what are barack obama's flaws?

i know this has probably been covered ad nauseam elswhere on ilx, but fuuhuhuhuhuuck that Rick Warren dude.

More fun with Rick Warren.

so as far as flaws, Obama's eagerness to reach out to those who vehemently oppose him could be seen as a slap in the face to a lot of people who campaigned tirelessly for him, even when he was spouting off some political CYA bullshit like marriage = man + woman, could, you know, be one.

wotta dick x-post

lol "saddleback" - isn't that when christian youths engage in anal in order to technically stay virgins? ;)

Yeah but his supporters knew they were backing someone whose management style was marked by openness and inclusivity.

Saddlebackers?

Sometimes uses nominative-case pronoun as object of preposition.

precis for the backlash?
"I can't recall a similarly disastrous start in a half-century (far worse than Bill Clinton's initial slips). Obama immediately must lower the hope-and-change rhetoric, ignore Reid/Pelosi, drop the therapy, and accept the tragic view that the world abroad is not misunderstood but quite dangerous. And he must listen on foreign policy to his National Security Advisor, Billary, and the Secretary of Defense. If he doesn't quit the messianic style and perpetual campaign mode, and begin humbly governing, then he will devolve into Carterism—angry that the once-fawning press betrayed him while we the people, due to our American malaise, are to blame."
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDA1MTkzYTc4NjA5MWQxOGNjMzU3YmZiYTJhZDQ5YTY=
i still have faith that b-o's running a long game around this kind of transparent partisanship, but i wouldn't mind seeing some proof soon

in understanding the world it's important to stay as far away from the writings of victor davis hanson

He's doing a pretty crappy job so far with the "stimulus". Or rather he's sitting back and letting congress do a crappy job. Amounts to the same thing, basically.

hanson's a total tool, true, but there's a lot of similar droning going around in the right-wing echo chamber. i'd like to think it won't gain a wide hearing, but right now the republicans are showing way more on-message party discipline than the democrats

Uh like they always do?

it helps if your statements don't have to be true? there's not a sentence in there that not in bad faith if not outright wrong.

"he promised so much and delivered on half! in two weeks! what a horrible president snicker snicker!"

oh no, democrats are worried about something

re: Daschle:

"I think I screwed up," Obama said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"And I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again."

Though I'm less concerned with the screw-up and more-or-less happy that dude can admit a mistake like a human being. I couldn't imagine this sentence coming out of W's mouth for any reason.

look VDH has always batted around .001 so this is good news if it's anything. plus most of his "points" are predictions, ah yes it will all come to pass as you say professor. he's not an analyst but a cosplayer of one, every time he says "it will" or "is going to", read "i really wish and pray super hard that..."

The thing that's most stuck with me from the acceptance speech in November was this:

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face.

Now, this can easily be read as a 'get out of jail free' card -- "Hey, I told you I'd goof!" And the proof ultimately is in the pudding. Still, I'm glad he said it, and the presumption is that he won't have to say it every week, so here's hoping.

i think his flaws may not be any naive expectation of love and comity in international relations, but in expecting that from his domestic political enemies. i basically agree with this (posted to tpm) but i'm not sure the public will be receptive to a 'major address' anymore.

From Theda Skocpol ...

In response to what you are saying: Obama is, sadly, much to blame for giving the Republicans so much leverage. He defined the challenge as biparitsanship not saving the U.S. economy. Right now, he has only one chance to re-set this deteriorating debate: He needs to give a major speech on the economy, explain to Americans what is happening and what must be done. People will, as of now, still listen to him -- and what else is his political capital for?

Speaking as a strong Obama supporter who put my energies and money into it, I am now very disillusioned with him. He spent the last two weeks empowering Republicans -- including negotiating with them to get more into Senate and his administration and giving them virtual veto-power over his agenda -- and also spending time on his personal cool-guy image (as in interview before the Super Bowl). The country is in danger and he ran for president to solve this crisis in a socially inclusionary way. He should be fighting on that front all the time with all his energies -- and he certainly should give a major speech to help educate the public and shape the agenda. That is the least he can and should do. Only that will bypass the media-conserative dynamic that is now in charge.

personal cool-guy image

wtf why are people retarded

^^^OTM

hey shakey and dan, stop working your personal cool-guy images

dude has been president for what, three weeks?

Whiney totally OTM about the apology/admission of error thing

Poll: Public Turning Against Stimulus Bill

By Eric Kleefeld - February 4, 2009, 2:07PM
A new Rasmussen poll shows that support for the stimulus plan appears to be falling precipitously in the last two weeks, since it became as heavily politicized as it is now:

Do you favor or oppose the economic recovery package proposed by Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats?

Favor 37%
Oppose 43%

A week ago Rasmussen had a 42%-39% plurality favoring the plan, and a 45%-34% margin of support two weeks ago. Support among independents has fallen to 27%, unchanged from a week ago but down from 37% support two weeks ago.

So the Republican talking points out there against he bill -- too much spending, redistribution of wealth, stacking hundred-dollar bills on top of each other, etc -- appear to be having some measure of success.

that's what i'm saying. rightwing pundits and politicians are all over the place trash talking the stimulus and i'd like to see b-o take command of the dialogue again. but maybe he's just giving the naysayers enough rope to hang themselves

"This guy who kept saying that he wanted to end partisan politics keeps trying to work with people in the other party! That's not why I voted for him!" <--- this line of rhetoric earns an instant "stfu, douchebag" from me

Such fucking irresponsibility among Republicans is hard to fathom, even when it is perfectly evident and has been for a long time.

It is time to rewrite Chapter 11 to require all corporate officers of bankrupt corporations to place their own assets into the bankruptcy and follow the corporation into receivership. Then the fuckers won't be so happy to see hard times coming.

that idea appears to not make even a lick of sense beyond being vindictive

Maybe that's because you haven't given it a lick of thought, Dan.

the gop has a lot of batshit economic ideas floating around in it as a general rule, but now they have a positive incentive to torpedoing the stimulus -- tank the economy, give the president a black eye, blame him for the mess in '10.

quite a few things have gotten me riled up a bit in the past week or so, say, right-wingers talking about how obama's a failure already, cheney's politico interview, republicans more or less dominating the stimulus debate despite not being in political power, mainstream press talking about how much of a disaster the nomination process has become, a bunch of things.

but it helps to take a deep breath and remember that the gop just faced some serious fucking losses (seems like ages ago), probably aren't poised to gain any congressional majorities in '10, and obama is actually in there for 4 more years at least (i still can't get over this after feeling like bush was president like forever), likely eight if nothing major happens.

there's a difference between being fair to the other party and hearing them out vs. letting them frame the stimulus debate in the media

what goole posted is basically otm - who cares what the republicans think!! if obama thinks that the bill is on point he should tell them to fuck off and pass it w/ only dem support. what are the drawbacks, politically? if it's a wild success then it will reflect highly on him, no matter who voted for it. and if it's a wild failure then it will reflect poorly on him, regardless of who voted for it.

and yeah the fact that he has allowed them to 100% control the debate on this issue is mind blowing

this is a bit o_0

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-v-santore/what-is-obamas-rendition_b_162927.html

at least, i wanna see one of these fabled threatened filibusters actually happen. make mitch mcconnell stand up and read the fucking phone book or whatever and we'll see who really gets embarrassed by it.

and while i'm at it, i think the fact that bank nationalization is totally off the table is even more frustrating.

gee where's morbs when we need him

toasting marshmallows

"this is a bit o_0"

Article has been largely debunked elsewhere.

It basically conflates "rendition" with "extraordinary rendition," one of which is a synonym for "extradition from another country to the United States in order to face due process" and one of which is a synonym for "extradition to countries that will torture you." Obama is keeping the former and suspending the latter.

cool, good to know.

IMHO it's not just the right wing pundits out there pushing GOP talking points, it's pretty much mainstream media.. booking a lot more GOP guests/commentators to repeat this stuff.
i don't buy for a second (never did) the explanation that obama is playing some mysterious other level chess game that the rest of us mortals just don't understand.

all it is is, right wing/drudge report driving the public dialogue & media happily following - as usual. really aggravating. cherry picking items in the bill that are comparatively miniscule in order to trash it & the democrats.. and furthermore, too many "liberal" writers/commentators happy to go right along and say, let's cave in to the GOP & just cross out whatever they complain about, that'll be a good strategy. ugh.

mainstream media is just going along with it right now for the main reason they always do: they require drama.

I mean they did the same thing during the campaign, seesawing back and forth about Hillary ("ooh she's washed up! But wait, a comeback!") Its all just manufactured narrative bullshit that doesn't matter. You know why? Cuz in the end this stimulus bill will pass along a party line vote, and Obama will say to the Republicans "hey, I tried to include you but you were a bunch of bitchy whiny babies AND YOU STILL LOST."

This was going to happen to any President, regardless of who it was; you would see the exact same shitstorm swirling around Clinton, McCain, or Romney had the chips fallen slightly differently.

i really and truly do not think we're seeing anything at all unusual either in the losing party's response to the winning party's first few weeks in office, or in the press's post-inaugural shift to a critical stance. obama's got a big, ugly job in front of him, the ever-swelling stimulus package was bound to attact a LOT of negative attention no matter what, and his appointment stumbles couldn't have been more poorly timed.

take it in stride. we'll know better what way the wind is blowing a couple years from now.

and yeah none of this is in the least bit surprising - barring the issue with the withdrawn nominees, which is really minor imho.

I remember Ned frequently reminding us in the midst of shitstorms before the election that "It's only February."

"It's only June."

"It's only October."

Now I find myself thinking: guys? It's only February 2009.

People remember when Supreme Court nominees get shot down - failed cabinet nominees are forgotten almost immediately and rightly so

I'm sure we're gonna remember Daschle, though

"People remember when Supreme Court nominees get shot down"

Sorta. They remember memorable ones.