5 min of non-AIG talk
March 18, 2009 1:41 PM   Subscribe

Barack-etology The President sets his bracket for college basketball's March Madness.
posted by jwakawaka (77 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Self-link. -- cortex



 
Actually I think this is kind of awesome.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 1:53 PM on March 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


Duke sucks.
posted by PenDevil at 2:00 PM on March 18, 2009 [5 favorites]


And his bracket: President Obama's Entry
posted by trueluk at 2:03 PM on March 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


Go Binghamton?
posted by inigo2 at 2:03 PM on March 18, 2009


He likes UNC over us in the final? I can't wait to rub this in the President's face!
posted by Roman Graves at 2:05 PM on March 18, 2009


This is so hot. I'm copying all of his for my bracket. "I can't be stayng up till 2, man." He's so fucking real, I swear to god. *shudders with fangirl pleasures before never known*
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:07 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Moving on.
posted by longsleeves at 2:10 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]




Can we leave the opiates for the masses, please?
posted by GuyZero at 2:14 PM on March 18, 2009


Memphis vs. Louisville would be epic. I wonder if he realizes that would be a major rivalry match.
posted by absalom at 2:18 PM on March 18, 2009


thanks trueluk (bracket)
posted by jwakawaka at 2:18 PM on March 18, 2009


I'm still holding out for Nate Silver's bracket, though time is running out.
posted by ALongDecember at 2:19 PM on March 18, 2009


Team sports bore me to tears. Knee-jerk Barack idolization worries me. I have no idea what a 'bracket' is, or what 'March Madness' entails.

But, I watched this and was charmed. Garsh!
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:21 PM on March 18, 2009 [4 favorites]


Dude, you can't be dissing the Pac-10 like that. Washington will shock people. Jon Brockman is the MANIMAL.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:24 PM on March 18, 2009


The version to look at is actually the "original bracket" jpg on ESPN, which features our president's *actual handwriting*. It also includes several crossed-out games and question marks and thus qualifies as an example of "the president's thought process," which is surprisingly similar to my own thought process when filling out the NCAA bracket: "BYU vs. Texas A.M.? Damn, I don't know anything about either of those teams. Eh, I'll just put a question mark there and come back to it."
posted by thebergfather at 2:27 PM on March 18, 2009


Did Bush ever do this?

Also, Go Heels!
posted by Rangeboy at 2:32 PM on March 18, 2009


Anybody else think the 1st person plural was a bit wierd? Is Michelle an basketball fan? Was he speaking for the two of them? Or is he using the 'royal we'?
posted by jpdoane at 2:46 PM on March 18, 2009


Anybody else think the 1st person plural was a bit wierd? Is Michelle an basketball fan? Was he speaking for the two of them? Or is he using the 'royal we'?

I'm assuming he has to speak on behalf of The White House, The Administration or even the country so often it must become habit. Especially if he's in front of the cameras and in presidential mode.

Or he knows nothing about basketball and got his staff to make all the picks.
posted by fullerine at 2:51 PM on March 18, 2009


Dude knows his college hoops. Speaking of betting, what's the over/under on how long it takes for someone to bitch about Obama "wasting valuable time" on this? I'd be willing to go double-or-nothing that it's also somebody who just finished ranting about how Obama is "attempting too much too soon" in the first few months of his term. Gack.
posted by joe lisboa at 2:54 PM on March 18, 2009


His personal aide is former Duke basketball player Reggie Love, so I'm a bit surprised he's got Duke losing in the regionals. As far as the UNC pick, Obama does have first hand experience with the Tar Heels.
posted by joe vrrr at 3:12 PM on March 18, 2009


I would love to see Cornell, Binghamton & Syracuse in the Final Four. What would that be 1:10,000,000?
posted by yeti at 3:13 PM on March 18, 2009


Syracuse over Olklahoma? The man is making a bold statement...

(I'm currently at Georgetown, which didn't make it to the dance this year, and went to NYU before that, who never ever will. Oklahoma homestate pride is my only dog in this fight.)
posted by Navelgazer at 3:19 PM on March 18, 2009


Have any other previous presidents done anything like this? Why not?


I know Obama's a college hoops fan, but seriously, this is like, basic politics here. And neat. I need to know who I should draft in my fantasy football league, so I hope they have him back then.
posted by graventy at 3:20 PM on March 18, 2009


We've come so far......
posted by stonepharisee at 3:23 PM on March 18, 2009


Is Michelle an basketball fan?

I know she's a Beavers fan.
posted by carsonb at 3:27 PM on March 18, 2009


Let's look at the first-round upsets in the president's bracket:

Maryland (10) over California (7)
Tennessee (9) over Oklahoma (8)
VCU (11) over UCLA (6)
Butler (9) over LSU (8)
Temple (11) over Arizona State (6)

Three of the five underdogs he picks to win are located in swing states (Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania), and all five are located in states that have been more competitive in recent presidential elections than the states from which their opponents come. Let election cycle 2012 begin! *removes tongue from cheek*
posted by notswedish at 3:27 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Wow! He has the coolest signature!
posted by nosila at 3:56 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


His brother-in-law is also the head coach of Oregon state. Or maybe it's Washington State. Or one of those Pac10 teams- He was just on ESPN. According to him, Obama's a huge basketball fan already.
posted by jmd82 at 3:56 PM on March 18, 2009


Of course he is- Obama played basketball in high school, and there's even been talk of installing a court in the White House.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:02 PM on March 18, 2009


Mike Krzyzewski thinks Obama can krzyzew-it.
posted by scody at 5:04 PM on March 18, 2009


Bringing sheets of Integrity back to the White House.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 5:09 PM on March 18, 2009


He's playful and real without being childish or fake-chummy.
posted by DU at 5:29 PM on March 18, 2009


I really liked that video, although I've never watched pro basketball. Charmed!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 5:39 PM on March 18, 2009


I'm so glad that he's resolved all the problems of the country and now has nothing better to do than to make sports picks!
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 5:39 PM on March 18, 2009


Speaking of betting, what's the over/under on how long it takes for someone to bitch about Obama "wasting valuable time" on this?

I'm so glad that he's resolved all the problems of the country and now has nothing better to do than to make sports picks!


Two hours, 45 minutes. Collect your winnings.
posted by rigby51 at 6:04 PM on March 18, 2009


ka-ching.
posted by joe lisboa at 6:10 PM on March 18, 2009


"Two hours, 45 minutes. Collect your winnings."

Ha, ha. Why, exactly, is such a comment unreasonable? We're undergoing an economic crisis the likes of which has not been seen before, at least in my lifetime and perhaps forever - and the Obama administration has so far not shown any particular competence or insight. President Obama himself has yet to convince me that he has any great understanding of economics or the crisis (and I strongly supported him during the elections and am very much of the Left and think he's a smart guy).

So why he is wasting his time and ours, opining about which multi-millionaire sports player will do better than another?

Oh, I forgot! Here you vote on Presidents based on whether you want to have a beer with them and not their competence! Never mind then.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 7:02 PM on March 18, 2009


(And if I sound angry, I am. Obama's been a sore disappointment, expanding the war in Afghanistan, keeping Guantanamo open for another year, keep the Iraq war going for at least two years and promising permanent bases in the country, continuing and expanding on Bush's arguments to increase the unchecked power of the Presidency, working against the $500K salary cap for bailout recipients, and of course, completely screwing up the bailout by attaching no conditions whatsoever to the money - what the FUCK was he thinking?

(I'm older and more cynical now, I didn't expect rainbows, but I didn't expect someone so very very right-wing, so in bed with the rich, so in love with the US's eternal warfare plan.)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 7:09 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


lupus_yonderboy, you are a ray of light. A pure joy. An optimist's rainbow. Wanna go for a beer?
posted by iamkimiam at 7:17 PM on March 18, 2009


Extended version of the video with more banter.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:25 PM on March 18, 2009


Thumbs up for filling in "Illini" for the Illinois win. Thumbs down for referring to Mizzou as "Missou".
posted by non sum qualis eram at 7:45 PM on March 18, 2009


lupus, what you just witnessed is our president laying out a bold new vision for the future.
posted by swift at 7:49 PM on March 18, 2009


Street cred. He's a genius.
posted by jimmythefish at 7:51 PM on March 18, 2009


So why he is wasting his time and ours, opining about which multi-millionaire sports player will do better than another?

You do realize that this is college basketball? Mmm, no, probably not.
posted by Ber at 8:03 PM on March 18, 2009




I really liked that video, although I've never watched pro basketball. Charmed!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 8:39 PM on March 18 [+] [!]


I'm not sure anyone realizes this is college basketball.

appologies to kimbroodly
also, canadians
posted by xorry at 8:47 PM on March 18, 2009


Obama administration probably behind the provision allowing the AIG bonuses to the people who collapsed the world's economy.

I'm glad you guys give a shit about Obama's picks for the Final Four. Do you guys know how much you sound like the Bush supporters of yore?

FTR, I don't give a shit what he does on his own time, but using up working hours filling out a March Madness bracket with the Presidential Seal??? Some of us would get fired for that. I voted for something better.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:16 PM on March 18, 2009


So what, now that we have a black man for president he's not allowed to take 15-minute breaks?
posted by swift at 9:25 PM on March 18, 2009


Gotta love the people getting their panties all in a twist about Obama being human enough to have interests other work. The country is in trouble ! How dare he not spend every waking moment fixing the economy, and saving the world! He should never think about anything else, ever. The truth is that as the As the President his job is a 24/7 task, and there is no such thing as his "own time". I'd hate to see these people's reactions should, say, Michelle become pregnant.

Anywaze... I think it's an indicator of a sensible and level-headed person, able to keep things in a proper perspective, myself.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:37 PM on March 18, 2009


His own time is when he's not mugging for the camera writing on a human-size bracket with a Presidential Seal plastered on it!

Seriously, if George "Brush Clearer" Bush had done something like this, you wouldn't care?

And if he only took 15 minutes, he didn't even give it the attention it deserves.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:46 PM on March 18, 2009


Obama should be hooked up to a catheter and feeding tube so he never, even for a moment, has any need to leave his desk. EVER.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:09 PM on March 18, 2009


M&Ms DirecTV and ESPN. Cha-ching.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:15 PM on March 18, 2009


You do realize that this is college basketball? Mmm, no, probably not.

You're right, I had absolutely no idea (I should have said prospective millionaires, then?)

That whole world is alien to me. But, trust me, I'd have been just as "get back to your job" if he'd been talking about trends in electronic music or Buddhism (though rather bemused).

So what, now that we have a black man for president he's not allowed to take 15-minute breaks?

First, these aren't "15 minute breaks", these are planned, staged, theatrical appearances with lighting, cameras, recording devices and the presence of media. Between everyone involved, at least $100,000 is spent to make this happen. This doesn't happen by accident - they are intending to convey something to us.

And second, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Obama's blackness - and I'll thank you not to make such insinuations in future.

He's not doing his fucking job, I don't care what colour he us. We were promised change, we didn't get change. He didn't create this mess, but he inherited it, it's a crisis, it's happening right now, and he's fucking it up.

Trillions of dollars have been stolen from the taxpayer by criminal fraud. Senior management in dozens of companies looted them so that the net value of these companies was negative, and then cooked the books. This isn't some radical shit, this is the bare statement of the facts that are coming out every day in the newspaper.

There are numerous laws prohibiting every step of what was done. I'm not some baseless radical here, I'm someone who worked on Wall Street for years, but I know the laws and behind all the phrases like "fiduciary responsibility" and "due diligence" lurk the fact that as an officer in a publicly-held company you could go to jail for simply doing a bad job on the paperwork (in fact, under Sarbannes-Oxley, you can even go to jail if your subordinates did a bad job!) - let alone for deliberately concealing massive risks from your stockholders for years at a time while you pay yourself massive bonuses (that breaks all sorts of securities laws and might even be "common fraud").

Now, President Obama doesn't actually have to arrest very many people to get his point across. He could simply informally explain to all the AIG senior executives that if they chose to give or accept bonuses, he will investigate them for all the reasons above.

Let me tell you from years of working on the Street that if the SEC wants to find you guilty of something, they will. Do you think it was a coincidence that they managed to jail an uppity female celebrity for a $60,000 insider trade just at the time the Enron scandal was coming out? Or, consider that only one telecommunications company, Qwest, refused to perform illegal wiretapping - and within the year the CEO of that company was in jail on, surprise surprise, securities offenses?

Everyone knows this. AIG management knows this. The reason they go ahead with this is they know that know no criminal charges will ever result from this. Obama got more Wall Street money than any candidate in history - and he's Heinlein's "honest politician" (he stays bought).

President Obama is not doing his job. The pointless basketball crap is simply a media ploy to divert us from this.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:16 PM on March 18, 2009


Wow.

I enjoyed it. There are other things than the economy.
posted by schyler523 at 10:23 PM on March 18, 2009


On preview, it seems a lot of you seem to think that talking to the press about basketball is what President Obama does in his "spare time" "for fun".

That seems so idiotic as I write it - but I'm not trying to be rude - it really seems to be what people are writing here. Have I got it wrong?

Do you really - really - believe that this is in any way spontaneous - "I have a few minutes to spare, let's talk to the American media about basketball"? That he's doing this for fun?
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:24 PM on March 18, 2009


So ... does this mean that the Obamas shouldn't have sex until the Dow rises to 8,000?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 10:33 PM on March 18, 2009


There are other things than the economy.

Money is like oxygen. It's no big deal as long as you're getting enough to live.

If the economy were to fully collapse, I guarantee that you'd look back at your statement ruefully. During the First Great Depression, there was a decade where "The Depression" was the single most important fact in millions of people's lives, every day - where people literally were unsure of continued food or shelter.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:34 PM on March 18, 2009


So ... does this mean that the Obamas shouldn't have sex until the Dow rises to 8,000?

Again, it's not what Obama does in his spare time I'm complaining about - it's what he calls a press conference to do in front of the nation.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:36 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Wait, are you saying this whole thing was staged ??
posted by swift at 10:43 PM on March 18, 2009


Jesus christ, a little perspective?

Besides, no one on the Left really thought Obama was actually some sort of revolutionary socialist, did they? I mean, I voted for the guy knowing full well he was going to disappoint sooner or later; it's what Dems do. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, liberals gotta let you down. But it's not basketball that's the disappointment here -- it's that he's got assholes like Geithner and Summers leading his "kinder, gentler corporate capitalism" economic team. Getting apoplectic about Obama having the temerity to talk about his March Madness bracket (which he's no doubt filled out every year for the past several decades) is kind of... taking your eye off the ball, as it were.
posted by scody at 10:51 PM on March 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


The President of The United States has no "spare time". It's a 24/7 job, not figuratively, but literally. The 3 am phone call is a very real possibility. These people have the right to inject a little levity into the constant pressure of their daily lives , and it's only healthy to able to devote a tiny portion of the total very long work-day for undertakings less than earth-shaking. What do you suggest? Cancel the Easter Egg hunt. Stop throwing out the first ball? Ban the Boy Scouts from the White House? It's also part of the job description of the President to embody American values, enact certain rituals, and one of them is competitive sports. Is it political? Of course it is. And that makes it part of his job.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 10:54 PM on March 18, 2009


Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, liberals gotta let you down.

Since when has "liberal" been the shit-receiver of the universe? Plenty of liberals did a great job in the past, starting with the Founding Fathers of the United States - and what makes Obama a liberal?

Getting apoplectic about Obama having the temerity to talk about his March Madness bracket (which he's no doubt filled out every year for the past several decades) is kind of... taking your eye off the ball, as it were.

I agree that I'm primarily angry because of his pro-war stance, his following Bush's footsteps in increasing Presidential power, extraordinary rendition, spying on Americans, etc, and of course the fact that he's given trillions away to banksters who he should in fact be putting in jail. But this is the last straw - I keep expecting him to suddenly do something smart and each new thing is dumber. (And I've been staying away from political threads here in general for that reason - but this was just SO fucking celebrity cable TV dumb, it was like a car crash for me...)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:03 PM on March 18, 2009


These people have the right to inject a little levity into the constant pressure of their daily lives

I repeat that press conferences are not what President Obama does for relaxation. I assure you that every media contact that the President has is specifically planned for its effect on the public by professionals whose full-time job it is.

Do you really think that President Obama says, "I need a little levity, I will tell the American people my NCAA choices."?
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:11 PM on March 18, 2009


I really think you're mixing apples and turnips here, my friend.
posted by swift at 11:18 PM on March 18, 2009


I think that you need to recognize that not everything revolves around Wall Street. Even the title of this thread recognizes the fundamental point that no healthily adjusted person is 100% serious, 100 % of the time. A crisis of any proportion doesn't necessarily mean that a leader must abandon anything that might give them a little pleasure, and maybe break up the routine a bit. Hell, even Winston Churchill kept smoking cigars during the Battle Of Britain. Think of all the war material displaced by importing all that tobacco instead!
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 11:25 PM on March 18, 2009


Plenty of liberals did a great job in the past, starting with the Founding Fathers of the United States

Well, I'm a socialist-leaning Green (and recovering Democrat), so my perspective is that the liberals of the recent past who we think of as having done great things pretty much did them because they were being pressured by popular movements to do so (and in so doing, they frequently defanged the threat of real radicalism; there's a reason, after all, that the Democratic party is frequently invoked on the Left as the graveyard of social movements). E.g., Kennedy and Johnson were pushed into codifying the beginning of the end of Jim Crow with the Civil Rights Act by a decade of the civil right movement; they didn't lead the way.

And as for the founding fathers: First off, you can't quite conflate 18th century liberalism with contemporary liberalism (which itself, of course, includes a range of philosophies from the left to the right of the political spectrum). Having said that, of course, the founding fathers' liberalism was, in fact, pretty seriously radical in its historical context. But let's not forget that their radicalism had its disappointing limits, too.

So yeah, I don't bow down to the altar of "liberal" as the be-all end-all of progressiveness. But then, I think the whole oversimplified binary of political positions in the U.S. is fundamental part of the problem to begin with.
posted by scody at 11:40 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


"....mean that a leader must abandon anything that might give them a little pleasure..."

PareidoliaticBoy, am I not clear enough for you? I don't believe that the President has a press conference in order to give himself a little pleasure!

Whatever he does to relax is A-OK fine by me. But this is a scripted media event.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:50 PM on March 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Jesus.
First off, if Obama didn't take SOME time off, he'd go insane. As it is, everybody knows he likes basketball, I'm almost certain he was going to do a bracket anyway, so, hell.
Secondly, Obama isn't the only person in the government; this means that a) he can be expected to delegate tasks so he's not trying to micromanage the entire country, and b) he has some concerns above and beyond just doing what he thinks is right. Maybe Obama, personally, thinks everyone at AIG should be in prison right now. Who. Knows. But no matter what he thinks, he has to watch his ass, because already half of the country thinks he's black Stalin. We can gloat about winning the election, and Obama's doing well in the polls right now, but he's already done a lot to try to repair the clusterfuck of the past eight years, and every news channel has Karl Rove on there every night talking about how he's going to build a throne of skulls. So, yeah, Obama hasn't done a fair amount of the stuff I've thought he should do, but he's done a lot more than I thought he WOULD do. The man has to walk a tightrope; if he fixes the economy, but 51% of the voting public thinks he's an evil socialist and Sarah Palin becomes president in 2012, we're just as fucked as before.

On preview: as regarding it being scripted- so? So is Obama meeting with diplomats. He doesn't just walk into a room and all of the people from the G8 are there. Just because something is a media event doesn't mean it's not meaningful- and I could argue that the President showing an interest in college basketball is extremely meaningful. The President made a bracket, as he was probably going to do anyway. Either ESPN contacted the administration- which I think is fairly likely, because he's been open about liking basketball- or the administration contacted ESPN, because they wanted people to like the President more. I can't imagine that this took more than an hour out of his day. When Thanksgiving rolls around, I assume he's going to take time off to pardon the turkey; this is essentially the same thing.
posted by 235w103 at 12:02 AM on March 19, 2009


Okay, sorry for posting right after my last one, but I was brushing my teeth and it came to me. Here's a little story- I've only really watched two basketball games in my adult life. When I was a kid, I thought it was boring and incomprehensible. As an adolescent, I never really thought about it, and as a young adult I've never had a television. But my brother has always been a fan of college basketball, and two weeks ago he asked me if I wanted to go watch the Louisville/Villanova Big East game (we're native Louisvillians). I said sure, and we went to some terrible sports bar in downtown Manhattan- and watching the game, I started to get into it. I wouldn't watch it if I didn't have an emotional connection to one of the teams, but it was a) pretty amazing to think about the level of athleticism, and b) actually pretty dramatic. When the Big East championship game was on a few days later, we went to another sports bar and watched that. I've started to enjoy basketball.
But that's not the point of my story. The day after the game, I called home and got my father. Now, we've never really been able to relate to each other, and we're on completely opposite sides of the political fence. But, when we started talking, I asked him if he had seen the game, and we discussed Louisville's team. I could tell he was really surprised that I was interested. Then, as the conversation went on, it turned to politics. We've had a lot of yelling fights regarding the Iraq War, etc., and so I wasn't sure how well it was going to turn out. But, again, it was great- he ended up agreeing that the government should be stepping in and regulating more. Because we started with something that he could feel an emotional connection with- basketball- he was a lot more willing to discuss something we disagree on.
Every night, an entire news network talks about how Obama is the next Hitler; other networks just have a segment or so about it. Releasing his bracket wasn't some way of Obama pandering to idiots to make them think he'd be a great pal- it's a way to make an emotional connection, so that maybe they can look past Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. All that, and, again, it took an hour.
posted by 235w103 at 12:16 AM on March 19, 2009 [4 favorites]


Yep. Part of his job is symbolic, but he also needs to be re-elected. To complain that he held a press conference about a sport that he has a known interest in during "business hours" is absurd. Of course its a staged media event. He's the President. He has no life of his own separate from the position which he holds. In participating, however fleetingly, in something that is, after all, a part of American culture, he is simply fulfilling one of his roles as the Head Of State. I won't complain when he throws the first ball out, starts the Easter Egg Roll, or pardons the turkey either.

One of things that drives depressions is fear and insecurity, and one way to combat this is through reassurances that the sky isn't actually falling. Its good politics that happens to also be effective leadership; and, yes, I do believe that it is something he actually enjoys.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:21 AM on March 19, 2009


Three of the five underdogs he picks to win are located in swing states (Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania), and all five are located in states that have been more competitive in recent presidential elections than the states from which their opponents come.

Hunh. Looks like Nate Silver noticed that too.
posted by leahwrenn at 4:33 AM on March 19, 2009


Yeah, I'm picturing a 1933 version of lupus_yonderboy screaming on a street corner about what a ridiculous waste of time these unspontaneous, scripted fireside chats on the government dime are.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:37 AM on March 19, 2009 [1 favorite]


According to ESPN, they spent 20 minutes doing the bracket.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:29 AM on March 19, 2009


these unspontaneous, scripted fireside chats on the government dime

Here are the first 10 titles of the fireside chats:

1. On the Bank Crisis - Sunday, March 12, 1933
2. Outlining the New Deal Program - Sunday, May 7, 1933
3. On the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program - Monday, July 24, 1933
4. On the Currency Situation - Sunday, October 22, 1933
5. Review of the Achievements of the Seventy-third Congress - Thursday, June 28, 1934
6. On Moving Forward to Greater Freedom and Greater Security - Sunday, September 30, 1934
7. On the Works Relief Program - Sunday, April 28, 1935
8. On Drought Conditions - Sunday, September 6, 1936
9. On the Reorganization of the Judiciary - Tuesday, March 9, 1937
10. On Legislation to be Recommended to the Extraordinary Session of the Congress - Tuesday, October 12, 1937

In what way is this anything like Obama talking about basketball?

The difference between FDR and Obama is unfortunately very great - at least so far. Roosevelt pushed through a huge amount of legislation that completely changed society and was bitterly opposed by Wall Street, the banks, the rich and the right.

“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. ... Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me. And I welcome their hatred!"

Obama on the other hand has so far exhibited weakness. When Wall Street speaks, he quails. Call me when Obama makes a principled stand on something.

And GOD, do I want Obama to succeed. Things are in a terrible state. I'd pray for him every night if I thought it'd do any good.

I fully expected that early in his term we'd get a speech, "Fellow Americans. Upon taking this great office, I knew that there were many problems facing our country. I'm here to report that these problems were much greater than anyone could possibly have guessed.

"Over the last eight years, a small number of ruthless and unethical managers have systematically looted some of America's great financial firms, taking over a trillion dollars, leaving their companies empty shells deep in debt, in expectation that the taxpayer would foot the bill, leaving the average American ruined.

"I am here to tell you that we will not allow America's families to be ruined by a handful of billionaire criminals. The United States of America has some of the strongest securities laws in the world, and our government intends to enforce them, strictly, immediately and aggressively. Starting immediately, we're indicting the senior management in the following companies for fraud, fraudulent conveyance, conspiracy, and many violation of the Sarbannes-Oxley act. Following the lead established in drug prosecutions, the US Secret Service has already frozen the stolen assets..."

Instead we get basketball picks.

History isn't going to look back on this very fondly. I guarantee you that kids will learn about this period in 50 years and ask, "But wait, how did they get away with it? Why didn't the police arrest the bad men and get back the money?"
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 6:52 PM on March 19, 2009


History isn't going to look back on this very fondly.

History really isn't going to remember that Barrack Obama took 20 minutes out of his day to run a photo-op to appeal to basketball fans. I'm guessin' that when all the dust settles, pretty much no rational observer will attach any significance to this ephemeral moment.

I really wish you'd trust me about this, lupus_yonderboy .Your points about the urgency of the situation, and the hope that, for once, a politician would truly shirk self-interest are understood and fondly sympathized with. But reality intrudes, and Obama has to walk an extremely fine line between the righteous, and the pragmatic. He's going with pragmatic; a course which I contend is both necessary and smart.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:19 PM on March 19, 2009


PareidoliaticBoy: there is nothing "pragmatic" about what Obama is doing. He is showing weakness in the face of a crisis by repeatedly backing down to the very architects of that crisis.

At some point people are going to realize that the government allowed trillions of dollars to be stolen by rich people and is now completely broke. You'd better believe that the leader who "pragmatically" did nothing isn't going to do well then.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:17 PM on March 19, 2009


Instead we get basketball picks.

Well, he did go on Leno and make fun of retarded people, so we got that, too.
posted by dirigibleman at 10:34 PM on March 19, 2009


I fully expected that early in his term we'd get a speech, "Fellow Americans. Upon taking this great office, I knew that there were many problems facing our country. I'm here to report that these problems were much greater than anyone could possibly have guessed.

So, the problem you're having is that the Obama in real life, who has to worry about getting elected and politics and appealing to the people and being seen as a leader, is not like the Dream Obama that you constructed in your head.
posted by 235w103 at 6:47 AM on March 20, 2009


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