We’ve already got Rahm, and I expect to see Dennis Ross’s name in the news soon. But please God, not Eric Holder as AG.
Look at it this way, Chuck. Remember what FDR said to the critics when he appointed the old stock swindler Joe Kennedy to head the SEC? Maybe Obama figures it takes a DINO to bulldoze the DINOs.
Well, what the hell, I can dream, can't I?
Can't I adore him
Although we are oceans apart?
I can't make him open his heart
But I can dream, can't I?
I mean, really. What else is left for the left?
Posted by: Fast Eddie on November 7, 2008 12:24 PMComments for the new administration can be left at www.change.gov . Like Chuck says, we can't be fooled again if we were watching last time. I'm not saying they'll rush to obey instructions sent to the comment site, but at least they'll know the democratic wing of the Democratic Party isn't giving them a two-year free pass like last time.
Posted by: Martha Bridegam on November 7, 2008 3:14 PMI dunno, I think the accountability moment may have passed us by.
Posted by: Chuck Dupree on November 7, 2008 11:28 PMhave you watched the 1hr53min september 20, 2005 roast of rahm emanuel up over at cspan?
paul begala as mc
speakers:
chris dodd
barack obama
william safire
tom cole
hillary clinton
william daley
rahm emanuel
david axelrod
in the "recent programs" bin (no permalink for it) at cspan.org
abc news has the bit with obama up on their page but i recommend watching the whole thing (the first 15 minutes are presentation by host org, epilepsy research)
Posted by: karen marie on November 8, 2008 12:42 AMI dunno, I think the accountability moment may have passed us by.
Never say that. The biggest problem with progressives over the past twenty years or so has been self-defeating despair. It was the first thing I noticed in the Pacifica Radio commentaries driving home from Nevada. The stodgier lefty commentators were saying oh, yes, cheer now but it's gonna be more of the same. The more hopeful, often younger ones were saying, yes, they'll try to give us a lot of the same but if we stay on this crew we can hold them accountable. Maybe the younger ones just haven't learned yet, but I like to think not.
Robert McNamara, of all people, had a good line on this subject, talking about the harm possible from "a naivete of cynicism." If you don't believe improvement is possible you won't achieve it.
If you'd prefer Rebecca Solnit as a moral guide, she says some important things along these lines in her small book *Hope in the Dark*.
If you don't care for either of those you can reflect that the most powerful weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
Posted by: Martha Bridegam on November 8, 2008 2:15 PM