"President Obama faces smiling villains in both parties who need to be smacked upside the head"

[Better Believe It]

A Helping of Bitter Beltway Baloney
By DOUG GIEBEL
February 4, 2009

Only a few days into his presidency, Barack Obama has given the hopeful who supported him a dose of bitter Beltway baloney as he tests his theory of politicians working together for the common good. Is he really naive about how the game is played -- by both Republicans and Democrats? Elsewhere there may be strength in sweetness. But in the halls of Congress? Is this a crisis of congeniality?

Plucked from the campaign trail and placed in the White House, President Obama and his checkerboard team may be suffering from The Jitters -- in this case a fear of early failure for going too far. Hailed by himself and others as a "pragmatist," Mr. Obama faces domestic and global disasters that call for real risk-taking courage. He could learn from the Super Bowl teams he watched on Sunday. Give it your all and let the chips fall where they may. Unfortunately, the president faces smiling villains in both parties who need to be smacked upside the head by fearless but intelligent leadership.

Obama's administrative leadership can be accomplished without tossing overboard that warmth, that relaxed West Wing, the decency and concern for which President Obama is famous. Voters (but apparently not members of Congress) have had it up-to-here with hubris, arrogance and hypocrisy. Both Republicans and Democrats are testing his resolve. Will the new First Lady and millions of hope-filled citizens remind President Obama that he was not elected by members of the House and Senate but by a people yearning to breathe the air of constitutional fairness and freedom after years of monstrous political suffocation?

Instead of stroking political insiders, a presidential Obama could dare to make his case to the nation, that is unless his case is more perfumed smoke than substance. The Beltway Game is not changed by instant replays. Those who now look to Barack Obama for leadership and change must not settle for Bush or Clinton Lite. Sailing our ship of state between the rock and the hard place requires the will, courage and independence of Odysseus.

http://www.counterpunch.org/giebel02042009.html

How are President Obama's "pit bulls" working Congress? I thought Rahm Emmanual was the man with "sharp elbows" who can get things done in Congress. Let's see him crack the whip in Congress. He knows where all the bodies are buried and knows about their skeletons in the closets.

[roguevalley]

1. the only thing that matters is decent legislation. if eggs get broken

to make the omelette, so be it.

[butterfly77]

2. I agree about the skeltons in the closets...

I am quiet sure there are many in the Republicons,I have just been waiting.