One of the clues that Obama was not who he professed to be during the campaign was his closeness to Harvard professor Cass Sunstein. When Obama appointed Sunstein to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Center for Progressive Reform illustrated the problem.
CPR – The job is perhaps better known by its informal title: “regulatory czar,” so named because the holder is charged with signing off on all major proposed regulations. In the recent past, the OIRA has been a place where regulations to protect health, safety and the environment go to die, or at the very least be weakened.
I just moderated out a comment on Zionists. A request that whatever and whomever we talk about, we do so without anger. It is possible to express a negative opinion about a person or group and what they are doing without writing something that is toxic for others to read.
Who is he?, Sort of the anti-thesis of game theory? Closes the door on irrational behavior. Game theory seemed pretty evil when I first read it, basing the economy on pure self interest. The next level of evil…basing the economy on the pure self interest of the state… whatever that amounts to.
What’s Obama’s character? Is it bad character that causes him to surround himself with jackels? Character is the degree we value the “essentials of life” when making decisions. If we are prepared to pay a price for supporting the needs and dignity of others we have character; if we value our own needs more, we have little.
My take is that over the years Obama’s reaped the rewards of brilliance to the point he’s now over-matched and his character remains unformed to the task. He needs to be as shrewd as a serpent and as gentle as a lamb, yet he’s not demonstrating such skill. I’m reminded a little of the President in the movie, Deep Impact, when Morgan Freeman tells the young reporter: “It may seem that you have me over a barrel, but it only seems that way.” We want our presidents to be dignified, intelligent, powerful, and dangerous. Obama gives the impression he still believes everyone plays by rules.
I voted for him even though he did not demonstrate an understanding of economic or political realities because there’s a huge difference between having an unformed character for President and a bad character (Bush) or a befuddled character (McCain). The egoic bubbles of power in which these people live avoids the “essentials of life” like the plague so I hold out little hope. I also cannot ask another to do what I will not or cannot do myself. In the end, the real burden is not Obama’s, but my own. Do I have enough character to support and dignity of others through this transition? Only time will tell.
I think Obama’s role is to act deaf dumb and blind while the wolves do what they will. He does a good job at that. Bush did a lousy job at acting innocent.
Catherine, get a Talmud. Do yourself a favor. Whats toxic about truth?