Who’s in Charge Here? Saturday, Oct 23 2010 

Politics , victorgold 3:30 pm

A news report on why Thomas Donilon was appointed White House national security advisor informs us that Donilon is skeptical about the prospect of winning the war in Afghanistan and “Obama wants another ally in the coming bureaucratic knife fight”  over withdrawal.

Question:  Since when does a President of the United States need an “ally” to get his way in a policy dispute with the Pentagon?  Or is it too much to ask that the Commander-in-Chief show the same willingness to face up to opposition in the Situation Room as the Campaigner-in-Chief does at political rallies?

 

Old McDonnell Had a Forum Friday, Oct 15 2010 

Politics , , victorgold 7:18 pm

At a Tea Party rally in Richmond last week, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell (pronounced Mc DONN-el) and Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli (pronounced KOOK-inelli) took turns regaling the crowd with anti-Washington rhetoric, McDonnell going so far as to endorse a constitutional amendment that would allow states to nullify federal laws.  Throughout the rally, much chatter about “taking our country back.”

I have two questions: First, back to what? Obviously McDonnell has in mind the Articles of Confederation; which leads to Question Two: (more…)

 

Advice for a Wide-Eyed Electorate Friday, Oct 15 2010 

Politics , victorgold 7:17 pm

“Don’t trust nobody but your mama.  Even then, look at her real good.”

— Bo Diddley

 

Who needs the Plumbers? Tuesday, Oct 5 2010 

Politics , victorgold 4:55 pm

About Bob  Woodward’s “Obama’s Wars”:  Washington Post columnist  Ruth Marcus is appalled that President Obama’s telling Woodward the country “can absorb a terrorist attack” has been taken out-of-context.

I’d be amazed if it hadn’t. You’d  think that after more than a year-and-a-half  in office a president with a reputed gift for nuance would weigh his words more carefully — especially when speaking on-the-record to the most widely read reporter  in  the business.

No, what appalls me — to the extent that I have any mileage left on my White House appall-o-meter — is a president so fixated on the idea of “transparency” that he gives a journalist full access to Situation Room deliberations as well as to classified memoranda sent to his generals and the National Security Council.

A former president hired a group known as the Plumbers to locate the source of White House leaks to the media. No need for Nixon’s Plumbers  this time around. The source — though it’s not so much a leak as a torrent — is the Oval Office itself.

 

Raging Bulls—-t Monday, Sep 20 2010 

Politics , victorgold 6:36 pm

National Review’s Dinesh D’Souza says that what he calls Barack Obama’s “rage” is the product of a Kenyan anti-colonialist worldview inherited from his father. Sounds like the transferred guilt of someone whose rage stems from an Indian anti-colonialist worldview inherited from his father.

 

Homer’s Cousin Alan Monday, Sep 20 2010 

Politics victorgold 6:36 pm

Mulling over Alan Simpson’s diatribe about old women and veterans feeding off  the government “tit” — and waiting for the former Wyoming senator to come out in favor of eliminating pensions we pay ex-senators still on the government “tit.”

 

Deck Chairs in the Oval Office Wednesday, Sep 15 2010 

History and Politics victorgold 11:01 am

With a White House staff shake-up looming, the metaphor of the month is that all it adds up to is re-arranging the deck chairs aboard the Titanic.  Will it make any difference if Rahm Emanuel leaves to run for Mayor of Chicago?  If Robert Gibbs quits the press podium after two years of trading barbs with Fox News?

None at all.  Did it make any difference when George W. switched from Andy Card to…  I forget who.  A president — any president — gets the advisors he deserves;  that is, the advice he wants to hear.  The only chief executive I’ve ever heard of who tolerated negative vibes was Thomas E. Dewey who, after presenting an idea to his staff, insisted they point out its flaws.  Probably the reason he never made it from the Governor’s mansion in Albany to the White House.

 

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