Barack’s Bad Day

[GaryC 7]

Barack’s Bad Day

By GAIL COLLINS

Published: June 12, 2008

Everybody knows that the very first rule in picking a vice president is to do no harm. Really, you can choose anybody. How dumb would you feel if it turned into an embarrassment? This is why the careful, modern candidate sets up a screening system.

Now ask yourself: how dumb would you feel if you got in trouble over your selection for the vice-presidential screener.

Barack Obama is having the first postprimary crisis, a moment in which the only conceivable response is: what was he thinking?

James Johnson, who resigned Wednesday as the leader of the Obama vice-presidential selection committee, is an old Washington hand who had helped Walter Mondale and John Kerry with the same task. His aura of experience was apparently not diminished one whit by the fact that both the candidates he assisted lost and that one of them ran into embarrassing controversies over his running mate.

The immediate cause of Johnson’s downfall was a charge that he had been given a sweet deal on three home loans by the head of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, which Obama had criticized for its role in the subprime lending crisis. Since Countrywide seems to hold the mortgage on every house in the United States, it is also disliked by many, many Americans on general principles.

So far, not so bad. As Obama pointed out, you cannot really expect a presidential candidate to set up a committee to vet the people who are going to be on the vetting committee. Although you can bet that by 2012, that will become standard operating procedure.

But there’s all this other stuff. Johnson is the former head of Fannie Mae, which under his direction, according to regulators, engaged in accounting practices that were, at best, sloppy. At the same time, he sat on the boards of five different corporations, where he appeared to serve as cheerleader for the theory that corporate executives deserve to be paid obscene amounts of money.

How does someone go up to Barack Obama, who once sponsored a bill to curb excessive executive compensation, and say — “You know the vice-presidential search committee? For chairman, how about Jim Johnson? Remember, the guy who tried to give the head of UnitedHealth Group $1.4 billion in stock options?”

When Johnson quit on Wednesday, the McCain headquarters issued a statement saying that the fact that he had been selected in the first place raised “serious questions about Barack Obama’s judgment.” This does not seem like a great avenue of attack for a campaign in which a large chunk of the top staff was recently dismissed for being lobbyists.

Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate the cases, the McCain spokesman said: “America can’t afford a president who flip-flops on key questions in the course of 24 hours.” Under a McCain presidency, the bleeding would presumably go on for weeks and weeks before the inevitable occurred.

Although McCain has, so far, not demonstrated that he can manage anything more challenging than a backyard barbecue, that still does not make the Johnson story look any better.

Keep in mind that the head of the vice-presidential vetting committee is not a job for which there are a limited number of qualified candidates. You could appoint a hero firefighter or a nun to be the public face of the search. You hire experts to do the background checks. You would want your own trusted advisers sitting in on the interviews. The other two committee members, Caroline Kennedy and a former deputy attorney general, could have managed on their own.

But no, we have to have a seasoned wise man whose high standing among the movers and shakers of the nation’s business and political elite seemed to hinge on the fact that he feels every single one of them deserves more money.

Talk about unnecessary disasters. It’s like having your career ruined because you invited the wrong person to host a party in honor of your nephew’s godparents.

Gentle spirits may decide that it’s a good thing that the Obama campaign is getting this sort of thing out of the way early. Crueler ones may note that at least they can’t blame this one on Hillary.

Rather than falling into complete depression at such an early point in the game, let’s work under the assumption that the people involved were so tired that they didn’t know what they were doing.

Just before the final primaries, I was in South Dakota talking to George McGovern, who is the gold standard when it comes to disastrous vice-presidential selections. If Obama ever asked him for advice, McGovern said, he’d tell him to avoid exhaustion.

“I got that advice from Barry Goldwater. He said watch out for fatigue. That’s when you make mistakes,” McGovern added.

One ridiculous decision doesn’t mean that Obama won’t be a good candidate.

But it does suggest that he needs to take a long nap.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/opinion/...amp;oref=slogin

[zqt3344 21]

There will be many more bad days for Ovomit besides this one, you ever notice you do not get any replies to this one cause it tells it like it is, And the Ovomitbots do not know how to spin it and explain this one away. Good post. It is the truth. The more people learn of Ovomit the more they will not like. Poor judgement skills.

Barack’s Bad Day

By GAIL COLLINS

Published: June 12, 2008

Everybody knows that the very first rule in picking a vice president is to do no harm. Really, you can choose anybody. How dumb would you feel if it turned into an embarrassment? This is why the careful, modern candidate sets up a screening system.

Now ask yourself: how dumb would you feel if you got in trouble over your selection for the vice-presidential screener.

Barack Obama is having the first postprimary crisis, a moment in which the only conceivable response is: what was he thinking?

James Johnson, who resigned Wednesday as the leader of the Obama vice-presidential selection committee, is an old Washington hand who had helped Walter Mondale and John Kerry with the same task. His aura of experience was apparently not diminished one whit by the fact that both the candidates he assisted lost and that one of them ran into embarrassing controversies over his running mate.

The immediate cause of Johnson’s downfall was a charge that he had been given a sweet deal on three home loans by the head of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, which Obama had criticized for its role in the subprime lending crisis. Since Countrywide seems to hold the mortgage on every house in the United States, it is also disliked by many, many Americans on general principles.

So far, not so bad. As Obama pointed out, you cannot really expect a presidential candidate to set up a committee to vet the people who are going to be on the vetting committee. Although you can bet that by 2012, that will become standard operating procedure.

But there’s all this other stuff. Johnson is the former head of Fannie Mae, which under his direction, according to regulators, engaged in accounting practices that were, at best, sloppy. At the same time, he sat on the boards of five different corporations, where he appeared to serve as cheerleader for the theory that corporate executives deserve to be paid obscene amounts of money.

How does someone go up to Barack Obama, who once sponsored a bill to curb excessive executive compensation, and say — “You know the vice-presidential search committee? For chairman, how about Jim Johnson? Remember, the guy who tried to give the head of UnitedHealth Group $1.4 billion in stock options?”

When Johnson quit on Wednesday, the McCain headquarters issued a statement saying that the fact that he had been selected in the first place raised “serious questions about Barack Obama’s judgment.” This does not seem like a great avenue of attack for a campaign in which a large chunk of the top staff was recently dismissed for being lobbyists.

Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate the cases, the McCain spokesman said: “America can’t afford a president who flip-flops on key questions in the course of 24 hours.” Under a McCain presidency, the bleeding would presumably go on for weeks and weeks before the inevitable occurred.

Although McCain has, so far, not demonstrated that he can manage anything more challenging than a backyard barbecue, that still does not make the Johnson story look any better.

Keep in mind that the head of the vice-presidential vetting committee is not a job for which there are a limited number of qualified candidates. You could appoint a hero firefighter or a nun to be the public face of the search. You hire experts to do the background checks. You would want your own trusted advisers sitting in on the interviews. The other two committee members, Caroline Kennedy and a former deputy attorney general, could have managed on their own.

But no, we have to have a seasoned wise man whose high standing among the movers and shakers of the nation’s business and political elite seemed to hinge on the fact that he feels every single one of them deserves more money.

Talk about unnecessary disasters. It’s like having your career ruined because you invited the wrong person to host a party in honor of your nephew’s godparents.

Gentle spirits may decide that it’s a good thing that the Obama campaign is getting this sort of thing out of the way early. Crueler ones may note that at least they can’t blame this one on Hillary.

Rather than falling into complete depression at such an early point in the game, let’s work under the assumption that the people involved were so tired that they didn’t know what they were doing.

Just before the final primaries, I was in South Dakota talking to George McGovern, who is the gold standard when it comes to disastrous vice-presidential selections. If Obama ever asked him for advice, McGovern said, he’d tell him to avoid exhaustion.

“I got that advice from Barry Goldwater. He said watch out for fatigue. That’s when you make mistakes,” McGovern added.

One ridiculous decision doesn’t mean that Obama won’t be a good candidate.

But it does suggest that he needs to take a long nap.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/opinion/...amp;oref=slogin

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There will be many more bad days for Ovomit besides this one, you ever notice you do not get any replies to this one cause it tells it like it is , And the Ovomitbots do not know how to spin it and explain this one away. Good post. It is the truth. The more people learn of Ovomit the more they will not like. Poor judgement skills.

Actually its because this is one of at least 3 different threads about the exact story.

And you missed the party.

[zqt3344 21]

Party is not over only starting. Ovomitbot you must obey so therefore you cannot respond to the truth!

There will be many more bad days for Ovomit besides this one, you ever notice you do not get any replies to this one cause it tells it like it is , And the Ovomitbots do not know how to spin it and explain this one away. Good post. It is the truth. The more people learn of Ovomit the more they will not like. Poor judgement skills.

Actually its because this is one of at least 3 different threads about the exact story.

And you missed the party.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Party is not over only starting. Ovomitbot you must obey so therefore you cannot respond to the truth!

There will be many more bad days for Ovomit besides this one, you ever notice you do not get any replies to this one cause it tells it like it is , And the Ovomitbots do not know how to spin it and explain this one away. Good post. It is the truth. The more people learn of Ovomit the more they will not like. Poor judgement skills.

Actually its because this is one of at least 3 different threads about the exact story.

And you missed the party.

I'm starting to think that you wouldn't know the truth if it smashed you over the head with a shovel and buried you in a hole in the desert

You don't want to discuss just ridicule and stereotype. Not to worry eh - I'm sure you can pull something out of your tiny hat besides your creative misspelling of Obama's name. I used to make those sort of puns when I was 7

[zqt3344 21]

Where is the Kool Aide at? And OBEY OVOMIT is your only simple thought of the day!

Party is not over only starting. Ovomitbot you must obey so therefore you cannot respond to the truth!

There will be many more bad days for Ovomit besides this one, you ever notice you do not get any replies to this one cause it tells it like it is , And the Ovomitbots do not know how to spin it and explain this one away. Good post. It is the truth. The more people learn of Ovomit the more they will not like. Poor judgement skills.

Actually its because this is one of at least 3 different threads about the exact story.

And you missed the party.

I'm starting to think that you wouldn't know the truth if it smashed you over the head with a shovel and buried you in a hole in the desert

You don't want to discuss just ridicule and stereotype. Not to worry eh - I'm sure you can pull something out of your tiny hat besides your creative misspelling of Obama's name. I used to make those sort of puns when I was 7

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Where is the Kool Aide at? And OBEY OVOMIT is your only simple thought of the day!

Who am I to disagree - Feel free to continue characterising me according to how you think I should think.

I'll not stand in the way of your obvious self-delusion.

[no name 1]

Where is the Kool Aide at? And OBEY OVOMIT is your only simple thought of the day!

Who am I to disagree - Feel free to continue characterising me according to how you think I should think.

I'll not stand in the way of your obvious self-delusion.

Oh the irony....

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Where is the Kool Aide at? And OBEY OVOMIT is your only simple thought of the day!

Who am I to disagree - Feel free to continue characterising me according to how you think I should think.

I'll not stand in the way of your obvious self-delusion.

Oh the irony....

Ah the mirror analogy. Together with the "Pot" we have two of the most clicheed, unoriginal and overused images going.

BTW - There's irony? Perhaps out there in the world according to Dev, someone needs to lay off the grass and mushrooms

[zqt3344 21]

You should talk, listening to you is like the pot calling the kettle black! Get real.

Where is the Kool Aide at? And OBEY OVOMIT is your only simple thought of the day!

Who am I to disagree - Feel free to continue characterising me according to how you think I should think.

I'll not stand in the way of your obvious self-delusion.

[no name 1]

Where is the Kool Aide at? And OBEY OVOMIT is your only simple thought of the day!

Who am I to disagree - Feel free to continue characterising me according to how you think I should think.

I'll not stand in the way of your obvious self-delusion.

Oh the irony....

Ah the mirror analogy. Together with the "Pot" we have two of the most clicheed, unoriginal and overused images going.

BTW - There's irony? Perhaps out there in the world according to Dev, someone needs to lay off the grass and mushrooms

So you can call others names all you want & yet the rules don't apply to you? Oh it must be nice in your bubble!!! Even names aren't enough for you - you have to resort to saying I am a druggie.

Self-delusion, INDEED.

Grass? Mushrooms? What is this, 1970?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Where is the Kool Aide at? And OBEY OVOMIT is your only simple thought of the day!

Who am I to disagree - Feel free to continue characterising me according to how you think I should think.

I'll not stand in the way of your obvious self-delusion.

Oh the irony....

Ah the mirror analogy. Together with the "Pot" we have two of the most clicheed, unoriginal and overused images going.

BTW - There's irony? Perhaps out there in the world according to Dev, someone needs to lay off the grass and mushrooms

So you can call others names all you want & yet the rules don't apply to you? Oh it must be nice in your bubble!!! Even names aren't enough for you - you have to resort to saying I am a druggie.

Self-delusion, INDEED.

Grass? Mushrooms? What is this, 1970?

What "name" did I call you Dev? Wouldn't that require a noun of some kind...?

I simply pointed out that you have (yet again) pulled out the same tired old repertoire of cheap tricks - in line with your usual MO.

The real deal here of course is that you'll personally attack anyone who even remotely indicates some sort of support for Barack Obama. More than that - you'll side with anyone who does the same (like this zqt character), regardless of their views and no matter how idiotic and irrational they demonstrate themselves to be. Perhaps one day you'll realise that its fine to agree to disagree - rather than pr*stituting your ideals just to score petty, cheap shots.