I'll Say It Again

Anyone wondering why Chicago went down in the first round of voting for the 2016 Olympics ought to watch Michelle Obama's speech to the IOC.  Ann Althouse provides the video and post-mortem.

I was madly derisory based only on the text, but seeing the video makes me glad I only read the address.

The WSJ defends Obama yet hopes this can be a teachable moment:

We also won't join those who pounded President Obama for taking a day to travel to Copenhagen to underscore Chicago's bid, claiming he had somehow shirked the pressing issues of health care and yesterday's dismal September jobs report. If the country is going to unravel because a President is not in Washington for 24 hours, we're in worse shape than we thought. Some also fault Mr. Obama for investing the prestige of his office in getting the games, as no President has before, but then Mr. Obama is more closely identified with Chicago than other Presidents have been with other bidding cities.

If Mr. Obama and the White House made a mistake, it was in their apparently boundless faith that somehow Mr. Obama's personal popularity would carry the day. As if, merely by seeing the rock star in person, the delegate from, say, Egypt would abandon his simmering dislike for America, forget all the dinners and deals cut with the Rio Committee, and reward Chicago. In that sense, the Olympic defeat is a relatively painless reminder that interests trump charm or likability in world affairs. Better to relearn this lesson in a fight over a sporting event than over nuclear missiles.

As to the president being closely identified with Chicago - well, sure, but that means this is a Chicago failure, not an American failure.  Bush did not push for New York at the 2005 IOC meeting in Singapore, which he surely might have done - the Republican Convention had been in New York in 2004, there was a 9/11 connection, and anyway, New York is part of America, yes?  Except that presidents normally just don't get involved with this and stake our national prestige on it.

And over to Victor Davis Hanson for a bit more Barack-bashing:

And the more I watched Barack/Michelle do the “I grew up in the neighborhood” thing, the more I noticed the Euro-audience wincing [Not smart bragging about your childhood Chicago “right hook” to an audience that has just watched horrific fighting in the streets of Chicago]).

But even without the self-centered story-telling it was a hard sell anyway.  How can a post-national, I’m sorry Obama, trapped in a sort of we are the world paradox, be seen in nationalistic and near tribal fashion stumping for his own home town?  Again, it did not help that he appeared in campaign mode, tossing out the usual personal, somewhat hokey (and all but narcissistic) stories about himself and his family, that I know don’t resonate, much less make effective arguments, in the less therapeutic world of hardball politics abroad. In short, the community organizer was out organized by the multicultural ascendant Rio.

Almost all of Michelle’s statements were heartfelt and well meant. But they too proved in a global context counterproductive—and almost embarrassing in their now accustomed egocentricity.

Comments

[PD]

If the country is going to unravel because a President is not in Washington for 24 hours, we're in worse shape than we thought.

No, it won't unravel. In fact, a case could be made that we'd be better off had he never come back.

[Gmax]

Normally just dont get involved. That phrase also reminds me that 10 or 12 people dont normally ride in a car, but it sure seems like the norm for clownshows...

[Donald's dark and bright humour is as funny as Cap'n Haha's.]

Yeah, accustomed egocentricity. We've become inured to it, and others resent it in Obama more than they resented the wallflower, er, I mean the cowboy Bush.
==================================

[bgates]

According to the NYT, Barry, Rolo, Biden, and Jarrett were all working the phones in advance of the trip, so it's not just one day out of the office.

Could someone tell VDH, who normally does the "I can write like a literate person" thing, that he's done the "I picked up a bad habit somewhere" thing?

[Jack is Back!]

I don't care one way or the other if this keeps The Once more circumspect as to appearances and use of the media because it won't. But I do care that Michelle know learn her lesson and take on a much more less visible role and keep out of the way. This lady is a trained lawyer? Ivy league education? And delivers a self satisfying speech of meaningless narcissism to countries that still have people using wood for cooking and have tar-paper shacks for homes? Stay home, lady, your kids need you more than we do.

[patch]

So President Obama can spend many hours chasing after the IOC for the sake of Chicago, but can only spend 25 minutes on Air Force One with General McChrystal?

Bill Clinton spent longer on the tarmac at LAX getting a haircut.

[Danube of Thought]

In actual fact, Obama's presentation had no chance at all of affecting the outcome of this matter. The vote reflects a long-standing feud between the USOC and the IOC, principally over TV revenues. Obama and Chicago never had a chance.

The remarkable thing to me is that he and his people could and should have known this going in. They botched this big-time, and allowed him to be humiliated in the public eye, which is certainly OK with me.

[Captain Hate]

Am I the only person who lolled when Odummy talked about stepping out of his family home to attend the games? I don't know about you but when I hear the phrase "family home" I think of something that's been passed down from one generation to another, not some residence that was acquired through shady means. Although who knows how many "family homes" he could claim from the sites of Stanley's one night stands.

[centralcal]

The remarkable thing to me is that he and his people could and should have known this going in.

The most frightening aspect of this statement by DoT is how many other much more important matters does this also apply to?

[PD]

"family home"

Not just the home, but on pretty much everything else about family values Obama seems out of sync with most of the rest of the country. I think we are as aliens to him.

[Gregory Koster]

Come on gang, cheer up. We got the "Rolo" bit, courtesy of bgates. This will do much to cheer me in the gloomy days to come.

The fiasco does show The Once's serious weaknesses. What it doesn't show is if he's learned anything. If he has, it was well worth the price. If not, more tuition bills are coming.

[Rick Ballard]

cc,

All of them. Axelrod knows how to run campaigns that put empty suits into positions for which they are neither suited nor competent. I haven't seen any factor which suggests that His Nullity possess any more competence than, say, Cadillac Deval.

[bgates]

Odummy talked about stepping out of his family home to attend the games

I would have thought he'd use "family home" to mean the White House.

when I hear the phrase "family home" I think of something that's been passed down from one generation to another, not some residence that was acquired through shady means

Oh, so he was talking about the White House.

[bishop]

You know that title suggests a revamping of Edwin Starr's "War" with the Olympics, what are they good for.

[bgates]

We got the "Rolo" bit

Which my wife tells me has discomfiting racial undertones. For the record, the joke was about the gaudy gold foil wrapper, and how much it looked like what Rolos come in.

[maryrose]

Pure arrogance on the part of Obama,Michelle and their co-horts is what made this defeat inevitable. Maybe the foreign powers that be "just aren't into him"The bigger they think they are-the harder they fall.

[hit and run]

bgates:
Which my wife tells me has discomfiting racial undertones.

Speaking of someone being dis-http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comfit>comfited ... here's an old http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qscersCUdU&feature=related>Rolo commercial.

Reinforces the wisdom of "don't take candy from strangers".

[Actor in Blackface.]

I think anytime O fails, we win.

Everybody keeps talking about the crazy's like birthers and gleeful celebrations when O doesn't get more Pork for his homies which might help gain some seats in 2010, but could result in the permanent irrelevance of the GOP by 2012. I say this political 'short sell' is symbolic of Wall Street's former dislike of short-selling in favor of the long-term, which has become the new anathema.

We need to take a lesson from Wall Street.
Aren't they the ultimate pragmatists?
We need politcal profit, NOW, just like each Corp. Board of Directors who demand those profitable Quarterlies. We are winning this battle on the short-sell.
Why give it up for the long-term?

It won't matter who's in the WH after 2012.
The Clusterfuck will be irreversible by then.

We may have to destroy the Country, in order to save it.

[Gregory Koster]

Hit, that's a fine commercial, but this was the one I had in mind. Tell me if this isn't an accurate precis of the Copenhagen (as opposed to Hopenchangin) orgies.

"Comfit". Who needs MIT online when JOM and its crowd exists?

[Semanticleo]

Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To bring the Olympics to the Windy land
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
And win the Games the Chicago Way
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
And fly with Oprah to Copenhagen
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
For those Olympic rings we'll put up a fight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

[Captain Hate]

Which my wife tells me has discomfiting racial undertones.

How so? It isn't even a semi-homonym for dummies like "niggardly".

For the record, the joke was about the gaudy gold foil wrapper, and how much it looked like what Rolos come in.

That's how I took it from the start after seeing that picture, and why I've been using it ever since.

[trentk269]

How could President Multiculti be so obtuse as to stake his Olympic argument on diversity when his main rival was multicultural Brazil? Perhaps he thought Brazil was one of our 57 states.

[Original MikeS]

I think it is unfortunate that Barack's NOT surprising ineptitude invites criticism of him personally. I worry that kind of criticism may draw attention away from the defects in the President's plans and policies.

Comeuppance given to an elitist by other elitists. Sweet schadenfreude yes, but ObamaCare is not yet dead. Behind the scenes manipulators are madly manipulating in hopes of forcing some part of that bad legislation through Congress.

[Captain Hate]

I'm surprised he didn't break out the fact that Brazil practiced slavery longer than the United States. How many of you think Borat knows that? Not that it would sway the IOC, who would give the games to Sudan if they provided enough liquid assets.

[maryrose]

I agree the Olympic boondogle is a smoke-screen for the Health scare bill to be manipulated behind the scenes. I wonder how many people know that abortions will still be funded and that illegals don't have to show photo ID.
Glad you liked our Art Museum Capt. Hate. I saw that exhibit also and thought it was wonderful.

[PeterUK]

"but then Mr. Obama is more closely identified with Chicago than other Presidents have been with other bidding cities."

Despite being born in Hawaii,part raised in Indonesia and spending much of his life elsewhere.

[Euripdes]

"Despite being born in Hawaii,part raised in Indonesia and spending much of his life elsewhere."

Don't undercut those birther brehtren

[Ignatz]

--I think it is unfortunate that Barack's NOT surprising ineptitude invites criticism of him personally.--

OMS,
Ineptitude is a personal trait, not a policy.
People liked Carter personally early on, as well. He finally dissolved when his personal ineptitudinousness (see MIT online) was recognzed as indivisible from his policies.
The sooner that tail is pinned on this donk, the sooner he dissolves too.

[Captain Hate]

Where do you live maryrose? I'm in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Cleveland Heights.

[Andrew X]

The WSJ is correct/not correct in even assuming that the "time better spent" issue matters. The fact is that any US President can do 90% of his job anywhere, as long as Air Force One is nearby.

The 'tax dollars spent' question has slightly more bite, but I am inclined to give Presidents lots of leeway here - they need to be able to travel pretty much as they see fit, and it's gonna cost money, and that's the deal. We live with it.

No, the ENTIRE issue is one of Presidential credibility here. Of what this demonstrates about that vaunted "judgement" we were sold on, on what this says about the effectiveness of Obama's "Grovel First" foreign policies, and of his recognition of the gamble at stake here going in, and the costs of losing this round in the world spotlight, and how it will effect policies with Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Europe, etc.

And what all this demonstrates needs no further elaboration by me. It's ugly, and we all know why.

Even the Danes had a headline -- 'Rio Wins, Obama Loses'. Boy, do they get it.

No, the cost/time issue here is a meaningless pile-on, even a distracting one, from the real and ugly truth about this absurd event. Those who want to criticize effectively (without hamstringing future Presidents) would do well to keep that in mind.

[Jane]

The most frightening aspect of this statement by DoT is how many other much more important matters does this also apply to?

(Echoing Rick) All of them.

He doesn't know how to do anything. He certainly doesn't know how to lead; He has no idea how government works; He has no substance on any issue at all. He's a figurehead who knows how to campaign. That's it.

[Jack is Back!]

Andrew,

I respectfully disagree with your assertion that POTUS can do 90% of his job as long as AF1 is available. What is his job? To travel the world and show America's face, meet other leaders, negotiate treaties, etc.? Or is it to be a CEO of a large republic with compound difficulties requiring coordinated attention with his managers and employees (cabinet meetings, WH and Congressional interaction, political strategizing, being in charge and showing it, etc.? I think the problem is he believes in the former and doesn't even understand how to do the latter. He will end up being the POTUS most abusive of his privileges especially the use of AF1 since that is his best job attribute - First Passenger.

[centralcal]

Jane: My question was mostly rhetorical, but I am at times a little amazed that he apparently has no one in his inner circle that has a clue either. I didn't/don't expect Axelrod to know anything, but I have been quite surprised that former ballet boy Rahm is pretty clueless too.

[PeterUK]

There is an alternative scenario. Obama is so dire the rest of his administration were simply trying to get him out of the way.This would fit with all the other time consuming fripperies that he engages in.

[hit and run]

Captain Hate:
Not that it would sway the IOC, who would give the games to Sudan if they provided enough liquid assets.

Here's what I don't get. Wasn't this exactly why Oprah was brought along?

Here's one account of the climax of http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5989964>Oprah's IOC speech:

“We’re calling this the wildest Olympic bid, because this year, no dream is too wild, no surprise too impossible to pull off,” Winfrey said in her speech to the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen.

Making sure everyone was kept in suspense, Winfrey called 11 committee members onto the stage. She gave each of them a car.

She then had gift boxes distributed to the rest of the committee and said one of the boxes contained keys to a 12th car. But when everyone opened the boxes, each had a set of keys.

“Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!” Winfrey yelled as she jumped up and down on the stage.

That wasn't enough?

[Elliott]

Could someone tell VDH, who normally does the "I can write like a literate person" thing, that he's done the "I picked up a bad habit somewhere" thing?

To make matters worse, he didn't even attempt the "I'm going to omit a word that would make this sentence grammatical" route, as would a truly superior and discerning man of letters.

[PeterUK]

"That wasn't enough?"

How exciting is a Toyota Pius?

[bishop]

The more empire building boondoggles to his ego, (brackets anyone) the less he actually has to handle policy, unfortunately,there's no one in this crew, that knows how to run a railroad either. 25 minutes with MacCrystal, and he probably thought that was a distraction to his main goal.

[megapotamus]

A bit of a baitnswitch on VDH. There wasn't much you could call bashery, rather some of the wishful if not witless thinking that seems to afflict so many self-IDd conservatives when contemplating the current state of affairs. As a VDH fan of long vintage it pains me to say that he is utterly out to lunch here. He advises Obama to do this or that in pursuit of an agenda that Obama has never demonstrated any interest in. Look, Obamamania is a roller coaster; it is a gravity feed. If you don't want the ride you better not wait in the line and pull down that bar. Of course only half the country did do that but there was no salvation to be had from McCain anyhow. Put yer hands up! Whooo!

[Elliott]

There's No "I" In "Team" But Michelle Delivers "I" And "Me"

"Iteur Theory" is unclaimed.

[Jane]

I am at times a little amazed that he apparently has no one in his inner circle that has a clue either.

Nor do they appear to have a clue that they are supposed to have a clue.

[bishop]

A gravity feed, that's another name for an event horizon (sarc)doesn't make any sense, after nine monthes even Hanson has lost the
track,

[Captain Hate]

Here's what I don't get. Wasn't this exactly why Oprah was brought along?

hit, I think when I was reading JMH and Elliot's live-reporting that I read something about Rio providing a separate hotel for the IOC that I went "Bingo". What I'm sure was left unmentioned was a gratis "escort service" made up of large bootayed chicas and an assortment of young boys of no identifiable parentage.

[Ranger]

Here's what I don't get. Wasn't this exactly why Oprah was brought along?

Oprah was brought along so that MO's hips would look small standing next to her.

[Ignatz]

--He doesn't know how to do anything. He certainly doesn't know how to lead; He has no idea how government works; He has no substance on any issue at all. He's a figurehead who knows how to campaign. That's it.--

Except for the 'has no idea how goverment works' bit, that is also a perfect description of Clinton.
Let us hope that Barry's similar pathologies lead to similar results for his political opponents as Clinton's did.
The only part of the script that might be better written would be one term instead of two for Barry and the Republicans remember, for once, that they are supposed to be the party of limited government. And that limited government doesn't mean a welfare state growing at a slightly slower pace.

[Soylent Red]

Oprah was brought along because:

a. She is from Chicago
b. She is Worf's running buddy, and this was a boondoggle for Worf to go and appear regal, or some damn thing.

And I think Andrew X has the right idea. It's not that Obama could have been doing something else. It's that he should have been doing something else, and should have known that.

I don't celebrate the loss because a bunch of Olympic Committee Eurotrash dissed Zero. I celebrate because Johnny Judgement thought he would gain political capital from this, and instead he lost political capital.

It's like the "I hope he fails" statement. His failure is our success, and the success of the country. The more he is humiliated and denied, the less likely the American people will be in following him over the cliff.

[Jolly Reaper]

"The more he is humiliated and denied, the less likely the American people will be in following him over the cliff."

sounds familiar...

"We had to destroy the village, in order to save it"

[Ignatz]

--She is Worf's running buddy--

Really. I didn't know that.
Do they beep when they back up, or are the 'wide load' signs sufficient?

[bishop]

First of all, that was one of those apochryphal sayings that came from Peter Arnett, second that does seem to be his strategy. For every right move, there's a self destructive bit of charity on our side
like Frist endorsing Obamacare, going for the football again, huh, Charlie Brown

[Soylent Red]

Ignatz:

Not running as in the physical activity. I meant running like running around doing things.

As for beeping when they back up, I can't say. The only thing I can think of when I see their respective asses is, "That's no moon...it's a space station!"

"We had to destroy the village, in order to save it"

I guess that might be the case Reaper, if you equate Zero with being the country itself.

And if you think that way, you might want to go back and review the founding documents.

[Captain Hate]

Does anybody think that teh Oprah has suffered a drop in revenue for being so obviously in the tank for Obastard? When she let loose with that obnoxious scream after the election I thought "Why offend slightly less than 48% of your audience by being such an obnoxious pig and not employing an adult level of restraint?" Also the revelation that she'd been in Jeremiah Wright's congregation which, prior to Il Douche, nobody would've known or cared about. Now being part of the Fail Train. If the Once's popularity drops as far as I hope it does, she's gonna have as hard time pushing away from him as the buffet table.

[Soylent Red]

she's gonna have as hard time pushing away from him as the buffet table.

Muahahahaha!

You, sir, can turn a phrase. Bravo!

[hit and run]

Captain:
Does anybody think that teh Oprah has suffered a drop in revenue for being so obviously in the tank for Obastard?

http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/87164;jsessionid=ac11067f30d8b7890ec485044b23a03190bf41160866.e3qNbNuOaNmPe34Tch0Mc38NaNv0?start=15&tstart=0>Remember this?

“The item in today’s Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.” – Oprah Winfrey, September 5, 2008

With Palin's book coming out, surely Oprah has been burning up the phones to get Sarah booked.

[Rick Ballard]

Can a puppet actually fail? Charlie O'Carthy had his strings jerked by the Chicago sleaze who own him. He did his little dance, as commanded. I read this as a demonstration of Chicago control, not an illustration of his manifest ineptitude.

The only really worrisome aspect is how cheaply his Chicago scum masters hold him. Will they burn him up for parking concessions? Another aspect regards the Ayers' string - is a degenerate commie terrorist manipulating decisions regarding the fate of US troops?

It's a legitmate question. The Ayers' string is actually a stainless steel control wire in comparison to the control capable of being exerted by run of the mill Chicago political scum jerking on Obama's various corruption strings.

[Jane]

How many things do you think O threw and broke on Air Force One around 11:30 yesterday?

Remember that they said the announcement would be made between 12:00 and 12:30 - no one ever imagined that they would lose in the first round at 11:30 so it wasn't even on the docket.

Arrogance bites Obama in the ass - no wonder we are gloating.

[bishop]

He didn't even consider that Chicago would be eliminated in the first round, cue the
line from "Princess Bride". Likewise, he doesn't see or want to see, that the
interests of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard or the Siloviki are not ours.

[Gregory Koster]

The Once isn't strong enough to throw the First Rolo, Jane, but the First Rolo has plenty of shoes to hurl back. What a spectacle that must have been. Let Polanski make a movie of that scene.

Rick the trouble with your notion is that however inured Illinois is to Daley&Co's antics, the rest of the nation is capable of being shocked. Look at what happened to the Arkansas five percenters when Billyboy and Hillary were let loose. To be sure, The Once nominally controls the Justice Department, but Holder may be getting nervous at all the dirty work he's doing for The Once, and may decide to push forward with Chicago investigations just to keep everyone polite to him. I don't know. It depends how rational Daley&Co. are in their greed.

[clarice]

To whosw tune is the great Fitz dancing this year?

[Rick Ballard]

GK,

I could flip back to my "bad news comin', better get out of town" explanation very easily - his Chicago master were just providing an excuse for the getaway. I'd still maintain that all strings on this puppet lead back to Chicago - either to cheap grifters or commie traitors.

He'd have trouble finding the exit in a phone booth on his own.

[willem]

"We had to destroy the village, in order to save it."

Soylent-

LUN links to an academic paper from the late 1980s.

This exceptional work documents the historical relationships between socialist and marxist doctrine, "master race" ideology, social excision, eugenics, and the use of biopolicy and constrained access to medical care to further socialist purposes.

This exceptional paper offers a valuable window into the conditioning and mind of Obama, Emanuel, and his advisors and members of Congress endeavoring to bring "police state" conditions to modern American medical practice.

[Janet]

I hadn't seen the video of Michelle until now. It really IS terrible. She speaks so slow, and smacks her lips. The whole appeal is "poor us". Again, why are we suppose to feel sorry for these people? The have lived lives of privilege.

[bgates]

How many things do you think O threw

Several.

and broke

None. He doesn't have the arm strength.

[Janet]

oops...**They**
or I guess it could be an old English statement to the Obamas "Thee have lived lives of privilege."

[clarice]

Poor thing--the entire world is just so not into her..she's not dealing with the Princeton Admission office clunkheads any more.

[bishop]

That's a good complement to that paper on Salvador Allende and health policy I dredged up sometime back, but now for 'something completely different; in the LUN

[centralcal]

Am I alone in thinking that everything is happening at warp speed with the Obamas? Not successfully, but failingly!

I am so expecting that his "burnout" will occur much sooner than anyone could have imagined.

The media has lost all credibility and are no longer the influence they once were, so they can't shield him nor carry him aloft in their alternate universe.

What is remarkable is that much of the Obamas' undoing has been almost entirely at the hands of the Obamas - Barack and Michelle.

Not that I think anyone on our side should be complacent in any way, but it has been rather remarkable to see what they haven't accomplished and how rapidly their balloon is deflating.

[There's special one with the birther insert.]

'Microchips'. Too much, O Mitred One. I really love that.
===================================

[matt]

DoT;

I disagree, you have part of it, but the bookies had Chicago as the odds on favorite. Their intelligence networks on sports rival the CIA and MI5. They have their own access to the members and experts around the world. If it was going south in the days before, there would have been signs in the odds changing. This one took a lot of people by surprise, including the President.

The shocker is that Chicago went out in the first round.Kablooie. No chance at all.

There is an organization called the Pan American Sports Organization which is a part of the Olympic movement.PASO is all of the Western Hemisphere countries. It was heavily weighted towards the Latin bloc until the late 90's, when a few of the small Caribbean countries were allowed in and almost balanced it between Spanish/Portuguese and English speaking National Olympic Committees (NOC's).

What I think may also have happened is that with the Bolivarian bloc, they were able to find enough allies (no one really likes us in the Caribbean or S America) that they voted en bloc for Rio in round one. Peel off the rest of the antis and add in the idealists and ones ticked off with the USOC for the reasons you mentioned and it makes sense.It's an unbelievably complex waltz and the USOC was apparently unstable in the process as well. A bid effort has to focus like a laser to succeed.

Part of the hubris may have been that the Euro-American-allied centric nature of the IOC has been diluted as it has tilted because there are now almost 200 NOC's as opposed to 165 in the 80's. These days its a spectator sport for me.

[Jim Miller]

Chicago is better off for having lost the Olympics. And though I didn't mention it in my post, about half the people in Chicago, according to a recent Tribune poll, didn't want the Olympics.

That number is up sharply since spring, when roughly two-thirds wanted the Olympics.

[hit and run]

Janet:
I hadn't seen the video of Michelle until now. It really IS terrible. She speaks so slow, and smacks her lips.

After the impotence of Michelle's "gloves are off" and "take no prisoners" attitude in strutting into Copenhagen, maybe she should spend more time...gardening?

The Closer?

Heh.

[Extraneus]

I have a hard time with the puppet metaphor. I think Obama understands power, and taught about it convincingly to the ACORN-type students of his community organizing seminars. He understands Alinsky, and he understands Cloward-Pliven. (I'd be surprised if his college transcripts didn't support this.)

He knows he has the power to "fundamentally change" America, and it's not that he needs others to tell him what's important, but that he knows exactly what's important to his like-minded sponsors. They're in sync. That's what they saw in him and why they sponsored him. The authority with which he voiced his thoughts on the bitter clingers to his bretheren (when he didn't know anyone else was listening) didn't evoke the puppet metaphor in my mind.

He's for real. He's a real leftist anti-American revolutionary, and apparently a fascist. And he's the President. His sponsors may help, but he knows what needs to be done.

Every single thing he's succeeded at has had the effect of weakening us, both economically and in world affairs. And his stated future goals -- whether climate, economic or health care related -- will all have that same effect.

The more time Obama has to work on what he really wants to accomplish, the higher the probability that he'll succeed. The more time he spends on silly fantasies such as the dream of even bigger Greek columns at the 2016 Olympics, the better.

Sorry for the long post. I should start twittering to learn how to say things in 140 characters or less.

[hit and run]

centralcal:
I am so expecting that his "burnout" will occur much sooner than anyone could have imagined.

Hmmm, perhaps a modified Feiler Faster Thesis of Politics Politicians.

Somebody get Mickey on the line.

[hit and run]

Jim Miller:
about half the people in Chicago, according to a recent Tribune poll, didn't want the Olympics.

Everyone wants """The Olympics""".

No one wants the Olympics.

That is, where economic facts and figures are given equal standing to emotional sights and sounds.

[Gregory Koster]

Extraneus, great thoughts, which fill me with dubiety:

a) granting The Once's thorough grounding in Alinsky, why then does he strut about in such antics as grabbing the Olympics? Let Rolo handle it; she won't pitch any temper fits at Hizzoner. She knows dam well that she'll be going back to Chicago before she's 50.

I think he knows what he wants to do, but doesn't have much notion of how to do it. We now see that the stimulus cost him dearly. Even all the back loaded dough that will be spent in 2010 will have to fight hard to overcome the anti-Congress mood that's settled in. Nor am I completely convinced that once Obamacare is passed it is irreversible. They've set it up so the dough starts being collected now, but the services don't come until later. IF (that's the big if) Congress goes GOP in whole or in part in 2010, it could reverse Obamacare.

I agree with you that the more effort he expends, the more he'll get done, but here his native laziness and shiftlessness come to our aid. He may have had some writing ability, but it was easier to guilt-trip Ayers into writing The Once's life delusion. What I'd like to see are Ayers's tax returns, to find out how much loot The Once split with him. My guess is, half of the original publication in 95 and shortly thereafter. But The Once likely grabbed it back after the initial run was exhausted, leaving Ayers out in the cold when DREAMS took off. What a joke on Ayers, who suddenly discovered a capitalist streak in him, and couldn't do anything about it.

[Janet]

O/T I found a picture on Flickr of my Yo Quiero poster at the 9 12 DC march! The poster next to it is my hat tip Willem poster...Congress the Disease not the Answer
LUN

[hit and run]

Go Janet! And willem!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2644/3919191751_865232ce7f_d.jpg>

[Janet]

Oh thanks hit! I don't know how to bring a picture over from flickr. Thanks.

[Ignatz]

--dubiety--

That's a new one on me, or at least a new form of a familiar one. Thanks GK.
BTW I'm still lobbying for ineptitudousness as a word.

[maryrose]

Capt. Hate:
I am originally from the East side and my dad almost bought a house in Cleveland Hts when I was 10. After I got married I moved to Rocky River on the west side where my husband gre up during the sixties. It's so nice to have a fellow Ohioan on the JOM blog. I first came on during the Plame era via Instapundit.

[Fresh Air]

Extraneus--

Well, he isn't going to get much more time. Everything on the docket is more radical than what's come before. I would be surprised if any major legislation on the Mediacrats' agenda passes at this point, including Kill Granny.

Jane--

I didn't/don't expect Axelrod to know anything, but I have been quite surprised that former ballet boy Rahm is pretty clueless too.

With all due respect to certain JOMers, the man is a lawyer. This class takes to politics likes a fish to water, but doesn't know beans as a rule, about running a business or anything else. We should pass a constitutional amendment preventing lawyers from being elected to Congress. About 60 percent of the Senate would have to retire.

Also, Chicago really doesn't produce national leaders. Politicians in Cook County are mostly good at Alinksyite tactics, running their gums, rewarding their friends and lining their wallets. Few people make it out of here with any marketable skills besides graft and corruption. Emmanuel is a case in point.

[bishop]

" Menos Gobierno, Menos Impuestos, Familias
Seguras, Defensas Seguras, Libertades Individuales" that's right off the top for the next rally

[Janet]

Oh bishop, that's great!...and the last line was Personal Responsibility. What's that in Spanish?

[bishop]

I think it would be 'responsabilidad individual" that's the thing unlike babelfish suggests, you sometimes can't make a verbatim traslation.

[Boatbuilder]

I have been watching some of the current Ken Burns PBS series on National Parks (on my new 40-inch Sony Bravia). It's typical Burns, and gets old in a hurry, after the spectacular shots of the spectacular parks and monuments get exhausted. (Unlike "Jazz," the music provides no relief).
What troubles me is the repeated message of reverence for godlike patrician President-Kings and government officials who have the courage to impose their will on Congress and the people--TR and FDR in particular are lionized--and the absolutely un-nuanced view that commerce is the enemy of all things good and pure (this despite the detailed history of the salvation of Yellowstone and other national treasures by none other than John D. Rockefeller, presented without irony). This and the disparagement of those tacky middle classes ("mostly white") folks who crowd into the parks and mess up the views--interspersed with PC stories of intrepid and admirable Japanese-Americans who, shockingly, also enjoy national parks.
Burns is pure ivory tower. These people want Obama to be the dictator he shows every sign of wanting to be. I suppose the good news is that PBS is even less relevant than the NYT these days. But it still pisses me off.

[Fresh Air]

What's that in Spanish?

"You have a personal responsibility to learn to speak English in the United States."

[Janet]

Yeah Fresh Air! That would be good.

[Extraneus]

I agree he's probably not politically gifted enough really succeed at taking us down irrepairably, and it's a good thing for that. He's more a one-trick pony, having expertly ridden the racial spoils system about as far as it can be ridden. His every utterance about how historic he is, which he and his wife tried to trade in on with the IOC, degrades the power of that trick. May they both go down in flames.

[obispo]

Well we talk of pragmatic reality, or what we wish it were. I was prompted by the "Yo Quiero" query, It's a little frustrating when I was in college, there were no small
amount of students who spoke creole, papiamento, and portuguese, which is like spanish but they add an extra syllable, and everything is spoken at about 90 rpms, so
the similar roots don't facilitate understanding

[Ignatz]

Yeah, I could only watch about five minutes of it boatbuilder.

Burns is kind of like Oakland, there just aint much there.

For me it's two hours to Yosemite. So I could be there in the time it would take to watch his show about it and I wouldn't have to listen to some Sierra Club schlub or some lame Thoreau or Emerson balderdash the whole way.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Normally just don't get involved. That phrase also reminds me that 10 or 12 people dont normally ride in a car, but it sure seems like the norm for clownshows...

I wish I'd written that.

[Captain Hate]

Burns is the new generation's version of Bill Moyers with his sociology stories posing as history on the public's dime. I didn't even bother watching his "Jazz" garbage because A. I know more than he does B. He didn't cover anything going on in Europe which is where the action has mainly been for the last two decades C. He didn't cover anything being played in the clubs which is where the music is truly practiced. Any current musician should've felt insulted by it. My television is a Ken Burns free zone.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Toyota Pius

please tell me that typo wasn't a typo.

[clarice]

It's the new Japanese pope, Chaco. I thought you'd heard.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

"You have a personal responsibility to learn to speak English in the United States."

In your dreams, gringo.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

It's the new Japanese pope, Chaco. I thought you'd heard.

I think I'm going to bed now. You are all too fast for me tonight.

(Besides, I have to sing Debussy tomorrow. I'm gonna need my rest.)

[obispo]

I can't say I grew up on PBS, but I watched more than my share in the formative years, specially when I was a space and biology buff, Nova among others. I think it was a combination of the McLauglin group and Frontline that helped me wean myself from it. Fox News and Special Report, helped block out any interest in McNeil Lehrer, that plus the equally tendentious Spanish
news broadcasts.

[DrJ]

Oakland, there just aint much there.

Sorry Ignatz, I just have to disagree with this. There are many wonderful districts and neighborhoods in Oakland that I love dearly. Others, of course, are truly awful, but the good in the town is overlooked just because the ridicule is easy.

I could list off the great parts of town, but I'm afraid that would get too local for most here.

[Elliott]

Rockridge, DrJ?

[obispo]

I think he was keying off Gertrude Stein's old dismissal of the place, back when William Knowland's family ran the place, as opposed to the crazy redoubt that goes from Dellums, to Jerry Brown, in terms of sanity

[clarice]

narciso, I'm old and getting more demented every day..why do you keep changing your stage name here? It's so confusing?