I spent today grading and commenting on student papers, so I am almost out of words. However, I did want to comment on the fact that Obama admitted that he made a mistake in the process of picking Daschle. Daschle had been nominated for health and human services secretary, but decided to withdraw when it was revealed that he had a problem regarding unpaid taxes.
While I do fault Obama for making such an error (although I can imagine how hard it is to find an untainted politician), I was impressed by his decision to take responsibility for his mistake and to take steps to rectify matters. Though some might suspect that Obama is admitting error as a clever political ploy, it is certainly a different approach. In the recent past, the usual line from politicians is to say something such as “mistakes were made”-as if the mistakes just happened and there was no actual person who was accountable. For Obama to take responsibility does seem to indicate a different approach and one that I hope will serve him well. While there is a risk in admitting error, there seems to be a greater risk in not doing so.
In an interesting coincidence, I happened to be teaching virtue theory in my ethics class last night and we discussed a rather interesting line from Confucius: “In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.”
Confucius also supported the notion that the ruler should govern by moral force rather than by using violence and fear. Obama seems to be off to a good start in becoming a virtuous leader. That, too, would be a pleasant change. Of course, I am a skeptic and will wait to see how things work out.
I am a bit skeptical considering he supported Daschle until Daschle withdrew his own nomination. I would give more weight to Obama’s admitted mistake if he had withdrew his choice before the choice had to do it for him. Most importantly though I do not believe him due to his inconsistency with Timothy Geitner. I would think the mistake to be bigger if you appoint a tax cheater to the head of the Treasury Department over one appointed to Health and Human Services. Where is the consistency?
I would be impressed if he kicked Geitner to the curb. Geitner claimed his child’s summer camp as a business expense over three years when his accountant told him not to. Does that sound like a mistake?
Here is one of many links on the failings of Geitner as a Secretary of the Treasury Department appointment.
Obama just engaged with ‘fear-mongering’ today. He is trying to get his stimulus bill signed and threatened of an eternal recession if it is not signed now. Didn’t he say something about replacing fear with hope in his inauguration speech? Something along those lines anyway. Looks like hope is being circumvented by fear once more.
This tactic is a mistake. He is just trying to railroad this thing through because everyday that goes by the American public supports it less and less.
Here is a link to an article on today’s speech.
http://www.examiner.com/x-2888-World-News-Examiner~y2009m2d5-Obama-time-for-talk-is-over-time-for-action-is-now
Here comes another mistake.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=408602
Well, this is a lopsided argument. You need to force your students to post here Mike. My weapons are being prepared for battle. I’m sharpenning my Vorpal bla……Ah crap, there goes my thumb!
I do not compel anyone to do anything. Such is not my way/ 🙂
Oh well. I guess I will keep rambling anyway.
Like kernunos said, Obama supported Daschle even with the evidence known, up until Daschle quit. Hmmmm.
At the very least, the administration’s vetting process is looking pretty bad. Richardson, Daschle and what’s-his-nuts for Treasury Secretary. I mean Richardson was probably the worst and he got the least attention. If Obama had any instincts whatsoever, he should have been able to just look at Bill Richardson and say: Umm…no thanks.”
Oh–and the economic crisis is going to be way worse than the Iraq War. And guess what? Blaming it on Bush won’t help, because I don’t think Bush has caused the world-market to crash. Or maybe he has. It’s a new machine they’ve invented–it’s an all-in-one package with the hurricane machine. The Bank’s Go Broke Machine.
What about the 60-something page application his appointees were supposed to fill out? Was that just to catch them admitting they listen to rush, or maybe catch a neocon in hemp clothing?
The Democrats caused the housing market to crash. No ifs ands or butts. Andrew Cuomo got the banks to settle during Clinton’s reign. He strong armed the banks into giving risky loans. He even admitted this.
Here is a little history.
I liked when O’Reilly caught Barney with his pants down.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/10/woah-oreilly-blasts-barney-frank-out.html
This is why our economy is tanking and these hacks should pay. By the way, Fannie and Freddie’s two highest contributions to campaigns where 1. Chris Dodd and 2. President Obama. There is a big mistake too except the mainstream media says nothing about it.
When O’Reilly caught Barney with his pants down, where was the little boy?
That’ll be quite enough of the facts from you, kernunos!! Back to the reprogramming bins with you. You’ve done nothing but commit senseless Thoughtcrimes since Mr. Obama took office. It’s time you came to appreciate his wonderful ties and incredibly sexy boxer shorts. What else should we look for in a president? And all cats love Obama. I do whatever the cats do.
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