If the Beltway boys and girls think the number one problem with the Obama administration is trying to do too much, it would be nice if they paused their concern trolling and applied some pressure on the folks who are, for no reason whatsoever, delaying the votes of the people Obama has picked to join his administration help him get things done.
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dmsilev
But that wouldn’t be nearly bipartisan (def: Republicans get Democrats to do what Republicans want) enough. And that would make David Broder cry. And we can’t have that.
-dms
Rick Taylor
Agreed. And this time it isn’t a purely Republican versus Democrat issue; Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, is one of the culprits in the blocks of science advisers.
bob h
David Brooks has been arguing that Obama is trying to "do too much", and also has been nefariously questioning the ability of human intelligence and reason to solve problems.
He is really arguing that there is no point in undertaking government action to solve social problems.
But didn’t Social Security and Medicare pretty much solve the problem of poverty among the aged? Didn’t establishment of the EPA lead to dramatic improvements in air quality? You could go on and on citing examples of human reason and intelligence lead to solutions to problems.
comrade thalarctos
On Nice Polite Republicans this morning, they ran a story on how slowly the sub-cabinet offices were being filled, not mentioning even once the holds that had been placed and the obstructionism that is occurring. Moreover, after spending several minutes painting a picture of an administration in disarray, they grudgingly acknowledge that the Obama administration is filling these posts faster than its recent predecessors–after all, can’t let the facts get in the way of the narrative, now can we?
jwb
On one point Brooks is correct, though: if the Dems can’t pass the long-term tax increases (cap and trade in particular), they’ll need to scale back the long-term spending commitments. If the Dems can’t bring long-term taxes and spending into a closer proximity to balance, they will be just as irresponsible as the Repubs. (The deficit from the short-term stimulus is not really an issue because it’s not structural.)
Librarian
And when they’re not saying he’s trying to do too much, they’re saying how he shouldn’t be attacking Limbaugh. Oh, no! He’s attacking Rush! How horrible! Get me my smelling salts…
Bulworth
The desperate calls for glorious inaction on the part of John Boehner, David Brooks, Lou Dobbs, Judd Gregg, CNBC, and Evan Bayh remind me of a much quoted anecdote from the Civil War in which Lincoln, much exasperated with General McClellan’s failure to use the army for something other than marching, came up with his own battle plan and is said to have remarked "that if General McClellan isn’t using the army, he (Lincoln) would like to borrow it for a while".
If the media and congressional elite don’t want to use the government, we the people, after years of negligence and inaction, would like to borrow it for a while.
jcricket
Look, Politico’s so out of real news they’re running articles on Obama’s use of the Teleprompter. Apparently, GW didn’t use the Teleprompter at small events, he spoke off the cuff… no wait, he used giant index cards (which are basically low-tech teleprompters).
They’re trying to start a meme, clearly, that Obama’s not a good speaker, or doesn’t own his words/speeches. Note no articles about Bush’s use of giant index cards. In fact, I remember plenty of articles about how much Bush "connected" with the (hand-chosen, Republican only, but let’s pretend they’re not) audiences of real people around the country with his folksy chit-chat.
This is what Josh Marshall means when he says the DC establishment is built for/tilted towards Republican rule.
Cris
When the walls are collapsing, pieces of the ceiling have already started falling, and there are huge holes in the floor, is it really possible to "do too much" to try to fix it?
Bulworth
@Cris:
Heh, indeedy. Maybe the media would like to just have the government sweep the floors in such a circumstance.