The White House and Why Things are so Screwed up.

The problem with what is going on is easy enough to diagnose.  Too much bullshit.  Obama made a big mistake when he first decided that he wanted a cabinet and people around him who disagreed.  He wanted to get all points of view, weigh the options, and do everything in an objective and dispassionate way.  The trouble is, that left him prey to those with the most emotional commitments to other causes than what he espoused during the campaign.   Why are we still in Iraq?  Why are we in Afghanistan and also bombing Pakistan for good measure?  I know he said he'd take out Bin Laden if he knew with certainty where he was and if Pakistan didn't want to, but he didn't say he was going to wage war on the place.

What happened to the public option?  Why was it even an option rather than a mandate?  That's what the people who voted for him wanted.  And what's this about needing 60 votes for everything in the Senate?  I know about filibusters, but then make them do it, make it telecast and broadcast 24/7 until the people get aroused.  It's too easy this way.  Or change the rules.  They've done it before.  Nope, we gotta be reasonable.

I first wrote this to explain a few things to someone, but that person is dead now and that explains why it's been on my hard drive so long.  I figured I'd just post it and be done with it.

Some of you know that we have been doing intensive research on the White House and what happens there.  The research phase stopped about 6 weeks ago, and what remains is to collate and discuss the results.  It has been fascinating, but not actually surprising to any of you with a modicum of healthy cynicism and sense of reality.  In short, if you know enough not to believe what you were taught in elementary school about our government, at least to the extent that many high school teachers do (but are afraid to say), this will not be overwhelming information.

One overwhelming thing to realize is that a great deal of work goes on there, far more than needs to.  For example, no matter what your job there may be, if given a specific task to complete and you do complete it within the allotted time, the next day you will find five times the amount of new work awaiting you.  If you are foolish enough to complete and accomplish those tasks successfully, you will find twenty-five awaiting you the following day.  In short, the most plausible and influential persons there are the ones that are the least productive.  You are not promoted, as in the Peter Principle, to your level of incompetency; rather, you are kept below your level of competency as those less competent have far more time to campaign for higher positions for themselves.  However, you must take care not to offend those to whom you report, but instilling respect (fear) in those who are fellow campaigners is quite necessary.

So what happens to all those tasks or projects that you do not attend to?   Anyone with experience in administration knows full well that if something is designated as "Urgent," it means nothing of the sort.  The best policy for such projects is to simply let them sit there for awhile and you will find that most of the issues involved have either resolved themselves, become moot, or been brought to your attention again (at which time, you may wish to evaluate it).  The term "Urgent," is only there because someone has decided that it should be there -- it's existence and reality are very seldom related.

This is what happened recently.  The Secretary of Agriculture reacted to an "urgent" situation when doing nothing would have been far more productive.  How much time and energy has now been wasted because he took action when something was described as "urgent".  When it says "Urgent," screw it.

The ambiance is quite strange for someone used to a modern academic environment as the "macho" attitude remains in effect amongst the preponderance of personages there, be they male or female.  However, anyone of them with that particular stance who attempts to use it against you through intimidation can quite easily be reduced to cowering behind a flood of apologies though the mere offer of an opportunity of a direct physical encounter.  One reason for this is that most of the people there have never engaged in any sort of physical competition except for those with military training, and those are usually very straight-forward in their approach and offer no such intimidation.

I'm just wondering how much apologizing is going on right now. 

Obama: Forget all that crap and go back to what you were elected for.  You should know that you are not going to get help from Republicans.   In fact, they are wondering how far right they should go, including doing away with Social Security, Medicare, anything that smacks of FDR!  And you think they will cooperate with you?  Are you nuts?

Why do you think nobody is going to vote except for Nazi types this next election? 

I thought of putting a photo of the effects of Fallujah or suffering in Gaza.  The trouble is that there are so many of them and you know all about them anyway,  Still, musn't offend Mitch McConnell?  You can not have spent ten years in Chicago and not know better.  Even if it was in Hyde Park.