Thank Heaven We Didn't Endure A 'B+' Year

Mark Halperin of TIME courageously takes off the gloves and grades the White House team.  Obama gets - brace yourself for some White House sobbing and pushback - an A-.  I am not kidding:

Instantly comfortable and highly skilled at the hardest job in the world — proving his supporters' contention that all the traits that made him a great candidate would serve him well in the White House...

He does look natty in a suit and his baritone continues to be impressive.  So why not an A or A+?

A handful of public missteps (particularly on his international trips and on torture issues) and a failure to ameliorate the partisan divide are the only true blemishes so far.

Oh, well then.  Obama's approval rating has sagged (which is not inevitable); he surrendered control of the stimulus debate to Pelosi and Reid; he lost control of the health care debate to Pelosi, Reid, and any private citizen with a Facebook account; he has let climate change drift to the back burner until next year, when an election oriented Congress is sure to do nothing; and despite lofty rhetoric there is no way he will deliver on his promise to close Gitmo by year end.

Internationally Obama ired our allies on Iran, left 'em laughing in Copenhagen, and seems to inspire a lot more curiosity than respect around the world. 

And rather than bringing Washington together Obama and his team are adopting a bunker mentality faster, and with less reason, than any White House in memory.

I shudder to think what a B+ would have looked like.

THE ENDLESS SUSPENSE:  I haven't steeled myself to look - does Michelle get an A+ or an A?  Let me re-phrase that - is the highest available grade an A+ or an A?  FWIW, Joe "I'll take the limo, thanks" Biden gets an A-.

OH, I KNOW.  HECK, WE ALL KNOW: Halperin isn't offering news or analysis, he is just greasing his White House connections.  He is far too crafty to be banished like Fox.

ON A DIFFERENT SCALE - BGates is grading on a different scale:

I'm going to give Obama "exceeds expectations" right up until the day the nuke goes off.

At which point he'll be at "meets expectations".

Comments

[Mark O]

Grade inflation is everywhere. That must be how he got on Law Review.

[bgates]

all the traits that made him a great candidate

Namely, a press that does for free what the French Culture Minister had to fly to Thailand and pay for

would serve him well in the White House

I would have said "service", but that's quibbling.

[bgates]

I'm going to give Obama "exceeds expectations" right up until the day the nuke goes off.

At which point he'll be at "meets expectations".

[PeterUK]

"Great Expectorations".

[narciso]

They are beyond parody, quite literally and not just with Obama, last week that fulsome
hagiography of the Taliban in Newsweek, yes
they give MacCrystal some good press, but only as a contrast. Those murderous Muslim misogynists don't deserve an ounce of consideration.

[PeterUK]

"all the traits that made him a great candidate would serve him well in the White House: even temper, cool demeanor, boldness under pressure, shrewd facility for managing personnel, unfailing instincts about when to delegate and when to engage."

This is so vomit worthy as to be utterly toe-tappingly wide stance.

[PeterUK]

Reminiscent of the old saw,"If you can keep your head whilst all those around you are losing theirs - you don't realise the gravity of the situation".

[Captain Hate]

Whenever I see Mark Halperin's name my mind translates it to Mark Helprin and I go WTF.

[MayBee]

New Taliban speak: It was against the Afghan constitution to allow those Buddhist religious symbols in a national park!

[centralcal]

"A handful of public missteps..."

Snort!

[bgates]

Reading that list of traits is so disorienting, I think I know what it feels like to be Joe Biden. Halperin may as well credit Obama with being the invention of Hungarian, or overcoming the fact that his spleen is made entirely of liner notes from Billy Joel albums. It has no connection to the real world at all.

[flodigarry]

I'd love some of those mind altering meds in which Halperin has been indulging. I think they'd do quite nicely in taking the edge off until the 2010 mid-term elections.

[Pofarmer]

Apache Pilots Shocked by Size of Attack on Afghan Outpost

LUN

I wonder how bad the enemy got it?

[Rich Berger]

That Time article is a real side-splitter. I love the little asides in red ("See pictures of Barack Obama's nation of hope"). Sort of like 7th grade geography (Social Studies for those who attended the government schools).

[narciso]

LOL, the Hungarian-English phrasebook from Monty Python, comes to mind.

Let see give a visually impaired prime minister, unplayable DVD's giving the Queen
the Ipod of his speeches, returning the bust of Churchill, confusing the lineup of
the surrendering Japanese dignitaries on the
Missouri, sending a letter to a mad Hojatieh
president, congratulating on a Zoroastrian
calendar, for things you know he will never
know, calling the shooting and truncheoning
of protesters a debate, that's off the top of my head. You know even Granma and Isvestia were possibly more honest

[PeterUK]

One more time!

"THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Ah, my congratulations, Wilde. Your play is a great success. The whole of London's talking about you.
OSCAR WILDE:
Your highness, there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

(There follows fifteen seconds of restrained and sycophantic laughter)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Oh, very witty, Wilde ..... very, very witty.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
There is only one thing in the world worse than being witty, and that is not being witty.

(Fifteeen more seconds of the same)
OSCAR WILDE:
I wish I had said that Whistler.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Ah, you will, Oscar, you will.

(more laughter)
OSCAR WILDE:
Your Highness, do you know James McNeill Whistler?
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Yes, we've played squash together.
OSCAR WILDE:
There is only one thing worse than playing squash together, and that is playing it by yourself.

(silence)
OSCAR WILDE:
I wish I hadn't said that.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
But you did, Oscar, you did.

(a little laughter)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, you must forgive me, Wilde, but I must get back up the Palace.
OSCAR WILDE:
Your Majesty, you're like a big jam doughnut with cream on the top.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
I beg your pardon?
OSCAR WILDE:
Um ..... It was one of Whistler's.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
I didn't say that.
OSCAR WILDE:
You did, James, you did.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, Mr. Whistler?
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
I- I meant, Your Majesty, that, uh, like a doughnut your arrival gives us pleasure and your departure merely makes us hungry for more.

(laughter and congratulations)
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Yes, thank you. Right, Your Majesty is like a stream of bat's piss.

(gasps)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
What?
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
It was one of Wilde's.
OSCAR WILDE:
It sodding was not! It was Shaw!
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, Mr. Shaw?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
I, um, I, ah, I merely meant, Your Majesty, that, ah, you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Oh, ho-ho, very good.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Right. Your Majesty is like a dose of clap.

(gasps)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
What?!?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Before you arrive is pleasure, but after is a pain in the dong.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
I beg your pardon?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
It was one of Wilde's.
OSCAR WILDE:
Wha-
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, Mr. Wilde?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Come on, Ozzy.
OSCAR WILDE:
Uh ..... uh, wha-, wha- .....
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Come on, Ozzy, now, tell us all about it.
OSCAR WILDE:
Wha-, what I meant, Your Majesty, uh-h-h .....

(general heckling from the crowd)
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Let's have a bit of the old wit then!
OSCAR WILDE:
What, what-
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
I'm waiting.
OSCAR WILDE:
What I-, what I meant was .....
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Come on, Ozzy, .....
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Give us a bit of the wit, Oz.
OSCAR WILDE:
Um, w-w-what I meant, Your Majesty, w-was ..... oh ..... (blows a raspberry)

(The Prince shakes Wilde's hand. Laughter all round.)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Oh! Excellent! Excellent, Wilde! Very witty, Wilde.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Nice one, Oz!
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Can you come and do that up the Palace some time? Extremely funny, ha-ha-ha ....."

[Elliott]

Whose nuke, bgates?

[Gmax]

Get a clue Halperin. Even the SNL crew has figured that Zero batting average is oh fer life. The guy cant hit a lick. And he most definitely in a defense specialist either...

[Dave (in Red Sox Nation)]

I wonder if one of these is what occupies the space where the bust of Churchill once sat?

[PD]

and his baritone continues to be impressive

s/impressive/irritating/
s/impressive/annoying/
s/impressive/uh, uh, uh, uh/

[Dave (in Red Sox Nation)]

You know you're a nerd when you start posting sed commands in political blog comments.

[PD]

/me has never denied it, Dave

[Neo]

I heard that the magazine division of Time/Warner is up for sale. This is merely an attempt by Halperin to make sure that Rupert Murdoch doesn't buy them.

[MarkJ]

Q: Why did Mark Halperin take twice as long to write his TIME piece as he usually does?

A: Because it's hard to type with one hand when you're using the other to whack off while looking at your Obama screensaver.

[exhelodrvr]

Maybe that was Halperin in the Australian TV skit.

[Ulla]

Meanwhile the Obama White House whined and cried today that the press is so MEAN to them!

A story which was carried by TIME.

Which promptly gave Obama and A.

I am beginning to hate all the media folk

[PD]

OT, during the Sox/Angels game, Buck Martinez is commenting about how player Kendry Morales tried to escape Cuba twelve times to realize his dream of coming to the U.S.

Hard to imagine someone wanting to get away from the land of low infant mortality, great education, and fantastic health care.

[PD]

Also, the idea that you'd have to "escape" your own country (as opposed to simply emigrating) kinda puts the lie to those who wanna portray Cuba as a socialist paradise.

[Greg Ransom]

You read TIME?

[Gregory Koster]

Of the 14 "graded" everyone got A- or higher, (Rolo getting the only A+) except:

Jones, NSA: Incomplete
Geithner: C-
Holder B-
Pelosi: B-
GOP Congressional Leaders: C
2008 GOP Prez Candidates: B-

Reid is not graded. He's outside the Administration, but so is Pelosi.

Halperin is the son of Morton Halperin, whom Kissinger wiretapped during Nixon's era to see if he was leaking. He was, but the real leak occurred eight years later when Mark was born. What a bootlicker.

[narciso]

Morton, later as ACLU head, for D.C.
supported Phillip Agee's burning agents on first amendment grounds, opposed what I called 'the Welch Act' the Intelligence Officials Identification Act, what they tried to go after Libby with' re Plame, and
is a senior VP with the Soros Center for
American Progress

[Ann]

I wish this little girl didn't have to let go of her father's hand especially now that the Taliban are considered good guys. Her father is now fighting to let the Taliban treat their daughters like what ... someone tell me?

Read the story: Little Girl Can't Let go as Sergeant Daddy Leaves For Iraq

Some things are just not allowed when soldiers are standing in formation. One of them is 4-year-old girls.

However, there was no soldier stern enough to pry Paige Bennethum of Laureldale, Pa. from her father as he prepared to leave last July for a year-long deployment in Iraq.

Abby Bennethum captured her daughter's emotions in a photograph that she passed along to the Reading Eagle, the newspaper in Berks County, Pa. The image immediately captured many other people's emotions.

Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum was preparing to depart from Fort Dix, N.J., for Iraq, leaving behind his pregnant wife and two little girls. His family was there to see him off. His commanding officer didn't have the heart to tell Paige she had to let go of her daddy.

"I didn't want to let go of him," she told NBC Philadelphia.

Sgt. Bennethum, 30, is scheduled to return home next July. Until then, he's transporting supplies across the Iraqi border. He serves with the 733rd Transportation Company based in Reading, Pa.

Abby Bennethum said she got pregnant right before her husband left for Iraq. "I've heard of deployment babies, but I never thought I'd be having one," she told the Reading Eagle. The couple's other daughter, Lena, is just 10 months old.

Staff Sgt. Bennethum got a four-day pass so he could spend some quality time with his family and they could make the two-hour trip to Fort Dix to see him off. Almost immediately upon arrival, his commanding officer ordered the soldiers to fall in.

"Gotta go," he told his family. But Paige walked up behind him in formation, grabbed his right hand and would not let go.

"I called her a couple of times, but she wouldn't budge," her mother said. She still wishes she was holding her father's hand.

"I just miss my dad right now," Paige told NBC.

h/t Amanda Carpenter tweet

[EBJ]

Bush's 6.3% unemployment rate = worst President evah
Obama's 9.8% unemployment rate = A-

They're not even trying anymore, are they?

[JM Hanes]

Ann:

Photos of soldiers and children always knock me out, but that one tugs pretty much all the heart strings, doesn't it?

[JM Hanes]

Mark O:

"Grade inflation is everywhere."

And with good reason!

[PeterUK]

Order more sick bags,Obama getting Nobel Peace Prize.

[Donald]

The Nobel Peace Prize. Really. What can't the boy do?

[Donald]

As for that article. Who had the idea? What was he thinking? When did he have this great idea? Where was he (Turkish bath perhaps?)? And most of all Why?

[tea anyone]

Well now we know where the TARP money went.

[Thomas Collins]

Now I really must be hallucinating. Upon waking up this morning, I thought I heard on the radio that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Clearly a hallucination. Now I see comments here to the same effect. Whatever I did last night, I must have taken some strong potion!

[Soylent Red]

***sighs***

It sure is a crazy world we live in isn't it?

I'm going to have to take up drinking or get an opium habit or something to get me through the next three years.

[tea anyone]

SR
You could not have said it better, that is exactly how I feel. Unbelievable.

[centralcal]

The "prize" is worthless.

The recipient is worthless.

Perfect match, I think.

[Pagar]

If I were grading the Obama administration there would be no grades higher than an F.
FAILURE

[Mike Stern]

He wins a Nobel Prize in his first year and Time only gives him an A-???

Racists.

[narciso]

Who would ever think that "Animal House" would be prophetic, 'my advice to you is to drink heavily'

[Rob Crawford]

If I were grading the Obama administration there would be no grades higher than an F.

C'mon. This early he deserves an "Incomplete".