Monday, November 30, 2009

“7 stories Obama doesn’t want told”

So naturally I think it is my patriotic duty to help get them out there.

Nothing surprising, though it’s interesting to see even Yahoo! News picking up the story line about the big and growing gap between the form and the substance of Obama’s persona (and his policies).

One thing that particularly continues to nettle, however, is this whole “Chicago Way” theme and the idea of “brass knuckle” politics. To the extent that this notion translates into a willingness to use corruption, bribery and job-threatening intimidation, fine; I think the evidence for that tactical approach in the Obama White House is overwhelming. It is the broader, metaphorical meaning, the machismo of the genuine tough guy, that I find absurd. There are people in this administration - Rahm Emanuel is a prime example – who seem to truly think that they’re the spiritual descendants of Al Capone, and they revel in the delusion. They love to be thought of as gangsters. But the truth is that a real gangster - and, for that matter, his foe, the honest cop – put their lives on the line every day. Although the gangster is driven by greed, and the cop by a commitment to law and order, in their own respective ways, they are both “tough guys”. But Obama? Please. He and his handlers were raised in a bubble of Democratic party privilege, of vote buying, vote stealing, windy promises made and broken, the goal a cushy and prestigious job in Washington, all lovingly sanitized by a compliant media. Sure, it’s a dirty business and one’s conscience has to be a little rough around the edges to participate, but for them to wallow in the self-perception - the self-delusion - that they’re all a bunch of swaggering, macho gunslingers is laughable. You see what happens when these stone bad asses try to go up against the really dangerous hombres of the world – bowing, scraping, cow-eyed naïveté, endless dithering and useless concessions.

Maybe they see themselves as a kind of bloodless Murder, Inc.; to me, they’re more like a bad imitation of the Apple Dumpling Gang (with their hands on the levers of government, which makes the situation alarming rather than simply amusing).

5 comments:

Brett L said...

Please. These guys are the quintessential bullies. Anytime someone takes a punch and keeps coming, they roll over like a kicked dog. Also, separately, is Rahm Emanuel a lock for worst Chief of Staff in modern history? Every time they take something up, they've shat the bed in two weeks. For all the supposed arrogance and stupidity of the GWB White House, they never came off quite so uniformly like retards humping the door knob.

Yojimbo said...

And that "Smart Diplomacy" narrative is starting to look very similar to the "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Striaght".

Yojimbo said...

Er, Straight even.

JeffS said...

He thinks he’s playing with Monopoly money

Not surprising, for a man who wipes his a$$ with the Constitution.

Too much Leonard Nimoy

That's an insult to Nimoy, who is intelligent, a good actor, and a successful business man.

Now, if they said "Too much Spock", I'd agree. Because Spock is a fictional character, and there's certainly one consistent aspect to Obama: he produces a lot of fiction.

That’s the Chicago Way

There's a reason why Chicago has a lot of problems with crime, gangs, corruption, and poverty. It's because of "The Chicago Way". Which sucks big time.

He’s a pushover

That's what comes from having ones backbone surgically removed. He makes push overs look like General Patton. Rahm is the real bully in the White House.

President Pelosi

This is part and parcel with "pushover". I imagine that Rahm has Pelosi on speed dial.

He’s in love with the man in the mirror

He'd marry the mirror, if it could walk, talk, and have children.

Yojimbo said...

And wear a leotard or whatever you call those female ballet thingies.