Thursday, May 16, 2013

DELAY-GATE!

Yesterday, President Obama took steps to deal with the scandals he's facing -- he released Benghazi e-mails and the acting commissioner of the IRS got a pink slip -- and even Politico is giving him good marks. However, a few of the folks Politico quotes wonder what the hell took so long, because, after all, it's been days:
Ideally, Obama would have acted earlier, [Democratic strategist Phil] Singer said.

"You don't want to sit back and let events control you. You want to take control of events," he said....

[Robert] Gibbs, the former Obama press secretary, said earlier this week to say that Obama should have spoken out on the IRS issue last Friday or over the weekend, and that the president should've been more forceful when he finally did speak on Monday....
Yes, he had to act nownownow, not work out his response over the course of, um, five days, because his approval rating had dropped 30 points and people trapped under the scandal rubble were about to bleed to death in a matter of hours and a meteor was about to destroy earth that could be steered off course only if Obama acted immediately. No, wait -- none of that was happening.

Look, this guy likes to take a little time when preparing a response. And it always makes Beltway insiders freak out -- or at least it does at the time, though afterward it's hard for anyone, including those same insiders, to recall what the fuss was about. Remember Obama's horrible, unconscionable, unthinkable delay in deciding whether to send more troops to Afghanistan? REmember all the fussing and fretting about that? No? You don't remember? Well, neither does anyone else now.

In the case of the current scandals, Obama has finally started to act, and the critics are finally calming down, according to Politico ... right?
Moving ahead, Democrats agree that Obama needs to try to change the subject....

And the White House has "got to do it soon and quickly, because we've got to get back to immigration, the debt, energy," [frormer Pennsylvania governor Ed] Rendell said. "He's got a limited window to take action on the real challenges of the country...."
Sigh.

8 comments:

Victor said...

Yeah, and yesterday he fired the temporary head of the IRS.

You know, the guy who took over last year, for the guy who was appointed by W and was actually in charge whenever whatever happened in Cincinnati happened.

Ten Bears said...

This is different than the Cheney Administration's targeting the NAACP how? Or Nixon's assassination of John Lennon? McCarthy's red scare?

Good advice, that: don't let these dickheads control the cycle. Wonder where I've heard that before.

No Ed (Rendell, DINO), immigration and teh debt are not the problem. Let me see your green card, white dog. No, not your credit card, your Green Card.

No fear.

BH said...

Dennis... you fail at being a menace.

PQuincy said...

And when the Obama administration, early on, did jump on a 'scandal' -- that poor woman at the Agriculture Department who was libeled and slandered about her 'refusal' to give loans to whites -- they blew it and fired an entirely innocent, and in fact quite virtuous person to appease right-wing mendacious haters who had made the whole thing up. And progressives quite rightly said they had jumped to fast, that one had to consider the facts and the reality, rather than what Fox News was broadcasting.

Oh well, no president can win at this game, and Obama is doing about as well as one ought to expect.

Victor said...

Dennis,
Projection.



Never Ben Better said...

Hey, Dennis, that IRS official was appointed by Reagan and given an award for meritorious service by Bush. What an Obamabot, huh?

Steve M. said...

She knows the Chicago Way.

Would someone please explain to our wingnut troll that catchphrases aren't evidence?

Seriously, what weak tea it is to even mention that. 1982 appointment by Reagan doesn't mean she'd never be influenced by Democrats, nor does an award from Bush in 2004, and it's ridiculous to pretend it means it couldn't.

Translation: "I'm right because, well, I just am."

Dark Avenger said...

Dennis, do all of us a favor and FOAD.

But, tell us, how a Bush appointee became a follower of the Chicago way.

Was it blackmail? Mind-control? Perhaps she felt disgusted dealing with conservatives like you and changed parties?

Turn off the Faux News and get real for a change, Den-Den.