Jun 03 2010
The End Of The Obama Era
I really hate to see things end horribly. Yes, some people sow what they seed, and in the case of our naive and arrogant President he has no one to fault but himself (and maybe those voters who put him in this spot). But you hate to see what was a moment of hope and success end in scandal and ruin.
Like I said many times, I did not want to see this President fail. I wanted to see him grasp the seriousness of his challenges and learn and grow into the job. Â All first term Presidents have this test to face. But this President is surrounded by power trippers who are also young and naive, and the combined inexperience made surviving this test improbable.
What has me so sure this presidency is over? Was it the endless economic mess and the concurrent joblessness? Was it the destruction of our nation’s premier health care system? Was it his shining incompetence with the Gulf Oil spill? Yes and no. All these things led up to the final straw. The kicker is going to be the felony bribes his administration made to Representative Sestek (PA) and State House Speaker Romanoff (CO) to leave senate primaries.
As I noted previously, the White House excuse floated last Friday on the Sestak incident is simply a signed confession of guilt:
Here is a key passage from the WH memo containing two clear sentences:
[1] The White House Chief of Staff enlisted the support of former President Bill Clinton who agreed to raise with Congressman Sestak options of service on a Presidential or other Senior Executive Branch Advisory Board. [2] Congressman Sestak declined the suggested alternatives, remaining committed to his Senate candidacy.
In legal matters clarity is everything, and this one paragraph says it all. In sentence [1] we have the admission that Rahm Emanuel ‘enlisted‘ (voluntarily and knowingly) former Bill Clinton to raise ‘options of service‘ (job offers – plural) related to panels only the President can nominate a member to (Rahm can’t, Clinton can’t). That is the offer of the bribe.
The admission this was a bribe requiring a quid pro quo is found in the second sentence. The WH clearly stated Rep ‘declined the suggested alternatives‘, with the result being Sestak remained committed to his Senate candidacy. So therefore, if the WH offers had been accepted, Sestak would not have remained in the Senate race. QED: Bribe offered and declined, according to White House Council.
Ed Morrissey notes that it has come to light there was no board Sestak could serve on as a sitting Congressman, therefore even this formal excuse from White House Counsel is really just a poorly crafted lie.
Quite obviously, the stories offered by everyone don’t add up. The notion that anyone would insult the intelligence of a retired Admiral and sitting House member by offering them an unpaid job that would require their retirement from politics in order to give up a Senate bid is nothing but pure fantasy. This administration couldn’t even build a cover story that works and get its fibs straight.
Worse news broke last night, the Sestak bribe was not the only incident.
Administration officials dangled the possibility of a job for former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff last year in hopes he would forgo a challenge to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, administration officials said Wednesday, just days after the White House admitted orchestrating a similar job offer in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
These officials declined to specify the job that was floated or the name of the administration official who approached Romanoff, and said no formal offer was ever made. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not cleared to discuss private conversations.
More details here. I am curious as to how these ‘administration officials’ think leaking another incident of bribery will help with this growing scandal? Are these people fed up and jumping ship or  or are they awkwardly floating trial balloons? The law does not have a discriminator on ‘formal offers‘ – whatever that means. In the Romanoff incident the former state Speaker was quite clear about where his paying job offer was (USAID), so there is no ‘unpaid advisory panel’ spin that can work in this case.
Update: This article is even more damning on the Romanoff deal, with even dumber spin from the White House:
Romanoff said in a statement Wednesday night that he was contacted by Messina last fall and told that the White House would support Bennet in the primary. When he said he would seek the nomination anyway, Messina “suggested three positions that might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race,” Romanoff said. “He added that he could not guarantee my appointment to any of these positions.”
Romanoff added: “At no time was I promised a job, nor did I request Mr. Messina’s assistance in obtaining one.”
…
Messina sent Romanoff job descriptions for three positions: an administrator for Latin America and Caribbean; the chief of the Office of Democracy and Governance; and the director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
Yeah, no job offer here! – end update:
When you have two independent incidents of the same clumsy and illegal act there is no getting around the conclusion. The Obama administration is so inept they can’t even do sleazy politics right. Which will be their undoing.
Obama’s reputation is in tatters. It is now going to be every politician for themselves. Democrats have careers and dreams to salvage from this mess. The administration has run out of political capitol. No successful pol who can escape the coming Obama implosion in public opinion is going sit around and be sucked under. Maybe if the President had some successes behind him the he could fight his way through the job-bribe scandals. But he is too damaged to make it through this kind of scandal.
It really is sad to see endings like this.
Update: As I predicted, the Dems are jumping ship:
They toppled Hillary Clinton, crushed John McCain and managed to get the first black man elected president of the United States.
But now a series of recent missteps just keeps getting worse for Barack Obama’s political operation, already under fire from inside the party for losing its golden touch.
The second-guessing of the White House political shop — which is coming in part from top House Democrats — was sparked anew late Wednesday by news that the White House tried and failed to coax another Democratic Senate candidate out of making his race by dangling administration jobs in front of him.
…
Taken together, Sestak and Romanoff cases suggest a White House team that is one part Dick Daley, one part Barney Fife.
Read more:Â http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38067.html#ixzz0pmyYKvwk
No surprise at all. You only get so many chances before people finally walk away.
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Nixon without the smarts.
Carville started it but that just opened the floodgates giving permission to others to say what they have been seeing for more than a while.
The Blago trial starting will only add to their problems.
I knew his era ended the day he got elected. Either that or I thought he would not last long.
Somehow Blago has got to be grinning from ear to ear after these two stories broke as I wondered if there is a connection between these two stories and Blago.
This isn’t limited just to Obama but is an incompetence that spreads through the entire administration.
A few select members falling on their sword won’t fix it.
I still do not think this is going to touch Obama. It may taint his administration but he is insulated by race.
Others around him may fall but he cannot be touched. This is the “politically correct” truth. Be it so, all the above is true , Holder will not pursue it.
This is an issue that the Republicians must pursue without the appearance of pursuing it. Let it play out on it’s own. If the facts are there let public outcry be the instigator of justice. Otherwise it will look like another Lewenski witch hunt.
Don’t get your hopes up on this guys! He is the first black president. People still need him to succeed. Political correctness destroys everything in its path.
oneal lane:
Race will only get his so far. Look at his numbers…unless the economy turns around I think Obama is in real trouble. Thus far political correctness has not been a magic wand for him, not like he and his supporters hoped it would.
Now, if the economy improves and if he can withstand the scandals, he might survive. But I am beginning to doubt that will happen.
There is a good article over at American Spectator. I think Philip Klien or Peter Ferrara wrote it. Anyway, this article talks about this post just made by AJ. Something about the author’s prediction. He predicts that the economy will begin to look better for the next few months but crash in 2011 and 2012. He also predicts that Obama will not get re-nominated for 2012.
And I’m seeing a few articles of the Democrats running away from Obama. The question is…will we begin to see a few more Democrats running away from Pelosi and Reid?
I am just amazed that it required such scandals to even begin to bring the Obama adm down. As opposed to his ObamaCare, debt spending, broken promises, et al.
I noticed that there haven’t been many Tea party rallies since ObamaCare was passed. Guess everyone went behind the scenes and waiting for November now that they understood that Obama and Congress refused to listen to their constituents.
I took a stab at AmericansSpeakingOut.com and am disappointed in some of the comments. I just don’t think many of them understand conservatism according to the founding principles.
The only effect race may be having is to hold up is poll numbers more than they are worth.
The Blacks do it for identity politics and others do it so they don’t have to risk being called racist for making a fair evaluation.
I suggest that is worth at least 12% in the polls right now.
I agree with Terrye that PC and race will ultimately not shield Obama – oh, it may mean he limps along in office until 2012, but it will not stop him from being even more thoroughly discredited than Jimmy Carter, Herbert Hoover, and Andrew Johnson all rolled into one. Quite possibly the single worst president ever.
The interesting question (though not an happy one) will be the degree to which the Obama experience sets back race relations in the US. I think it has already profoundly deepened the distrust most whites feel towards blacks in general (that is, not distrust towards any blacks they may know, but towards the larger group who support Obama overwhelmingly). Will the result of his presidency be that the Democrats are as thoroughly discredited outside of union run cities as the Republicans were in the South after The War? Perhaps. I suspect it will be generations before another black is elected to national executive office.
I tend to think that is some he has actively exploited just to pave his way and he really doesn’t have the linkage.
After all he lost his first run for office on the claim he ‘wasn’t Black enough’.
How many Blacks identify with arugula and 100 dollar an oz steaks.
And the expensive trips, resorts, and hotels. None.
One shouldn’t be surprised to learn that MORE blacks identified (or more willing to identify) themselves with the Founders than many would identify with the false Obama.
We’ve seen many blacks on Glenn Beck show and most of them are conservatives. We have Lloyd Marcus. We now have more Black Republicans gearing up for their campaign runs (and they screwed one white lady there, unfortunately).
HHHmmm…any blacks in today’s climate would identify themselves with the Founders? Probably none….
There are a large number of Blacks running this election cycle under the Republican banner.
If Obama causes a split that breaks up the Black down on the plantation vote by trying to pander to both them and the Hispanics at once this could be a disaster for the Dems.
I am unconvienced.
The Obama administration is moving towards its second year. The “bloom is off the rose” His numbers are falling, just as any new presidents number start to fall at this time. A huge numer of voters believe presidents are endowed with magical powers to fix all, when reality hits they are saddened.
Additionally, Obama is suffering from unwise policy decisions and poor execution.
Even without the Sestek/Romanoff issue he would be running into trouble. But this issue is not really going to amount to much. It amounts to a lot to those who wish him ill, but the majority public still wants him to succeed, and they want thim to succeed because he is black, and he has made history.
Many persons, not just blacks, voted for him because he is black. It was a vote to aswage feelings of guilt because of how blacks have been treated. Those voters have a great deal invested in his success. He will be excused for this reason alone.
Rham, or someone else, will take a dive and that will be that.
You guys are getting your hopes up. Your reading articles that reinforce your inner wishes. This is not going to amount to much. If the Republicns get too hot over this it will boomarang.
Time will tell.
Forget the reasons he got voted in and recognize the vast majority simply do not support the policies he and a marginal percent on the far left are pushing.
Lurker, there is no way the economy holds together that long with out sinking into the second half of this double dip recession – let’s be honest and call it a second great depression, since that is in fact what it is.
In the month just concluded, May 2010, new mortgage applications dropped by 40%.
40%!!!!!!!
That *guarantees* that the housing industry goes into a nosedive by labor day (applications have got about a 2 – 3 month lead time over closed sales) Remember in 2008 – the housing market began to crash that summer, and the markets and the financial system crashed in September.
We will not make it to the end of this year without this economic system crashing and burning – and the desperation at seeing that fate coming may, and probably will, bring about actions of desperation that will make the final conflagration even worse.
“The Obama administration is so inept they can’t even do sleazy politics right. ”
I would not say inept. I would say “was so confident in being able to get away with it…”
Note to democrats: you constantly appear to only care about what you can get away with…spinning your public personas. Hollow to the core, you are.
Character is what you do when NO ONE is looking. We are sick of your policies and yes, character, being driven by P.R. stunts and “what you can get away with”.
oneal:
I am not getting my hopes up one way or the other. I am just saying that Obama has lost a lot of ground very quickly and his machine is already failing him. If people are honestly worried about their well being or the well being of their communities they will not give a rat’s behind what color Obama is, they will be thinking about themselves and the people they care about.
It just depends on what the economy does, or if there is a really major scandal.
Remember, Nixon won 49 states and managed to lose it all in a relatively good economy. The idea that people will vote for Obama out of some fear of appearing unpolitically correct if they don’t if they are honestly worried about the country…no, I don’t think so.
Getting rid of Rahm will not make up for someone loosing a job.
I didn’t want Obama to fail anymore than I want the speeding car driven by the drunk to hit the bridge abutment at 60 MPH. In both cases, it is just the most likely outcome given the initial conditions. Reality is that which does not go away when one ceases to believe in it.