Fox News says "Jump!" Obama Admin says "how high?"

by: Paul Rosenberg

Wed Jul 21, 2010 at 16:30


Remember last year, when it seemed so funny that no elected Republican leader could stand up and contradict Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck?  Well, it's not so funny now that Obama & his adminstration have gone one better: the mere prospect that they'll be lambasted by Glenn Beck is all that's needed to whip them into line.

Paul Rosenberg :: Fox News says "Jump!" Obama Admin says "how high?"

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Fox News says "Jump!" Obama Admin says "how high?" | 50 comments
This is truly sad (4.00 / 2)
I am deeply saddened by the administration's ridiculous response to this. Were they burned by Vann Jones? I don't know. Their own rollout of HCR was marred by the ridiculous flap over Henry Louis Gates--were they afraid of a repeat on their Financial Reform bill? Well, they overreacted and got the same result.

Very foolish of them.

Oh sure, let's blame Henry Louis Gates (!!!) for Obama's struggles with (4.00 / 1)
HCR. And Van Jones, I'm a little suspicious of him, but I can't pinpoint why. But I'm totes a progressive, and I'm sad!  
[ Parent ]
I don't get it man (4.00 / 5)
Part of the reason I supported Obama in the primary was that he never seemed to get too caught up in the idiotic daily news cycle. I thought - here's a guy who knows how to get his politics on! Now he's in office, and his political advisors are telling him to drop economic stimulus so that he can look tough on the deficit, and he's positioning himself to the right of Glenn Beck and Erick Erickson because he's afraid of what they might say. It's despicable.

What's going on? Is there literally some kind of mind control device that beams idiocy into your brain once you move to DC? (Beware, Bowers... be very, very ware.)

This could be about terrorizing the civil servants. (4.00 / 5)
They let the torturers off the hook, but are prosecuting the whistle blowers that outed them. It's pretty clear who's side the administration is on in all this. Criminals get a pass, while decent people are persecuted.

There are probably a lot of people at various agencies who wouldn't mind exposing the corruption they see every day--indeed, I'm sure a lot of people were waiting for Obama to take office before they started blowing the whistle on BushCO's atrocities. With this in mind, it's a common tactic to destroy the odd innocent person just to show who's boss. The Romans called it Decimation, so it's a very old way of instilling discipline.

I'm not suggesting anything specific in this case. It just looks like a target of opportunity to me. They'll defend the openly corrupt in the administration (Salazar, Geithner et al) to the hilt.

But an innocent person? No. Fire her without a fair hearing!

Anyone who still thinks this crew is reformist should keep these behaviors in mind. I don't see how you bring about positive reforms this way, but it's easy to see how one might stymie reform this way.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

[ Parent ]
The "openly corrupt" -- You've got to be kidding me (0.00 / 0)
They'll defend the openly corrupt in the administration (Salazar, Geithner et al) to the hilt.

No way these two are "openly corrupt."

Geithner, by virtue of his ties to Robert Rubin, Goldman Sachs et al, not to mention his activities while head of the Manhatten Federal Reserve, is most definitely suspect (and Obama by extension).

As for Salazar, I don't know that he's had a chance to be corrupt yet at the Interior Dept. At any rate, the administration is probably protecting him because they need a "clean" guy there.

Besides that Sherrod is being offered a new job.  

[ Parent ]
re: salazar? (4.00 / 4)
As for Salazar, I don't know that he's had a chance to be corrupt yet at the Interior Dept.

is this snark?

[ Parent ]
Damn good snark if it is (0.00 / 0)
Otherwise, bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
OK (0.00 / 0)
Obama has continued the cronyism that corrupted the Bush Administration.

Had Bush (or another GOPper) appointed the like of Geithner, Summers, and the rest of these folks - we'd be yelling, "Crony Capitialism" and we'd be correct.

But, when the person rifling your wallet is a Democrat - well, that's just "reform".


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
Geithner not openly corrupt? (4.00 / 2)
I don't see how that's even a possibility. He's always been in the tank for the bankers he's supposed to "regulate." I can't think of a single person in DC who would deny that. Nor can I think of anyone in NY, with ties to the financial industry who would deny that either. Nor can I think of even one instance in which he favored the public interest over the interests of his friends at Goldman, Citi or JP Morgan. Not a single one. Of course, if he did that, he wouldn't have spent so much time at Bob Rubin's place in the Hamptons.

As for Salazar, he's been in the hip pocket of the extractive industries since he first set foot in congress. He's made no secret of that. Indeed, he's been remarkably open about it. In some areas of the west, that's considered quite normal, just as it's normal to be in the oil industry's pocket in Texas or Oklahoma. These folks don't even bother to hide it and I can't think of a time when they did.

Consider his behavior throughout his career in the House and Senate. He never once favored the environment or the public health over the extractive industries. At Interior, look at the way he's handled that entire department: Gutting ESA and backhandedly gutting Clean Air and Clean Water wherever possible. He did precisely NOTHING to reform MMS, which last April took all of ten minutes (which appears to be about average under the Obama administration, just as it was under Bush) to approve the permit for the Macondo well. Under Salazar, all permits are issued exclusions from NEPA in a matter of minutes.

How is the wholesale refusal to abide by US Law not corrupt?


"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

[ Parent ]
"Openly corrupt" is the key phrase - (4.00 / 1)
Yes, I guess my comment was "snark," although I have to ask: does that term mean sarcasm? If so, then, yes, it was snark.

If someone is "openly corrupt" I think someone is flaunting the rule of law and they are likely to be prosecuted for whatever they're doing. I'm not a lawyer, but I've read and experienced enough to know that people in government, business, whatever walk of life can be corrupt and get away with it.

If someone is "openly corrupt" they don't get away with it.

Geithner is the freakin' Secretary of the Treasury...He would never be "openly corrupt."

I also have to admit that I'm not familiar with Salazar's background, but the same goes for him.

[ Parent ]
Ah, my bad then. (0.00 / 0)
I will differ with you on the part about not getting away with it. Most people get away with it. That's the real problem here. And that's not snark!

There are different kinds of corruption. Most of it is actually quite legal. The only parts that are known to be illegal are those of the classic "corrupt agent" variety, in which someone takes something of value in exchange for doing X. Quid pro quo.

But under our current system, if you're a congresscritter and I'm a tubby executive with a huge checkbook... and I write you a check of massive quantities so you'll take meetings with me when my own business comes up with your committee, that's not considered quid pro quo for some asinine reason.

So most corruption is quite legal, even though it's still corrupt. Also, it helps if those in law enforcement can be induced to look the other way--that's corrupt too, but also within their purview. Then again, it's easy to stay within the law, when you make the laws, right?

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

[ Parent ]
I am intrigued that they get away with it (0.00 / 0)
and I agree with you on that.

I can't find the source right now, but not too long ago I think I read in the Nation about "how bad laws are made," or something like that about the influence industry has on legislation (don't bother searching those key words, it doesn't come up; I'll find it at some point.)

There's lots of it going on right now between various members of the energy industry and congresscritters, namely Kerry and Lieberman, but I hope they don't enact Climate Change legislation.  It will only erode the protection we have with current legislation and the EPA.

Anyway,  so that's that; we must be ever vigilant.

[ Parent ]
Do you remember the Reverend Wright? (4.00 / 4)
And how Obama tossed him overboard after it was revealed that the good reverend had dared to speak out about social justice and racial inequality?

The reaction then was high fives all around--Obama had dodged a political landmine by repudiating the man who had brought him into the Christian faith, married him, and baptized him and his family, and had put paid to the specter of black radicalism that made conservatives uncomfortable with the idea of a black president.

Obama's fear of the right wing media machine was perfectly evident during the campaign.

People ignored it because voters were desperate for a liberal superhero to fly in and make everything right with a wave of his hand, and Obama was perfectly happy to feed that fantasy if it helped him get to the White House.

[ Parent ]
counterpoint (4.00 / 2)
nobody wanted to vote for Hillary because she is fucking terrible (we didn't yet know this about Barry O.)
[ Parent ]
And do you remember Obama's gut reaction, (0.00 / 0)
oops, I mean political gaffe, when he spontaneously admitted that the cops had "acted stupidly" in the false arrest of Henry Gates, a black man, in Boston.

What we should take away from this is, yes, Virginia, racism is stil a sensitive subject here in America.

I'm not really defending Obama here, god knows he's done a lot of other things that warrant our/my disrespect - Afghanistan, Wall Street and health care "reform" - but I don't think we should attack Obama for his handling of race.  It's like abortion - it's a political futbol. Each side uses it to their own advantage. I guess I think that neither of these issues will be resolved, at least not in my lifetime, wow, that's saying something. Whatever.

[ Parent ]
What I take away from it, (4.00 / 4)
is that, like torture, the wars, Wall Street etc., Obama will always instinctively side with the powerful against the powerless. Those issues had nothing to do with race.

Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
Well said. Methinks that's the bottom line on every issue. (0.00 / 0)


"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates
[ Parent ]
But hey, as Jim Messina said, (4.00 / 3)
they were decisive!  No way they were going to hem, haw and delay, and turn this into a media circus!

No, sir!  THIS West Wing is relentlessly on message, man!

that in a way (4.00 / 7)
Makes this more tragic.  It may not have even been cowardice.  It was disinterest and a kind of "banality of evil" technocratic quest for efficiency that had them just too irked at the distraction of Sherrod to bother even looking into the matter for 15 minutes before reacting.

The reason they did this was because usually it "works" for them.  A few DFHs are upset, but usually the RWNM makes enough fuss and finds enough dirt to make a speciously defendable case against someone, so the whole thing is just he-said, she-said and it is just easier for the admit to cut whoever loose than "expend capital" defending them.

This time however, the case was so clearly bullshit that they got caught in their utter lack of concern for their own people.  

They weren't afraid, they just don't care.

[ Parent ]
Yes, it seems they reacted (0.00 / 0)
Vilsack reacted. Was he directed by someone in the Obama administration?  Ok, probably, but who? some member of the public affairs staff?

The NAACP reacted also.

Mistakes happen.

Yes the administration and the NAACP reacted to the right wing media. I don't think that's out of cowardice as much as a recognition of an opponent.

Now, racism is playing out in the media for all the American public. I'm not watching the right wing media's response, but CNN is totally vetting this. That's a good thing.

[ Parent ]
Probably just Vilsak -- directly at least (4.00 / 1)
I doubt anyone higher than Vilsack was involved directly, though they may have congratulated him after the fact.  Secretaries don't need permission to fire lower level personnel, after all.  (And people like this care about things like that.)  

But the tone and personality of an administration is set from the top.  Although I doubt Vilsack consulted with anyone higher on this, I also assume he had no doubt they agreed.

[ Parent ]
Nobody bothered to talk to the person involved (4.00 / 3)
Apparently, Sherrod was fired without so much as an interview to get her side of the story.

That's a classic "over-reaction". An over-reaction based on the fear that the right wing noice machine is too powerful to confront. The over-reaction of a coward.



"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
Who's next, Bo the water dog? (4.00 / 11)
Seriously, if Glenn Beck asked for Bo's head on a platter you know he'd get it.

Montani semper liberi
Bo is black (4.00 / 2)
Obviously picked for his coat color. Obviously a breedist dog. Probably a white lab hater. May have ties to the Al K9 network. Has been seen peeing on vital national furniture.

Bad dog. BAD DOG!

BO MUST GO!

(Just don't forget to pick up after he's done.)

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

[ Parent ]
Microcosm (4.00 / 6)
This is the modern Democratic Party in microcosm.

But instead of focusing on the obvious negatives, I'd like to toss on my rose colored glasses and point out the positive.  Whenever we discuss how poorly Obama and other Dems treat the left and actual liberal ideas and ideals, the conversation eventually turns to believing this is what these folks really want.

But looking at this case, it should be obvious to all they really are this bat-shit scared of the right.  They are beaten children who hide in fear from the slightest gaze of daddy, totally unaware that they've grown up and daddy is just a little guy.

Sure, its more complex than just this.  But seriously, how many of the Democrats' problems could be solved by simply eliminating this fear?

Amen To That! (4.00 / 4)
Enough with those who are afraid of their own shadows!

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3
[ Parent ]
I'd agree with that (4.00 / 1)
Except that O'Reilly follows this blog and I don't want him to get mad at me...

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
I hope .. (4.00 / 1)
Pelosi and Reid are asked about this at NN10 .. Bowers .. anyone?
[ Parent ]
I hope it is fear (4.00 / 4)
Because from the recap I read today of the WH political operation high fiving themselves for the rapid response, the overwhelming impression I get is that they just don't care to engage in these fights.  It's not even cowardice, it's apathy.

Being afraid to do the right thing at least implies you want to.  Apathy though, man, I don't know...

[ Parent ]
Fear and/or belief (0.00 / 0)
A close parallel to the fear theory is they actually believed this crap when they saw it.  Then they feared it.  My hope is this was only fear, but I worry its more internalized than that.
[ Parent ]
It's still cowardice (4.00 / 4)
Institutionalizing, rationalizing and normalizing cowardice doesn't make it not cowardice. Neoliberal technocracy is rationalist progressivism stripped of its essential moral values, empathy, sense of urgency, and courage, and reprocessed to serve more parochial interests, but with the progressive veneer kept intact.

Just because they applaud themselves for their imagined brilliance and cool cynicism doesn't make any of this any less so.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

[ Parent ]
Why? (4.00 / 5)
Beck has about two million viewers and he is trending down.  If Obama walked on the water and turned stones into bread he wouldn't get half a million votes from this group.

Looking wimpy instead of decisive loses votes.  Democrats sucking up to Obama and Beck does not win votes.  I guess "bi-partisan" is DC speak for attacking Democrats and sucking up to the wingers and Wall Street.

I think you're very right: (0.00 / 0)
Looking wimpy instead of decisive loses votes.

[ Parent ]
any sign they'll correct their mistake? (0.00 / 0)
or is the fear (or sellout) too much for that?
via TPM (0.00 / 0)
[Vilsack] reported that he had offered her a new position within USDA and she was considering whether to accept.

It doesn't seem that they have offered to reinstate her in her previous job, but rather to offer her a "new" position.  The nature and terms of that offer have not been disclosed, to my knowledge.

[ Parent ]
thanks (0.00 / 0)
good to hear this
[ Parent ]
Fox News says, Jump! (4.00 / 7)
And, the Obama administration performs a reverse one and a half somersaults with three and a half twists, in the free position straight into a bucket of cow shit.
That image describes this administration perfectly! (4.00 / 1)
It's also a compelling image. If compelling one to nausea counts.... ;^)

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates
[ Parent ]
Really. (0.00 / 0)
A truly breathtaking platform dive, that is spectacular when done well, and has a decent degree of difficulty, executed brilliantly right into a bucket of bovine effluent.  If they had wanted to cover themselves in manure there are lots easier ways to do it.  Why they feel compelled to work at incompetence is genuinely beyond me.  And, this level of incompetence should have been work.
[ Parent ]
Obama is such a fucking disaster. (0.00 / 0)
If the powers that be in the Democratic Party want to have a prayer of retaining the White House in 2012, they MUST twist Obama's arm, till it breaks if necessary, not to run for a second term. Even taking him on the party's own crappy neoliberal terms, it's all too clear that he simply isn't up to the job. Classic case of a well-tailored, well-spoken empty suit.
[ Parent ]
our country's got a problem (4.00 / 3)
we have a bowl of lukewarm Jell-O where a president should be.
laugh (1.00 / 4)
you all are a bunch of whiny bitches.  I feel sorry for ya...cheers
Don't blame Obama! Leave him alone! (4.00 / 1)
It's Rahm's fault! Axelrod's! Gibbs'! Messina's! Michelle's! Michelle's mother's! Bo's!

But not Obama's! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

Apportioning the blame - my two cents (4.00 / 1)
1.  The right wing noise machine.  Breitbart and Fox.  As disgusted as I am with the way the Administration handled this, I will not dampen my anger at the creeps who caused this.  I will not use "what do you expect from Fox" as an excuse.

2.  The NAACP.
The NAACP, to its credit, actually started this fracas with the Tea Party and was moderately effective.  They forced the Tea Party to push one its own under the bus.  However, whoever is running the show over there appears to have suffered some sort of panic attack when the right wing struck back.  Geez, they should have known the name Sherrod, who apparently was well known in Civil Rights circles.  Her talk in March was to an NAACP meeting.  They shouldn't have panicked but they did.  They were scared of being on offense, a new position for them, and stupidly threw one of their own under the bus.  Doesn't anyone here know how to play this game?  If you start something you better be ready for the counter-attack.

3. The Administration
Once the NAACP capitulated, it undercut anyone in the administration who might have wanted to stand strong.  "Even the liberal NAACP...".  This empowered the feckless political operation in the White House even more than they already are, and delivered a blow to whatever better instincts may still exist in that swamp.  I'm not defending the White House - they could have still have stopped this in its tracks if someone halfway sentient was running the operation.

Fortunately, CNN decided to do investigative reporting and the truth came out.  Without the white farmer and his wife, this would not have been resolved as well as it was.  The NAACP, to its credit, was not too shamefaced to quickly reverse course.  The Administration moved a little slower, but they too, reversed course and stopped the bleeding.

The fact remains, a big opportunity was lost.  They had Fox News' ass in a sling but due to their mishandling of the situation, let them get away with something like a draw.

That's about as dispassionate as I can make it.

sTiVo's rule: Just because YOU "wouldn't put it past 'em" doesn't prove that THEY did it.

Blaming FOX (4.00 / 2)
is like being in a war and blaming your enemy for shooting at you. It's a war.

The real problem is our "generals" who keep hoping if they play kumbayah loud and long enough the unpleasantness will go away.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
Of course (4.00 / 1)
Maybe we need a new general.

But until he is replaced we're STILL at war with Fox.  They're still shooting at us.  They aren't waiting for us to regroup.

Not every issue comes down to defending or attacking Obama.  Maybe they'll learn a lesson.  Maybe they won't.  But what's the point of piling on?  I'm serious.

Didn't you even READ the rest of my post?  What ABOUT the NAACP?  

They started a fight.  Maybe they weren't ready for the pushback.  But guess what, they're not getting out of the fight, either.  

War is hell.  It doesn't always unfold in neat ways.  Better get used to it.

sTiVo's rule: Just because YOU "wouldn't put it past 'em" doesn't prove that THEY did it.

[ Parent ]
The NAACP contacted Breitbart? (4.00 / 2)
They asked him to do this? I don't think so. They didn't "start a fight," they pushed back againt the Tea Baggers, which is exactly the right thing to do!

And if our our general doesn't quit shooting his own people in the back he's going to have no troops left.

Montani semper liberi

[ Parent ]
You seem to think I'm blaming the NAACP (4.00 / 1)
for starting the fight.

I'M NOT!

I'm praising them (loudly) for starting the fight!  And saying that it was making progress until this incident sort of derailed.

I am blaming them for not being completely ready for the inevitable pushback.  I am blaming someone in the NAACP for folding in the face of the Breitbart/Fox pushback.  I'm again (less loudly) praising them for being quick to backtrack when they realized their error.

Nonetheless, I do think that the NAACP's momentary failure here helped enable the feckless faction in the White House to run down the panic path.  "Even the NAACP disowns her" they must have said.  Without this error, it's possible the White House might have avoided the immediate panic button.

It was a mistake made in the heat of battle.  And while I've never been a soldier, I can well imagine that lots of mistakes get made in battle.  Somehow they have to soldier on.

Again, I'm not EXCUSING Obama but maintaining that we're still in this war.    We are back to where we always knew we were only we now know it even more.  The battle goes on.

Still, I won't go completely pessimistic and say the White House planned it this way.  I don't believe this even of them.  I may even hope they learn something.  

sTiVo's rule: Just because YOU "wouldn't put it past 'em" doesn't prove that THEY did it.

[ Parent ]
Fox News says "Jump!" Obama Admin says "how high?" | 50 comments
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