[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoons
Title: Obama the cabinetmaker (click to view)
Date: February 16, 2009
Entering his second month in office, President Obama has been having an unexpectedly hard time getting his cabinet together. First New Mexico governor Bill Richardson had to withdraw his nomination as commerce secretary after it was revealed that he was subject to a federal investigation relating to an alleged kickback scheme. Obama's second choice was Republican senator Judd Gregg, but he withdrew as well last week, basically saying he was too ideologically opposed to the president's economic agenda to serve.

Tom Daschle was supposed to serve as secretary of health, but he too stepped aside after it came to be known that he had been engaged in a fair bit of federal tax evasion. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner nearly had his bid turfed as well, for similar reasons.

Then there's Hilda Solis, who Obama wanted to be secretary of labor. Her approval has been grinding along very slowly, however, due to lingering controversies about her ties to Big Labour, and her supposed recent history as a union lobbyist.

The biggest irony is that most of these cabinet controversies have been arising precisely because Mr. "change we can believe in" has been selecting such decidedly old-hand Washington insiders for his administration's top jobs. Old faces bring their old baggage. Didn't that used to be the argument against making Hillary Clinton president?

[commanderkai]

Newsbot wrote:

The biggest irony is that most of these cabinet controversies have been arising precisely because Mr. "change we can believe in" has been selecting such decidedly old-hand Washington insiders for his administration's top jobs. Old faces bring their old baggage. Didn't that used to be the argument against making Hillary Clinton president?

Why yes he did, and he used it against McCain too, but why don't you look at that, hope and change was actually lies and bullshit, but saying that makes you a racist, because pointing out inexperience means you're referring to the color of his skin or something

Well, life goes on, he was elected, and we'll see how many insiders he'll be throwing into the cabinet. Didn't he place Mrs. Clinton as Secretary of State too? HOPE AND CHANGE PEOPLE!

[martin14]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Kjorteo]

Wow, the very first response drew preemptive "I'll bet we can't say anything bad about Obama because that would be racist! Haha look at me I'm so un-PC" ranting. All we need is a Godwin's Law violation and I'll bet we can have this thread wrapped up on page one.

Also, needs more emoticons. You can't utterly dismiss any hypothetical yet-to-be-raised objection to the point you're trying to make without emoticons.

[commanderkai]

Kjorteo wrote:

Wow, the very first response drew preemptive "I'll bet we can't say anything bad about Obama because that would be racist! Haha look at me I'm so un-PC" ranting. All we need is a Godwin's Law violation and I'll bet we can have this thread wrapped up on page one.

Also, needs more emoticons. You can't utterly dismiss any hypothetical yet-to-be-raised objection to the point you're trying to make without emoticons.

Of course, you totally misunderstood my point. I was referring that the exact same point made in the cartoon was mentioned during the election campaign, that Obama was going to appoint the same insiders, that he was in bed with the same insiders, but plenty of rational critics of Obama were dismissed as being racist. So now as we see the results of Obama's Hope and Change, which have turned into the same old.

So you're right, I am a bit frustrated, because these points where brought into campaign, and yet absolutely nobody noticed because of Hope and Change. Did he trademark that yet?

[Kjorteo]

I don't recall the argument of Obama's "change" rhetoric vs. Clinton-era cabinet and staff appointments (which is a legitimate issue that should be debated on its own merits) ever being dismissed by anyone as being racist. Care to find me a clip or an article or something? Bill O'Reilly complaining to a WASPy guest about how he may or may not be able to say anything doesn't count; that's just a professional pundit falling into the same "oh, look, a black man; I will now just assume that Jesse Jackson is standing right behind me and watching me and that all rational debate has automatically fled the building and I will complain about the evils of political correctness instead" trap that you just did.

Ironically, that mindset is probably more racist than anything your original point may or may not (but probably would not) have been accused of being. It treats minorities as a separate, distinct, "special" caste, and builds an incredible amount of resentment which itself can turn into racism, as you are now angry at the minorities for whatever you think they are putting you through. My father does that a lot, unfortunately. You should hear his rants about how the streets in this city named after people only bear their last names--"Washington," "Jefferson," etc., except for "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave." He may have originally had a legitimate point about there being a discrepancy there, but these days, the sheer amount of overt sarcasm and venom he puts into deliberately overpronouncing "The Honorable ... Reverend ... Doctor .... Martin ... Luther ... King ... JUNIOR Avenue!" is highly uncomfortable to watch, and I do worry about the implications.

(Also, on an irrelevant side note but just for the factually-inclined nitpickers, this being New Mexico and all, he completely forgot about Avenida César Chávez.)

So yes, let's talk about how Obama apparently sucks at vetting people, and not preemptively play the race card just because we assume someone else will at some point and gosh it's really infuriating how we just know they're eventually going to do that, eventually.

[Firekite]

You people voted him in. You asked for it. It's the same old bullshit. The "change" was from a confused big-government overlord Republican to the exact same tired Democrat party platform of old ideas. Awesome job, America.

[Kjorteo]

I fail to see how Obama's apparent unluckiness or poor vetting skills are an indictment of his promise of change. Most of the problems that are dooming his potential nominees now seem to revolve around personal matters (such as income tax evasion) that have less than nothing to do with the relative closeness of their ties to the Clintons, the Kennedies, or any other old Democratic standbys along those lines. Bill Richardson, for example, withdrew from nomination due to investigations that are happening right now of things he allegedly did as the Governor of New Mexico, more than eight years after he worked with the Clintons (and also well after he endorsed Obama instead of Hillary in the primaries.) If anyone thinks Obama's plan B for the post, Judd Gregg, the Republican Senator from New Hampshire, is part of "the exact same tired Democrat party platform of old ideas," they're...creative. Really, the most Clinton-y appointment he made was when he named Hillary to the Secretary of State position, and that was one of the few appointments that actually went off without a hitch.

You want change? Steven Chu, the new Energy secretary, is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whom Wikipedia claims is "known for his research in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light," a definite 180 from the Bush administration's policy of appointing cronies, businessmen, and overtly political types to high positions and more or less not believing in science. Eric Holder, the new Attorney General, believes waterboarding is torture and opposes the death penalty. Clearly, Obama failing to notice that a couple of picks didn't pay their taxes (or that a Republican might feel prohibitively conflicted to be in charge of Obama's financial maneuverings) shows just how foolish we all were to think there could be any underlying ideological change.

[ridenrain]

Who knew so few democrats paid taxes.

[CanadianJeff]

You can hardly put the blame of what one or two people do on an entire party. Otherwise I could easily claim that all republicans are bible humping racists.

[Kjorteo]

CanadianJeff wrote:

You can hardly put the blame of what one or two people do on an entire party. Otherwise I could easily claim that all republicans are bible humping racists.

And pedophiles.

[nerdy_girl]

Obama does want to bring change. You need old faces so people don't get to scared. There are alot of rich people that are worried about all his change. Just because he has old faces doesn't mean it will affect new policy.

[Murray_Smith]

Tom Daschle and Tim Geithner are two Democrats.
Tom Daschle and Tim Geithner have not paid their fair share of taxes.
Wrong conclusion:

ridenrain wrote:

Who knew so few democrats paid taxes.

Right conclusion:
People whose names begin with "T" are untrustworthy bastards.

[Ombrageux]

Quote:

but plenty of rational critics of Obama were dismissed as being racist

Name one.

[hwacker]

Kjorteo wrote:

Eric Holder, the new Attorney General, believes waterboarding is torture and opposes the death penalty.

Eric Holder is a Clinton lackey, check out what he did for Clinton. Same old DNC crap.

B-HO is way over his head and when the US economy takes his ass to the wood shed and it's not going to take long with Stretch Pelosi and Rummy Reid running the sinking ship.