what are barack obama's flaws?

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.

Harriet Miers and Hugh Hewitt, BFF

Daschle will still be around in some fashion though, unlike oh Linda Chavez who crawled back under some rock.

ugh Miers/Bork fanfiction would be the worst thing ever

"Can you mix...THIS kind of martini?"

slash fiction would top it.

Or is it just implied that all fanfic is slash now?

Miers/Bork/Palin/Katie Couric slash fic

my formatting was meant to imply slash; the inclusion of the word "fanfiction" was a mistake (as was thinking up the concept of "Miers/Bork", ugh ugh ugh)

Miers/Coulter/Palin/Malkin

I'm sorry I will stop trying to ruin life

my slashes between the names in my previous post represent slashing

Miers/Limbaugh

Andrew Sullivan ran this letter:

You have identified an approach by Obama that seems to be confounding the political pundits on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, among others. For example, the political “experts” on CNN yesterday wondered why Obama let the Republicans in the House get the “upper hand” on the stimulus bill. They are still operating under the grudge expectations of the past (i.e., now that the Democrats are in charge they can take retribution against the Republicans). Obama clearly seems to want none of this. He really seems to mean it when he says that this bill is not “his” bill, but everyone seems to be skeptical. It’s understandable since Washington has operated in this mode of political revenge for so long now (at least since the Clinton years) that Democrats are waiting for him to give them the battle charge to vanquish the Republicans and Republicans are wondering when the veneer will drop and Obama will sucker-punch them. I admit that this, too, is my natural political inclination. But I learned during the primary and presidential campaigns that every time I second-guessed Obama by wanting him to play the game as it has always been played, he proved me wrong.

Change will not come in two weeks. It will be a long process that requires building trust first. He seems right now to be committed to this process and I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah, I don't see it (pace Daria upthread) as an 'other' level chess game, just a long-term one. It might well not work, but that's the risk run to start with.

I don't agree with bits of that letter either.

interesting re: Sully

altho in general I don't like him at all

maybe he'll set up daschle as some kind of czar working on health care or related issues - the advantage being, no need for confirmation by the Senate.

xp: It's an "other level chess game" in the sense that he seems to actually be playing backgammon.

"Checkmate."

"Yeah, uh...wait."

"I jumped your king, that's $200 you owe me rent."

the writer assumes that things ran on grudge expectations in the past. questionable IMHO

well, certainly some of Pelosi's aggression (and the Gingrich Repubs in the nineties) depended on grudge politics.

not at all questionable imo

and resentment isn't necessarily a bad thing. RE the stimulus I agree with Barney Frank's remark the other day: Obama may have overstated his ability to bridge political divides. But we'll see.

it's February 4th

You just learned that yourself, right?