatriots.

Nov 15, 2008 - 4:06 am 2. SAF:

Too early to speculate or criticize. In fact keeping his decision process close to the vest is a good thing in my opinion. One of the problems the Bush administration had was the constant revealing of secret deliberations by the press. The NYT has revealed many confidential programs in the past that have had detrimental effects on national security. But they did this to hurt Bush.

And I think he is wise to get the inner core white house team established first. Once in place vetting cabinet members becomes easier. Emanuel is a can do guy even if you don’t like what he will do.

It will be apparent soon enough if he will revert to voting present mentality. Until then I am going to watch and wait.

Nov 15, 2008 - 4:14 am 3. Perfect Sense:

Obama doesn’t care about the current stock market slide. The more the market collapses during Bush’s watch, the more the market can “recover” during Obama’s Presidency. History will record the market’s value the day Obama takes office, not a the market’s value 60 days before Obama takes office.

Nov 15, 2008 - 4:29 am 4. misanthropicus:

Born in the house of “I voted against before I voted for”

Jennifer, Obama’s “deliberative” manner in his appointments adds another touch to his natural hesitant and opportunistic nature – and also, this appointments situation highlights, time and again, the fact that Obama has was been brought to the current position not by providence, but by a severe bout of political correctness and a series of demographic and economic accidents.
More Obama’s about vacillation and double speak: Obama’s denying Tusk’s (the Polish president) assertion that he commited to the missiles shield in Europe – of course he agreed, but he … voted against before he voted for!
Then, remember his reaction early September? “I give Secretary Paulson the authority to [...],” then sat on the bench, allowing for poor McCain try to do something about the financial crisis and sink deeper in the swamp. And since here – at this moment (5 am PST), it appears that actually there WAS NO OFFER for Hillary to be Secretary of State… thoughtful… deliberative… nuancing… considerate… then we have the “present” button… then there is “above pay grade” excuse… then… then…
As time will go, we’ll have the confirmation that Obama is the epitome of the “ante portas” political figure – and those who voted him in office are the ones who should pay the serious cost of that.

Nov 15, 2008 - 5:27 am 5. misanthropicus:

Re #1/vivo: “Jennifer Rubin: What’s your f….g rush? How do you know he’s not making decisions? Did you write about rushing the Katrina decision making? You just love to smear people’s reputations. Why don’t you make some specific suggestions to “rush” the process? [...]”

dba Vivo – you are just a miserable Obamabot. By the way, did you get your # 30 debit card? Heard that the One has became pretty tightfisted lately, keeps the money only for the high exalted figures in the movement, not for crappy rank ‘n file Acorn bots like you. Don’t dispair though – two weeks and you’ll get the Food Stamps, so you can trade them for some dope and you’ll be happy again!

Nov 15, 2008 - 5:33 am 6. fear Obama:

5. misanthropicus:
Re #1/vivo: “Jennifer Rubin: What’s your f….g rush? How do you know he’s not making decisions?

Ha. that was pretty cold- enjoyed it!

He never makes quick judgments, take a look at these.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/promos/politics/blog/obamaforamerica190190.jpg
http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/0/2008/11/07/320×240/obama_president_elect_83601.jpg

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:16 am 7. fear Obama:

He doesn’t make quick decisions. HA.

look at the podium picture.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/0/2008/11/07/320×240/obama_president_elect_83601.jpg

“Office of the President Elect.”

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:20 am 8. Vegas Guy:

“Caution and deliberation are the watchwords.”

That’s what Obama supporters want to believe. “Calculation and political risk avoidance” are more to the point. This won’t bother his supporters either. It allows them to maintain their delusions.

As far as delusions are concerned, one popular one on the right is that sooner or later Obama will be forced to make some major decisions that are unpopular with his base. Not so. We have the Clinton administration as a shining example of how to govern in a manner that is designed solely to maximize positive poll results and get re-elected.

Obama’s administration will be characterized by the following:

- Do as little as possible as late as possible in politically controversial areas
- Pander to the Left
- Relentlessly push a liberal domestic social agenda
- Control the media and the message
- When all else fails deny, distort, misrepresent

This was successful in getting him elected, and he won’t be changing the program any time soon.

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:23 am 9. R a Z o R:

Dwight Eisenhower seemed to just play golf all

the time . So maybe if we are real lucky we will

have a president that just plays basketball and

does not CHANGE America into Cuba . Well I can

HOPE anyway .

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:32 am 10. G-Ma:

#1vivo- it’s not above his paygrade any more.

Nov 15, 2008 - 7:12 am 11. Cantormania:

Jennifer,

Sometimes we get ahead of the game. You are very wise and see what we in all liklihood will see from President Obama: indecision, deconstruction, and procrastination. His past would indicate this.

However, I don’t see where a little over one week from his election Obama is obligated to make the decisions you expect him to have made. Sure, he needs to get a team in place so that the transition can move smoothly in January, but it’s not even December yet. Indeed, we’re not quite halfway through November yet!

There are and will be many legitimate reasons to critize the new administration. I expect to do this quite strenuously over the next four years, since I am a conservative Lutheran. There are just so many fundamentals I don’t share with Obama that I can’t imagine much that our new leadership will do over the next term that will please me. The issues will be objective, fundamental, and important.

I look forward to reading insightful discussion of those real issues as they arise. Speculation on the pace of his appointments 10 days after his election is neither insightful nor important.

Nov 15, 2008 - 7:34 am 12. Ms Attitude:

Many people like to blame Bush for the hold up to the response to Katrina. But official requests for help through the proper chains of command were not forthcoming due to local and state delays in engaging FEMA for federal assistance, even after approached by such authorities.

Many claimed that on the morning of August 28, the president telephoned Mayor Nagin to “plead” for a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, and further claimed that Nagin and Gov. Blanco decided to evacuate the city only in response to that request. These claims, were never substantiated with any recordings, however Blanco did tell reporters the President had called and spoken with her (but not Nagin) before the press conference. The notion that a sitting United States President would have to personally call a state governor to stimulate an emergency response during a disaster was seen as a troubling development nationwide, and led to increased criticism of Blanco and Louisiana’s emergency response plan.

I work with the Air Force, we were involved even before the storm hit. The Hurricane Hunters of the 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (403d Wing) in their WC-130 airplanes tracked and measured Katrina’s intensity and location as it crossed the tip of Florida and grew into a category 5 monster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Katrina hit on 29 Aug.

USAF helicopters took part early in the disaster relief effort. Their role was most important in the New Orleans area, where only helicopters were allowed to fly below 20,000 feet. Late on August 30, the Air Force Reserve Command’s 920th Rescue Wing from Patrick AFB, Florida flew large HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters to Jackson, Mississippi in order to deliver FEMA damage assessment teams to the disaster zone. On August 31, they and other HH-60s from wing’s 943d Rescue Group from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, began flying search and rescue missions. HC-130 tankers, staging at Patrick AFB, Florida, refueled the helicopters.

At the same time, other HH-60s and HC-130s from the Air Force Special Operations Command’s 347th Rescue Wing from Moody AFB, Georgia and 563d Rescue Group from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, performed similar search and rescue missions in the disaster area. The Pavehawk helicopters flew their missions from Jackson, Mississippi, refueled by HC-130s. MH-53 helicopters refueled by MC-130 tankers from the 16th Special Operations Wing, home based at Hurlburt Field in Florida, also took part in the search and rescue operations in the disaster zone. Like the Air Force Reserve helicopter assets, they served under the 347th Expeditionary Rescue Group under Task Force Katrina. The Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing also took part in the helicopter search and rescue operations.

I work for a Major Command and we put in a lot of overtime preparing and organizing rescue operations. Our hold up was the state of Louisina’s elected officials failure to request federal assistance. We were requested by Mississippi first.

Looking back with hindsight 20/20 I can see why Bush took the blame. The feelings of those that want the Federal Government to have more control feel that Bush should have gone over the Governor of Lousiana’s head. But at the time he was respecting the state’s right. He would’ve gotten criticized no matter what he did.

Two years later what did Obama say:

(2007-08-29) — On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama today blamed some storm survivors for “shattering the faith that millions of innocent people had in the power of government.”

“These people who have organized their own relief and rebuilding efforts have done more to hurt the poor, dependent folks of this country than anything in recent memory,” said Sen. Obama, D-IL. “Instead of waiting like good people of faith, these over-achievers have callously taken their future into their own hands. As a result, they gained an unfair advantage over others, and cast doubt on the ability of government to solve people’s problems.”

Sen. Obama said private-sector initiatives which have rebuilt many neighborhoods, churches and businesses were “little more than a cynical ploy by unbelievers to destroy the childlike trust of rest of us.”

hmmmmm, I think that should give us a clue at to how he would react.

Nov 15, 2008 - 7:46 am 13. Chris:

I recall that President Bush hadn’t named his first cabinet pick, Colin Powell, until Dec 17th 2000 if I remember correctly. The rest of his cabinet followed in the weeks after that.

Clinton was a slow-poke taking just as long to name his cabinet but hadn’t named any White House staff until shortly before inauguration day.

Look, I just think it’s a bit unreasonable to expect Obama to have hastily chosen his entire cabinet only 10 days after election day. Ten days isn’t so slow and cautious that he’s deliberately avoiding criticism. Would you rather the President rushed into the decisions, or took a bit of time to sit down with people and hash it out before putting their names up.

I’m not saying he has to wait for half-way through December, but you seem to be suggesting that he should have his entire cabinet scrawled on paper the day after election.

If he doesn’t have significant cabinet picks by the time Bush and Clinton made their first choices, then we can cry wolf. We do want him to move faster than they did.

But in the mean time, yeah sure #1vivo is a blithering Obamabot, but y’all are just as bad. Sounds like a bunch of Republican vultures looking for anything, just anything, to bite off of the Obamessiah. You guys are just as bad as the hysterical Dems are, the only thing that separates you is the fence between Left and Right. But we don’t read blogs for unbiased opinions now do we.

Nov 15, 2008 - 7:54 am 14. The Historian:

RADICAL POLITICIANS WILL DESTROY OBAMA
The far left in Congress is on track to ruin the Obama administration:

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/radical-politic ians-will-destroy-obama.html

Nov 15, 2008 - 8:01 am 15. Larry Miller:

Jennifer Rubin: “During a campaign with a compliant media he could get away with generalities and impress voters with his “temperament.” But the presidency demands specific action on particular policy and personnel decisions. No matter how “calm,” the president still must make the tough calls. Once he is sworn in, Obama will need to make those hard choices and incur the criticism which inevitably comes when supporters discover he really may not govern in the way they had in mind.”

This paragraph sums up perfectly my feeling towards Obama … lacking one second of executive or chief executive experience (along with Biden) nobody …. including the so-called mainstream media (which for many of us is anything but mainstream) knows what is going to happen once he assumes the Presidency. Personally, I think he’s going to be another Jimmy Carter …. the Congressional Democrats that have been in Washington since the foundation was poured are going to roll him and nothing is going to get accomplished …. which is a good thing if you don’t agree with the US looking and acting like France.

Nov 15, 2008 - 8:08 am 16. anton:

His first set of executive decisions and he is bumbling about. He ran for the office planning on winning right? He has no short list for these slots? So much for his vaunted planning and intellect. Now we will begin to pay the price for electing someone who has no record of executive decision making.
I suggest he rummage around in the closets at the White House and find that “The Buck Stops Here” placard. It is his decision and he has to make it, even the media can’t hide him from this.

Nov 15, 2008 - 8:12 am 17. Saltherring:

Immoral and unprincipled (Bill Clinton, anyone?) “leaders” often govern by sampling the opinions of support groups rather than from any deeply held principles and personal convictions. It remains to be seen if the President-elect has any morals/principles and has simply pandered to the far left (infanticidal abortionists, radical homosexuals, communists, unconditional peaceniks) in the interest of political expediency. His cabinet appointments will reveal much in the way of how he will attempt to lead, domestically and foreign-policy wise. He may only toss a few crumbs to the fruits and nuts, or he could fill his cabinet from FBI watch-lists. This uncertainty boils down to the fact America knows little about the man our unprincipled “independent” and “moderate” citizens dumped on us.

Nov 15, 2008 - 8:34 am 18. PumaJ:

Ms. Rubin, me thinks that your dislike of Obama has impaired your ability to post rational, reality based commentary. Further, your comments seem to demonstrate a glaring lack of knowledge about certain facts. For example, an article in the Chicago Daily Herald, on 3/10/04, explained the use of a present vote in this way:

“A present vote is a third option to an up or down ‘yes’ or ‘no’ that is used with great frequency in the Illinois General Assembly. It has many varied and nuanced meanings that, in the context of the actual bills, border on boring. It’s most important use is as a signal — to the other party, to the governor, to the sponsor — to show a willingness to compromise on the issue if not the exact bill, to show disapproval for one aspect of the bill, to question the constitutionality of the bill, to strengthen the bill.”

As for Obama being thoughtful and deliberate in his process of choosing cabinet members, I say, hooray for thoughtful deliberation prior to making the choices. I think it would be bad news for our nation and We the People if we had a president making poorly thought out, impulsive decisions.

Personally, I’m thankful to be living in a country that allows for criticism of its elected officials. My preferences in that regard do tend toward criticism based on accurate information, rather than mere personal opinion. I’m always for informed debate on issues and our elected officials.

Like others who have commented here, Ms. Rubin, I do have to wonder at your sense of urgency regarding Obama’s cabinet and staff choices. What’s your need to have him make his choices quickly all about anyway and why do you have to put him down for not making these decisions according to your time frame?

Nov 15, 2008 - 9:25 am 19. misanthropicus:

RE #12/Ms Attitude: “[...] Many people like to blame Bush for the hold up to the response to Katrina. But official requests for help through the proper chains of command were not forthcoming due to local and state delays in engaging FEMA for federal assistance, even after approached by such authorities. [...]”

Ms Attitude, I am one of those who don’t blame Bush for the Katrina debacle – it’s the state and city authorities who are chiefly to blame there, Brownie’s FEMA, and… yes, in a certain extent the local populace.
Now, having said this, I will produce Talleyrand’s famous line: “This is not a crime, it’s much worse, it’s a stupid thing!” – and with this in mind, I squarely place the blame on Bush/ his team for not recognizing/ making a good PR event out of Katrina.
Am I cynical? No, not at all – look how any objective disaster is used by liberals to advance their agenda.

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:01 am 20. Mike:

Wait a second, why is letting Gates stay on somehow evidence of ‘not making a decision’ or ‘making a safe choice.’? I think the ’safe’ choice would be to replace the CIA spot with someone associated with the Dems, since that what one expects a new administration to do. So, asking Gates to stay on is actually a little mold-breaking (and I think, a good choice). Remember, Clinton in his first term was lobbied heavily to retain Bush’s CIA head (can’t remember the name) and instead he replaced him with someone pretty bad (again, can’t remember the name). Glad Obama’s not repeating that

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:13 am 21. Mike:

oops, I mean defese, not CIA. Too early in the AM, sorry

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:14 am 22. Arizona Senora:

Any well-versed political analyst realizes the most important factors in the transition periods, is having the WH staff chosen and in place.

These selections FAR outweigh the cabinet choices in terms of priority during the transition period. The administrations that did the reverse were the ones with serious legislative issues during the first 2 years.

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:18 am 23. kevin c:

hey jennifer-still havent gotten off your “metoo” conservative kool aid yet? since when is being indescisive and indifferent a “good” thing. if iran attacks israel i guarantee you niether labor or likud would say “leave em alone,it ok they nuked 2 million of our citizens “. commie obami has no stones and the backbone is one long yellow stripe. not exactly what one looks forward to in a leader. winston churchill and jfk would choke at the thought of this wimp.

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:21 am 24. Ms Attitude:

19. misanthropicus: It’s a shame that our elected official have to worry about every event being a PR event. But I guess that is what we have evolved to in this media age of glitz and glamour. I’m still at awe at what Obama said two years after Katrina.

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:23 am 25. David Thomson:

Does anyone remember the last scene in the 1972 movie, “The Candidate”? The Robert Redford character has just won the election and asks his campaign manager, “What do we do now?” Well, here we go again. Barack Obama is a shallow and poorly read individual who is not even close to being ready for the major leagues. He is bewildered by his new duties. Unfortunately, his default position is that of a committed Saul Alinsky activist—and therefore our country is in deep excrement.

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:42 am 26. Martge:

You tried to tell people that obama had the record for voting present, not yes, not no, but only present while he was in the Illinois state senate. Then it took little effort to go back and look at his US senate record. For 2007 and most of 2008 he had more NOT VOTING than any other senator except Tim Johnson who had brain surgery. It is all in the Congressional Record. All the nay sayers that called you wrong. All the had to do was look it up.. we see why, now, that he didn’t want to make waves.

Nov 15, 2008 - 11:02 am 27. susan:

How many people called McCain indecisiveness about what to do with fannie and freddie and his interview as “erratic behaviour”?

How come that indecidiveness is a virtue?

Nov 15, 2008 - 11:06 am 28. David Thomson:

“How many people called McCain indecisiveness about what to do with fannie and freddie and his interview as “erratic behaviour”?

How come that indecidiveness is a virtue?”

John McCain was not being indecisive. No, his problem is political correctness. This is the number one reason why McCain lost an election that he should have easily won. There is simply no way to discuss the crisis involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if you are hesitant to point out that the Clinton administration forced lending institutions to provide mortgages to minorities possessing poor credit histories. McCain royally messed up in the very first debate with Obama when he failed to mention this awkward fact. The possibility that the legacy media might falsely accuse him of racism was enough to keep him silent. Middle of the road voters had no idea that the Democrats are mostly responsible for this craziness. They instead blamed the Republicans. Alas, who ever said that life is fair? Mitt Romney would have defeated Obama by the minimum of five percentage points.

Nov 15, 2008 - 11:46 am 29. Tom:

Obama will go slow because that is his style. He is very reluctant to make any decision that he thinks could hurt himself politically. People must remember that he is not a decisive man, but one who has come up through a political machine. People will have to be very patient with him. He talks good, but has no history of decision-making and leadership.

Give him some time. The cabinet appointments are coming.

Forget the stock market. It is not coming back to 13,000 any time soon unless we get a short term spike up due to the auto bailout, etc.

The US Dollar will continue its slide as the federal government including the Fed will try to pump more liquidity into a system that is already addicted to consumption debt. Get out of the US Dollar investments now. Obama will try to solve the problem via monstrous deficits/spending and hope the rest of the world buys government securities. Than watch as the interest rates must come up at some point and the interest on all the debt shoots up due to most of the new debt denominated in shorter-term maturities.

Obama, Reid, and Pelosi will not let the government default, but will push to spend and inflate the currency.

Nov 15, 2008 - 12:33 pm 30. goy:

Ms Attitude, I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but Scrappleface is a satire site, not a news outlet.

Your Obama quote – while I’m sure it’s exactly what he was thinking (Ott has mindreading powers) – is completely fictitious, and an unfortunate faux pas punctuating an otherwise excellent account of the Katrina aftermath. Nagin should have been tried for criminal misfeasance.

Nov 15, 2008 - 1:16 pm 31. TomF:

Ms Attitude, don’t believe everything you read. Especially, if it supposedly supports your position. The statement you attributed to Obama was actually political satire, written by the editor of http://www.scrappleface.com. There has been entirely too much false information flying around this election cycle.

Nov 15, 2008 - 1:23 pm 32. Rachel Peepers:

If your lies and obfuscations got you in water way above your head, like Obama’s, and you realized they can’t get you back out, you’d be frozen with fear, too.

Nov 15, 2008 - 1:47 pm 33. Matthew Avitabile:

Um… Hillary’s not going to be Sec of State

probably Kerry
http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-will-be-next-secretary-of-state.html

Nov 15, 2008 - 2:26 pm 34. Ms Attitude:

Goy and TomF: Thanks for pointing that out to me…Just goes to show we can’t believe everything we read!

Nov 15, 2008 - 2:34 pm 35. Judy, NYC:

i agree, let’s not lay this at president-elect obama’s feet quite yet. it is not just obama who does not seem to be moving, the whole of government is doing nothing. their plans, just morphs into a kind of nothingness, and doesn’t serve to move us ahead.

the banks raise the credit bar daily (this is a fact not an opinion), so that small entrepreneurs have no chance of getting started. or, home buyers. or car buyers. they just spend time fattening their paychecks and figuring their own outrageous bonuses, that they themselves sign off on. no one is moving them to act.

our government keeps calling it the 700billion$ bailout. if the banks got their billions and aig got billions, how can it still be 700 billion?? it must be over a trillion for bailouts. in the crudest but most salient vernacular, no wonder the american public doesn’t know whether to “sh*t, piss or go blind”. does this help further investment?

obama says he wants an auto bailout. republicans would rather see a bankruptcy. if the big3 go into bankruptcy and are no longer responsible for its “legacy” debts (pensions and medical), and the uaw falls apart as a result, call me crazy, but does not this require a pre- planned exit strategy? without one, millions of workers (all the suppliers for the “industry” will collapse) and soon to be destitute retirees, won’t be capable of paying their mortgages, credit cards, or any of their debts. uh. are we not back at square one?

someone, either tell us how much its gonna cost to bail out these automakers or tell us their exit strategy, figure out how to kick start the fat ass bankers, and put a couple of ceo’s in jail.

is anyone in charge around here?

Nov 15, 2008 - 3:03 pm 36. dragonfly:

Nobody seems to notice that the Democrats have given us a President who is NOT a leader. He is a FIGUREHEAD , the spokesman for those who orchestrated his election, the “powers behind the throne”. Not just beholden to them, but selected for the role precisely because he is a compliant and eloquent follower.

Obama has never lead anything, conceived anything, initiated anything. Consider the great leaders of the past. They were people who actually DID somthing. Some demonstrated their leadership in military action. Some shaped important legislation – introduced it, defended it, fostered it, steered it through to realization. They earned respect and followers not just for their oratory but for performance in controlling, managing and directing the development of significant events.

Obama has attained his exalted position solely on oratory. His campaign attempted to stifle any inquiry into his past. A leader’s past is normally the heart of his campaign. He gave one brilliant speech four years ago, filled with flowery platitudes about unity, a cause to which his record shows no commitment. That’s it. That’s all. That’s the record he ran on, not his real past. His performance over the last year has given every indication of tight behind the scenes management; whenever he “winged” it, he floundered. He played his audience superbly with left-wing boiler plate, and that’s where he made his biggest gaffes.

A true leader, one who had earned the role and was calling the shots, would have formed a very clear idea of who he wanted in each of the major positions in his cabinets and staff BEFORE his victory. By the weekend they would have been announced. What we are seeing here, in what his disciples perceive as gravitas, is a “behind the throne” struggle for ascendency in the thick stew of the crew of political and financial supporters who put the crown on his head. And are determined to stick around for the payola.

It is unnerving to realize that the United States of America has, in its position of greatest trust and responsibility, a hollow FIGUREHEAD, unqualified and incapable of making important decisions on his own. .Except, of course, where doctrinaire socialism provides the instant answer.

He’s sitting with the Ayatollahs,thinking, “What would Saul Alinsky do?”

Nov 15, 2008 - 4:10 pm 37. Winner:

Is there no end to the racism and misguided hate on this site? pjmedia was a good source of humor for me prior to the election. Now, it’s become tiresome and a parody of all that is f’d up about the GOP.

Fortunately, the small-minded people from Team Elephant who regularly post here are the minority, as demonstrated by the ass-kicking McCain/Palin suffered.

You don’t love America; you love the sound of your own voice spewing your ignorant and hateful beliefs.
Here’s a suggestion; instead of making illogical predictions and getting all lathered up about how poorly President Obama will perform, how about going out in your communities and doing something constructive to make America better?

I love America. I don’t hate you. (although I am afraid of you and feel sorry for you).

One last thing. Learn how to spell and write a coherent sentence. Christ.

Nov 15, 2008 - 5:34 pm 38. Bill:

Ms. Attitude, are there citations for the last three paragraphs of your post?
Those paragraphs sound out Obama’s main theme — you will rely on the government for everything.

Nov 15, 2008 - 5:47 pm 39. Protagonist:

Every time I hear this kind of talk about Obama, I think back to the “Breaking Point” episode of Band of Brothers and the quote about the CO Lt. Norman Dyke: “Dyke wasn’t a bad leader because he made bad decisions. He was a bad leader because he made no decisions.”

I’m getting this scent from Obama too, and it’s at a critical time in history where good, decisive leadership–even from someone left of the political spectrum–would be beneficial. Though one hope is that he’ll defer all important business to his Rahm Emanuel and rubber stamp everything he wants. Emanuel–if he follows form–would at least make pragmatic decisions as far as Iraq/Israel/Middle East policy is concerned.

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:08 pm 40. M. Simon:

John Kerry for Sec State?

John Kerry is a tosser.

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:22 pm 41. M. Simon:

Judy in NYC,

You can bail out GM all you want. If no one is buying their cars they ain’t coming back.

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:25 pm 42. BC:

I love America.

No, you don’t. You love the politically-correct social welfare shithole that you want America to become. But you don’t love America.

And that’s why I hate you.

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:39 pm 43. Войска ПВО:

Winner writes:

“Is there no end to the racism and misguided hate on this site? pjmedia was a good source of humor for me prior to the election. Now, it’s become tiresome and a parody of all that is f’d up about the GOP.”

..Loser, one would have to go to extraordinary lengths to impute any degree of racism of the posts in this thread and on PJM in general. In fact, I have seen responses with the slightest tinge of a racist comment roundly comndemned. I believe that can be said for many of the so-called “right-wing nutjob” web sites you will visit. In fact, there is not a lot of “misguided hate” either..

..especially when one compares these sites to those intolerant echo chambers like KOS, etc.

But I suppose this will be the mantra of those of you listing to port nowadays: ascribing hate and racism to any dissenting opinion.

Perhaps you should re-read this thread and see how many militate against the theme of the post and urge that Obama be given more of a chance to select his cabinet and get things going. Also, you should go to the other threads and see the comments lauding your Dear One on his choice of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff or otherwise wishing Obama success s long as he leads competently.

There is even a lot more moderation amongst “he’s not my president” comments than there were in the eight years of hideous invectives hurled at George W. Bush by the left.

I am glad you don’t hate us. Feel sorry for us if you like, but spare us your condescension and just go elsewhere if what appears here troubles you.

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:44 pm 44. nlcatter:

dragon fly is a moron as well as the other GOP airheads

who have NO clue what it takes to run a campaign.

Nov 15, 2008 - 9:04 pm 45. vivo:

5. misanthropicus:

” By the way, did you get your # 30 debit card? ”

You are soooo PREJUDICED. I’m an Independent. I’m not associated with the Obama organization at all. I don’t get paid by anyone. I just like to set things STRAIGHT. Simple.

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:14 pm 46. vivo:

36. dragonfly:

“Nobody seems to notice that the Democrats have given us a President who is NOT a leader. He is a FIGUREHEAD , the spokesman for those who orchestrated his election, the “powers behind the throne”. Not just beholden to them, but selected for the role precisely because he is a compliant and eloquent follower.”

This is EXACTLY what Bush was and is . . .

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:23 pm 47. vivo:

18. PumaJ:

“Ms. Rubin, me thinks that your dislike of Obama has impaired your ability to post rational, reality based commentary. Further, your comments seem to demonstrate a glaring lack of knowledge about certain facts.”

Worth repeating.

Prejudice blinds (Ms. Rubin’s, of course).

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:28 pm 48. Faith and Facts:

Obama will find actually making decisions and deploying strategy requires more than blaming GWB for every evil. He will have trouble making decisions on issues that are MUCH harder than this.

Nov 15, 2008 - 11:06 pm 49. Muyiwa:

I’m thrilled at the responses I have seen so far that seem to make a lot of sense to me, I mean what’s the rush? where is the country in a rush to? isn’t it the same rush for homes, Taliban that got us into this mess we are in at the moment?

I would agree with the strategy for Obama’s administration to take its time, no matter the impending doom, nature gives us that allowance to take our time and think it through!

I believe the media is in a rush to get to the newsstands hence their need for Obama to make quick decisions they can misinterpret and misconstrue to the American public and i agree he should take his time

Remember-Mission Accomplished………..that was a well thought through message ya? (duh)

Nov 15, 2008 - 11:35 pm 50. Ms Attitude:

38. Bill: Don’t quote that last part of my comment. It was pointed out to me by 30 and 31 that it is a political satire….But I do know without a fact that the first part about the Air Force’s response was 100% accurate!

I don’t want to be responsible for spreading something that is false even when it’s against Obama. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of real stuff talk about in the next 4 years.

Nov 16, 2008 - 12:03 am 51. David M:

This is without a doubt one of the least informed pieces of “criticism” that I’ve read in some time.

First, voting “present” in the Illinois state legislature doesn’t mean you’re not taking a stand. It’s a parliamentary procedure used for a variety of reasons–often to indicate agreement with the intent of a bill, but objection to specific provisions. Illinois State Rep. Bill Black (R), a 22-year veteran of the Illinois House and the REPUBLICAN floor leader said “To insinuate the ‘present’ vote means you’re indecisive, that you don’t have the courage to hold public office, that’s a stretch. But, it’s good politics.” Present also counts as a “no” in the final vote tally so it’s not an abstention–it’s a “no with explanation”. If the writer didn’t do the minimal research needed to understand that then this was really sloppy journalism. If the writer did understand this and deliberately mis-characterized that record to support a premise that Obama is indecisive then the post is intellectually dishonest. Pick your poison–sloppy or dishonest–either dishonors the writer’s profession.

Second, Obama doesn’t take office for 9 weeks and the election was less than two weeks ago. So what’s the complaint? Can you give one example of a prior administration that had a staff and/or cabinet selected two weeks after the election? Of course you can’t because it’s never been done.

This post is empty and ill-informed criticism at best.

Obama seems to have been pretty successful selecting a campaign team and holding that group together as a cohesive unit. Like him or not, he picked an effective group and ran the better campaign in this election. I realize campaigning and governance are two different things, but people who build winning teams tend to do that no matter what the purpose. So I’m inclined give him the benefit of the doubt with respect to his process for selecting team members for his administration. As an earlier post said, if we get to mid-December and no key positions are filled, then perhaps there’s a basis for criticism. Right now this sort of criticism is little more than hot air and sour grapes.

Nov 16, 2008 - 12:26 am 52. allswell:

The rush is that we have been told that we are in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the great depression. At least pick a Treasury Secretary. He is the President – Elect and the world is looking to him to see what he is going to do to try and fix this problem. I especially love the people who are ckinging to their last few months of “but this is Bush’s watch”. I bet Pelosi and Reade are just waiting by the phone for W to call with his last minute fixes so they can get them voted on and into law before Obama takes over. You won now govern. I’m looking forward to sitting on the side and sniping. It’s your responsibility now. Good luck.

Nov 16, 2008 - 10:28 am 53. allswell:

I meant “Clinging” and “Reid”. Never type while watching football.

Nov 16, 2008 - 10:30 am 54. Wahine:

As far as other appointments go, the recent selection of Valerie Jarrett, as Senior Advisor, I believe, is not a good omen. Especially for those of us who would like to see O. take a different direction.

Away from his Chicago shenanigans.

She, like Ayers, is a family friend (first with Michelle), and has ties to Rezko. Together, it seems, they ripped off the poorer among us. And the taxpayer. Over at: americanthinker.com, Lifson wrote “Getting to Know the Obama Team” and he has a link to Doug Ross’s article on Jarrett.

It’s accompanied by photographs: of Grove Parc, the disastrous subsidized complex she managed. And not just this failed project, but another of hers – a larger one – was deemed uninhabitable and taken over by the federal government.

It doesn’t appear his long, deliberative process is producing the finest public servants so far.

Nov 16, 2008 - 4:40 pm 55. wtf:

Jennifer,

What is your deal? Can the guy at least take office and do some things before you give him a shout down… Should he hire people with no experience? People who don’t know how to get things done?

Nov 16, 2008 - 4:44 pm 56. momof3:

When are all the Obamabots going to leave? Do we need to go start another news site?

Nov 16, 2008 - 6:48 pm 57. jerryofva:

Obama is Chicago politician and here are the three rules of Chicago politics:

Rule 1: Get relected
Rule 2: Get Relected
Rule 3: Get Relected

and this leads to First Principle of Chicago Politics:

“Don’t make no waves, Don’t back no losers.”

(Richard J. Daley)

Expect Obama to follow this principle in every decision he faces.

Example: He will retain Secretary Gates because to do otherwise he would run the risk of ruining a good strategy to fight Islamic terrorism. This show how stupid vivo,nclatter and company are. Obama knows that Bush’s GWOT strategy is working. Why would he make waves and turn a winning strategy into a loser? The question is will Gates stay?

Nov 16, 2008 - 6:52 pm 58. Becky:

I just hope that whoever Obama picks he makes good decisions- maybe Christopher Burns, author of Deadly Decisions and one of the country’s leading authorities on modern information management, would have some good advice for him.

Nov 16, 2008 - 10:24 pm 59. Christopher:

@ #56 momof3

When are all the people who do not agree with my views going to leave the country?

Why don’t I just fly off into space and start a new country?

Nov 17, 2008 - 4:35 am 60. vivo:

56. momof3:

“When are all the Obamabots going to leave?”

Not until all the visions of Hell disappear . . .

Nov 17, 2008 - 4:51 am 61. Justin Credible:

George Soros has not decided yet just who will be in the Obama Cabinet.

Nov 17, 2008 - 6:32 am 62. Bandit:

First, voting “present” in the Illinois state legislature doesn’t mean you’re not taking a stand.

What complete and utter bs – which flavor Kool-Aid is best? Take another swig. Down with all who criticize Obama the Empty!

Nov 17, 2008 - 7:11 am 63. Dr. Lumplevin:

While Pres.-elect Obama wisely consults with Georgie Soros about which Cabinet picks will facilitate the establishment of the glorious new corporate state and one world initiative, we have the poop on the process of choosing the politically correct Obama family dog at:http://lumpsfromtheleft.blogspot.com/

The choice is made and we have the pic!

Nov 17, 2008 - 9:19 am 64. cheeflo:

Considering the fact that he has talked more than once about his second term since before he even got the nomination, I would have expected him to have all of this already figured out.

Someone who votes “present” or not at all as often as he has (even on issues he ostensibly holds a position on) will not be in any way decisive or principled.

He has never demonstrated any leadership qualities and has no record of accomplishment. Even so, he has published two … count ‘em … two memoirs with nothing more to write about than his own stream of consciousness.

The only thing he seems to do well is to read off a teleprompter convincingly — it is the only time he displays any real feeling. He will be as he always has been — in his own words, “… a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripe project their own views.”

Dragonfly nails it — Obama is a zero sum.

Nov 17, 2008 - 12:35 pm 65. Robert Hurley:

This column is a classic case of not letting the facts get in the way of your opinion. If I were an English teacher and this came to me, I would grade it a D

Nov 17, 2008 - 1:39 pm 66. Pat J:

Robert, I’d give it a C- for satirical content.

Nov 18, 2008 - 9:20 am 67. vivo:

65. Robert Hurley:

D, agree. A for accessibility.

Nov 18, 2008 - 9:46 pm 68. dragonfly:

Jennifer: Too many of your readers are terminal cases of the OIV (Obama Idolatry Virus)

1) They truly believe that Obama, PERSONALLY, initiated, planned, organized and managed his campaign, when it clearly was totally orchestrated by the Chicago Democrat machine,, strategy by David Axelrod.

2) They truly believe that dawdling, pushing back decisions, internal squabbling, and confused and confusing communications are evidence of gravitas and statesmanship.

3) They truly believe that infantile prattle, potty-mouthed insults and nonsequitor constitutes “commentary” and apparently spend all their time seeking targets for their inane invective.

As for those “behind the throne”, is it not interesting to note that, once Obama cinched the election, Uncle Jerry and Neighbor Bill, who had been very much under cover, have now emerged and become quite chatty?

Nov 18, 2008 - 11:13 pm

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