One related point about the spate of "Obama-should-have-followed-Rahm’s-centrist-advice" articles that have appeared of late: if you really think about it, it’s quite extraordinary to watch a Chief of Staff openly undermine the President by spawning numerous stories claiming that the President is failing because he’s been repeatedly rejecting his Chief of Staff’s advice. It seems to me there’s one of two possible explanations for this episode: (1) Rahm wants to protect his reputation at Obama’s expense by making clear he’s been opposed all along to Obama’s decisions, a treacherous act that ought to infuriate Obama to the point of firing him; or (2) these stories are being disseminated with Obama’s consent as a means of apologizing to official Washington for not having been centrist enough and vowing to be even more centrist in the future by listening more to Rahm (we know that what we did wrong was not listen enough to Rahm). One can only speculate about which it is, but if I had to bet, my money would be on (2) (because of things like this and because these "Rahm-Was-Right" stories went on for weeks and Rahm is still very much around).
The meaning of my headline is that Rahm and Cheney might be said to represent the same empowered Washington constituency, which Greenwald titles "official Washington." The question arises, How does official Washington remain so conservative following the disaster of the Iraq war? And the answer is of course that regimes last long after their foundations have begun to break down, that we are replacing that regime slowly. And yes, the transformation of Jewish life will play a role in that power-transformation, as conservative Jews who believed in the permanent-war idea of the route to peace in the Middle East remain a significant factor inside the US establishment, in both parties.
Maybe official Washington knows some things that you don’t, or you don’t weigh as important?
Or, maybe because Washington and every individual in American society carries very high fixed costs just to make it through.
Anybody else have a mortgage?
Relative to conservative Jewish influences, the remedy is reasonable liberal influences that value foundational sensitivities, reform them to a level of pride in our integrity, but NOT radical unreasonable or speculative (gambling) influences that risk our health and security.
“foundational sensitivities,”
You are never constipated, are you Witty? It just comes out nice and regular, all the time. Must be the Israeli prunes.
I think you’ve stumbled upon the real reason he can’t abide BDS. Without those West Bank prunes, Witty would never be able to sit comfortably again!
Point well taken, Witty.
Guardian (yesterday): Has picked up on the public tensions between Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and President Obama, the article states the following, ” ( Emanuel )…has damaged the standing of the presidency and undermined his boss. “. This blog has followed the developing feud between Mr Emanuel and Mr Obama, in the right corner you have a political expert and a political animal in his own right Rahm ” Expletive Deleted ” Emanuel, and on the left you have President ” STAR/Second Coming ” Obama, the problem is that Mr Emanuel is a political animal in his own right, he wants a political career after Obama has gone back to Chicago, thus he can not afford to go over the cliff with Obama. The President actual believes his own press statements and the worship of the Campaign 08 has gone to his head, the Nobel Prize Committee didn’t help with his ego, thus you have Mr Emanuel who can see the cliff and does not want to fall over with Obama and Obama who thinks he can walk on water. Lets see who is right folk
I guess you’re right, Witty. I suppose the United States must have very good reasons for torturing 13-year-old Afghanis and shovelling billions at Halliburton, CACI and Blackwater/Xe. I guess we’re just going to have to trust in big brother!
The next time you try to peddle yourself off as a liberal or a supporter of democracy, I’m going to throw this quote right back in your face, Mr. Wittypocrisy.
I had a mortgage, but of course, as my parents, and my wife’s parents instructed us (an amazing confluence of Christian and Jewish theology!) we paid it off and own our home outright.
I assume you’ve done the same, Witty? It’s the only sensible thing to do. And I’ll be damned if I let my wife be a widow in debt. That’s out of the question.
It’s a little strange, actually, I feel like a guest in my own home, since I’m not paying rent or payments, but there’s still plenty of other expenses that go with a house. Anyway, it leaves me lots more time for anti-Zionist blogging.
Cheney’s actions and supportive rhetoric have always depended on the absolute right to secrecy of the Executive branch, based on
the notion of American exceptionalism–his is clearly a bipolar world, good guys and bad guys to be decided by him and his cronies, both in terms
of domestic politics, including secret US energy policy and a very elastic conception, amounting to free and unaccountable abuse of basic civil rights justified by pointing to national security, and in terms of foreign affairs. I don’t see Obama’s version of Cheney any differently. Both use the willing MSM for their own agenda:
link to blog.pdamerica.org
In both cases, average Americans are just manipulated and intentionally-kept-ignorant pawns in the game.
What continues to impress me, and not to harp on it, is that “liberal” Witty apparently eats that all up. He totally drinks the Cheney authoritarian milkshake — or at least, he does when “Cheney” is a Zionist Jew, son of a terrorist, who volunteered for a foreign military.
And chicken hawk Chaney got a half-dozen deferments as he “had better things to do” with his time.
Actually Chaney once slipped up in public and named the US rubber-stamping of Israel’s whims as a key cause of “why they hate us.” Rahm won’t make such a slip-up:
link to original.antiwar.com
How old is Witty, again? Just suddenly makes me curious how that timeline coincides. His attitude toward authoritarianism might not be the only thing he shares with Cheney, one supposes.
Rahm won’t make that sort of slip-up because they can’t let him within five feet of a microphone without risking an FCC violation. He’s like a version of yonira that’s actually held down a public office.
When Witty is Witty, he’s that wascally Waskow! I bet you couldn’t slip a sheet of parchment between them.
From Massa:
“Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil’s spawn,” he said. “He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive.”
Read more: link to nydailynews.com
Not quite. Example: He went over to Israel and spent time as a peon refurbishing Israel tank treads. Are you suggesting even that zionist altruism was merely a
way to gather credence in USA politics? We all know he’d strap average American
kids to the front end of a steam locomotive for votes. I don’t think he’d do so as to his own kids, if he has any, nor as to Israeli kids. Othewise, Massa is on target as to Rahm’s character I’d say. Cheney’s the same way as to his daughter. He hold’s his nose
for her there; otherwise, he has no problem with his bipolar opera world.