atlas sighed (at me)
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(Originally posted on: 01-19-09 02:48:22 PM)
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Could I be living in a dream? A fantasy, perhaps? A magical place where America is going to march into the future with HOPE and CHANGE?
I doubt it.
Let us first consider the agents who are going to facilitate this change for at least the next 4 years in America:
President of the United States: Barack Obama
Vice President of the United States: Joe Biden
Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel
Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton
Secretary of Commerce: Bill Richardson
Secretary of Defence: Robert Gates
Secretary of the Treasurey: Timothy Geithner
Which simply doesn't belong? If you guessed right, it's Barack Obama! Unlike all of the latter, Obama is the only one who isn't knee-deep in the political bullshit of the Clinton years or, surprisingly enough, the last president Dubya'. In fact, all of these people, other than Obama, are highly accomplished statesmen with years and years of experience in playing real politik on the hills of Washington D.C. for both political gain and personal profit. All Obama comes to this presidency with is a pretty face and a calling for HOPE and CHANGE. Like a prophet, if you will, a man of rags, who's conviction and skill is inspiring the rabble to exalt him into ever greater and greater heights. We have had many such prophets with such good words of 'progress' in the 20th century, and it seems this one will be no different.
Continuing on though, I don't wish to rest on that point. I suppose Obama is not the first, or the last, president to pick a cabinet of highly experienced men to "advise" him on correct policy matters. Why, you need only look back to 2000 with Dubya's mediocre election. In it, many of his critics argued that, unlike Gore, he was unqualified for the office he was about to take over. And they were right; he had success as a governor in a state where he was literally assured to win and had not done much of consequence during his tenure except to maintain the status quo of Texas. When he did "win", however, he was quick to load his office full of men who served with his father before him and those who could be counted upon to advise him on the necessity of real politik at home and abroad. Eight years later, Obama has done the same for the exact same purpose; to answer the criticism that he is a know-nothing with the only thing to offer being polemics and powerful hand gestures. Why, he even recruited his competition from the election: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Richardson. Add Rahm Emanuel into the pot and what do you get; a dream team of people who's ideas and platforms are so synonymous with "politics as usual" that is is almost laughable that he will continue talking about his dreams of HOPE and CHANGE with Oprah.
But what does Obama expect to accomplish with this list of retainers? They are not idiots, and they most certainly aren't whelplings. They are tough, gritted men and women who have been in politics their entire lives and know how to push their agenda past their opponents. This seems in contrast to the President; a man of a relatively young age with little experience and little practical knowledge on how to get things done. His policies for HOPE and CHANGE aren't going to get done by themselves, after all. He was elected on a margin of around 54% of the popular vote and doesn't even have a congress he can totally rely upon with this recession fully setting in. So, then it will become up to his retinue to do it for him. His personality isn't exactly that of the school-yard bully which so many politicians use for good measure. No, he's a pretty man who looks good talking off of script about the issues people like to hear comforting things over.
If you were like me at the beginning of the post and were lost in a shining meadow of HOPE and CHANGE, you had better wake up and see just who is going to be running this country for the next four years. This recession is not going to end like the snap of a hat, and even if it does, the effect Obama has will probably be laughable because Obama is not even going to be the one running the show. His advisers will.
A witty saying proves nothing - Voltaire
This reply was last edited on 01-19-09 03:20:03 PM by atlas sighed (at me).
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