Wednesday, January 14, 2009

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Traditionally, newly elected Presidents wait until after their inauguration to get entangled in scandals or demonstrate total incompetence. But today we are living in the age of "change", and that's exactly what we're getting.
President-Elect Obama has already demonstrated a complete lack of ability in delegating his authority by virtue of his appointments to various positions in his administration. From his first pick of Rahm Emmanuel of Fannie May and Freddy Mac fame, to the pro-war in Iraq one day and anti the next - Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Not one to rest on his laurels, Obama decided to then fix the intelligence community that he has spent so much time criticizing by appointing a man who has absolutely no experience or back ground in anything resembling the intelligence community. Leon Pannetta - who better to put in charge of gathering intelligence in a time of war with a ruthless enemy than a guy who equates getting a terrorist wet (water boarding) with torturing one?
His appointment of Bill Richardson lasted about the same amount of time that it takes for me to warm a Hot Pocket. And the list keep on growing.
But my personal favorite is his recent appointment of Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Who better to head the IRS than someone who can't pay his own taxes? When his name was first mentioned as Obama's pick, I had never heard of him, but people on both sides of the isle had nothing by great things to say about him. My "Spidey sense" went into overdrive when I realized that he was liked by both ends of the spectrum.
This brings me to my next question. Where are all those bloggers and pundits who saw fit to criticize "Joe the plumber" for being behind on his taxes? Joe's only claim to fame at that point had been to ask "His Hopeness" a simple question (how dare he). His profession involved pipe fittings and ball valves, not the nation's financial future. Geithner is supposed to be the guy who's going to set the standard and lead this country out of financial Armageddon, yet he can't even manage his own taxes?
The worst part is watching the media and "Sir Hopesalot" himself try to downplay the relevance of Geithner's shenanigans. Yet Joe the plumber was unfit to mearly ask a question because of his tax situation.
No double standard there, huh? Keep in mind that I haven't even mentioned "Blago-gate" or Obama's economic speach last week where he basically told the world that he has no clue how the nation's economy works. It's going to be a fun four years.