Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

US & Int'l Papers

�

Click here for the Secret Decoder Ring to this issue!

... and a Little Child Shall ...

Rich Galen

Friday February 13, 2009

Click here for an Easy Print Version

Let's hop into the Wayback machine to early December 2008. Barack Obama had been President-elect for just under a month and all was right with the world. If we could just have done away with that pesky Constitutional requirement that he not actually become President until noon on January 20, we would all have been so much better off.

Hillary Clinton had been named Secretary of State to the glee of the New York Times and the Ladies of the Upper West Side Mah Jongg Tile, Tea and Politics Society. Obama announced the appointment of Bill Richardson to be Commerce Secretary which pleased Hillary because he really wanted the job she got.

It seemed as if Obama would drift into the White House on a magic carpet with his well-vetted team of professionals around him; the economy would right itself in a matter of hours; Iran would play a soccer friendly with Israel, and the climate would have cooled sufficiently to allow Al Gore to make plans for Spring skiing in southern Canada.

Isaiah 11:6 was coming to pass.

In the next month, Bill Richardson withdrew his name in the face of a federal investigation into his fundraising tactics which had somehow been missed by the Transition Team. His pick for Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner hung on by his fingernails after admitting his dodged taxes on income he had received - after yesterday's performance even Obama probably wishes Geithner had withdrawn.

His pick for the not-totally-formulated job of "Chief Performance Officer" bailed after it came to light she hadn't paid unemployment taxes on an employee at her home and, of course Former Senator Tom Daschle was instructed to voluntarily withdraw his name as Secretary of Health and Human Services after it came to light he had just paid $140,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties.

While all this was going on, the Democrats in the House took mono-partisanship to a new level when they forced a stimulus package onto the floor for a vote that not a single Republican voted for it; the President suggested Pelosi, Inc. might want to be a little more flexible, and the U.S. Senate produced a bill which was far heavier on tax breaks for small businesses and far lighter on condom subsidies for ... whomever.

While Obama was proclaiming his desire to be anointed the Prince of Post-Partisan Politics, he took the Plane down to Williamsburg, Va to speak to the very same group of House Democrats and took swipe after swipe at Republicans to the glee of the House Dems.

Obama, now down two Cabinet Officers with vacancies at HHS and Commerce and the Senate was down one Democrat because the good people of Minnesota couldn't decide between Republican Norm Coleman (the incumbent) and Democrat Al Franken (best known for wearing a colander on his head during his Saturday Night Live stint).

So, Obama thought he could solve two of those at once by appointing a Republican Senator, Judd Gregg, to be Secretary of Commerce. The Governor of New Hampshire is named John Lynch and is a Democrat so the Prince of Post-Partisan Politics obviously thought he could get a three-fer: A Republican in his Cabinet to fill the hole - the really huge hole - left by Bill Richardson at Commerce and have the Republican Senator replaced by an appointed Democrat by the Governor of NH.

Obama had not spent enough time actually being a U.S. Senator to understand that a deal would likely be struck that would have Gov. Lynch appoint a Republican - or at least someone who would caucus with the GOP - as a place-holder until the 2010 elections, thus not giving the Dems the magic number of 60 to block any filibusters.

The end of this sad chapter in the 20-something day Presidency of Barack Obama is that the MoveOn.org/ACORN wing of the Democratic Party screamed bloody murder that if a Republican ran the Commerce Department then a Republican would be also running the 2010 census.

Obama said, in effect, no prob, dudes. He announced grandly that he would be moving the census into the White House and out of the Commerce Department which caused Senn. Judd Gregg to tell Obama to take this job and �

I know Isaiah 11:6 ends with "� and a little child shall lead them," but maybe Hillary was right during the primaries last year: Obama doesn't have enough experience.

On the Secret Decoder Ring today: GREAT SDR today! An explanation of the Wayback Machine. The Isaiah 11:6 citation and a really unfair Separated at Birth featuring NH Gov. Lynch. Also a marginally politically incorrect Mullfoto and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

Become a
Paid Mullings Subscriber!

(To join the FREE mailing list or to unsubscribe Click Here)

Current Issue | Secret Decoder Ring | Past Issues | Email Rich | Rich Who?