Don Knotts at Treasury
The late great Don Knotts used to do a character called "the nervous man." You can see it on display in "The Ghost And Mr. Chicken" when Knotts addresses a Chamber Of Commerce picnic. The papers in his hands shake violently, his voice squeaks, and his every utterance begins with the phrase "let me clarify this." He's got nothing on Timothy Geithner.
Watching Geithner's jittery announcement of the new public private partnership that will solve the nation's banking ills was to be left with only one thought...this is the guy that won the argument??!! How exactly did Axelrod and Emmanuel try to make the alternate case that bankers should be held accountable...by assuming fetal positions and weeping?
Geithner of course was hailed by pundits as the indispensable man, whether or not he pays his taxes. It's the heralded Beltway tradition that once opposed Dan Rostenkowski going to jail on the grounds that he was the only one who understood how to jiggle the handle at the Ways and Means toilet.
For all we know, the banks may have used the first 350 billion in TARP money to give 700 executives $500,000,000 bonuses. But, as is all the rage, let us not look back. Let us look ahead to the fruits of the public private partnership, where the public will shell out and the Robert Rubins of the world will cash in.
Timothy Geithner trusts the people who write the fine print on your credit card statement. If Don Knotts was alive, he'd be nervous.
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Joe Liberman & Mitch McConnell are starting to resemble the older Don Knotts but they lack the late Mr Chicken's wit.
Those who continually urge you to look forward don't want you to see what they are doing to you from behind.
The shakiest member in the cabinet.
It is not all the rage to look forward, that is Mr. Obama's message (not mine and not many others), his very political message. Mr. Obama is under intense scrutiny and he should know there is a huge expectation that he is not going to be more of the same, that he will buck "Beltway tradition". Prudence tells me, chill, do not fret, and do not be shocked at the moves that are made in the early stages. Maybe I am putting to must trust in Obama, maybe he is not up to the task. One thing is for sure, we will find out by and by. I do know that forty years of BS requires a lot of disinfectant. Mr. Obama has made several moves that have run counter to where I thought he should be heading. As I have said in the past, when you engage in this political thing that we do, you have to have a certain measure of trust, patience, tolerance, and acceptance. It is a dirty game and we cannot expect that Mr. Obama is not going to get grimy as he tries to cleanup Washington. He has appointed some dirty folks so that he can study dirt up close and personal.
Either that or he is charlatan. As I said, we will know, by and by. I am siding with Obama being the real deal.
"much trust"
"He has appointed some dirty folks so that he can study dirt up close and personal."
We need to stop with the self-delusion. Obama is a politician. That means, as always, he will make decisions based on the political forces exerted. If we sit back and rely on "a certain measure of trust, patience, tolerance, and acceptance", we will lose. Time to wake up.
Yeah, let's not give the guy a chance or anything.
You bet I'm nervous. I cannot for the life of me understand why O picked this guy, Mr Goldman Sacs, Turbo Tax Tim. As with his cohorts he is only interested in the corporate greed policy, certainly not what is good for the country.
But hey, isn't he the guy that Obama Just Had To Have? Isn't he almost on the same genius level as his boss?
Oh, wait a minute--his real boss isn't in the White House, is he?
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