Posted on 06/21/2009 10:50:47 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It's not just former Vice President Dick Cheney.
As former President George W. Bush offered his first public - though veiled - criticisms of his successor's administration last week, a growing number of his senior aides and advisers are also speaking up to defend Mr. Bush's record and take on the Obama White House.
A few of them are marrying their insider's policy knowledge with modern technology to critique, in detail, President Obama's economic program.
The day Mr. Obama left for the Middle East earlier this month, former Bush official Tony Fratto launched a broadside against the White House claim that it had "created or saved" 150,000 jobs with economic-stimulus money.
"What causes the jaw to drop is not just the breathtaking deception of the claim, but the gullibility of the Washington press corps to continue reporting it," Mr. Fratto, an economist who served in the Treasury Department and the Bush White House press office, wrote on a blog run by CNBC, where he is now a paid contributor.
When Mr. Obama returned from his trip, the jobs "created or saved" claim was front and center. The White House message of the day - that the stimulus would "create or save" 600,000 more jobs in the next 100 days - ran into a public relations buzz saw.
Republican lawmakers and their message machines ridiculed the White House claim, pointing to Mr. Fratto and to other less-partisan economists. Economic adviser Jared Bernstein was peppered with questions at a White House briefing. Reporters noted that even the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the White House's assertion hard to verify.
"Tony was the first guy to really nail that, and that took on a life of its own," said Jim Rickards, a financial-security business executive with contacts inside the Washington political establishment.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Finally. But to me, this change indicates that some people in very high places are realizing that Obama is not a mere president from the other party.
Powerful people are starting to thing that his agenda truly is a threat that must be stopped.
And that's a good thing. But I can't help but think that if they didn't know that beforehand, they must be pretty damned stupid.
People who see themselves as "political experts" think they know it all about politics.
They thought Obama would follow the usual pattern of running to the left and then governing from the center.
What they didn't count on was (1) he really IS a Marxist, not just pretending to be one to get elected; (2) he's stupid AND malleable (bad combination); (3) there really ARE powerful anti-American forces behind him.
They persuaded themselves otherwise until it was too late.
This is one of those "Oh, $#!+!" moments for people who thought they had things under control.
That was a serious flaw. They were defeated by the press, but they should have put up more of a fight. Not whining or screaming, but simply coherent, regular explanations of their policies until it finally sank in.
I think that's true. I think some of them are also feeling a twinge of fear, because like many of the not very bright, Obama is vindictive and personally ruthless. I think some of these people are realizing that they'd better say something now, while they can; the question is really whether or not they have waited until too late.
I don't think it's too late just yet. It would just take a few more defections from the Congressional Democrats.
Thanks, I very much agree with that!
If I may add, I honestly believe that they also did not want to be perceived as racist; a lot of People I think were extra careful not to have that label stuck on them. I always hated the stupid race card played by some of these Democrats, preticularly the Congressional black caucus; it is a very dangerous thing in American politics as proven in November '08. It took me a long time to finally realize and accept that through trickery, lies, deception, and intimidation, this community organizer was elected President of our country, virtually putting this country in the hands of our enemies.
he's stupid AND malleable (bad combination)
And extremely dangerous!
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