** Official Bayonet & Horse Lovin' Obama Thread **

[DoDaFoo]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

I predict a horrific presidency.

Sore loser much?

[comerelaxnow]

Originally Posted by DoDaFoo

Sore loser much?

No..he just didn't drool all over Obamas Hope and Change crap.

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by DoDaFoo

Sore loser much?

No, just realistic.

[TwoStep2888]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

No, just realistic.

What happened to your "I think he'll be a decent, centrist president" talk from a few weeks ago? :(

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by TwoStep2888

What happened to your "I think he'll be a decent, centrist president" talk from a few weeks ago? :(

Thrown upon the ash heap of history.

I've seen the future brother, and it is murder. :)

[thestand]

Did someone say "realist"?

Barack Obama is looking more like a realist

The president-elect who promised to overthrow Washington's partisanship and cronyism is turning to seasoned veterans -- even lobbyists -- in an apparent effort to avoid rookie mistakes.

By Janet Hook and Peter Nicholas

November 12, 2008

Reporting from Washington — Now that the confetti has fallen, the nascent administration of Barack Obama has come face to face with one of its biggest challenges: living up to the exceptionally high expectations his thrilling campaign produced among supporters and long-suffering Democrats.

At his transition team's first public briefing Tuesday, the audience was wildly outsized for the presentation by the transition chief, owlish think-tank denizen John Podesta.

Reporters flooded the meeting room, and 300 called in to listen by telephone.

What did they learn? News of Obama's economic plans, his healthcare overhaul and the big issues that dominated the campaign?

No.

Disciplined and cautious as the Obama campaign itself, Podesta did not tip his hand on the big picture. He stuck to one of the few things Obama can quickly control: his own staff. Podesta announced new rules governing lobbyists who work on the transition staff.

So it goes as Obama makes the rocky transition from campaigning to governing.

While campaigning, he frequently decried the polarizing politics of years past.

"I am in this race because I don't want to see us spend the next year re-fighting the Washington battles of the 1990s," he said in a typical speech in South Carolina a year ago. "I don't want this election to be about the past, because if it's about the future, we all win."

But his government-in-waiting is rife with officials from the Clinton administration. Podesta was a senior Clinton White House aide, as was Obama's choice for chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).

Warren Christopher, who served as President Clinton's first secretary of State and is a partner at the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, is heading up the transition for the State Department, and former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) is preparing things at the Pentagon.

It's starting to look as though Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's family empire is living on, even though she lost the Democratic primary.

The high visibility of old hands and familiar faces underscores a tension that is already running through Team Obama: The president-elect has promised to overthrow Washington's habits of partisanship and cronyism. But it's tempting to turn to seasoned veterans to help him avoid the kinds of rookie mistakes that hobbled Clinton and President Carter. Both learned the hard way that a Congress controlled by the president's party does not guarantee smooth sailing.

Not long ago, Obama derided the old Democratic establishment. A favorite line of attack was that Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) symbolized a certain kind of Washington insider.

On the campaign trail, Obama cast himself as a fresh-faced alternative. One stock line was: "It's time to turn the page."

In a speech last year in New Hampshire, the Illinois senator said: "There are those who tout their experience working the system in Washington. But the problem is that the system in Washington isn't working for us and hasn't for a long time."

But with the campaign won, Obama seems eager not to repeat the mistakes of Democratic predecessors who left the party mandarins feeling marginalized.

Bill Clinton, a little-known Arkansas governor when he was elected president, had a hard time establishing rapport with the leaders on Capitol Hill -- and alienated them when he produced his major healthcare initiative after only scant consultation with the likes of Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), powerful chairman of the committee that oversaw the issue.

The result: Clinton's healthcare proposal never came up for a vote, even in a subcommittee. His budget was approved by the narrowest of margins, with no Republican support. Two years after Clinton won the Oval Office, his party lost control of Congress, in the GOP midterm landslide of 1994.

Carter also ruffled feathers on Capitol Hill, by attacking and vetoing public works projects that he considered wasteful pork-barrel spending.

Emanuel is well-equipped to build bridges to Capitol Hill Democrats. He has been a member of the House leadership and has accumulated chits from dozens of lawmakers whom he helped elect as Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman in 2006.

But he is also seen as an edgy partisan from the Clinton years whose appointment seemed to undercut Obama's call for a new brand of post-partisan politics.

To burnish Obama's reformist credentials, Podesta on Tuesday rolled out what he billed as a tough set of ethics rules targeting professional lobbyists. But there was a loophole: Lobbyists could work on the transition as long as they stayed away from the policy areas that their lobbying involved.

As a candidate, Obama's language when it came to lobbyists was far more emphatic. "I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race -- and I've won," he said in the South Carolina speech. "I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House."

Hook and Nicholas are Times staff writers.

[thestand]

Also, Sam Nunn (my top choice for VP) has been tapped to lead the Pentagon transition team. Nuts over at HoPo are flipping out. :lol I can't wait until Barry announces that he's keeping Gates. I'd give it 10 minutes until we get a "not my President" post by them.

[TwoStep2888]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

Thrown upon the ash heap of history.

I've seen the future brother, and it is murder. :)

What made you change your mind?

[ShotgunDMB]

Lobbyists are awesome if they work for Barack Obama.

[thestand]

Originally Posted by TwoStep2888

What made you change your mind?

The thought of a successful Obama presidency combined with Newt Gingrich as the head of the GOP may have knocked a few screws loose.

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by thestand

The thought of a successful Obama presidency combined with Newt Gingrich as the head of the GOP may have knocked a few screws loose.

Michael Steele is going to be the head of the Republican Party not Newt.

[thestand]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

Michael Steele is going to be the head of the Republican Party not Newt.

Yes, because you guys need a RINO to reconnect yourselves to conservatism. Winning strategy there.

[TwoStep2888]

RINOs are the best Republicans.

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by thestand

Yes, because you guys need a RINO to reconnect yourselves to conservatism. Winning strategy there.

Michael Steele is no RINO. He's conservative across the board. I have no idea how one would classify him as a RINO.

[thestand]

It'd be so hilarious if Steele does get it, though. It'd be the GOP going "OK, this whole conservatism thing really isn't going anywhere for us. let's just be a more centrist version of them, without having any of our own convictions at all."

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by thestand

It'd be so hilarious if Steele does get it, though. It'd be the GOP going "OK, this whole conservatism thing really isn't going anywhere for us. let's just be a more centrist version of them, without having any of our own convictions at all."

This is a stupid statement. Regardless, at least our chair will be mentally stable.

[TwoStep2888]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

Michael Steele is no RINO. He's conservative across the board. I have no idea how one would classify him as a RINO.

OnTheIssues.org would disagree.

http://www.ontheissues.org/images/s040_060.gif

[Tomriddle]

Both parties should be headed by moderates.

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by TwoStep2888

OnTheIssues.org would disagree.

http://www.ontheissues.org/images/s040_060.gif

They lie. (I'm kidding) He may not be as conservative as someone like Jim Demint, but I don't think you want an idealogue in that position anyway. On taxes, abortion, stem cell research, spending, size of government, the guy is a conservative.

[thestand]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

This is a stupid statement. Regardless, at least our chair will be mentally stable.

:lol Yeah, Dean, what a goofball, winning 365 electoral votes with his 50-state strategy. Man, how stupid was THAT idea. :lol

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by thestand

:lol Yeah, Dean, what a goofball, winning 365 electoral votes with his 50-state strategy. Man, how stupid was THAT idea. :lol

Winning with a bazalllion dollars and an unpopular president is such a difficult task. I don't know the man did it.

[Tomriddle]

Originally Posted by thestand

:lol Yeah, Dean, what a goofball, winning 365 electoral votes with his 50-state strategy. Man, how stupid was THAT idea. :lol

:rolleyes


it was an uphill battle....




actually before the market crashed he was doing amazingly shitty

[thestand]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

Winning with a bazalllion dollars and an unpopular president is such a difficult task. I don't know the man did it.

He put the strategy in before Obama was even a Democratic contender. There's a reason why states like Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada were never in contention for McCain. Dean put in place, years ago, a winning system in those states.

And besides, he's making good on his 4 year promise, and is stepping down. Going out on top.

[ShotgunDMB]

Originally Posted by thestand

He put the strategy in before Obama was even a Democratic contender. There's a reason why states like Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada were never in contention for McCain. Dean put in place, years ago, a winning system in those states.

And besides, he's making good on his 4 year promise, and is stepping down. Going out on top.

Who knew pandering for low income hispanic votes would turn out so well? :)

It would've taken an epic case of incompetence for the Democrats to lose this year. Dean is a nut, and I don't think he deserves much credit for a pretty inevitable victory.

[junior94]

So, a lot of us are still just so surprised we're seeing a black man become president within our lifetime.

Pffffftt. That's easy. Now how long until we have a black female president. Who's gay. :lol


(and let's say a midget too, just 'cause) :p

[TwoStep2888]

Originally Posted by Tomriddle

Both parties should be headed by moderates.

I agree.

[junior94]

Originally Posted by brettfavrey

Nice Obama, Bush has been completely helpful to you and has gone out of his way to make sure you administration is going to be able to make a smooth transition on jan 20.

So you go and leak to the press the private conversation between you and the president to your aides and have them leak it to the press..stay classy Barry.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashbol.htm

Well hey, after all let's not forget Bush & The Boys have been nothing but classy with pretty much everything they've been up to while keepin' the place warm these last 8 years.

[junior94]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

I predict a horrific presidency.

Reading this sort of statement from Shotgun is about as predictable as reading an insane rant by Freedy about Dave's fallen angel status.

[thestand]

Originally Posted by ShotgunDMB

Who knew pandering for low income hispanic votes would turn out so well? :)

You call it pandering, I call it politics. It's a game baby, and in this cycle, we kicked your asses. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 style. It's a cut and clean case. Let's move on.

[Tomriddle]

Originally Posted by thestand

You call it pandering, I call it politics. It's a game baby, and in this cycle, we kicked your asses. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 style. It's a cut and clean case. Let's move on.

Y'all had to get one in...