Political Punch

Gives new meaning the to the phrase "ship of fools."

Obama's election merely provides the OPPORTUNITY for reform of the system. The more apt historical analogy here is not with the nineteenth century Lincoln but with the twentieth century Franklin Roosevelt. The great reforms that became the New Deal emerged largely from progressive in Congress and as a result of pushes from progressives from the general public. FDR merely accepted those reforms and embraced them (no small accomplishment to be sure). If we want change, we must elect Democrats to Congress who support or will accept progressive reform, and then we must push them to introduce and support those reforms. Obama will probably not stand in the way a Bush has done or that a McCain (or Palin) would have done, but Obama is NOT going to be the source of reform.

Let's keep pushing him. Starting with the election in Georgia on Tuesday.

There is another way in which Lincoln's model didn't work out, demonstrating further why we should ignore hack historians like Doris Kearns. While Lincolns election caused some people so much consternation that they withdrew from the union, many reform-minded folks thought he might produce true emancipation. He never did (the emancipation proclamation freed no slaves) and in the years following his death, the Republican party plunged to the right, leaving the "freedmen" with no protection and little opportunity. Most "former slaves" never escaped bondage, drifting into new forms of servitude. The reformers plan to provide for a true multi-racial democracy (and to bring such things as public schools to the south) was never really implemented for the most part following Lincoln's death, and the few reforms that did see daylight were abandoned by a party that had become something quite different than the movement that had emerged in the fifties and had put Lincoln in office.

Will we see the same under Obama. He came to office, in part, out of the hard work of many reformers, but his recent appointments suggest that he will leave the party in the hands of an old power structure that will ignore ultimately ignore that reforming spirit. He apparently thinks he can hire "people of experience and talent" to help achieve progressive reforms, even if those people don't agree with those reforms and have never supported them (perhaps also to keep his friends close and his enemies even closer), but he should be reading someone other than a hack historian for historical analogies that will serve him well.

Of course, we must also keep in mind that certain power elites in this country chose and supported Obama because they thought that his bio would make a good cover for the ambitions of the empire. They will let some reforms take place, but I'm sure they have made it clear to Mr. Obama, that they will not tolerate any major deviations from the norm.

Oh, and yes, I supported, worked for, vote for, and game money to Mr. Obama's campaign. But I'm under no illusions about what he represents or doesn't represent.

HELLO.... In order to have Unity in this country. You must start with Unity at the top. There must be Unity in the Cabinet, people!

When has Obama ever had to hire anyone in the past besides an election advisor. He is getting this from a book on something that happened 150 years ago? He'll never know what hit him, so naive.

The Bush administration demonstrated what can happen when a President surrounds himself with like-minded yes-men. A Bush-style cabinet frees the President to make stupid moves without a whisper of dissent from his own group-thinking team. So Obama is wise to include former rivals on his team. And his cabinet selection criteria clearly go beyond a willingness to dissent. So I certainly think the folks he is picking are adult enough to behave better than the historical figures that you discuss.

We, the new legal immigrants will be very optimistic to the new government of Barack Obama. The appointment of his former rivals to key government posts signals that he wants unity to this country. This will also help us to be assimilated to the mainstream American society. We are helpful that more jobs will be generated during his term. Thank you.

did not post

Hey.... That's snot subject..High ups pay for that flogging comparison

President-elect Obama is choosing the best qualified experts to tackle these crisises we are in. These pros are being vetted for more than their credentials. There must be cohesion. The wise people surrounding Mr. Obama are helping him to make these critical decisions. He ran for president in these uncertain times because he believed he could give our country back to we the people. He is doing everything within his power to rescue our country from disastrous results of the past eight years. Have patience and watch and learn.

Stanley is right..thank God we have a Democrat in place, a bright, well spoken, highly intelligent man that if you will remember correctly.. won the election by a landslide vote! Thank God the nation had the good sense to elect him and thank God those two evil old moustache-twirling Republicans will soon be out of office and that once again, the Democrats will come in behind those two dismal failures and clean up the mess they've made of the country.

Hey you democrats out there. How's the knife feeling on your backs? We told ya so, but you wouldn't listen. He's not left of center or even center. He's a good old Republican -- to the right of center. He's almost a Barry Goldwater Republican. Too bad!
By the way, the dude loves Ronald Reagan. Yikes!!!

The President-elect may be haiving blind fascination with this team of rival concept. In espousing the concept, I do not think Lincoln was an naive as Obama appears to be -Lincoln, at least, was albeit selective about which rivals he picked, unlike Obama. Lincoln did not pick Robert E. Lee (the confederate general) among the team of rivals, in his cabinet.

The problem is that Obama appears to be fool-hardy in appointing some of his team of rivals. Take for instance, Joe Biden did not even endorse Obama; Hillary Clinton (upto now, still does not think Obama is qualified for the Office, despite her public statements); Ram Emmanuel did not have the courage to endorse Obama; now there is a rumor that Obama may appoint Ret. Gen. Jones, who voted for John McCain and supports the war in Iraq.

Other than following in the foot steps of Lincoln, with this 'team of rivals" nonsense, what other considerations have informed Obama's appointments that, from every conceivable angle, appears a third Bill Clinton administration? Does Obama's transition team worry about the potential risk of divided loyality that may result from having so many Clinton loyalists and former staffers, dominate his staff and cabinet appointees?

For a candidate who ran as a change agent and wanted to change our politics, most of us who voted for Obama do not even know what he stands for, now. Obama is trusting Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, who do not agree with the general thrust of his foreign policy -"constructive engagement", to execute and manage his foreign policy agenda. Either he is frightingly, naive, or he is fool-hardy. Either way, we would find out.

The most foolish blunder thus far, is the presumptive appointment of Hillary Clinton to the State Dept.

His transition team, with these lousy appointments, is setting Obama up to be a one term President. You think Hillary Clinton would not challenge Obama in 2012, think again!

IM GETTING mad AT OBAMA WE VOTED THE REPUBS OUT AND ALL HE IS DOING IS TRYING TO MODEL HIS CABNET ON THE REPUBLICANS . HES DONE MOORE REACHING OUT TO THE GOP THAN HE HAS DONE TWO THOSE OF US WHO VOTED FOR HIM SO FAR . HE CAMPAIGNED AGAINST OLD WASHINGTON WHATS THIS CABNET OBAMA IS PUTTING TOGETHER ? ITS OLD WASHINGTON AGAIN .

Bush's tax cuts were such a childish idea. Spend, spend, spend . . . cut taxes and leave the mess for somebody else.

Here's how the Republicans ran the government.

REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
$421 Billion OVER BUDGET (2002)
$555 Billion OVER BUDGET (2003)
$596 Billion OVER BUDGET (2004)
$554 Billion OVER BUDGET (2005)
$574 Billion OVER BUDGET (2006)

This included RECORD overspending.

And the Republicans had the nerve during the election to try to label the Democrats as "overspenders of your hard earned tax dollars".

Why the should the rich have to "share" anything with anyone? If you want want what the "rich" have then go out and earn it you leeches. Nobody "owes" you anything! Stop your jealousy and your free loading off sucessful people. You have the same shot at sucess as anyone else.

My goodness, BHO isn't even president yet. I mean, he still holds the new office of president elect and we're already trying to compare him to Lincoln? I can hardly wait for the annointed one to get into office so we can see the real PTL group get all fired up. Un-freaking-believable!

Bill Clinton presided over a peiod of expansion and good times. After 9-11-01 Bush had to deal with economic slowdown and people wanted war! Remeber??? You can paint history to suit your own needs but realize that the economy is a cyclical thing and also that the first wave of baby boomers are retiring now and we are in contraction! People don't have as many children so understand that there are not as many consumers!!
When you realize the messiah isn't all you have him hyped to be perhaps you will have a better understanding. Clinton actually helped create the housing crisis before he left office.
Don't be surprised when Obama continues to blame problems on the previous administration. It is what they do best! SPIN!!!!

West Coast Messenger- FYI, Prince Machiavelli would have killed off any rivals in his court, rather than systematically placed them in the manner of LIncoln and Obama. There was some historical folly to it in LIncoln's time, but rest assured, Abe was no admirer of the liittle prince from several centuries ago.

Jim, I interpreted Barack Obama's promise of change to mean "changing the direction the country is going"..Most Americans believed that the country is headed in the wrong direction. I interpreted his promise of change to mean.."Reinvest in America..invest in schools, healthcare,jobs the economy..not war and messing in other country's internal affairs". Bill Clinton was president during 8 prosperous years and if Obama seek to choose a few of the smart men and women who were instrumental in engineering the prosperity under Clinton..I think that is a smart move on Obama'a part..he's not going to choose all of his cabinet and advisors from the Clinton era but choosing one or two is a brilliant move..I do not care who he chooses as long as this country's economy begins to grow again to the point where Americans can experience feeling the difference and there are jobs, and access to affordable and accessible healthcare,we can provide the best education for our children, and people can afford to purchase homes etc. Obama is serious about working to those ends..and if we support him and his cabinet..I have no doubt that his government will be succesful.