Let's get something Straight. Obama is Running the Show. The Cabinet Members Serve at his Pleasure

[MadBadger]

That means that no matter what you think of them, they are there to follow his agenda. So bitch and moan about every little member of his administration, but in the end remember, Obama controls what goes on. He gives the orders here, and the direction this country heads in for the next 4-8 years will be of his setting, not any single member of his cabinet.

[Hannah Bell]

1. how do you know who runs the show?

[screembloodymurder]

5. That's what I was wondering.

Sounds like wishful thinking.

[MadBadger]

7. Wishful thinking that the President Elect is going to be running things?

You know most Presidency's arent like the last one where the VP is probably running things.

[Alter Ego]

24. Cause we elected him.

And if you think that Obama's going to be hands-off like the Chimperor then you obviously didn't pay attention during the election.

[1corona4u]

39. Oh for fuck sake....

give it a fucking rest. :eyes:

[Hannah Bell]

48. Give what a rest? I don't recall talking to you before, or the OP.

[Honeycombe8]

2. So if he picks Rove and Cheney to be in his cabinet, you're okay with that?

What's that? That's different, you say? Well, you just said Obama is running the show, and his appointments would do his bidding and serve at his pleasure. You were trying to say that it doesn't really matter WHO he picks, right? They are merely puppets to do Obama's will, you were saying, right?

Of course it matters who he picks. It shows where his mind is headed. It shows how secure and confident he is with his own experience, his own ideas, his own agenda. If he picks others who follow another person's agenda and ideas, just so he doesn't have to make the hard decisions himself, or find his own way, that is saying a lot.

It matters who he picks. It most definitely does.

[MadBadger]

4. It matters who he picks, but all this handwringing over his selections so far is such bullshit

Hes not going for Cheney or Bush. He isnt going for the likes of Joe Lieberman. He is going for Solid Democrats and is being lit up by the Pissed off Trolls.

[Honeycombe8]

23. MOST of who he has picked are Clintonites. It is fair to question this, when voters

when voters specifically voted AGAINST bringing the Clinton administration back.

It is not being a troll to question the sheer number of Clintonites he's going with. It's not this one or that one...or even 10 of them. It's that ALMOST ALL of the people he has selected worked for the Clintons.

It's a fair concern. And being concerned is not being a Republican. Not at all. THEY'RE happy with the Clintonites!

[MadBadger]

25. Voters voted for Barack Obama. I'm not sure what you are talking about

In the GE, he always talked about how good things were in the Clinton Administration. So what are you talking about?

[Honeycombe8]

27. Dem voters voted AGAINST Hillary Clinton. Or she would've been the nominee. nt

[MadBadger]

30. Some did, but a lot of us voted for Barack Obama.

[Honeycombe8]

34. That's what I said. Voters chose change and Obama over experience & Clinton. nt

[MadBadger]

31. And Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Administration are two separate things.

A lot of people didnt want the drama of the Clinton Administration. There is drama because of one man, Bill. He aint bringing in Bill to run things.

[Honeycombe8]

35. The Clintons are a team. Bill is a former President. They can't be separated.

If Bill makes a comment about a foreign leader, it is front page news. Not because his wife is SOS, but because he is a former President.

They are one and the same. As we saw during the primary. She doesn't control the former President. No one does. He is, after all, a former President. His devotees are hers, and vice versa. She uses her time in the White House as "experience." That means that HIS administration people were HER administration people.

[MadBadger]

37. And Ive always considered her claims to being first lay as experience as BS

So they were NOT her administration.

[olegramps]

36. What the hell are you talking about!

I didn't vote against Hillary Clinton, I voted for Obama. We had the privilege of having two GREAT Americans vying for the nomination and it was damn close. I would have backed Clinton if she had been the choice just a strongly as I worked for Obama. The Republicans had to be defeated at any cost.

[Honeycombe8]

38. By definition, when you voted for Obama, you chose "change" over "experience"...

according to Hillary Clinton. Her meme was experience and ready on Day One, as would McCain be. Obama? He gave a speech in 2002, she said, and that's all he would bring to the table.

Obama's campaign slogan, rhetoric, speeches, promises....ALL were based on CHANGE and HOPE.

It's possible some people voted for him because of his race or whatever, without regard to his positions on the issue or what he was promising. But most voted for his "change" promises. And most did NOT vote for Clinton's "experience" promises. Most did NOT want the Clinton administration back. If they had, they would've voted for her.

[Beacool]

46. And what you don't get is that "change" and "hope"

were campaign slogans, but when the rubber hits the pavement he is pragmatic enough to get experienced people in his cabinet and transition team. Well, which was the last Democratic administration? Yeah, that's right, Bill Clinton's.

Some of you don't like the Clintons, but that's just too bad because they are not going anywhere.

:shrug:

[Beacool]

45. Wrong!!!!!

More registered Democrats voted for Hillary in the primaries than voted for Obama.

Regardless, they each got half of the total votes cast during the primaries. So no, Obama getting the nomination doesn't mean that Hillary was rejected by the Democrats.

;)

[CakeGrrl]

47. And more PEOPLE voted for Obama. That's whats called winning the popular vote.

:crazy:

I really have to stop jumping into threads that become about the Clintons, but no one can accuse them of being unable to draw a crowd!

On the subject of the OP topic, the THEORY is that cabinet members serve 'at the pleasure of the president', but we the people are never privy to the inner dynamics. We'll simply never know for sure exactly how the balance is struck no matter who is appointed.

[cali]

12. and if frogs had wings and ate mud and had a body temp of 300 degrees

they'd shit bricks from the sky.

It is, in other words, completely ridiculous to posit that Obama would hire rove or cheney. And do try reading for comprehension. The OP did not suggest in any way shape or form that appointees are puppets.

Obama has already proven that he's a shrewd manager and possessed of good judgment. He deserves a chance.

Beside all that most of the whiners have demonstrated their abject ignorance about his appointees and hires to date.

[EstimatedProphet]

3. Exactly.

[bunnies]

6. I commend your attempt at logic...

but this place is a virtual cesspool today. I think we should start vetting DU members. It sucks.

[MadBadger]

11. I'm trying, but it just seems like this place is overrun by these Pissed off Concern Trolls.

[scheming daemons]

14. Yup..... the attack of the concern trolls......

[MadHound]

16. No, actually it's overrun with a bunch of pissed off progressives and liberals

You know, those who supported him early and often, who worked hard to get him elected. It would be nice to get rewarded for all that hard work, all that hard earned money sent in, all those votes that were lined up solidly behind Obama. Instead, the left is once again getting shafted while the same ol' same ol' members of the two party/same corporate master system of government are once again climbing back into power.

Everybody else is getting their reward, where's ours?

This simply confirms the fact that Democrats only want the left for our work ethic, money and votes, but they don't want to address our pet political projects like UHC.

[Windy]

17. Who exactly are you people looking for? Give out some names! I'm just curious

We are in a mess in this country. The people he "may" be choosing can hit the ground running.

I want each one of you who are complaining to cough of some names of people you think he should put in the cabinet... put up or shut up

[MadHound]

20. Oh puhleeze Vulcan, this isn't freeper country, you can cut out the macho braggidicio bullshit

"Put up or shut up" Geez, if this is what victory does for Democrats, make them into macho 'Pug imitating assholes, then it might have been better if they lost.

As far as names go, if you look around here the past few weeks, you would have noticed that there have been several liberals mentioned, Kucinich and Feingold are probably the two most popular.

[MadBadger]

18. No, pretty much all of the hardcore Obama supporters from the beginning here arent acting like you

[MadHound]

21. And here is the sum total of national opinion?

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Really, there's this new technology called the internet. I suggest that you go out and actually do some research on it.

[olegramps]

40. Obama is choosing people with knowledge and expertise

Is that what is pissing you off? Obama is the executive and those serving under him will be directed to pursue his policy, not their narrow personal interests. What do you want? An administration like the Bush administration where the inmates ran the asylum? If you didn't think that Obama was up to being the chief executive then you shouldn't have voted for him.

Further, just where in hell do you think he should look for experienced people? Maybe, the Carter administration? Most of them are dead and the remainder too old to tie their shoes. By the way, I would be damn happy to be able to enjoy the peace and prosperity that I basked under those horrible Clintonites.

[MadHound]

41. There are plenty of experienced liberal and progressives out there

All that we on the left are asking is to get some sort of representation in his administration. We realize that Obama is going to govern from the center, but if he is going to be a true centerist, then he has got to be willing to recognize and consider ideas and people from the left part of the political spectrum, not just the center and the right.

As far as peace and prosperity under Clinton, that's a whole other thread, but suffice it to remind of Bosnia, welfare reform, NAFTA, deregulation, oh, and the wealth gap between the rich and the rest of us first reached record breaking proportions under Clinton, Bush just continued to expand it.

[1corona4u]

42. Actually, it confirms the fact that the 'pissed off progressives and liberals'

were secretly motivated to support Obama, in the hopes that he would pick a cabinet based on what YOU all liked. Now, you're all pulling back on your support, and bitching, because he's doing what HE wants, instead of sucking up to you.

You know what the definition of disappointment is? Exaggerated expectations. You expected something for your 'support', which has not yet, and may never come to pass.

You all should have done it without expecting something in return. Now, you're acting like a bunch of indian-givers. Never do something with the expectation that you'll get something back. Do it out of good will.

[MadHound]

43. Gee, following your logic we should have all supported McCain

That way we could all "have done it without expecting something in return".

That is why people support candidates, because they expect something in return, they want their voices heard. In fact that is the basis for any form of republican governance, to but in a candidate who best represents you, your views, and who will do something for you.

Liberals realized going in that we weren't going to get a Kucinich administration. However we supported Obama because he was the best candidate out there, and because we expected that he would address at least some of our concerns. Isn't that why you supported for Obama?
But as the Obama administration continues to take shape, it looks more and more like once again, the left is going to be out in the cold, again. Is that right, is that fair? Obama is addressing the wants and expectations of the center and center right, hell he's even reaching out to the right with his cabinet appointments. But where is he reaching out to the left? We're not asking for everything here, but we are asking for something in return for all of our hard work, support and votes. Yet so far we're not getting it.

Let's turn the tables, let's say Obama had started filling his cabinet with leftists like Kucinich and Feingold, if he started giving indications that his policies would be tilted distinctly towards the left. How would you and other centerists feel? Betrayed? Left out in the cold? Ignored and unappreciated? Yeah, well that's what we on the left are starting to feel right now. Again, we're not asking for everything, we recognize that we're part of a big tent. But the principle of the big tent is that everybody under it gets a place at the table, we all get acknowledgment and at least some of our issues addressed. We're not getting that, in fact we haven't gotten that for a number of election cycles now. Instead, we are either exploited by fear or bullied into line, and then when we have given our all, time after time we're cast off, ignored.

The fact of the matter is that the Democratic party needs the left. We get out the vote, we donate, and far and away the left are the ones who go out and do the grunt work, door to door, phone banks, etc. etc. If we left the party in any sort of numbers, the Democrats would be screwed. Wouldn't it be better to toss us a bone rather than ignoring us? You risk our defection to a third party, leaving the Democrat's happy ass out in the cold (after all, isn't that what the party claims happened in '00). But hey, if you want to have it all your way, address only your issues, then by all means do so. Just don't expect to win in '12.

[lame54]

8. Then let's draw the names from a hat and get it over with

[breadandwine]

10. Whatever the significance of the appointment, it looks like Hillary will get SOS.

Bill just agreed to all of Obama's requests for disclosure.

[bcoylepa]

9. He's earned the right

to choose his own staff & cabinet - we should show a little trust in the guy who accomplished the impossible

[dkf]

13. That is the goal but sometimes people go rogue ala Sarah Palin.

Just sayin.

[dccrossman]

15. Thanks for saying it

Whatever else you may think about Obama, he is the smartest motherfucker in the room.

Yeah, everyone he appoints brings in their baggage. Guess what, everyone has baggage.

The real judgment, in my opinion, will be in 6-9 months, if one of his appointments is not serving as well as he'd hoped, is he willing to drop them and get someone else in the position.

[MarjorieG]

19. 'Get stuff done' means going with experienced gov't managers; trustest idea people different.

I don't want to lose in 2010, like Clinton in 1994, because we didn't know to put words into action. We were elected to do something, redefine Denocrats for some people, and not emphasize party or ideology.

If Hillary is to be SoS, I wish the drama to cease. Does not bode well that either Clintonistas or press can't leave the process alone. Will every move she makes be maginified and dramatized?

[Odin2005]

22. I get pissed off when Hillary and Rahm get called "centrists," they are good liberals.

The ideological purists seem to think that everyone to the right of Kucinich is a "DLC Centrist Corporate Whore." :eyes:

[Alter Ego]

28. I'm getting that sense as well.

And I'm also getting the feeling that if the person's name has ever been in the news before at all then they're a FASCIST CORPORATE WHORE SELLOUT AAAAAGGGGGH.

[lame54]

26. "The pleasure of the president" - Where have I heard that before?...

Oh yeah - this asshole said it

[MadBadger]

29. You know where I heard it first?

[lame54]

33. Both fictional characters...

[Jennicut]

32. Yes, I thought that is what a president does. Why so little confidence in Obama's

ability to be a president?

[PVnRT]

44. OK....do you have a point?

I suppose it's just "hand-wringing" when people bring up Daschle's abortion bill? Yeah, must be. :eyes:

[Barack_America]

49. What? He expects his Cabinet members to service him?

For his pleasure?

Uck.

:P