I'm still in the tank for Obama but I agree with Krauthammer again, this makes two weeks in a row, a new record!!

The Great Non Sequitor by Charles Krauthammer

I'm mostly down with Obama's social re engineering thing, howsoever he chooses to frame it, although I must say I'd feel much more confident if I had the sense the country could fiscally afford and readily absorb all that he's proposing. And I could stand for him to be more focused with how he funds his spending priorities. Be that as it may, the manner by which Obama has rolled out his program is indeed intellectually incongruent I believe. I cannot decipher the necessity for it. Obama was elected to work towards the very goals he's set forth; there's nothing at all duplicitous about working towards fulfilling his campaign promises. Why then does he give us the fuzzy math and the circular logic? Why not shoot straight with the American people? Anyone with eyes can see we need to bolster and upgrade our infrastructure, from highways to education to healthcare. There are legitimate, persuasive arguments to be made for pursuing these goals, even with deficit spending if need be. Why give the Krauthammers of the world fuel? There's no rationale for obfuscation; Obama's popularity suggests the public is offering him wide berth to pursue his program. By failing to make the proverbial ducks line up, Obama runs risk of potentially alienating and eventually losing the support of Mr. and Mrs. Joe "Middle-of-the-country" Sixpack.

As I've said previously, I expect more from dude. If you want us to be Sweden, tell us! Lay it out there for us, maybe show us some brochures. Thats what Obama needs, some really cool brochures outlining the benefits of the Social Welfare state. Man, I bet a lot of folks would go for it if he just laid it all out there! Of course Mr. Krauthammer fails to mention that, if the recent polls are to be trusted, a majority of Americans think Obama has done a pretty good selling job already . Only eggheads and nerds like, uh, like...Krauthammer! (not me, no not me) need for the numbers to add up and the socratic arguments to follow form. And another thing: lets not forget that there's a ton of unbalanced, untethered folk out there with guns who've been waitin' on our boy to even hint at being a "Socialist" and then you could get to where there's trouble in the lowlands awful quick. So back atcha Krauthammer! One might say Obama's pragmatism is of the most utilitarian variety imaginable: keep hisself standing and breathing and keep on doing the peoples work, as he so defines it.

How To Tell Your Woman Done Gone (For Dummies)

A Scene taken straight from a Movie:
Where girl silently drifts away
from the self-absorbed dude
who once held her sway, in every way.

Little by little the audience sees
her heart turn towards the open door,
left ajar by his poorly executed but
good intentions.

And when the pain of living a love
that is no longer alive become
too tense a pressure to bear,
when it boil down to the bottom
she will not shed nary another tear.

And perhaps in the most dramatic tradition
he'll come home one day and she'll be gone,
or maybe there'll be a different, new knowing
smile in her eyes, or even:
he stumbles upon her in an unspeakable act.

Or could be that in the hands of an artiste
of thoroughly cruel intention, he'll have his man
with eyes that slowly drift from her to the floor
ask her simply, almost rhetorically:
"why don't you laugh at my jokes anymore?"


ADDENDUM:

Act 3, Scene 3:

More dispirited than embarrassed, he broke from her bemused gaze and stared intently at the floor. "you know I bruise like a grape," he mumbled somberly after sufficiently melodramatic pause. When there was no immediate response, he looked up to find her muffling laughter: during the silence she'd turned away to the muted television just in time to catch a particularly funny scene in a classic movie from the '80's. For the umpteenth time, Lewis had stuffed the salmon down his Santa Claus suit and for the life of her she couldn't keep from sniggering...


ADDENDUM II:

Act 2, Scene 16:

In a moment of sudden clarity the thought came upon her. As is often the case with such bursts of awareness, it arose at a most peculiar time and place: while she was signing autographs after a show. "I'm so over him." During the taxi ride back to the apartment she had ample time to further consider the ramifications. Until now it had not even occurred to S. that for weeks, maybe even months, she'd been in the act of leaving him. Presently the signs came into stark focus for her. A wry smile began to widen as it dawned upon S. how much J., her new personal assistant, actually favored C. Not as he was now; but as he'd looked back then, when she'd originally fallen for him. J. was a bit taller perhaps but still the resemblance was uncanny. The angular face, lean torso, the feminine fingers. Even his ubiquitous afghani-style hat and colored glasses. Rather than proceed to the next logical progressions of the thought and wonder (A) how on earth she could possibly have missed the similitude during the interview process or (B) if perhaps C. had noticed it too, instead another, completely disparate sensation came. A warm throb which spread rapidly from the top of her head to settle in the pit of her stomach. It was deep resentment, bordering upon anger, born of the endurance of literally years of C.'s nuanced rejection. Yes, S. was certain he loved her. But it was a needy, codependent love and C. barely hid the fact that it was a love she had to re-earn on a semi-daily basis. Though she understood from whence such machinations came, enabling him had never returned her the loyalty and affection she had once been so sure would one day follow...

Tuesday night's speech..

I felt almost a sense of guilt for having become so unsettled by Tuesday's speech; it seems as if the majority of pundits found it to be uplifting and mostly spot on in tone. I wonder if perhaps I've become too emotionally entwined with Obama's every movement. I call this 'joe louis' syndrome, how blacks in the '40s so closely identified with the boxer joe louis that when he lost to the german max schmelling many felt as if the entire black race had been let down. But I think I've put my finger now on the essence of my concern: I feel in my gut that Obama, while cracker jack smart and surrounded by ppl of great faculty, is doubling down on fiscal risk from a place of idealism, rather than accumulated wisdom. in other words, I think he knows he doesn't know wtf he's doing exactly but feels that he'll figure it out as he goes along, knowing he's smart and agile enough to responded adroitly to new information. However, I worry once he fills his plate at the buffet his hands may be too full to catch items falling by the wayside - - indeed that seems to be his very strategy: fill the plate to the brim and accept that not everything will make it from buffet to table. What important priorities won't make it whole? Wouldn't it be better to do a few things really well -- -and fund them well -- then try and do everything and poorly fund everything? And he's surrounded himself with banking insiders who seem loathe to inflict pain upon shareholders and bank management. Perhaps someone can explain to me what his larger strategy on the banks is , I cannot fathom it. Politics is all about choosing but I fear my man has accepted slapping some paint on the dilapidated american house and rebuilding upon its shaky foundation rather than ensuring the foundation is strong and can accept the weight of his proposed social engineering. Perhaps he feels he has no choice, I dunno. They're all waaay smarter than me so I just got to trust but verify, I guess. Geithner was in japan in the 90s, right? it seems like he knows his history and is therefore doomed to repeat it...I just don't understand...

it's still so jarring to see a black man - and black first lady - - in all the various presidential scenarios. It's all so fresh still. Furthermore, its not easy a'tall for my mind to accept the same political double speak, knocking down of straw men, and moral certitude that I've grown accustomed to seeing white presidents spew 24-7 coming from a black man. indeed I've certainly grown to expect duplicity from the american president, comes with the job. I mean, for most ppl of color, whether the president is democrat or republican he still is and/or represents 'the man'. And yet now a black man, and not just any black man, but barack obama, a man with seemingly an endless trove of once-in-a-lifetime skills and gifts, is 'the man'. and I expect him to REALLY shoot straight with me. not the wink-wink, stay on message realpolitik posturing that has become the preferred language of choice for our national leaders. probably asking too much, cause lawd knows he's better than ANY of these mostly sorry cats we had in there in my lifetime...

Welcome to the NEW USA! Where the "S" stands for sweden...

Here's an op-ed piece from a cat whose intelligence, patriotism and intellectual consistency I respect a great deal but with whom I almost never agree. Or to say it plain, I can't hardly STAND this m*^%$@!&r most all of the time. But on this one, hey whaddya know, I think he's spot on:

"The Obamaist Manifesto" by Charles Krauthammer

I liked the piece so much I even posted a comment on the WP site:

I must say I'm an Obama supporter, thru and thru...I believe he has the gifts and tools to be a great, transformative president. And I'm rooting for him. However, I unequivocally agree with Mr. Krauthammer's assessment. I suspect Obama wants us to move us towards becoming a sort of 21st century Sweden.

Now, there's nothing at all wrong with Sweden; I personally happen to love much of what I've seen of the country. It's a great place to visit! And there's much to admire, I think, about the Netherlands, Belgium, and other European Social Democracies. Personally speaking, my sensibilities are not at all offended by the idea of paying 60% taxes in exchange for government subsidized - - high quality - - health care, graduate education, etc. . The european approach is quite attractive in many respects. But would a similar system work in a land as endeared with personal freedom, social mobility and entrepreneurial spirit as the US? I'm quite dubious of the prospect. As Obama himself has said, our traditions have evolved in substantially different directions, and under wholly disparate stimuli I might add, than those in Europe. Plus, our demographics and current entitlement obligations strongly suggest that we cannot afford anything even resembling a European style mixed economy! Of course, its long been apparent that Europe cannot afford it either, but that's a whole nother, albeit strongly related, matter.

I was left with an unsettled feeling after Obama's speech. He has not yet offered the clarity of vision that, say, Reagan (with whom I disagreed on almost, well, everything) was able. We cannot have confidence that there's equal measure of accumulated wisdom counterbalancing Obama's idealism. Reagan had many years to hone his ideas, and even test case many as governor of California. I'm growing concerned that this brilliant, insightful academic is planning on using the position of US president (aka Leader of the Free World) to test case hopeful, quixotic theories of activist government. Perhaps Obama is ahead of us all, foreseeing the emergence of a new center-left method of governance. Perhaps he envisions a sort of free market/social democratic hybrid that somehow manages to avoid the innovation inhibiting elements of the 20th century welfare state. Perhaps his finger is set firmly on the pulse of the moment and he sees a roadmap of progress set brightly lit upon the gloomy shadows of the current financial abyss. One can hope.

For me, though, there's something intellectually disingenuous (if politically adroit) about Obama calling himself a non-ideological pragmatist, leading people to believe he's a centrist but pursuing straight down the line liberal policies. And straight down the line liberal spending to boot. Now we know why the President didn't clamp down on house democrats during the stimulus process. Pelosi was indeed carrying Obama's water. Good to know.

So yes, I agree with Mr. Krauthammer: Obama finally has begun to lay his cards on the table. Its an audacious, sprawling agenda (the non word ginormous comes to mind). Tuesday night, as he segued into the middle section of the speech, I began to experience a feeling similar to when the drop begins at the apex of a rollercoaster. That incomparable mix of exhilaration and uncertainty that some internalize as thrill, others as fear. I certainly voted for change but, perhaps naively, didn't really comprehend just how much or exactly what kind of change - - and how uncertain the prospect would make me feel - - until this week.

Can he really do it ALL?

This guy nails on the head the unease I've been feeling recently. I'm glad to hear there's others who feel a similar measure of cautious optimism. I feel like eddie murphy in trading places when randolph and mortimer dukes start giving him dan akroyd's s**t, "you mean all this is mine now? this vase right here, this is mine?" What Obama is pledging fiscally feels too good to be true. Yet I'm hopeful he's able to do it ALL, knock it out of the park. Perhaps I've simply grown cynical and cold after years of fearing this country was allergic to common sense :

"Can Obama Really Do This?" by Marc Ambinder

Book Review

I just finished reading Barack Obama's book, "The Audacity Of Hope". I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that it's the first book, fiction or non, that I've completed in probably five or six years. Don't know why or when or how I lost the thirst for reading books but somewhere along the way I did. But thats a topic for another post. Reading the book in the context of the completed campaign, election and finally the installation of Obama as president I'm struck by the consistency of his themes across the past several years.

Now that we actually see Obama's ideas being put to practice, it'll be quite interesting to observe how successful he is in holding to his core values. Like some others, I wonder if even at this early stage of his presidency whether many of the central tenets of 'obamalogy' have already been disproven or shown to be frighteningly naive, just as his critics contended during the campaign. Was the new age-y utopian optimism of Obama's "we are the change we've been waiting for" mantra that appealed to so many across the political spectrum but a liberal version of Ronald Reagan's "shining beacon on a hill...morning in america", ie a steaming pile of cult-of-personality bulls**t? Back in the day many liberals decried Reagan's clarion call as post-eisenhower era idealism. But at least Reagan had the experience of the better part of a lifetime to draw upon and time spent as governor of CA to hone his (almost totally wacko in my view) political ideologies. I wonder whether with some of Obama's early struggles we are witnessing in real time some of the tangible disadvantages - - again just as the critics contended - - of choosing inexperienced idealism over experienced idealism? (presuming we desired some great measure of idealism) In my humble opinion the answer is pretty much yes and I find the realization disconcerting at best and frightening at worst. BUT (and its a big butt) I still think new blood was needed in our political dialogue and that Obama, at the least I'd say, has already shaken up the sticks in ways that we cannot even begin to measure. Furthermore, I wouldn't sell this Obama cat short. As with most objective observers, he strikes me as smart as whip, quick witted and willing and able to learn. If, as I'm suggesting above, his amalgam of policies and ideas do in fact embody a sort of ideology, it's an ideology that seemingly allows for great flexibility. This can cut both ways of course, and I think therein lies a paradox: basically we still don't really know what, when it all comes right down to it, Barack Obama stands for. And I must say I hope the watered-down jambalaya of a stimulus bill that he just bet IMO most of the political capital earned by his election on (he'll have to acquire more to get to spend more IMO) doesn't actually reveal the answer: Despite the books and the confidently delivered rhetoric perhaps even he doesn't yet know. I mean, when you listen to his economic surrogate, this Geithner cat, don't you just get the notion he's feeling his way in the dark??

The Banks...

My man Reed just hipped me to a really good short film which explains in easy-to-understand language what's happening with the banks. In short/sum, our system is built on a house-a-cards...I'm sure you're not surprised, but I was! I guess I'm still naive...

Money As Debt...