Not "What Would He Do?"

...but What is He Doing?



Go read tbogg

I've mentioned before that I don't really like to attend "progressive events" because really nice people suffering from advanced stages of extreme sincerity make me itchy. I think it's great that people with dreams and ideals think that if they if could only get the opposition to sit down and listen to their heartfelt arguments they could win them over. I think they also spend a lot of time being horribly disappointed.

First of all you have to decide if you really want to win. If you just want to spend your time debating hypotheticals and dreaming of how swell things could be while weaving yourself a safety net of emergency qualifiers in case things don't go the way you planned, go get a job at the fucking Brookings Institution. But if you're gonna go to ideological war, then go to ideological war. And if you are going to fight this war you have to ask yourself "what would Dick Cheney would do?"

Never apologize.
Never admit weakness.
Never concede points.
Never defend.
Always attack...

With solid majorities now, and God knows what will happen in 2010, the clock is ticking on Barack Obama to take charge of what once promised to be the defining issue of his administration. Back In January Obama told Republican leaders "I won."

It's time to fucking start acting like it.

Agreed, but...

Beyond the fact that first and foremost Obama is a politician, there are two (or more) factors at work.

1) Rahm Emanual controls every bit of information he has. Good grief, he tried to take the man's blackberry away from him. Do you honestly think Barry O. can even visit The Wall Street Pravda website without Adult supervision?

2) The lessons of what happens to presidents who don't follow Company orders are well known.

Exhibit A: Jimmy Carter

Exhibit B: John F. Kennedy

In order to act like his own man, he will have to confront his own Praetorians. Incessantly. 24h a day.

How long would you survive in that environment?