Friday, October 01, 2010

The Latest from The Russian

Sometimes I share the wisdom of the friend I call "The Russian" with my other friend, Athenae (and you should be reading her bloggie, by the way). The other day I shared this with her and she thought it was right on. With regard to our president, The Russian said:
Actually, he is very good president. Lots of legislation to help middle class. His problem is he wants to be statesman, not politician.
He said the word "statesman" with a disgust that cannot be captured in print. I'm sure he rolled his eyes as he said it.

And so now I read this, about the departure of RAHM (Why do I always feel compelled to write RAHM in all-upper case? The only other all-upper case person is HITLER, but I digress...):
Emanuel was never, according to a source familiar with his thinking, able to convince the president to be a party leader as well as an officeholder, someone who had to be a partisan and a pragmatist at the same time; the frustration, shared with the left, is part of the reason he may leave early. The president's post-partisan emphasis hurt his clout and that of his staffers, so there's no one to play "Rahmbo," to knock heads together and get Democrats on the same page. It's doubtful that Emanuel's successors will be more effective until Obama decides he's a politician as well as a president. While progressives may not miss his policy advice, we'll come to miss Rahm's politics.
And I think, why don't the Democrats hire -- or at least listen to -- The Russian?

5 comments:

pansypoo said...

the problem is the loony rite party who prefer to just be a a fly in the ointment.

sadly the senate has devolved to the mess it has become.

Montag said...

Good lord, that's some obfuscating shit.

Rahm's only constituency is the Blue Dogs, and he's consistently favored them over the smelly hippies among the progressives. Case in point--the DCCC, which Rahm ran, and over which Rahm still has much sway, is helping to pay for ads Bobby Bright is running which proudly state that Bright voted with John Boehner 80% of the time.

And, while it's been said often, it bears repeating: these are conservatives that vote with the Repugs against the Democratic base.

The assertion that Rahm is frustrated with Obama's "bipartisanship" is just one huge pile of horseshit, if only because Rahm's support in Congress is centered in the group of Dems most likely to vote with the Repugs.

Poopyman said...

OT, but I need to get it off my chest and onto the Banned Words list.

"Epistemic Closure"

That is all.

omen said...

i don't know how allowing a former insurance executive to draft healthcare legislation is statesmanly.

convince the president to be a party leader as well as an officeholder,
someone who had to be a partisan and a pragmatist at the same time;


this is part of the problem. obama cannot be all things to all people. he cannot please everyone, nor should he want to.

obama thinks he can play both sides by constantly splitting things down the middle. in speeches to elites, he bashes the base. in speeches to the base, he faults the elites. one of these days, obama is going to have to pick a side. the electorate isn't going to be satiated being thrown mere crumbs when they can see what is needed is systematic restructuring.

who was it who said the US needed to suffer multiple busts before real reform is demanded? do we really need to suffer through another near collapse in order to finally right the ship? that would mean it'll take another 10 years of a boom/bust cycle before we see real changes take place.

Anonymous said...

Giving the job to the Russian would be kinda like outsourcing, or having illegals hoe and harvest lettuce.
No good American should have to work that hard. vox
Which is what I dislike about the Obama method...where is his call to sacrifice, to sweat, to rebuild this economy by WYAO...since everyon likes these acronymns or whatever they are called...Working your Asses Off.