Darrell Issa, a Republican congressman from Southern California, has sent a stern letter to Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff of the Chicago Way White House.
Issa’s letter asks Emanuel to stop using Chicago-style political rough stuff against Republican critics of President Barack Obama’s gazillion-dollar economic stimulus program.
This new Republican thriftiness is curious. When they ran Washington, they spent like drunken sailors, though now they’ve sobered up and cling numbly to their conservative fiscal roots. Meanwhile, Democrats are out-drunken-sailoring the Republicans, perhaps fueled by “weezy,” which I learned the other day is a mixture of champagne and ecstasy.
Either way, Issa is demanding to know who is behind a series of letters sent by several Obama Cabinet secretaries to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that subtly threaten to withhold federal dollars from the state if Republican critics like Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona don’t shut up. The letters are curiously Rahmsian in tone:
“However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to your state … please let me know,” wrote Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman who is no stranger to how things work in Chicago.
[More]
Darrell should be careful or he’ll find a horse’s head in his bed or something…
No dirtier than the birther movement. One of the aforementioned tactics will be remembered by significant sections of the population 10 years from now. Guess which it is?
Interesting comparison… Let’s take a slightly closer look at that…
The birther movement are private individuals challenging the ultimate authority figure in the US over a point of principle which is all but moot. They have no power to effect change whatsoever and their challenges could be easily addressed if Obama chose to do so.
Rahm Emanual is connected at the hip with that same ultimate authority figure. Emanual has the power to effect change and is evidently unafraid to exercise his personal biases. Worse yet, he is using polarizing tactics and encouraging others to do so as well.
So who will be remembered in 10 years? I guess it all depends on your perspective…
The birther movement are private individuals challenging the ultimate authority figure in the US over a point of principle which is all but moot. They have no power to effect change whatsoever and their challenges could be easily addressed if Obama chose to do so.
If you believe that then it’s clear why there will be no resolution to this conversation either.
This is all a GOP smear job, playing on the xenophobia of bitter right-wing voters. Birth certificates have already been produced in addition to official statements from the President’s office and the State of Hawaii … and of course they were ignored because having O produce the certificate isn’t the point – the GOP is basically recreating a witch trial whereby no matter what Obama produces he will be labeled a Kenyan and therefore unfit for office. That’s the only way the GOP will defeat him.
In 10 years, yet another civil rights faux pas by the conservatives will definitely be remembered when they go fishing around for votes.
I didn’t draw the comparison; you did. I just fleshed out some details. Funny how you concentrated on one side of the comparison and left the other strictly alone.
Given McCain’s candidacy had already been questioned by the Dems, I’m surprised Obama didn’t simply nail down the point as soon as it was raised. Instead, there was obfuscation and copious faux indignity before finally producing documents.
Regardless, Emanual is still connected and using Chicago-style politics and the public faces of the birther movement are still private individuals with no power whether the GOP was involved or not. Of course, you could be 100% right. Perhaps it’s all a vast right-wing conspiracy…
Is the President’s failure to quickly and adequately address the question a civil rights faux pas? I’m sure the Dems will do everything they can to make it appear so… much like you are now… but since the Dems questioned McCain first, I doubt the label will stick.
The details of Emmanuel’s work is not an issue and has been done since the beginning of time. You’re adding importance to it because it does not suit your political goals. But as I recall, Karl Rove did the same and worse for George Bush. Are the Dems not allowed to have a hit-man? Also, Rahm is not creating any polarity where it didn’t already exist. Did the JNW crew wait for him to act meanly before jumping on Obama? Answer honestly.
The president should not be subjected to this degrading tribunal. It’s also an insult to the FBI/CIA and all the other agencies who vet potential candidates before they step anywhere near a podium. Are they all in on the conspiracy to keep an African, socialist, Muslim dictator in power in the USA?
Sorry, but I simply think you can do better, Mac.
Little guy indeed….
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25471.html
Of course, the GOP will make distance when they see what this is doing to their credibility, but for now they’re quite happy to egg on these yahoos, while various conservative “foundations” fund their activities.
But no, they’re ordinary Americans who dreamed out of the clear blue sky that they should verify Obama’s birth certificate on no one else’s. Had nothing to do with his name or liberal affiliation of course
So Omaba’s administration is “business as usual” except for the trillion dollars of stimulus, cramming health care down everyone’s throats and assorted other authoritarian programs but since so many people (including yourself) hated the Dubya/Rove/Cheney show, I’m surprised to find you supporting the status quo.
I find the whole birther thing amusing rather than insulting… but it’s a measure of Obama’s inexperience that he didn’t shut it down immediately.
Speaking of “doing better”, perhaps you could find a new line or two… “It’s a GOP smear job” was a convenient “one size fits all” label but like all generalizations, it’s gets a bit tiring. It’s highly unlikely that everything is a GOP smear job or that everyone who even hints a negative word about Obama is a GOP lapdog.
“Business as Usual” was my original prediction for this administration (even on this board). So far, nothing has been introduced that wasn’t already being done by the Bush administration or hadn’t been previously attempted by the Democrats. So far, there is no reason to revise this prediction. Same game, new face. The POTUS really isn’t that powerful of a position, IMO, and its relevance is declining (especially economically)
If you really wish, I could find a synonym for smear job, but then you’d probably complain in 2 weeks that it’s getting old.
“The POTUS really isn’t that powerful of a position, IMO, and its relevance is declining (especially economically)”
Right. Of course whatever went wrong over the last 8 years was Bush’s fault, he was omnipotent.
But Cynapse is correct and the only thing that the overall government (POTUS, Congress and the Senate) can do relating to the economy is:
1. Set taxes …which in turn impacts investment, which impacts growth ..thus jobs.
2. Run deficits or balance the budget, which impacts government debt, which impacts the flow of international capital and thus impacts foreign exchange rates, which impacts the ability to export, which impacts jobs.
Other than that , government can’t do much. : p )
OK ,Sarcasm off. Actually Cynapse I do agree with you that governments have less and less control over the economy that is now global.
But they can waste money like fighting a useless Iraq war and on space exploration.
PS … the markets are now up from near doomsday levels of March when it indeed looked like a post-partisan, Kumbayah America of letting the government look after all your needs ( like Cuba looked after toilet paper).
But now it is clear that America is thankfully deeply divided. That’s healthy. No more pretending that we are all going to get along. Dissent is at a very high level now and elitists are not going to rule us.
Therefore we are all going to be just fine and back living in the real world. And maybe if the GOP cleans out its elitists they will come up with a leader for the middle class and we’ll see real hope and change in 2010.
Good thread. Cheers!!
Ambulance chaser. Cheers!