YES WE CAN — Regular readers of the Posse are familiar with where K.N. McBride and I stand on the political spectrum. We did not vote for Obama, and don’t like a lot of what he stands for.
But there’s always a silver lining. The same things the hard left loons are criticizing Obama for are things with which we at the Posse are pleased. Obama retained Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Bush appointee. He decided not to pull out of Iraq quickly, has delayed shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, sent more troops to Afghanistan, and will continue using warrantless wiretaps to monitor potential terrorist plotting. He also is not kowtowing to radical gay groups’ demands on gay marriage; nor will he ruffle feathers in the military establishment about the “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy.
Obama, like both Bushes and Bill Clinton before him, relies heavily on the good ol’ boy network of Goldman Sachs/Citigroup/Morgan Stanley/J.P. Morgan to staff the U.S. Treasury and various economic policy positions. Alan Greenspan, Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Robert Rubin, and many other key economic insiders all were big shots on Wall Street before serving in Washington.
There are plenty of things I dislike about Obama and his policies, but I do believe things could be worse.
THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT — Here’s another area where Barack Obama is no different than George W. Bush — or any other heterosexual male, for that matter. The Drudge Report referred to this as the “second stimulus package.” Yes, I guess you could say that.
Hmmm, I wonder what Michelle had to say about this? Methinks she’s not afraid to unload on the celebrity-in-chief.
ROBERT GLIBS — The way presidential press conferences are handled represents a definite change — for the worse. Never in my life have I seen a more pathetic “spokesman” than the bland, glib Robert Gibbs. He often gives vague, incomplete answers, resorts to sarcasm and arrogance when challenged, and has a painful habit of pausing with “ah” and “um” every third or fourth word.
When I belonged to the Toastmasters speakers’ group years ago, one of the first things they hammered into our heads was to avoid saying “um” and “ah”… If you cannot think what to say, simply keep your mouth shut until real words come out. Silent pauses are nothing to be ashamed of.
To drive home the point, while we’d give our speeches (which were critiqued during meetings), one of the members was the assigned “ah-counter” for the evening. He or she had an old metal coffee can and dry navy beans. Each time an “ah” or “um” was heard, the designated watchdog would drop a bean into the can. The “bang” - “bang” - “bang” was disconcerting and enough to keep speakers focused on avoiding those worthless utterances. Robert Gibbs should have joined Toastmasters.
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