A Mea Culpa From Obama

The Times tells us that Obama is shouldering a bit of responsibility for the partisan tone in Washington:

Just 20 days after his inauguration, with Republicans trying to block his stimulus bill, President Obama refused to acknowledge that he had underestimated how hard it would be to change the way Washington works.

But as the president returned home on Sunday to face an even more rigidly divided capital, Mr. Obama went even further by blaming himself for failing to do what he had repeatedly promised — change the tone in Washington.

He said his own “obsessive” focus on implementing the right policies had led him to ignore a part of the reason voters handed him a mandate in 2008.

“I neglected some things that matter a lot to people, and rightly so: maintaining a bipartisan tone in Washington,” he told reporters in a brief question-and-answer session aboard Air Force One as he returned from a 10-day trip to Asia. “I’m going to redouble my efforts to go back to some of those first principles,” he promised.

Is it his claim that he was "obsessive" about having policies that were right rather than bipartisan?  This notion that the other side is stupid and wrong wrong but needs to be humored ocassionally is part of the tone that needs to be changed.

And the level of denial here is staggering:

Among the things he neglected, he told reporters on Sunday: “Making sure that the policy decisions that I made were fully debated with the American people and that I was getting out of Washington and spending more time shaping public opinion and being in a conversation with the American people about why I was making the choices I was making.”

Uh huh - he only made about a thousand pleas for health care reform, when really he needed to be more involved communicating with the public.  Why does he suppose pollsters were asking whether Obama was over-exposed?  Why does he suppose people just didn't believe what he was saying? (My guess?  Because his health care cost bending looked a lot llike Uru Geller's spoon bending - cool, but you know it's a trick.)

Comments

[daddy]

Just a spleen venting about that witch Lisa Murcowskee;

As we all know she was appointed initially to the Senate by her dad.

-In the Debates she said the Democratic Candidate McAdam's was too inexperienced to be Senator.

-In the Debates she said Repub Joe Miller was not fit to serve as Senator.

-Today she says Sarah Palin doesn't have the Leadership Qualities or Intellectual Curiosity to be President.

Anybody else starting to get the feeling that this Earmark witch is an amazingly pompous elitist bitch who needs a damn good smacking down by her colleagues back in DC, now that we Alaskans eff'ed up and sent her worthless ass back there?

[Lisa's cortex is as shriveled as her conscience.]

She's embarrassingly wrong on the 'intellectual curiosity'. Sarah's a natural.
=========

[Comanche Voter]

Re the Washington Redskins tonight. El Rushbo got in trouble several years ago for saying that Donovan McNabb was the most overrated player in the NFL.

Looks like Limbaugh was right.

[PD]

She's embarrassingly wrong on the 'intellectual curiosity'. Sarah's a natural.

I am this very minute watching my DVRed Sarah Palin's Alaska episode. A strong theme of which is her strong, steady desire to explore the state, and to instill in her children the same curiosity about their wonderful natural surroundings.

Perhaps that is not "intellectual" curiosity. But if I'm looking for an authority on what is intellectual, I'm pretty sure Lisa Murcowski won't be my first stop.

[PD]

Rush was actually making a comment about the media's need to elevate a black quarterback, not so much about McNabb.

Regardless, you're right about McNabb. I have never understood how he was supposed to be this great quarterback.

[MarkO]

He's just not that smart and (cue the chorus) he's a liar.

[daddy]

Maryrose,

ON the Ballot Count I think it is a done deal that Lisa wins. I don't think Joe has any chance-math wise of overcoming enough Lisa ballots to pull it out.

The question now is should he concede or should he keep fighting the Lawsuits. Today a Native group brought a Lawsuit against MIller for challenging Ballots, saying that he is trying to disenfranchise their votes. The Press is negatively painting him at every opportunity as a whiny spoiler, etc, but he seems to be pretty motivated to fight this, and I am positive he is PO'd about having been ordered by some Murcowskee appointed Judge to have to release his personell records, which as far as I can tell is unheard of.

As for me, I want our broken system up here fixed, and if that takes pushing Lawsuits, then so be it.

On the authority of the Lt Governor to change the counting rules at the last minute (36 hours before counting starts) that needs to be resolved. Today, for the very first time, a sitting Legislator, who actually passed the actual vote counting Law, appeared on Talk Radio and answered questions. He came on to defend the questioned honor of the Lt Governor by the Talk host (Glenn Beigel).
This Legislator said the Lt Governor was a really swell person, not corrupt, a real stand up guy etc, but the good part was that the mellow Conservative host then walked the Legislator very slowly and carefully through the actual Law itself, and by asking questions got the Legislator to admit that back when he voted for the exact wording of the Law he meant for the Law to be followed exactly as written, and not as some ambiguous "Voter Intent---screw the mispellings" which the Lt Gov could change ad hoc whenever he felt like it. It was as if he had not even read the damn thing in the first place. You would think that when these Solon's get on Radio, they would have at least thought about what the hell they were going to say beforehand, other than "my colleague so-and-so is as honest as I am." Not an impressive appearance to the host and the callers, and reconfirmed to me that we have to get this damned place running in accord with the actual rule of Law.

We need to also ban Earmarks since that is Lisa's bread and butter for bringing home the bacon. And we also need to solve this Native Corps winning Fed dollars as Affirmative Action bidders, and then legally loopholing it to buy votes via laundering it thru Native Voting organizations. Otherwise, we'll never get rid of an incumbent Senator up here ever again. Lisa really opened up a can of worms with what went on up here this election and we need to get to the bottom of it and clean it up. I think Claire MaCaskell may have Legislation trying to eliminate that problem.

So all that said again, if it takes Joe pushing Lawsuits to have the problem dealt with, then so be it. Lisa thinks she's on top of the world now and can caustically diss Palin and Miller et al. But she personally, by this entire business of saying screw the Primary results, is 100% responsible for the ugliness that has erupted here in Alaska, and when she leaves this state to go back to DC in January, she leaves a state that is full of many, many thousands of Conservatives who now truly and deservedly hate her guts. That's My Humble Opinion. grrrrrrrr!

[BobDenver]

I am conflicted. I certainly liked Joe Lieberman running as an independent.

[daddy]

Good point from a comic on RedEye:

Because of the actions of a religion that mandates stoning to death a woman if she exposes an ankle, I now have to be imaged totally naked in front of a TSA machine or else get completly felt up by strangers.

[daddy]

Finally, an answer to the question we've all been waiting for:

">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11756077"> Was Tycho Brahe murdered, or did he die because his bowels exploded at some feast because he was too lazy to get up from the banquet table and take a pee?

To Recapitulate briefly: Brahe was the Danish guy who wore that silver nose tied around his face because his own snozz had been sliced off in a swordfight. He was a sort of half-assed Copernican, believing that the Earth stood immobile, but the planets orbited the Sun, which in turn orbited Earth. Having constructed fabulous pre-telescopic instruments for precise astronomical sightings, for 30 years he then meticulously recorded the nightly positions of the planets, let everybody interested know he was doing it, but then like a prick decided to hide his secret data jealously.

Enter mathematical genius Kepler. Almost a Pythagorean-Copernican, book says it suddenly struck him one day while standing in front of a chalkboard lecturing, that possibly the orbits of the planets were each inscribed inside the orbit of a slighter larger Platonic solid (ie) Mercury the Circle, inscribed inside of Venus the Triangle, inscribed inside of Earth the Square, etc. The cool story is that it struck him so forcefully that he completely forgot his class and got so absorbed that when he came out of his trance the place was empty and he was alone. Naturally accepting this as a message from the Almighty, he realized God was giving him a clue as to how to solve the mystery of planetary motions, so now, maniacally driven, he had to get close to Tycho to get hold of the secret data to learn God's secret. Sort of like that kid in that great Holiday TV Movie "A Christmas Tale--the part where he's in the bathroom ">http://www.flickstongue.com/Movie/Bloopers/ovaltine.jpg"> furiously figuring out Little Orphan Annie's radio message even as his kid brother's banging on the door to get in to use the toilet--">http://csos.movieset.com/download/movieset/o/b/2008-12/xmas-story/a-crummy-commercial.jpg"> "Be Sure To drink your Ovaltine."

Anyone Kepler eventually weaseled his way into working with Tycho, and when not sidetracked by having to keep his mom from being burned at the stake as a Witch, he gradually started getting the secret data, but not the particularly important Martian stuff. Anyhow, Tycho then has the horrid death episode, and somewhere along the line suspicion arose that possibly Brahe wasn't coughing the data up to Kepler, so maybe Kepler poisoned him with mercury, (same symptoms as exploding bowels) and then ran off with the Mars stuff which enabled him to come up with the 3 Laws of Planetary Motion.

So that, in a nutshell, is why they just dug up Tycho's body, and hopefully any day now we'll know who dunnit!

So place your bets JOMer's:

Kepler the Murderer or Tycho the Ballbuster?

I'll Tabulate the voting and see how well we Sherlock's do.

[rse]

Sara & anyone else reading Stanley Kurtz-

Steve Diamond has a review of the book posted at Amazon. For purposes of the extent of Bo's radical associations that were repeatedly misrepresented or overlooked, Steve's criticisms do not really change why we should be so concerned.

He does make an interesting point though that he feels Kurtz does not sufficiently appreciate the difference between socialists who are willing to work within the democratic system vs authoritarians.

It's an analysis worth reading although none of us are likely to be surprised as to which group he spends more time with.

We have a story tape with the Kepler/ Brahe stories on it plus Archimedes daddy. No videos in the car for us!

[pagar]

All you need to know about Obama!

[Pofarmer]

and reconfirmed to me that we have to get this damned place running in accord with the actual rule of Law.

That ain't just in Alaska.

[Pofarmer]

He does make an interesting point though that he feels Kurtz does not sufficiently appreciate the difference between socialists who are willing to work within the democratic system vs authoritarians.

One will become the other.

[Danube of Thought]

Ha! The GOP is already on this TSA outrage like white on rice.

[Jim Ryan]

Phew! Slept great, what with Obama in there and all. I dreamed that Nancy and Harry passed Cap and Trade. Everyone was cheering. It was the happiest moment of my life. Keeping fingers crossed!!!

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Good morning! Which lib. criminal is sloppy today?

[hit and run]

Whoa,whoa,whoa! Do you people realize what day this is?

TheVIMH: The 452nd anniversary of the dawn of the Elizabethan Age?]
No. That's http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/elizabethan-age-begins>tomorrow.

[TheVIMH: The date General Sherman began his March to the Sea in the Civil War? The date Oklahoma became a state? The date the Sound of Music opened on Broadway? The fourth anniversary of Milton Friedman's death?]
Yes,yes,all those things http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/index.html>happened on this date.

But I'm talking about something much more important.

[TheVIMH: Ahhhh,you must be referring to the 666th day of Obama's Reign!]
That's true enough,but that's not it. But you are getting warming.

[TheVIMH: The first Harry Potter film http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-harry-potter-film-opens>opened on this day!]
You're never going to get this,are you?

OK,here it is.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the JOM Community,it is my privilege to kick off the celebration of the biggest day of the year. ::drum roll::

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM MAGUIRE!!!

You're my favorite.

[narciso]

Habby birthday, TM

[Melinda Romanoff]

Happy Birthday, Mr. Maguire.

[harrjf]

Happy BDay, TM

[pagar]

Happy Birthdy, Tom Maguire!
--------------------------------------------
Feel like your income is not increasing as fast as you would like?

Federal workers making over $180,000 increases 2000% over the past 5 years. But don't feel too sorry for them, Congress has proposed a pay increase.

[Sandy Daze]

16 November 2010
Baghdad

TM -

Birthday Greetings !

Thank you for all that you do.

Take good care,
Sandy

[bunky]

No intellectual curiosity measn she doesn't read the Nation.

Lisa: enjoy your pyrrhic victory.

[Clarice]

Happy Birthday, TM

In your honor we've decided to put our heads together and solve the Brahe/Kepler murder mystery.

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Happy Birthday Mr. Maguire!!!

[narciso]

As a long time Astronomy and Space exploration buff, I admit I didn't know that story, about Brahe,

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Here was Clinton on messy Sandy Berger - ""We were all laughing about it," Clinton said about the investigation into Sandy Berger for taking classified terrorism documents from the National Archives. "People who don't know him might find it hard to believe. But ... all of us who've been in his office have always found him buried beneath papers."

Thank God for the Freepers...I had a hard time finding the quote. The libs & their media enablers are just sickening.
The Sandy Berger incident should have been the Dems. Watergate.

[maryrose]

Happy Birthday Tom Maguire and thanks for all you do each day to bring the JOM community together.

[centralcal]

Birthday greetings, Tom Maguire. Thank you for Just One Minute!

[PD]

He does make an interesting point though that he feels Kurtz does not sufficiently appreciate the difference between socialists who are willing to work within the democratic system vs authoritarians.

Alinsky was willing to work within the democratic system. He even sings the praises of said system. It makes your head spin to read him rhapsodize the system he worked to undermine.

[PD]

Happy Birthday, TM. I continue to marvel at your sustained ability to post interesting entries day after day after day.

And to appreciate how this site fosters such interesting discussion, even though much of it is OT. :-)

[Jack is Back!]

Happy Birthday TM,

BTW, John Mica is my congressman and what he is doing via the TSA and airports has my vote. It is absolutely absurd that we are depending on an "either or" system of security checks at airports (i.e. full body scan or pat down). I have flown in and out of Ben Guirion in Israel and do it the right way - profiling coupled with vigorous Q&A. Anyone who has ever done business in Israel knows how much in depth their airport security is without having to resort to stupid human tricks.

Their security personnel are basically young, smart and extremely well trained. They are experts in body language, friendly but probing interrogation, profiling and understaning the terror threat. Why the hell we are so dependent on a PC type security system is incomprehensible. And Europe is not much better.

We do airport security with our fingers crossed and you all know how that works.

[NK]

Happy, Happy Birthday TM. And many thanks for JOM.

[cathyf]

As for me, I want our broken system up here fixed, and if that takes pushing Lawsuits, then so be it.

Hey, daddy, what about endless ethics complaints against the Lt. Gov?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA...