MetaFilter posts tagged with Politics and obama

Obama's Big Sellout

moorooka — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:36:11 -0800

Taibbi-filter: Obama's Big Sellout What's taken place in the year since Obama won the presidency has turned out to be one of the most dramatic political about-faces in our history. Elected in the midst of a crushing economic crisis brought on by a decade of orgiastic deregulation and unchecked greed, Obama had a clear mandate to rein in Wall Street and remake the entire structure of the American economy. What he did instead was ship even his most marginally progressive campaign advisers off to various bureaucratic Siberias, while packing the key economic positions in his White House with the very people who caused the crisis in the first place. This new team of bubble-fattened ex-bankers and laissez-faire intellectuals then proceeded to sell us all out, instituting a massive, trickle-up bailout and systematically gutting regulatory reform from the inside.

Has he lost his O-mentum?

GrammarMoses — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:49:05 -0800

New York Magazine thinks the thrill is gone. True? Or just the latest meme? If true, what are the implications outside the Beltway? The 3-D chess references do seem thin on the ground these days.

The Economist: The World in 2010

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:09:43 -0800

In 2010, Obama will have a miserable year, NATO may lose in Afghanistan, the UK gets a regime change, China needs to chill, India's factories will overtake its farms, Europe risks becoming an irrelevant museum, the stimulus will need an exit strategy, the G20 will see a challenge from the "G2", African football will unite Korea, conflict over natural resources will grow, Sarkozy will be unloved and unrivalled, the kids will come together to solve the world's problems (because their elders are unable), technology will grow ever more ubiquitous, we'll all charge our phones via USB, MBAs will be uncool, the Space Shuttle will be put to rest, and Somalia will be the worst country in the world. And so the Tens begin.

The Economist: The World in 2010. Previously: 2009, 2008, 2007. How did we do last time around? Guest contributions: President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso lines up Europe's priorities President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev argues for dialogue and cooperation President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed wants his island nation to remain above water President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would like for Islam and the West to live in harmony President of South Africa Jacob Zuma says Africa should rise to the occasion Director-General of the World Health Organisation Margaret Chan predicts the development of the flu pandemic Managing director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn explains how to prevent another crisis CEO of Yahoo! Carol Bartz believes business leaders should tap into the information flood Chairman of HSBC Stephen Green argues that the financial sector should welcome emerging economies CEO of Fiat Group and Chrysler Group Sergio Marchionne thinks greener cars require bolder action CEO/CTO of SpaceX Elon Musk says the private sector should handle space travel

Did you even DOOO the reading?

jock@law — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:23:05 -0800

Do you feel disappointed in government? Does Obama seem a little too meek for the Presidency? Do you wish he'd make larger structural reforms? Maybe, suggests Matt Taibbi, there's an answer. Citing her ability to speak plainly and her extensive knowledge of the credit system, Taibbi suggests that Elizabeth Warren should run for President. Not in 2016, but in 2012.

Have fun storming the White House!

bardic — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:36:33 -0800

"Join in NOW and help Capture Obama and the renegade Cong. Defeat the Union Troops and other allies of the former President and help safeguard American Freedom. " It's the online survivalist game/wish fulfillment entitled "2011: Obama's Coup Fails" (via) Who wouldn't want to play with event like this one: "Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck Found Dead in Camp March 5, 2011 – Clark County, VA – A FEMA camp was liberated today, one of two still controlled by the war criminals loyal to Obama. Rush Limbaugh was executed over a week earlier, we are told, and Glenn Beck was found in his cell and has died, incredibly of an ‘aspirin overdose’, the preferred way to send a message to the enemies of Obama."

McCarthy to Wilson...is history doomed to repeat itself?

Kickstart70 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:06:03 -0800

"The Obama Haters" is a horribly inaccurate title. The article itself is a 25-years-later review of Richard Hofstadter's 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Reading this essay (and the Slate article today) gives rise to thought on what led to the McCarthyism that Hofstadter wrote in reaction to, and what might lie in our very near future....regarding the Obama haters.

Keep It Like a Secret

saulgoodman — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:13:23 -0800

Eric Holder releases newly revamped state secrets policy. In the face of a storm of recent criticisms from political commentators that President Obama's policies on state secrets privileges represent a continuation of the Bush administration's policies, the Obama administration has maintained all along that these policies were undergoing comprehensive Justice Department review, with the intent of releasing a new set of comprehensive rules governing the invocation and abuse of state secrets. Today, the Obama administration spelled out its new state secrets policy. Key points of the new policy:

pledges by the Justice Department to a) submit evidence to a court, so that it can review whether the assertion of the privilege is justified; b) refer credible allegations of wrongdoing to an inspector general, whenever the assertion of the state secrets privilege would prevent a case containing such allegations from going forward; and c) require that the attorney general sign off on each assertion of the privilege.

IANARL

ND¢ — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:14:48 -0800

Get This Rat a Lawyer! A recent target of right wing anger has been Obama administration "czars", a term used to denote appointed presidential advisers not subject to Senate approval. Opponents of "czars" were recently emboldened by the resignation of Anthony "Van" Jones, who served from March 16 to September 5, 2009 as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. An additional target of the hunt for Obama's czars is Cass Sunstein, a constitutional-law professor at Harvard University, who was confirmed Thursday as the director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Outrage related to Mr. Sunstein stems from a paper Sunstein wrote in 2002, in which he argued that individuals as well as the state should be able to file suit for animal cruelty, as well as a lecture on the subject given at Harvard in 2007. Sunstein, who has called for an outright ban on hunting, stated as follows: "If rats are able to suffer—and no one really doubts that they are—then their interests are relevant to the question how, and perhaps even whether, they can be expelled from houses," "At the very least, people should kill rats in a way that minimizes suffering. And if possible, people should try to expel rats in a way that does not harm them at all." Reports of these statements led to a notable quote from Saturday's Tea Party rally in D.C.: said Davy Reeves of Kalamazoo: "He thinks rats should have the right to an attorney, to sue humans," Reeves said. "Rats have no right to live in my house."

"I would call this a blatant case of misjudgment fueled by an unfortunate milieu of assumption."

miss lynnster — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:29:53 -0800

How Charlie Sheen spent his 20 minutes with Barack Obama

Barack Obama, President of the Divided States of America

Secret Life of Gravy — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:18:40 -0800

Next Tuesday, Sept. 8, speaking at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. President Obama will address the youth of America during a live television broadcast urging them to stay in school. Some school districts, bowing to parent pressure, have decided not to show the speech during school. Governor Tim Pawlenty [...] said on WCCO radio in Minneapolis that the speech, scheduled for Tuesday, was "uninvited" and raises concerns about "the content and motive." One parent was quoted by Fox News as saying: "Children are very vulnerable and excited. I mean, this is the president. I think it's an underhanded tactic and indicative of the way things are being done." Jim Greer, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, said the speech is an effort to "spread President Obama's socialist ideology" and "justify his positions" on health care, the economy and taxes.

You know who else had "death panels"?

crossoverman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:03:42 -0800

Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table - I have no interest in doing it! Congressman Barney Frank confronts a woman at a town hall meeting who compared Obama to Hitler.

A rational conservative solution for health care reform

reenum — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:29:33 -0800

E.D. Kain with a moderate conservative solution to the health care crisis

building nothing out of something? or...

kliuless — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:21:22 -0800

Rebuilding Something Better by Barack Obama: "this week, I'll be talking about how we give our workers the skills they need to compete... Part of this goal will be met by helping Americans better afford a college education. But part of it will also be strengthening our network of community colleges..." BONUS -Zakaria: A Capitalist Manifesto -Cowen: Vaticanomics -The X-shaped recovery -Debt, Class Warfare and Entrepreneurship -America's Fiscal Train Wreck and Cassandra's Curse -Skidelsky: Economists clash on shifting sands -Skidelsky: The World Finance Crisis & the American Mission -Skidelsky: The Lost Continent -Obama: A New Moment of Promise in Africa -Sullivan: Barack Obama keeps his cool

Break on through to the greener side

littlerobothead — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:44:50 -0800

Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus want to change the way countries think about global warming. Instead of treating carbon as a pollutant, and legislating our way out of a climate crisis, they suggest a "challenge" approach to the problem—igniting a creative fire under companies and even the federal government to create new and cheaper solutions instead of more loophole-filled legislation.

"When was the last time human beings modernized our energy sources by making older power sources more expensive?" he asks the interns. "And, of course, by now you probably know that the answer is never."

And, they have a posse:

"The president has adopted their language, their message, the story they helped to develop," Teague says. "The next stage in the development of all of this is for the actual reality of the policy to reflect the glowing, wonderful, positive, visionary rhetoric."

What remains to be seen is if the federal government has the stomach (or the budget) for the massive research endeavor their approach would require. The example engineering and research program advanced as a model by Shellenberger and Nordhaus is the US moon landing, with a 1969 price tag of over $25 billion. In today's dollars, that's a lot of bailouts.

Spare Change

gerryblog — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:08:27 -0800

Tomorrow, Obama will extend federal employee benefits to same-sex partners. But is it too little, too late to mend the growing rift between Obama and gay rights advocates, especially after last week's controversial DOMA brief (discussed previously)?

100 Days of Obama: the Flickr Potustream

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:39:32 -0800

After one hundred days, the wait is over: Pete Souza's Gargantuan Presidential High-Definition Executive Flickrdump is here. Warning: If you put it on fullscreen you won't get anything else done for a while.

A chance for a Middle East peace

homunculus — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:36:22 -0800

Syria Calling: The Obama Administration’s chance to engage in a Middle East peace.

Rush: 2012

Ironmouth — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:53:11 -0800

Democrat's efforts to paint Rush Limbaugh as GOP leader pay off. Since Rush Limbaugh famously stated that he wanted Obama to fail, Democrats, led by President Obama, have been trying to paint him as the intellectual and spiritual head of the GOP. Eyeing his low 25% approval rating amongst independents, they have hoped to equate the Republicans with Limbaugh. It appears they may have succeeded. When GOP Congressman Phil Gingery was recently forced to retract his criticism of Rush, it added to the perception that the portly talk show host was running the Republicans. But the real coup was yet to come. Michael Steele, the newly-elected head of the Republican National Committee, was quoted Saturday as describing Rush's brand of talk radio as "ugly" and "incendiary." On Sunday, Rush, rising to the bait, appeared at CPAC, the yearly conservative conference, giving a long and rambling speech. On Monday, Rush struck back at Steele on his show, stating that Steele was attacking him "for wanting [Obama] to fail." Steele caved quickly, saying, he was "saying one thing and it came out differently." Republicans such as Bobby Jindal hastened to praise Rush and indicated that they were glad that Steele apologized. By Monday night, left-leaning commentators such as Josh Marshall were giving "props to the Democratic psyops operation that's paying off Michael Steele to get into a gonzo spat with Rush." Will Limbaugh lead the GOP out of the wilderness, or deeper into the hole they've dug for themselves? Seemingly in tune with the wishes of Democratic strategists, Republican bloggers now want Rush for 2012.

I don't want to go to there

hifiparasol — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:27:21 -0800

While the world may be abuzz with talk of President Obama's first (sorta kinda but not really) State of the Union Address last night, others are comparing Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal -- who, in his response (part 1, part 2) scoffed at high-speed rail and suggested that monitoring volcanoes is somehow a bad thing -- to, um... well, just check it out for yourself. The speech even got low marks from Fox News, and Rachel Maddow was predictably speechless. The best response (or most inappropriate, depending on your point of view) of the night, however, might actually belong to Chris Matthews.

Is he suggesting the President needs to be shot?

happyroach — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:44:33 -0800

An editorial cartoon in the New York Post gets reactions from around the world about its possible racial depictions. Al Sharpton denounces it, and the Posts editor defends it. And bloggers all over the internet have a field day. With people quickly taking sides as to whether the artist meant to draw a racial slur, it's worth noting that Delonis is no stranger to controversy. And Obama has been compared to monkeys before, at Republican events. And of course there's a long history of depicting negros as apes. With all that, can an editorial cartoonist really claim in good conscience to be unaware of any racial context?

An Economic Stimulus Without the Stimulus?

WCityMike — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:24:16 -0800

A list of cut, halved, and quartered items from the Senate version of the stimulus bill was released to CNN. Fully cut was any stimulus funding for historic preservation, Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters, Farm Service Agency modernization, Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, watershed rehabilitation, distance learning, school nutrition, aquaculture, broadband, National Institute of Standards and Technology, detention trustee, Marshalls Construction, federal prisons, BYRNE Formula grant program, BYRNE Competitive grant program, state and local law enforcement, NASA, aeronautics, exploration, Cross Agency Support, National Science Foundation, science, Energy Loan Guarantees, General Services Administration, General Services Administration operations, Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use, Fish and Wildlife, historic preservation, working capital fund, Forest Service capital improvement, State and Private Wildlife Fire Management, Head Start/Early Start, Health Prevention Activity, Health Information Technology Grants, Title I (No Child Left Behind), school construction, higher education construction, project based rental, Neighborhood Stabilization, retrofitting Project 8 housing, or state fiscal stabilization. Stimulus funding was halved for energy-efficient federal buildings, the Smithsonian, law enforcement wireless, and hybrid federal vehicles -- and reduced by 75% for the EPA, NOAA, and FBI construction.

The first hundred days, in poetry

aught — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:15:51 -0800

Everyone and his or her uncle has griped about the mediocre official inaugural poems heralding recent new U.S. presidencies. Meanwhile, poets Arielle Greenberg & Rachel Zucker have put together a blog, STARTING TODAY, commissioning a poem a day from many of those they consider the best contemporary poets writing today, documenting in verse life under the new ruling paradigm.

Obama FAIL?

kliuless — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:33:04 -0800

The Bad Bank Assets Proposal: Even Worse Than You Imagined -- the administration appears intent on building another black swan. This is political capitalism. [v i a]

The First 100 Days

Cochise — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:39:39 -0800

Oh those vaunted "first 100 days," they are finally upon us. Roosevelt's legendary time period has long been applied to new administrations, but never so emphatically or with such hope as to the Obama administration. And now you can follow them! For commentary, there's The First 100 Days, for mainstream media there's Obama's First 100 Days, for a comparison between old and new there 100 Days: Starting the Job, From FDR to Obama, for new media there's Obama's First 100 Days, and finally, for a government perspective there's First 100 Days. I smell an idea for an ironic t-shirt...

Obama's People

holgate — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:36:51 -0800

Obama's People [full-screen slideshow]: one photographer; one background; fifty-two members of the incoming US administration. Oh, and one "significant item" per person. The kind of thing -- not just a political piece, but a photographic project -- that reminds you what the institutional clout of the New York Times can make possible.