Posted on 02/08/2009 2:49:57 PM PST by IbJensen
``I screwed up.''
-- President Barack Obama,
Wait a minute. He said that? There were cameras and microphones? Somebody caught it on tape?
Presidents don't say that. Bill Clinton never said that. George W. Bush would have cut off his tongue with rusty gardening shears before he said that. But you're telling me Barack Obama actually said it? These are the words that came out of his mouth in a series of interviews with network news anchors?
Oh, my stars and garters. Dylan was right. The times, they are a'changin'.
As a reader told me the other day, ``I was almost unnerved by how refreshing it was to have a president openly make, correct and admit a mistake. What unnerved me is that I almost didn't care what the mistake was.''
For the record, the mistake had to do with Obama undermining his own ethical standards by nominating former Sen. Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Human Services and standing by him even after it was revealed he had neglected to pay over $128,000 in federal taxes. Daschle withdrew his name from consideration the same day Obama 'fessed up.
Two hours later, would-be chief White House performance officer Nancy Killefer also packed it in because she, too, was tainted by tax troubles. All this after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's nomination was nearly swamped by the revelation that he owed $34,000 in back taxes. And, leave us not forget the administration asking for and receiving a waiver of its own ethics rules restricting lobbyists so that William J. Lynn III, a former lobbyist for Raytheon, could be installed as as deputy secretary of defense.
Taken together, it adds up to a worrisome pattern for an administration that campaigned on a vow to reform Washington's ethics. As Obama himself put it in one of the interviews, ``. . . it's important for this administration to send a message that there aren't two sets of rules.''
Yes, every president arrives in Washington with a promise to drain the swamp. And every president eventually finds the swamp draining him.
Inevitably, there comes a moment when the soap bubbles of campaigning meet the hard macadam of governing. The soap bubbles break, lofty promises and best intentions giving way before pragmatism and the need to get things done. It will happen for Obama, too. But the president must be more thoughtful than he has so far been in choosing when and how those moments come. Do it for healthcare, perhaps. Do it for the economy. But for Tom Daschle and William Lynn? No.
Like it or not, the rules are different for this president.
Don't believe me? Take a spin around town. Pick up a piece of chocolate sculpted in Obama's likeness at the candy store. Buy a copy of Spider-Man with Obama on the cover at the comic book shop. Pick up one of the dozens of Obama books at the bookstore. Stand among the people clad in Obama T-shirts and hoodies at the bus stop. Head over to the souvenir stand and load up on Obama calendars, cups, caps and key chains.
When is the last time you saw a president so . . . beloved? This is the source of Obama's great political power. It is also his political kryptonite.
Not to mix superhero metaphors, but as Obama's friend Spider-Man could tell him, with great power comes great responsibility. Barack Obama is seen as something new. The worst thing he could do is to act like something old -- a politician cutting corners and talking from both sides of his mouth. Should that happen, the heights of the nation's adulation will be mirrored in the depths of its scorn. So he must be what he said he was.
Last week's moment of sparkling candor was a timely reminder, then, of the traits that are supposed to make this president different. Some of us needed that reminder.
Maybe he did, too.
Brace yourselves, Americans, you haven't seen anything yet!
That's because the scum Mussobama keeps nominating for cabinet posts are clogging the drains.
"My stimulus package didn't work! "I screwed up."
-- President Barack Obama
Well there, that makes me feel better. Timely too!
``I was almost unnerved by how refreshing it was to have a president openly make, correct and admit a mistake. What unnerved me is that I almost didn’t care what the mistake was.’’
i fear this person is going to be very refreshed over the next 4 years, unless she is killed by a gitnmo released terrorist.
Especially when he brought a few of his political alligator look-alikes with him. Tax cheats and liars == invented south side Chicago political thuggery
Obomba would be better compared with the leader of Zimbabwe.
(Or is that Zimbabyou, or Zimbabme?)
At any rate they're both hard at work screwing up their nations. The main difference is that Zimbabyou is already a third world nation and we're not quite there yet.
“Trillion dollar mistake. Oops! Well, let’s just try it again. Maybe this time it’ll work.”
Oops! I guess I should not have brought 100’s of thousands of Palestinians to the US. My bad.
Possible translations:
"I'm in WAY over my head here."
"Rahm was taken to the woodshed for putting these cabinet appointments in front of me."
"Axelrod was taken to the woodshed for putting these cabinet appointments in front of me."
"We thought we could get away with putting these idiots in front of the public for confirmation."
"We thought we could put more people like Geithner up for confirmation - boy did we learn a lesson."
"We won, so screw you. We'll do what we want."
I have to laugh at the applause he's getting for this admission, especially since it's the biggest gimme of all. Lib reporters LOVE this sort of thing--when Janet Reno did it after Waco, they were singing her praises...oh, well, she got 83 people roasted, but hey, she SAID she did!
Obama's "admission" is a wonderful cover for his incompetence. Hey, as long as you ADMIT it, then it's OK!
I wish this writer would actually look at the more important issue of the actual screw-up. But it's so much easier to praise someone for admitting what everyone knows, anyway.
Plus, does anyone actually think Obama BELIEVES he screwed up?
“Oh, my stars and garters.”? Wow, there’s journalism.
Where’s the ‘barf’ on this article? Obama comes out of corrupt Chicago politics. *slap*
BTW, the Miami Herald is now the thickness of 2-ply bathroom tissue.
In a pinch, Mr. Pitt’s articles do just fine.
Yeah. I wonder how refreshing she's going to find it when she starts hearing 52 million Obama voters admitting they made a mistake.
HA! As if.
Oops! I guess I should not have brought 100’s of thousands of Palestinians to the US. My bad.
It looks like the Palestinians are going to have their own homeland. It’s called the United States of America.
Oooops, the red button I pushed after we entered the key codes?
I screwed up!
A screw up is pumping premium fuel instead of regular.
A screw up is getting decaf when you ordered regular coffee.
When you pledge to tell the truth, then continue to lie, its a lack of character.
When you pledge to act ethically, them engage in the same old machine politics, that is a lack of character.
0bama is operating with zero character
This writer is as clueless as BO.
His inner angry street agitator came out.
(Three months later)
"My stimulus package didn't work! I screwed up. I didn't spend enough. Send me another trillion." -- President Barack Obama
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