Not Ready for Prime Time...
Oh, you people suck! You've really done it now! You've pissed off the Brits! The British Prime Minister came to pay his respects and was given a foretaste of what Obama's AmeriKKKa will soon look like; listless, unenthusiastic, disinterested, worn out, ungracious -- and dare I say it? --niggardly with it's bounty (save the nasty e-mails, look the word up).

The Administration sent a head of state, who came bearing great gifts, home with a box of DVD's and some kitsch from the White House Gift Shop, and probably a year's supply of Rice-a-Roni, as if he were the second-place contestant on Jeopardy or something. This incidentally is the White House that wants to revamp health care in this country -- if this is how they manage a simple matter of manners, taste and graciousness with one of America's oldest allies (and by the way, wasn't Obama supposed to mend the Old Alliances and not insult the Europeans like Bush had?), they certainly can't be expected to craft a health care system that treats an individual as anything other than a number, a slab of meat, and an inconvenience.

And let's not even get started on Sec. of State Clinton's behavior in the realm of diplomacy; begging the Chinese to buy American debt, insulting the Europeans and lecturing them on the history of democracy (which she got wrong, incidentally), and providing the Russian President with what was obviously intended to be a gag gift with a poor translation. Then there's the Letter to the Russians which, apparently, doesn't exist. Yep, I'm so glad the A-Team is up to the task of serious diplomacy.

Considering that we've all been told by our betters in the My-Leg-Is-Tingling media about just how extraordinarily cool and classy Obama (and his loudmouth wife) are supposed to be, one would have expected more. Of course, the White House, once it's mistakes were pointed out, was quick to blame someone or something else (the Prez is tired, some anonymous staffer did it, we're in transition here and not up to speed on diplomacy, etc.). If they could have blamed Bush they would have. But the real culprit here is Obama himself.

He's not ready. He never was. I don't think he ever expected this job to mean actual work. I don't think he's involved...at all. I think he's overwhelmed, and is more than happy to delegate and then dodge responsibility for following up. I think he's far too busy trying to enjoy the perks of the Presidency (Air Force One had gotten quite a work out, so far. Camp David, I assume, is next), or reliving his historic campaign to take any of his responsibilities seriously. The man is out to lunch and out of his league...and doesn't seem to notice or care. It's painfully obvious.

I mean, look at the record of unbridled success to date:

Obama's Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is clueless. The economy is in free-fall, and Obama doesn't even address it, except to say it's bad and getting worse. This Treasury Secretary (the one we were told we just had to have, despite his criminal behavior) gets laughed out of every meeting he attends, and he apparently can't even pay people enough to take what otherwise would be plum jobs at Treasury. Tax policy is divorced from economic reality. Yet other than the daily rote denunciation of 'The Rich' and some more talking down expectations on the as-yet-unseeable recovery, the President doesn't even address the root causes of the crisis, nor does he seem to have a handle on how to actually begin recovery realistically. So far, all he's done is promise to spend more ($20 trillion!) in the next four years than the government can actually collect. Never mind $250,000 incomes -- look out $22,500! I mean, you have to be some kind of imbecile to go to Columbus, Ohio to trumpet the fact that your 'stimulus bill' paid for 25 police officers (that's 25 government jobs, btw) on the same day the Department of Labor reports 621,000 more Americans got pink slips. Some success, huh? Yeah, Obama's team is buncha freakin' economic geniuses!

Look at the Porkulus bill! Look at this Omnibus spending bill! The President says he'll go through it 'line-by-line' to eliminate waste! Bullshit. He can't be bothered to govern (that's like, hard) and he's too busy to have someone look in on Reid and Pelosi, and so we get bills that he's forced to sign and then cheer lead for just to present the appearance of doing 'something'. He's turned the agenda over to the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader, they will now set policy and Obama will just rubber stamp it. They've rolled him, and he hasn't even recognized it yet. And so far, the only 'waste' Obama seems to have found is a paltry 40 billion in Pentagon cost overruns. Considering how much he plans to spend, this is like finding loose change in the sofa cushions.

So far, five potential cabinet members or other high-level appointees all seem to be tax cheats, or involved in some sort of alleged criminal activities; Richardson, Geithner, Kirk, Gillifer, Solis. These are only the ones we know about. That their names even came up, or that any of them actually got a job despite the notoriety, shows you something about the man's character; he can't even be counted upon to even maintain a charade of propriety.

And anyone who would put Joe Biden in charge of anything needs his head examined.

And we were told that Sarah Palin was not ready for prime time? At least she would have knitted the Prime Minister something.