Posts by Russell Brown
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But nice analysis, all the same, 81stcolumn
Yes. Thanks for addressing the substance of the argument. It makes the place useful.
It also makes it easier for me to grab a little family holiday time.
Back in AK now though. It's warmer than Wellington. By why is Te Papa so stuffy?
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The Australian's dreadful Janet Albrechtsen has the latest winger talking points:
However, the inauguration is just a moment in history. While Obama’s toastmaster skills are exceptional, his performance as President is an entirely different and more uncertain matter. Yet if the liberal media’s performance to date is any guide, predetermined judgments in favour of Obama will infect coverage of his presidency.
"Toastmaster skills". O rly.
Of course, building and running a revolutionary presidential campaign out of nowhere, and entering office with 80% approval ratings doesn't count for these folks.
But me, I'm loving the clarity and decisiveness of the early presidential announcements -- and especially his first executive order and what it portends for transparency and the rule of law:
Two days after his 1993 inauguration, Bill Clinton barred senior appointees from leaving and then, at any time in the next five years, lobbying former colleagues in the agency where they had worked. He reversed the order a month before leaving office, as aides complained of difficulty finding jobs.
Obama's order applies more broadly to "every appointee in every executive agency," barring them from leaving and then lobbying any other executive branch official or senior appointee for the remainder of his administration. The rule also bars new officials from making policy on any matter involving their former employer or clients for a period of two years, or from working at an agency they lobbied within the past two years. "We should never forget that we are here as public servants," Obama said.
The reason he probably won't suffer Clinton's fate is that there will be plenty of smart people who won't see this work as a chance to cash in later, but as a chance to make history.
Of course, a claim to have made history is something you can cash in on on for the rest of your life ...
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And George Mitchell, US Special Envoy to Nothern Ireland for the last 13 years, and an active participant in the peace process there, has been named Obama's Middle East envoy.
Bonus: he's an Arab-American.
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This is good ...
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Promising "a new era of openness in our country," President Barack Obama signed several executive orders Wednesday relating to ethics guidelines for staff members of his administration.
"Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," Obama said.
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Russell, why do you not look at the facts rather than criisise someone competent as Bill Ralston.
Chuck, that really is a very odd thing to say.
I thought I'd looked at quite a few facts -- and for that matter, figures. It was pretty much the point of the blog post.
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The local one is damn skillful. It is delivered in pretty much the same tone by both men and women and does not actually specify the gender of who needs to change their behaviour.
In case anyone was wondering, the script in the ads was 100% supplied, and there were quite a few takes to get just right tone.
They knew what they wanted, and I was actually asked to dial it down a bit: less "that's unacceptable" and more "a word in your ear, mate", basically.
The hardest thing was keeping meaning in the words after saying them 20+ times.
But my word-in-your-ear voice obviously had something. The same agency asked me to voice the outro to the most recent version of the Kirwan ads: "Don't let depression get the better of you -- or your friends."
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He's not talking to the rest of the world, he's talking to America
Yup. That's the key to the speech.
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Like others, I'm wary of evangelical Christians and their all-to-often narrow views, however if Warren's views are shifting and his involvement with Obama encourages others to be more open minded then I agree with Quinn's view that it could be beneficial all around.
I think Craig is quite right to say that Warren is a self-regarding douche -- but he's self-regarding douche to whom tens of millions of Americans look for inspiration. He's tied in now to the Obama project, and that's strategically huge when he's looking to make major reforms to things like energy and climate policy. It really maginalises the likes of James Dobson.
Has Obama thrown the gays under the bus? Only if he doesn't deliver on policy. If he does, then the fat guy who talks with his eyes shut won't matter.
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1)Lets be real, very large parts of the nation don't want to be included in Obama's vision. And never will.
Those two sets of approval ratings from surveys in he past week were verging on unprecedented. He starts with enormous public goodwill. The real holdouts are down to 20% of the population.
OTOH, they do include the crazy-racists-with-weapons bloc ...
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Just goes to show I shouldn't assume things. For me, it was obvious who'd stuffed up immediately. But I'm not sure why I assumed everyone else would realise it was Roberts.
I did, but I had to hear it again to be sure of it. Obama handled it really well. Rather than just winging it, he stopped at the sentence Roberts fluffed, and calmly gave him a visual prompt.
But, any picks on the first weblog to assert that Obama isn't the real president because he wasn't sworn in properly, anyone?
I tend to like to leave the bottom-trawling to third parties. Alicublog or Instaputz will be on it, fer sure.
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