The Nobel Peace Prize

[Johann]

Yes, Obama's had his time to "get started".
No more "it's too soon" anymore- he's had over a year.

I hate the fact that there isn't much to praise him for at this point.
2 wars are still raging, the economy is still in the dumper, Bush and Cheney are still free men, Bill O'Reilly is still on the air, etc etc.
(I'm serious about that last one!)

What exactly has Obama done in this last year to say "Oh yeah baby! He deserves another term!"???
What?
What has he done?
Been charming?
Been likable?

Ugh.

[Chris Knipp]

He has improved America's standing in the world, i.e. not been reviled and hated by everyone, even former friends of the US.
He has increased the transparency of the executive branch, so they say; but how would we know?
He reinstated stem cell research, and stopped censoring science.
Signed the Lily Ledbetter fair-pay law that finally gives parity to women in employment.
Health Care:appropriated $19 billion to help implement an electronic medical record system.
He had a beer summit at the white house.
He behaves calmly, doesn't have a fake southern accent, and doesn't give everybody in government a silly nickname.
He bought a dog.
He did not pass out watching TV.
He has kept Biden on. If he dies or is assassinated, we might have a very good president. Somebody said this in the spring and I was shocked. Now it seems sensible.

[Johann]

I give Obama points for seriously trying to improve America's standing around the world. How fucking shitty is it that he had to do that in the first place? All those Bush supporters should hang their heads in shame for that alone. When was the last time a President left the next President sitting pretty when he left the White House? Huh? When? Easy: NEVER.

That's a subject for a book and a new theory on why the U.S. is so fucked up: all exiting Presidents just can't make it easier for the next Prez. They have to have a zillion fucking irons in the fire that require constant tending to. It's like Nixon's loss to Kennedy kick-started the me-first Presidencies. JFK was a good man, got assassinated, then LBJ didn't know what to do- his head literally spun off his shoulders. Then America got the biggest dose of irrational fear and paranoia it had ever seen with Richard Nixon. (His Presidency ended well, didn't it?)
Gerald Ford? Impotent. Inconsequential.
Jimmy Carter? Impotent. Inconsequential.
Reagan? more paranoia and fear, only Reagan did it with class.
Bush I? greedhead, out of touch, ignorant one-termer.
He seemed decent, but he was really a psychopathic alien.

Clinton? A complete and total asshole. A liar, a schemer, a perverted lawyer-goof who had zero integrity, no matter what anybody says. A multi-multi-multi- millionaire who doesn't give two shits about America or the world. But Holy Shit does he try to make you believe he does....I see right through Clinton. Right fucking through him. He's like cellophane or saran wrap, he's so fucking transparent. He has no soul, just like Mick Jagger.
You get what you need, Bill?
Fuck off and die, you soulless animal.
Cunning coward. That's what Bill Clinton is.
You're free to disagree, but hey, when a man like him lies bold-faced to the American people on national TV to save his own skin over a perverted scandal....and then has the unbelievable stainless steel balls to expect forgiveness....Fuck that Turd.
And his ignorant manly wife can pound salt too.
I hate Hillary with an acute passion.

The less said about Bush II the better.

And we are full circle back to Obama!
He was served up to us like a lemon merengue pie, almost too-good-to-be-true, an immaculate, articulate, classy man with a solid head on his shoulders. Yes we can!

And his first year has petered out like a helium balloon losing it's helium through a tiny pinhole...yikes we need him to LEAD. And FAST. Learning on the job, Barack? Let's kick out the jams...
Let's show those Aces that are up your sleeve....
You have none?!?!
Wow. How did you win the election then?
Wasn't it those Aces up your sleeve?

[Chris Knipp]

A beautiful rant, Johan. You're on a roll here. Yes you can. Jagger no soul? Why so? I differ with you only in one point: there's a lot to say about Bush II. And questions to ask - leading up to the big question: How different is the Obama administration from from his? Inertia means a lot carries through from one to the next. More than we ever knew. But deep students of political history do know. I don't claim to be one of those, but I'm learning. Is he? Is he kicking out the jams? Has he got those aces up his sleeve?

Is the heath care bill better than I said? The AARP supports it. They say:

Passing the Senate bill would mark a huge step toward reform that works for older Americans. But right now each and every senator could be the difference.

Politics is a neverending process. Some ex-presidents have been good (Carter anyway), and some ex-Vice Presidents (Gore).

[Johann]

Sure, there are lots of questions and shit to say about Dubya.

And it's ironclad that a lot carries over from one presidency to the next. Aren't all U.S. presidents supposed to be on the same page?
With the same goal? BETTERING AMERICA?
Bush proved without any shred of doubt that that office has long been about BETTERING THE MAN. (and his "special" peeps).
Who are Obama's "peeps"?
Who greases his palm?

You all know I'm no "deep student of political history".
I go with my gut.
But I do have a good handle on the system, even though it's way more complex than I care to delve into or spend time contemplating.
Self-interest is huge in the human condition.
Huger than most people want to admit.
And in politics, self-interest is paramount.
No matter what they say about "their constituents"- at the end of the day it's all about padding your own arse. The fact that the public at large doesn't care enough or gets involved enough in this power scheme, which exists to SERVE THEM, (supposedly) it's enough to throw your hands in the air.

We need another John Lennon to get people excited about being involved. This isn't "Us and Them"- it's only US. Even though it really seems "Us and Them" it's not.
Not when it's your tax dollars Chachi....

Learn more and fucking DEMAND more!

[Chris Knipp]

The big question about Dubya to me now is how much he was really different from his predecessors, and whether in any area he was different in quality or only in quantity of actions. And of course the same question applies to Obama. And in the light of this, can we speak of Obama in terns of "betrayal," as leftist journalists like to do?

In fact, some would argue that Obama is irrelevant. So it's not up to Obama but to us, and that would be true anyway, but we see that he's with "them" already.

"No matter what they say about "their constituents'- at the end of the day it's all about padding your own arse." And the arse of the fat cats that line their pockets for favoring their corporate interests.

More samo-samo news: Closing Guantanamo has now been postponed till 2011. And moving it to Illinois - what will that do? Undocumented immigrants are held in blind sights in over a hundred sites. They're "disappearing" people, admittedly. Trapping longtime US residents by posing as innocent civilians and putting them away, we don't know where.

Obama now claims he never advocated for a public option.

ABC News reports that President Obama directly ordered two cruise missile attacks in Yemen last week. Sounds so. . .Clintonian. Perhaps over two thirds of the dead were civilian - 23 children, 17 women. An example of how Obama said we end our conflicts, nimbly and precisely.

[Johann]

re: Mick Jagger having no soul

I learned that from Henry Rollins.
He said that it was amazing to see Mick out there singing
"Between a Rock and Hard Place" from Steel Wheels, seeing a rich as Holy Hell rocker wailing about being hard up. "It was like watching Satan weep for the homeless" were his exact words.
Mick still counts the t-shirt sales on concert tours.
He was an accountant originally, right?

Henry also said that the Rolling Stones are EVIL, like Exxon. And he said that was why he liked them. That's why I like them too.
They are bad and they don't apologize for it.
Henry also pointed out that Mick and Kieth have a too-studied detachment to them that really bothers him.

[Chris Knipp]

Mick went to the London School of Economics. I don't know about being an accountant.

The last time I saw Keith in Scorsese's film he was not at all detached. He was loving every minute of it. http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/vi...php?f=1&t=1013

But I agree with what you say. They are bad and the Beatles are good. That's why I always felt more comfortable with the Stones. Needed the badness more.