General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Seriously, did so many people truly believe that president Obama could change the course.... [View all]jpgray
(27,831 posts)Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers are the best Obama can do. Jeffrey Immelt is the best he can do. Deals with Billy Tauzin, wrecking House plans for drug re-importation and price negotiation are the best he can do. Putting Social Security and Medicare at direct risk is the best he can do. Continuing extraordinary rendition is the best he can do.
These are all wholly unforced errors, having nothing to do with Congress and showing not a strait-jacket of immobility but a free will and ability to act. Which is what you might expect from the most powerful person on the fucking planet.
Asking that bad unforced actions be avoided and the worst excesses of the prior executive be undone is hardly the fantastic dreams of a liberal paradise. It's the baseline of responsibility for any decent president.
But no, we must have a kind and gentle opposition, a completely united party, fair and balanced media, vast majorities in both houses, a friendly judiciary, and nice weather before the fucking leader of the free world can be fairly expected to do something.
The worse things are, the more desperate our needs, the less we should expect anything of use out of our leaders. What a wonderful recipe to justify incompetence and failure when it is the least supportable.