Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Hope Dashed

Well, I posted a couple of weeks ago about Obama and how neat the evening of his election was here in Missoula, MT. I didn't vote for Obama (and certainly not McCain) because I feel he is second coming of Clinton, that he will kowtow to industry, and that he will basically shoot the progressive movement in the foot. The right has become so adept at defining anything left of Rush Limbaugh as liberal propaganda that we have started believing them. A brief look at Obama's cabinet:

Sec. of State: Hillary. Pro Iraq war, no meaningful foreign policy experience, friend to India at a time when an even hand is needed, voted for the latest round of wire tapping and the "Patriot" act and has stated speaking with foreign leaders we do not agree with is a bad idea. You're right Hillary, let's just bomb them instead.

Sec of Defense: Gates. Not much to add here, it's pretty clear where he is coming from.

Sec. of Education: Duncan. A beleiver in test taking and no child left behind (interesting considering Obama said he'd do away with the law during the campaign). enemy to teacher's unions everywhere.

Sec. of Interior: Salazar. I cannot begin to describe how awful this pick is. Supported the ultimate science hater gale norton, voted for ranching subsidies on public lands, threatened to sue fish and wildlife for putting prarie dogs on the endangered list, voted against fuel efficiency standards for cars, voted to end offshore drilling restrictions, and the list goes on. Agency Capture Continues in Interior should be the headline.

Sec. of Treasury: Geithner. What the F...? Looks like treasury will continue in the same direction it has been going under Paulson. I understand the need for institutional knowledge, but this department has been a disaster and Geithner has been standing right there the whole time (allbeit from just outside).

Sec. of HHS: Daschle. Couldn't do Hillary Care in the 90s, why will this be any different?

HUD: Donovan. Honestly don't know much about him, so no complaints yet.

AG: Holder. Marc Rich, really? To be honest, I kind of like this pick. Tough on corruption, big on curbing executive power, will speak his mind and stand up to Obama if he thinks he is legally wrong and not show Obama how to get around a law he doesn't like -- all in all we could have Gonzalez back, right?

Commerce: Richardson. Clinton retread, again, don't get me started on this corrupt son of a bitch.

Agriculture: Vilsack. I'm not sure people realize how important this position is, being as it controls food standards, national forest leasing, farm subsidy policy, etc. He is an agribusiness hack and a huge supporter of "biofuel," whatever the hell that means. Disgusting choice.

Energy: Chu. A nobel laurete and believer in science! Yeah!

Homeland Security: Napolitino. No idea whatsoever what these people do. Seems like your main job is as a public administrator, making sure people get what they need when they need it and ensuring the intelligence agencies aren't getting so jealous of each other they withhold information.


So there you have it, a cabinet defined as "liberal" for all the world to see. Yet the only liberal policies they espouse are biofuel, which is stupid in theory and practice, protectionism, which is stupid in theory and practice, and universal health care. Maybe science is a liberal idea now, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure where this revolution of change is coming from given the people Obama has chosen. Other than Chu, Holder and possibly Napolitino, I wouldn't vote for any of these people to be dog catcher. Looks like four more years of Clintonian center right (which is better than Bush far right) and that's just poo.

7 comments:

Chaon said...

Chu is for nuclear power, which is a sensible position. But not one commonly shared by you Communists.

And Duncan is liked by the guys at Freakonomics, which is a pretty good endorsement.

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/nobody-better-than-arne-duncan/

Bread said...

don't care nothing about freakonomics. do care about firing two sets of teachers bc the poor and homeless kids couldn't pass a test (see Collins High School in Chicago) AND trying to start a homos only public school, basically saying they cannot adapt to other kids or other kids cannot adapt to them...

Bread said...

oh, and as a reformed commie you should know all commies like nuke power, it's the hippies that are against it.

Hannibal said...

On behalf of Colorado I'd like to offer our 989 billion prairie dogs to the state of Montana. Perhaps then you might revisit your comments about the lawsuit.

Bread said...

it was a particular type of prairie dog, not the whole damn lot of them. i may be in your neck of the woods come jan, you around?

Hannibal said...

I'll be here. Do you snowshoe? Snowmobile? If not, we can go shoot some prairie dogs...the good kind.
Prairie dog protests have been entertaining Coloradans for many years now. They have an annual prairie dog shoot (white-tailed variety) and a large group of affluent Boulder whiners show up and cry for the cameras, while a bunch of NRA nutters in full camo blow the crap out of defenseless varmint with 12 guages. With all of the starvation and poverty in the world, they choose this cause...probably because it's only once a year and involves TV cameras. Anyone who lives here knows that there are 5000 dead prairie dogs for every mile of paved road. It's kind of like The Jerry Springer show meets Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom for a day.

Chaon said...

"They have an annual prairie dog shoot (white-tailed variety) and a large group of affluent Boulder whiners show up and cry for the cameras, while a bunch of NRA nutters in full camo blow the crap out of defenseless varmint with 12 guages."

Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

"all commies like nuke power, it's the hippies that are against it."

Well cut me some slack here. The Reds and Greens got thrown together into the Republican Cuisinart last time I lived stateside. The resulting salsa was not all that tasty.