We Work Hard, So You Don't Have To!

[elfs]

Send in the scrubbing bubbles!

President Bush worked nearly three hours on Thursday to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq, then emerged to say that he and his advisers need more time to craft the plan he'll announce in the new year.

Holy Shazbat! That's real dedication. A whole three hours. With, like, a break for coffee now and then. A trip to the bathroom. Must have been rough. Grueling. As bad as a patrol in the Iraq desert, complete with IEDs and snipers. Really.

I don't particularly care for Barak Obama. He's a callow youth with little experience, either as a legislator or an executive. But callow youth has one advantage: the passion of conviction, an unshakable sense of right and wrong untrammeled by experience and that passion leads him to say things that, in the abstract, sound right:

Our soldiers are not numbers to add just because someone couldn't think of a better idea, they are our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and friends who are willing to wave goodbye to everything they've ever known just for the chance to serve their country.

As Hilzoy observed: "It is an astonishing thing to have a military willing to accept civilian control: to go off and fight and die without insisting on the right to decide when their sacrifice is worth it and when it's not. It is an extraordinary gift. And if we value it, as we should, we owe it to the men and women in the military to be the best citizens we can possibly be, especially on matters of national security."

Comments

"I don't think that word means what you think it means"

[omahas.livejournal.com]

I don't particularly care for Barak Obama. He's a callow youth with little experience, either as a legislator or an executive.

I'm gonna call you on that one, Mister Grammar and Wordsmith.

American Heritage Dictionary:
Callow: Lacking adult maturity or experience; immature.

Considering that you called him callow, then in the same sentence said "with little experience" one can only assume that you are meaning callow as "lacking adult maturity; immature" in reference to him. He is an adult, and has a lot more experience in his chosen field than you, my dear.

As for his maturity, I believe that you mistake his passion and conviction without the associated cynicism of extended time in politics to mean "immature". If that is the case, then what you are saying is that there is no such thing as a mature politician that believes in the system and isn't just there to get out of it what s/he can.

In which case I frankly don't know why you are still in this country.

Re: "I don't think that word means what you think it means"

[elfs.livejournal.com]

You're overblowing the case. I have no doubt that Obama is a "believer" in the same way that Bush is a "believer"; I also have no doubt that Obama is capable of more introspection than Bush is (then again, most sparrows are more capable of introspection than our president).

I just question the worship of Obama from lots of people because, frankly, I haven't seen the man actually do anything. What bills has he introduced? What cities, states, or other executive bodies has he led? What legislation is he responsible for, and what has he had to do to make it happen?

As the record shows, actually shepherding legislation through Congress is a messy, ugly business, and it has been since Mark Twain made comments about how keeping one's respect for legislation means keeping one's feet out of the legislature. As we know now, Bush's appalling collapse in opposition to the 1993 farm bill was due to his equally appalling desire to have the power to negotiate foreign trade deals that favored big business without Congressional oversight: both sides got what they wanted. After a few years in Congress, when Obama has actually shown that he has the chops to, y'know, legislate, maybe I'll consider him a viable candidate for more than his current position.

Re: "I don't think that word means what you think it means"

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Ah, so what you're really saying is that you hate the brewhaha that other people have heaped upon him, and rather than just say that, you'll go ahead and blame him for it? I see. ;)

The reality is that I certainly understand that feeling. I too have been irritated by the holier than thou attitude that so many people want to believe in him...especially since he has never bowed to that pressure (which is probably why it continues to build..."Oh, look how humble he is" and such). He doesn't need that pressure...it interferes in his ability to gain experience.

However, if we want to debate whether he needs experience in Congress before becoming a President, note that some very good Presidents and governors had *no* experience prior to becoming said...such as Jefferson or Schwarzenegger (who I think has actually done a very good job).

[nbarnes.livejournal.com]

This is what happens when you put policy makers on salary. Bush clearly needs the prod that being hourly would give me.

[nbarnes.livejournal.com]

Give him. >_>

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

No, Shrub needs the prod that being put on the same 'pay for performance evaluated by your supervisor with virtually no recourse for contesting the evaluation' system that federal employees are being stuck with. He'd wind up paying the government...