Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

People are complicated. Love is not.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Everybody saw this coming.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

You are here: Home / Sports / Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints

Reader Interactions

221Comments

  2. 2.

    RedKitten

    I don’t even follow football, had no idea what was going on, but was still glued to the screen. That touchdown off of the interception was su-wheeet.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I don’t even follow football, but that was wonderful and a great outcome. Geaux Saints!

  12. 12.

    DanF

    Speaking as a Colts fan, #$^&*#(#(&# #@IY#@ #I!!!YUY#QUY)$OUFE EIUYWERR(*#@*())#$ $R*@#(*!! ALSO, TOO!!

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    They just showed Fujita carrying his twin girls. Man are they ever gonna have trouble getting a date when they get older!

    @Laura W: Heh. My Canuckistani co-worker said the Saints were going to win because their unis look better. That and Reggie Bush.

  17. 17.

    CaseyL

    That’s gotta be the best Superbowl ever.

    When NO came out in the 2nd half with that on-side kick, I jumped up and down and shrieked “Audacité! Toujours l’audacité!” because that was one ballsy play.

    And, yeah, it absolutely changed the dynamic of the game.

  18. 18.

    Karen in GA

    Former FEMA fuckup Brown picked the Colts to win, which makes this just a little sweeter. Heckuva job, Brownie!

  20. 20.

    Max

    I’m happy for the Saints. Love the dems were overwhelmingly pulling for the Saints and glad that this win allows us to keep talking about how badly W and Team fucked up after Katrina. Never forget!

    If ever a City deserved a win, this is it.

  24. 24.

    Martin

    @CaseyL: Yeah, I agree. After the first quarter, I thought they were done, but that was a killer play to start the 2nd half. Amazing, especially after getting stopped at the goal line in the first half – that was a hell of a comeback and well played on both teams. Not a lot of errors in there.

    Also glad to see that the Saints won by enough to make that 2 point conversion call immaterial. Nobody likes to win off of a refs judgement like that.

  26. 26.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Nice one! Goal line stands. Onsides kickoff. Dramatic interception. Two-point conversion.

    That’s one that’ll be remembered.

  27. 27.

    South of I-10

    Holy crap y’all! I am in Lafayette, two hours west of New Orleans. There are fireworks going off, everyone is outside screaming. I just called my Dad and told him this was for all the times he woke me up during Monday Night Football yelling at the TV. The Saints just won the Super Bowl!

  30. 30.

    valdivia

    sorry to sound like an OT broken record but Costa Rica, country of universal medical care and overall socialist paradise is about to elect its first female President. Better yet about a month ago it seemed the Libertarian Hot Guy had a chance of winning and as of now he is not even close (3rd place).

  31. 31.

    Louise

    Who the hell let Carville near the podium? Just when I was escaping the idiocy for a little celebration. Disparaissez, crapaud!

    ETA: Amen!

  33. 33.

    D-Chance.

    Well, New Orleans will shut down for the next few days. Everyone partying, no one working.

    IOW, a typical day…

    LOL, on ESPN, the cameras are catching a policeman on horseback assaulting a party-goer while Berman is carrying on with his inanities.

  44. 44.

    Cassidy

    Drew Brees finally enters the realm of the elite quarterbacks of the NFL.

    Nah. This makes him good. Elite QB’s do it more than once. (I’m a Cowboy’s fan. I know I don’t have an elite QB.)

    Great and I thought we’d finally heard enough about Hurricane Katrina.

  49. 49.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: The beads are gonna be a-flyin’ tonight on Bourbon Street! I don’t expect to hear from South for a few days due to the excessive celebrating that is about to occur. Laissez les bon temps roulez!

  51. 51.

    CaseyL

    @South of I-10: Party on, dude! Drink a few for all of us. The Saints won as fair and square as I’ve ever seen, played as well as any team ever has (hardly any penalties and, what, no turnovers at all?) and were, as I said earlier, just beautifully audacious.

    If ever a city deserved a chance to celebrate, it’s NOLA.

  55. 55.

    HRA

    Congratulations Saints!

    It was one of the best Super Bowls in recent times. Hated the 1st half. Loved the second half.

  56. 56.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Give me, a kiss to build a dream on,
    And my imagination will take care of the rest.
    Darlin’, I ask no more than this,
    A kiss to build a dream on.

  59. 59.

    madmommy

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Only the tourists show skin for beads. I’ve got bags of long beads in my attic. I’ll send you whatever you want.

    WHO DAT!!!

    I’m so happy!

  60. 60.

    New Yorker

    Man, I’m really happy for Sean Payton, and really happy for Drew Brees (he looked like he had tears in his eyes while he was holding his son, real men know when to cry). It’s good that such a hard-luck franchise can finally win it all. In addition, I think this means more to New Orleans than the average sports championship means to the average city. I often used sports fandom as an escape from the tougher times in life, and I imagine almost everyone who suffered through Katrina used the Saints in such a way.

    But I just wish the Giants had traded Shockey to the Raiders or something. His ugly mug after scoring the winning TD is the only blemish on that game.

  62. 62.

    valdivia

    @valdivia:

    To continue my OT–it is now confirmed with the two other candidates conceding. CR indeed has its first female president. Earned on her own merits too. Not married to a politician and hard worker wonky person all around. Good going.

  64. 64.

    Yutsano

    @New Yorker: Stupid question: who was Shockey hugging at the end there? Either he goes for cougars or that was his mom, I honestly couldn’t tell you which.

    Oh and the image of Fujita holding his little ones is gonna stick in my brain for a very long time.

    @valdivia: Woot! Good for them! It should make for some entertaining times down there now.

  67. 67.

    patrickT

    Tonight, New Orleans had the best game day coaching/play calling I have ever seen. Nervy in a reasonable percentage way. Great stuff.

  69. 69.

    Lisa K.

    Man, I could not be happier right now if my boy Brady was hoisting another trophy. Congratulations to the 2009 Super Bowl champ New Orleans Saints.

    (Oh, and Polian? Suck on your two thrown games, on your elbow to the throat of history. Undefeated? Ha! You guys don’t have the guts OR the heart.)

    I wonder if Ta-Neshi Coates will be able to get out of bed tomorrow…?

  70. 70.

    lamh31

    I’m at work, so I had to check the net for the score. I’m the only one in the lab, so I yelled like an idiot.

    Ya’ll I’m damn near crying. Just remembering my fam who died due to Katrina who were die-hard Saints fans, and how they would feel about this!!!!

  71. 71.

    RS

    On my Iphone from Bourbon St.

    This place is unreal right now, never seen it like this, not for mardi gras or after LSUs NCs. Couple of streakers just ran by.

  73. 73.

    madmommy

    @New Yorker:

    That bebbeh is one little cutie pie. Not as cute as LittleKitten, but still.

    @asiangrrlMN:
    We’ve all got a metric shit-ton of beads in our attics. It’s why everyone’s houses are sinking!

    @South of I-10:
    There are fireworks going off all over my neighborhood as well. Can you believe it?!?!?

  75. 75.

    Martin

    OT:

    Interesting piece over at TPM referring to a Financial Times piece on Obama.

    I’ll need to read it a few more times to really digest it, but it looks like a pretty credible assessment that Obama needs to deal with his staff. Jane might at least be on the right track on this one. It’s not a screechy piece – it’s thorough.

  77. 77.

    Max

    @John Cole: Saw the Oprah episode with the Waste Mgmt and 7-11 boss.

    I’d love for the CEO of my company to come to the field and see how the decisions they make in HQ affect (effect?) us at the property level.

    @RS: Have a hurricane for me!

  78. 78.

    valdivia

    @asiangrrlMN: @Yutsano: @Max:

    yeah CR is that sucilst hell Reason is always screaming about! But the funny thing is that the libertarian guy is a Scott Brown type–young, attractive, but totally nuts in that libertarian way–yet 3 weeks ago he seemed really poised to win. which would have been insane, his ideas (ie CR has one of the best public university systems in Lat Am, he wanted to close it down and privatize higher education) were so out of step with the ethos of the country I could not believe he would even come close. He came third, very very close to the other non traditional party candidate (from the left). Chinchilla the winner is from the traditional party Liberacion Nacional which is the social democratic party that ruled from the beginning of the modern CR republic in 1948 til about the mid 70s.

  79. 79.

    ET

    FUCKING HELL……

    God so glad that is over. I don’t think I could take a second more.

    SAINTS! SAINTS!! SAINTS!!!

    I was born in 1968 and finally the Saints got to the Super Bowl and WON! for the first time in my life.

    Now I have to calm down.

  81. 81.

    Yutsano

    @Martin: Saw the initial link over at HuffPo and seriously man. Seriously? You see Jarret out somewhere with no idea why in the hell she’s there and therefore she’s bad for Obama? It’s all anonymously sourced bullshit to make Obama look like an amateur and in over his head. The whole Obama is teh fail not even two years in is starting to grate now.

  85. 85.

    valdivia

    @Martin:

    that was published earlier at HuffPo and the piece seems to me to be more of the “these people are not our DC type of people” meme. It also seems to be another Black Jimmy Carter thing, didn’t they write the exact same thing about Carter’s team back in the day (except the guys were from Georgia instead of Chicago)? The fact that Clemons is saying that Obama has lost his first year seems to me to be a very big assumption to grant.

  87. 87.

    asiangrrlMN

    @madmommy: Honestly? I just want to visit N’awlins one day. A friend recently went and posted pics on her FB wall. It seems like my kind of town.

    @Morbo: Yeah, I just do not like him. And, what are you saying in German?

  89. 89.

    Elie

    @Violet:

    Yay! I totally agree and loved watching the vaunted Colt’s choke. That onside kick the beginning of the second half did them in but Manning was already getting uptight since the Saints had the ball all 2nd quarter and he had to sit his butt on the bench getting colder and colder and more anxious. I LOVED it!

    Who dat? Thems the Saints, dats who!

  90. 90.

    Yutsano

    @valdivia: Plus if you’re gonna say things like this about the President and his staff and hide behind the shield of anonymity you deserve to have your claims scrutinized and mocked as necessary. Personally I think both Clemons and Luce should be checked out themselves to see if there aren’t some hidden beefs lurking back there that would make them do what amounts to little more than a hatchet job. I’m saying this as someone who has been resoundley let down by Obama in a few areas, but even in that case I still wouldn’t call him a complete failure.

    @asiangrrlMN: My dad went to Nawlins for a business trip for a week and took my mom along. She had an absolute blast (caveat: this was pre-Katrina) and came home cooking Cajun and creole for the next six months. It was some good stuff. After that I learned to love mudbugs!

  92. 92.

    nalbar

    Every once in awhile you have to take a quarterback with an over grown ego and throw him against the wall, just to let everyone know you are serious.

    Suck. on. This. Manning.

  96. 96.

    valdivia

    @Yutsano:

    yep. This is very Politico-like and think I read somewhere either Luce or Clemons think Mike Allen is a great guy. ‘nough said.
    Also-The over the topness of the analysis of what has been achieved or not seems to me to be so Villagy as to not be worth even debunking.
    But back to saints happiness now.

  98. 98.

    madmommy

    @asiangrrlMN:

    It is Disneyland for adults, truly. I don’t get to parades nearly as much now with the kids as I used to. But still…you can have family-type fun, or you can go more adult.

    There are many, many things wrong here, but one thing they know how to do in NOLA is pass a good time. This is a great win for the city, for all the people who have lived and died with the Saints for decades. I am so happy for them, for the people who lost everything and still hung on, still stuck with the Saints as the only thing they could be happy about when everything else in their lives went completely to shit.

    I’m just happy!

  101. 101.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: OKay I admit it. I cracked a smile at that one, if only because the old man could possibly even see himself hanging out in the NFL until 50. It’d be a hoot seeing him out there making plays in a walker or with a quad cane. Okay now I’m just being goofy. I’ll still never buy a Korean car though.

  102. 102.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Martin:

    I’ll need to read it a few more times to really digest it, but it looks like a pretty credible assessment that Obama needs to deal with his staff. Jane might at least be on the right track on this one. It’s not a screechy piece – it’s thorough.

    It’s thorough, but it’s also sourced entirely to Washington insiders. I think that there’s something to it, but it’s also a case of a bunch of people who constantly need their egos stroked saying that the problem with the administration is that they aren’t obsequious enough to the movers and shakers. To the extent that this is a problem, I’m guessing that it’s the exact opposite problem that Hamsher screeches about.

  103. 103.

    Elie

    @valdivia:

    Also, isnt Clemmons the Editor of The Note, another great “balanced and fair” blod — like Politico.

    The game is to make Obama seem weak and incompetent. That is the script and everyone is following it in different ways. They don’t understand his leadership style or his goals and so they judge what he does from their perspective.

    Great article if you are interested in Esquire by Tom Junot — I think worth a read and gives some real perspective to a lot of what is happening in my opinion:

    http://www.esquire.com/features/people-who-matter-2010/barack-obama-father-0210

  105. 105.

    New Yorker

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Yeah, even when he was on the Giants, I didn’t like him. He dropped too many balls, bitched and moaned when he didn’t get the ball, and was just an all-around douche. Eli Manning seemed to blossom as soon as Shockey was gone and I don’t think it was a coincidence. I doubt they win the Superbowl two years ago if Shockey was healthy.

    But given all that New Orleans and the Saints franchise has been through, and given the genuine good guys on the team like Fujita and Brees, it’s a small price to pay. Plus, it could have been a LOT worse: we could have had Dallas or Philadelphia or Favre win the Superbowl.

  106. 106.

    Martin

    @Yutsano: Except that this jives pretty closely with what I’m seeing elsewhere. Plouffe coming back to the WH, Obama completely reversing gears on how he interacts with the public.

    I don’t think the piece makes Obama look like an amateur or over his head – let’s face it, there’s really no preparation for running the WH unless you’ve already been there. What matters is how you react and adjust, and the piece serves more as a wakeup call that maybe it’s time for some adjusting.

    Frankly, it reminds me of the poorly sourced piece about the Clinton campaign that hit right after Super Tuesday, but which also turned out to be dead-on. When you have a tight team (as both Obama and Clinton did) it’s hard to get anyone on the record until things start going poorly and it become time to start putting names on bad decisions. But there’s additional information at the TPM link to support the FT piece, and I suspect there will be more coming out in the next week to support it.

    But something has changed in the WH since the MA election. We’re getting far more contradictory directions out of Obama and Rahm than we did before. Something has changed and I’d wager that Obama has realized that they were off-track along the broad lines of that piece, has decided he needs to be the voice of the WH more than he was before. We’ll see, but I don’t think this is a piece to discount.

  107. 107.

    Tim F.

    Best part of undercover boss: when Randy politely dressed down a regional manager for understaffing on national tv. That manager’s sphincter could crush coal into diamond.

  108. 108.

    asiangrrlMN

    @gbear: Oh my god. That’s hilarious!

    @madmommy: There just seems to be a creative vibe going around in the city. And, good food, of course. These two things are very important to me.

    @Yutsano: You’re always goofy, hon. It’s one reason I fake-married you. Why wouldn’t you buy a Korean car?

  110. 110.

    mr. whipple

    I remember watching Mathews one day, it was about a year into BC’s first term, and the show was: Is Clinton a one-termer?

    They do this shit with all dem presidents.

  112. 112.

    Yutsano

    @Martin: It could also be charted up to the fact that the first year in the White House is a huge learning curve, and while Obama was ready for the changes he wanted to implement Congress and the country wasn’t as far along as he was. Presidents make mistakes and change course constantly, it’s what makes a good leader good. My personal take on this is Luce and Clemons want their names in the news and Obama bashing does this. Get your sources on the record or get another source. No more “some people say”.

  113. 113.

    Lisa K.

    @New Yorker:

    Plus, it could have been a LOT worse: we could have had Dallas or Philadelphia or Favre win the Superbowl.

    Or the Colts.

    Who LOST, and now I can’t stop smiling…

    Quitters never win.

  114. 114.

    Martin

    @J. Michael Neal:

    To the extent that this is a problem, I’m guessing that it’s the exact opposite problem that Hamsher screeches about.

    Could well be.

    I’ve found that you usually get these kinds of pieces when things start going sour and people are wanting to clear their name by attaching names to poor decisions. When everything is going well, nobody says shit so they can take credit for everything.

    But I don’t consider this to be a terribly damaging piece at the moment since I think that the WH is getting its legs back – and it doesn’t matter if its the core team that adjusted, or Obama has adjusted or what. If better outcomes are the result, nobody will care about this article in 3 months. But I take Plouffes return to the WH as a sign that they recognized there was a problem and have sought to correct it and the Obama we’re seeing now is more Plouffe than Rahm.

  115. 115.

    madmommy

    @Lisa K.:

    Ain’t tha the truth! When the gave up the chance to go undefeated it took the wind out of their sails. No matter what they said afterward, it was clear as a bell.

    I can’t stop smiling either!

  116. 116.

    gizmo

    That halftime show with the geriatric WHO onstage was the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever seen. Great game, though- and I’m happy for the people of New Orleans.

  117. 117.

    Mark S.

    @mr. whipple:

    That’s why I’m not too worried right now because I remember 94 and 96. What does worry me is the unemployment numbers. I get a little perturbed when Obama and co. start talking about a spending freeze.

  118. 118.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: I will never get over the fact that Hyundai actually sent a corporate representative into a California court to argue that it was impossible for their cars to go faster than 75 mph. Couple that with the fact that I had a friend who had a Kia that needed more service days than days he actually drove the damn thing. I keep hearing over and over again they’ve fixed all those issues but my boss owns one also and complains about the gutlessness and drivetrain issues constantly. Give me something Japanese or European any day. In fact next car is most likely gonna be German, either a VW or a Beamer.

  119. 119.

    Violet

    I’m so happy for New Orleans! They need and deserve a win so badly. And they won this one in a big way! I wish I could be on Bourbon Street tonight!

  121. 121.

    Lisa K.

    @madmommy:

    Like Herm said…you play to win the game.

    When you stop doing that, it’s over.

    Nice job, Saints. We Pats fans thank you from the bottom of our hearts for saving us from another interminable off season of Manning slobber.

  122. 122.

    Lisa K.

    @gizmo:

    That halftime show with the geriatric WHO onstage was the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever seen.

    It was unbelievably lame. I thought Townshend was going to keel over. Pathetic.

  123. 123.

    valdivia

    @Martin:

    except that great dem poobahs have been saying shit since the very beginning so this is nothing new. They said the same stuff during the summer, during the transition, during the election, during the primaries. Again this is the exact same song they did on Bill Clinton and his Arkansas team and on Carter and his Georgia team. These are the types on the outside who did NOT WIN the election and who are looking to throw dirt and second guess.

  124. 124.

    Martin

    @Yutsano: Sure, nobody is going to walk in and get it all right – but the biggest problem I see in the first year is messaging – and I don’t think too many people would argue that point. Obama’s biggest strength just didn’t show up, but that’s also Rahm’s biggest weakness – they guy just can’t help but piss people off (I appreciate that, as I have the same problem at work). He’s great at getting the votes together, but he’s all tactics. Obama is a strategy, big vision guy and we just didn’t see that.

    I’m not saying there will be big shake-ups, but I’m betting that Rahm got his wings clipped when Plouffe got signed on, and that the rest of 2010 is going to look a lot more like the last 2 weeks than the previous 12 months.

  126. 126.

    Max

    @valdivia: I totally agree, and I’d go a step further and say that a lot of those insiders are now in the Clinton camp and the Obama team offends them even more as a result.

    There always seems to be a sense of entitlement that really irks me and I get that sense from many of these types of articles.

    Another version of the same articles are also written by the DC insiders who hate that they are not getting a lot of leaks from the Obama Camp, which pisses them off and they write a “some people say” hatchet piece.

    I may, however, be overly reading something into the motivations of the writer(s).

  127. 127.

    daryljfontaine

    Man, Illinois can’t even handle its functionally useless political offices correctly. Democratic Lt. Gov. nominee Scott Lee Cohen, the “pawnbroker politician” and a real mook if ever there was one, is having a very public meltdown regarding a past of violence against women, a prostitute girlfriend, and some other vaguer crap, sobbing in front of cameras and microphones in what looks like a pizza parlor. He is resigning his nomination for an office which has no real power and is separately elected from the governor’s seat for some stupid-ass reason.

    D

  128. 128.

    Elie

    @Violet:

    I wish I could be on Bourbon Street tonight!

    Yeah I do, I do…sigh…

    Many a good times there though in the past and I send my warmest regards to my friends there tonight and to the city in general…my best — XX OO!!

  129. 129.

    Xantar

    Hold on a second. Why do I currently give a flying fuck what Martin is saying right now?

    WHO DAT!

  130. 130.

    valdivia

    @Martin:

    Plouffe was never gone, he was at OFA (ie the DNC). And it seems to me you are reading causality into things that are happening without having any real data to make the point you are making. Things were always going to change because it is an election year, you just want to think they changed because of what you think went wrong. You also seem to be assuming that Obama is some passive player who gets pulled one way or the other by Rahm and now Plouffe. If you read Plouffe’s book there is nothing that can be further from the truth in Obama’s management style. The truth is that we do not know, and the people in the article you linked do not know either because they are on the outside of this operation.

  131. 131.

    Elie

    @Martin:

    Martin:

    Read this when you get a chance and see what you think in regards to the current concept we all have about power and what this author, Tom Junot, says about HIS theory of what Obama is doing.

    I think its worth a read. I don’t want to completely refute what you are saying — how could I? What do I know first hand? But read this and think about it and let me know if you think the interpretation that you are describing fits this alternative scenario — or not.

    http://www.esquire.com/features/people-who-matter-2010/barack-obama-father-0210

  132. 132.

    Yutsano

    @valdivia: It’s the smarminess of the article that gets me more than anything. Obama is a failure because, well, he’s not doing things exactly as I would do them and therefore I said so. I really should peruse the Luce article a bit more closely (I read the Clemons piece twice without throwing up) but that’s the attitude I’m getting.

    Oh and GEAUX SAINTS!!

  133. 133.

    robertdsc

    Nice job, Saints. We Pats fans thank you from the bottom of our hearts for saving us from another interminable off season of Manning slobber.

    This.

  134. 134.

    valdivia

    @Max:

    I don’t think you are over-reading. This is my take in general. And sincerely I see these hatchet job pieces with anonymous sources and I think–they are saying this because they know nothing, the people who know, say nothing, this is the way it works with the Obama team. And when there have been leaks they have been about process and it’s always from congress aides who have an agenda (cover the lazy congress persons’ ass).

  135. 135.

    Ana Gama

    @valdivia: Plouffe was kinda at OFA. He was also busy writing his book, and then out on tour. I’m glad he’s back now and a bigger presence.

  136. 136.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Martin:

    But something has changed in the WH since the MA election.

    It means the wingnuts are players again. We have been full intra mural for the past 5 months stuck on HCR and not much else. I didn’t read the piece in question, but Obama taking it to the wingers was an obvious move after Mass. And who is doing what in the WH may or may not need changing, but since the goopers have their 41st vote , they become relevant AND responsible. And Obama is adjusting to that new reality, as he still is adjusting to being presnit.

    You are right that there is no experience for preparing to be president, except on the job training. You get there with the raw materials you already possessed, like smarts, toughness, sense of timing, etcc../ But it takes time, at least a year to pull it all together to make the levers of power work for you.

    And I am not worried about Obama having all it takes with plenty to spare for being a good president, never have been, not once. Though it is obvious he has had to feel his way along some, until the adjustments get made. But I am very happy that Plouffe has returned, the guy has the best pol instincts of the lot.

    Rahm has always been a wild card and erratic at times, he is a good enforcer with congress, up to a point, but has always ventured off the res from time to time. Especially when he delves into policy details and gets away from the knocking heads of CC;rs to do just Obama’s will and not his own. But he is nothing of the boogyman Hamsher’s of the left want to make him out to be though.

  139. 139.

    Max

    @Elie: Great article.

    I am reminded by how many times during the campaign, the rallying cry from the others or the MSM was “Obama needs to get mad” or “why doesn’t Obama go off” or “Obama needs to fight”. Seems people still don’t get him.

    Which is sad. Because for me, the ability to understand him makes the process of watching him govern far more enjoyable and hopey-changey for the next 7 years of it.

    Strategy vs. Tactics

  140. 140.

    JasonF

    @John Cole:

    Undercover Boss is pretty cool.

    Undercover Boss was incredibly cool, and it actually has some value beyond mere entertainment. For all of John Edwards’ many, many faults, he was right about his “Two Americas” message. There is a huge disconnect between those who make high-six or seven figure salaries and those who make low-to-mid five figure salaries. And it’s not that CEOs are heartless bastards who don’t care about the problems of regular working people; it’s just that they are completely outside their frame of reference. So hopefully, this show will help fix that, at least for the executives who participate.

    I think if I were in charge of the world, I’d make every high-level manager of every company go undercover one week per year.

  141. 141.

    Elie

    @robertdsc:

    Agreed!

    The slobber was nonstop during the game too in my opinion…even when Manning looked rattled and definitely not the smoothly oiled machine he usually does. I hate that propaganda that spins outcomes you can see are just not true. We all watched Manning ride the bench all second quarter, his face a mask of frustration and pique — someone who cared needed to get into his head and calm him down. The Saints further rattled him at the opening of the 2nd half with their successful onside kick… He never got it back and STILL the shmuck announcers sang his praises until he did the unthinkable and placed his pass into the hands of the Saints cornerback. That was oh so sweet!

  143. 143.

    Yutsano

    @Elie: No one pouts like a Manning. Be it Peyton or Eli, no one has the pout down like they do. I wonder if it’s genetic.

  144. 144.

    metalgirl

    @John Cole: Agree! I watched the whole show and have added it to my Tivo list (which is only 5 shows now)! I’d be willing to bet that non-progressive CEOs would not bother with such an exercise.

  145. 145.

    Elie

    @Max:

    Yeah — its amazing his patience and self discipline….esp compared to MINE (no,no,no, not another brownie, ok well, just this time, no,no,no, I will exercise, tomorrow, — on my little person scale). Its pretty amazing..

  147. 147.

    Steerpike

    Does anyone actually watch the “halftime extravaganza”? That’s pure potty, beer run, guac-refill, phone-time. Ever since the infamous “wardrobe malfunction”, who have they booked? (I wiki’ed it):

    2005: Paul McCartney
    2006: Rolling Stones
    2007: Prince
    2008: Tom Petty
    2009: Bruce Springsteen
    2010: The Who*

    Why not just give up on the idea of trying to stage an inoffensive mini-rock concert at a football game. Better yet, have the winner of a national marching-band competition perform. Whatever. Who gives a fuck? Those nachos aren’t going to refill themselves.

  148. 148.

    asiangrrlMN

    @woody: Now that would have been sweet. The Who were so bad, and Pete’s stomach was creeping me out. At least there was no nipple exposure!

    @Yutsano: Fair enough. I have a Honda myself, so, I can’t really talk about buying Korean.

    @Morbo: No. Because they are in a tie with…who the hell did the Colts beat in the AFC? Baltimore? I don’t remember. Feh.

  149. 149.

    Ash Can

    It’s great to see those poor ol’ Ain’ts finally win themselves a Super Bowl. And in a dandy game, too. They played a kick-ass second half, but that superhuman placekicker of theirs, Garrett Hartley, kept them in the ballgame while they were finding their sea legs. Three field goals from over 40 yards out? That’s insane. Drew Brees may be the MVP, but Hartley gets a huge, huge assist.

  150. 150.

    asiangrrlMN

    @JasonF: I didn’t watch the show, but I’ve always thought that the bigwigs (including congresspeople) should have to do shit jobs for a month, have car payments and mortgages and no health insurance to see what most people experience.

  152. 152.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: I currently own a GM vehicle (ten years old but runs pretty good, main issue I have with it is it’s a gas hog) and I’d probably get an American car again, most likely a Ford hybrid. I kinda like how the Escapes look and drive, plus a hybrid drivetrain would be kinda sweet there. But gonna have to say no to the Korean cars.

  153. 153.

    Elie

    @Ash Can:

    Agreed.

    I would add this however: their coach helped keep his team focused and instead of panicking in the second quarter after a strong Colts first, got them refocused and calmed down, using a balanced offensive strategy — mixing up runs and passes, staying mellow and building their confidence and coordination. He also risked a little bit, on the 4th down goal attempt, signaling his belief in his team. They responded to his confidence and his poise during a period of stress and uncertainty, I believe.

  156. 156.

    Steerpike

    Even better idea: require that the halftime show feature local talent from the city or state hosting the game. Either an established act from the area or maybe run an “American Idol”-style competition to promote a new face. I remember in ’06 it was disappointing to the residents of Detroit that, rather than featuring a homegrown “Motown” act, they decided to go with the Stones.

    Or maybe you could feature 2 acts–one from each of the competitors’ home city or state. How cool would that be? Why just dust off some moldy “classic rock” chestnut?

  157. 157.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: I get looked at funny when I pronounce Hyundai correctly, as in the actual Korean manner. In fact I’ve had people look at me like I’m nuts after saying it. I get into arguments about how it’s supposed to be pronounced vs the horrific Americanization, then I just give up and move on.

  158. 158.

    Martin

    @Elie: I just finished reading it now – but I’ve come across a contradiction.

    There is no punishment in the Obama White House.

    Yeah, that’s Obama, but that’s not Rahm. The guy who called liberal groups plans ‘fucking retarded’ isn’t doing positive discipline. And that’s FAR from the only example.

    I’m not suggesting that Obama doesn’t have his own voice here, far from it, but at the same time, Rahm still has his. It’s a problem when Obama and Rahm (or anyone else, I don’t mean to focus too strongly on him) are perceived to be out of sync on message, and particularly on tone. Obama would never say that liberal groups were stupid for wanting to primary Dems. Instead, he’d do what that article suggests – he’d find a way to make his case why they shouldn’t (or should if he agreed to a limited degree) and bring them on board. That’s just not happening the way it should out of the WH, and I have a hard time accepting that Obama is the one blowing that.

    I also have a hard time accepting that Obama is blowing the messaging here. There’s a lot more going on here than there was during the campaign and he’s got to listen to the people around him to a greater degree. Rahm is the whip. That’s why he was brought on, and by everything I’ve read, he’s going a good job of that. If he asks Obama to get out of the way, I suspect that Obama has listened to him. But the outcomes haven’t played out in some cases, particularly here at the end. Maybe this change in direction is a group decision, but there’s clearly a change in direction. Yeah, I know that was going to change in an election year, and yeah, SOTU was as good a time as any to implement that change, but I don’t quite accept that everything we see now is according to some plan laid out before. The WH has taken a few hits lately and they’re approaching things completely differently than just a month ago. I still think something significant has changed.

  160. 160.

    Steerpike

    @Yutsano: Or Neville Brothers vs. whatever-the-fuck-act comes from Indiana. Hmm. That’s a problem. Can’t think of one. Anyone?

  163. 163.

    Elie

    @Martin:

    I hear what you are saying and I know for sure that the author was just conjecturing what might be a guiding priciple or value for Obama. He had no evidence nor did he presume any that there was a written plan of some sort to adopt this approach as a strategy.

    I shared it with you to give another point of view or insight on what might be shaping decisions, strategies and tactics in this administration. It transcends individual role players like Emmanuel, who like most humans has strengths and limitations, but gives us a possible insight to Obama’s long game.

    The other critical caveat in the article, is the need for time and patience — both may be in short supply given circumstances…

    What I most wanted you to think about was not the relative roles of different players, but the possible difference in approach to the use of power and authority — both of which were targeted as “problems’ in the article you cite, but which from the context laid out in this article, may actually be worked differently in this administration… in fact — explicitly would be played differently — and I think there is some evidence for that…

  167. 167.

    robertdsc

    @Elie:
    What’s funny for me is when I got dressed to get something to eat, I put on my Pats t-shirt and Belichick sweatshirt. Lo and behold, Peyton loses. Heh.

  168. 168.

    BGK

    @Steerpike:

    comes from Indiana. Hmm. That’s a problem. Can’t think of one. Anyone?

    John Hiatt. John Mellancamp. Whatever’s left of the Jackson Five, even.

  171. 171.

    Ash Can

    @Martin: Big deal, it’s only the frickin’ Super Bowl halftime show. (And keep in mind that the last SB halftime native-Indiana act ended in a wardrobe malfunction. John Mellencamp presumably wouldn’t end his set with his clothes falling off of him.)

  174. 174.

    Comrade Kevin

    That Manning performance was positively Favre-like. Brilliant, then throw a boneheaded interception.

  175. 175.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Stranger things have happened. I mean, the Seachickens made it. Plus this is the first time for the Saints, so anything’s possible.

    Right now I’m home channel flipping and being forced to give sharing my leftover Thai noodles with my cats. They’re a wee bit upset cause it’s the rather zesty stuff. Wide fettuccine like rice noodles, it’s fantastic even cold.

  176. 176.

    Martin

    @Elie: I think my boiled down response to the piece is that during much of 2009, WH strategy lost out to WH tactics. The piece you link to does a good job of distilling the strategic game, which I agree with completely, but we just didn’t see enough of that WH for long stretches of time. How long was everyone asking for Obama to come out and make his case? It’s not because we thought Obama was a fuck-up, it’s that he was the only guy we really thought could deliver, and we’ve seen more of him really doing the work the last month than we did for much of the duration of the HCR debate.

    If Obama is now looking to box Republicans in HCR with this meeting next week, why didn’t they roll that strategy out last August when the narrative was driven by the fucking teabaggers shitting on every town hall they could scramble into? I don’t know who didn’t make the call then, but the WH seemed to be negotiating with Congress rather than the public, and that doesn’t seem like a mistake that Obama would make. That now seems to have changed.

  177. 177.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Gozer: I’m impressed. I would be dead at +10.

    @Yutsano: I meant that the SB will never be hosted in MN. MN in February? Nah. Ganna. Happen. Mmmmm….I had zesty Thai on Thursday with wide rice noodles and chicken. It was so yummy!

  179. 179.

    robertdsc

    I meant that the SB will never be hosted in MN. MN in February? Nah. Ganna. Happen.

    They’ve had SBs in Minnesota before. Cowboys/Bills where Thurman Thomas lost his helmet. That was mid-90s.

  180. 180.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Maybe we had similar dishes then. This dish is pretty amazing and was a stab in the dark when my friend stole the dish I was gonna order (duck, Thai style, also quite delish) so I wanted noodles. I’m rather pleased with the end results, as were my friends.

  183. 183.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Thai chilies, chicken, mine had broccoli and a shit ton of cilantro actually cooked in. Spicy and tasty and nummy beyond belief. Also had the blandest Thai soup evah. I’ve gotten more flavor from Irish cabbage stews than this had. My fault really, I thought I had ordered tom yahng gai but somehow the waitress didn’t hear me. Oh and the owner’s son had his baby charming just about everyone in the restaurant while being carried around by Dad. The cuteness was off the charts. We’re talking rivaling SamKitten cuteness here.

  184. 184.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Yutsano: Mine didn’t have cilantro, thankfully. I don’t like cilantro. I also had Chinese sausage spring rolls with a tamarind sauce. Yummeh.

    And, you better not let RedKitten hear you say that! Them’s fighting words.

  186. 186.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: I will be eternally thankful I have the cilantro gene. I personally enjoy that minty back taste in it. I do love tamarind though, I’m one of those weird white people like that.

    I said rivaling not surpassing. Even I couldn’t do that kind of hyperbole. They’re both big charmers though.

    My typing is about to deteriorate. A cat is demanding attention.

  190. 190.

    JK

    @Steerpike:

    2005: Paul McCartney
    2006: Rolling Stones
    2007: Prince
    2008: Tom Petty
    2009: Bruce Springsteen
    2010: The Who

    All of these performers are rock and roll royalty. The only mistake the NFL made was that they should have booked them 25 to 30 years ago when they were still in their prime.

  191. 191.

    Kiril

    South of I-10:
    Just thought you’d like to know, it’s like this here. Mardi Gras couldn’t be better placed this year. I swear to God, this entire city has one thought. I’ve been in about five spontaneous happy riots. Everyone is marching in the streets. My hand is raw, because everyone you see you have to hug or high five. When I said riot, I meant with thousands of people. Amazingly, you can still find places to piss in packed bars. I chalk this up to the subconscious brilliance of New Orleans. I’m obviously not going to be on time tomorrow. My boss obviously won’t care. Super Bowl Mardi Gras. 10 days, brothers and sisters. Carnival’s going to even more honest this year. So sweet. I love my people. I’m hitting submit cause I don’t care.

  192. 192.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Joel:

    Roger Daltrey looks like an old woman.

    I thought Daltrey had begun to converge with Tony Bennett.

    And I also wondered, is this The Who, or Doctor Who? There was a bit of a Tom Baker thing going on.

  195. 195.

    Yutsano

    @Kiril: You are obligated to quantify how many + you are. I refuse you were able to express this exuberance without chemical enhancement. Plus I need to know if a massive attack of cirrhosis is about to strike Louisiana.

  197. 197.

    CaseyL

    @Bill H: Yeah, but for all their time of possession, the Saints at that point had only 2 FGs to show for it, and had come up empty after a 1st-and-Goal. So, no, they didn’t have much in the way of momentum, and the Colts – the ones who had held them to 6 points – did, until the successful onside kick knocked the wind out of their sails good and proper.

  200. 200.

    Yutsano

    @Martin: Dammit. I was kinda hoping we could eliminate Jindal without resorting to more drastic measures. Although I get the feeling Piyush doesn’t have much of a future after his dynamo performance giving the response to Obama’s speech.

  201. 201.

    MJ

    @Martin:

    I agree that there may be some kernel of truth in the article about personnel problems in the Obama White House. However, Steve Clemons’ piece raised a few red flags for me that made me wonder if is just another bit of insidery, concern trolling about Obama’s operation that we should take with a large grain of salt.

    A couple of quick examples of the red flags that jumped out at me when I read it are set forth below.

    (1) Clemons may have some astute observations about the inner workings of the Obama White House, but he loses credibility right out of the starting gate by relying on the “Obama’s advisors = Chicago Thugs” trope that the GOP has been trying to make stick all year. (I realize that the underlying Financial Times piece frames the argument this way, but I still find Clemens’ blanket acceptance of it to be a bit shady.)

    (2) Clemons also does himself no favors when he engages in the following Sally Quinn, “mean girl”, bullsh!t critique of Valerie Jarret.

    I see Valerie Jarrett a lot — often at Georgetown’s power crowd restaurant, Cafe Milano.
    In fact, one night when I was at the annual gala dinner of Jim Zogby’s Arab American Institute — an important evening for leading figures from the Arab-American community to connect with the Washington political establishment — Jarrett was on the docket to be the major keynote speaker of the entire night. Jarrett, however, had to modify her schedule because of what she said were “urgent duties that were calling her back to the White House right away” and so she gave a few minutes of laudatory comments toward the Arab American community before most people were in their seats between reception and sitting down for dinner.
    My hosts that evening said that they were mainly interested in hearing her and asked me if I wanted to depart with them for Cafe Milano. I said sure — and wow — there Ms. Jarrett was.
    Maybe she did stop at the White House between the JW Marriott and the Georgetown hot spot. That was possible — but it would have had to be a nano-second drop by.
    Compare this to President Bill Clinton giving the major keynote remarks in March 1995 at the Nixon Center’s opening conference in Washington at the Mayflower Hotel when Clinton came early for a VIP reception, stayed for the entire sit down dinner, gave a 90 minute long speech, and mingled with folks after.
    People can tell when you are focused on them in a serious way — and when you are giving them a cursory glance.

    Note to Steve Clemons, “people” can also tell when your biggest criticism of a White House insider sounds like a talking point from an opposition memo put together by Bristol Palin’s political consulting shop.

    (3) Finally, some of Clemons’ “Team B” suggestions in the last couple of paragraphs lead me to believe that he is not as sage as he thinks he is.

    President Obama needs to take stock quickly. Read the Luce piece. Be honest about what is happening. Read Plouffe’s smart book again. Send Rahm Emanuel back to the House in a senior role. Make Valerie Jarrett an important Ambassador. Keep Axelrod — but balance him with someone like Plouffe, and get back to putting good policy before short term politics.
    Set up a Team B with diverse political and national security observers like Tom Daschle, John Podesta, Brent Scowcroft, Joshua Micah Marshall, G. John Ikenberry, Joseph Nye, Fareed Zakaria, Katrina vanden Heuvel, John Harris, James Fallows, Chuck Hagel, Strobe Talbott, James Baker, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and others to give you a no-nonsense picture of what is going on.
    And take action to fix the dysfunction of your office.
    Otherwise, the Obama brand will be totally bust in the very near term.

    I mean, is he seriously suggesting that getting advice from mutherfrackin Tom Daschle and Zbigniew Brzezinski will resolve Obama’s messaging problems?

  203. 203.

    Yutsano

    @MJ: It’s like Clemons and Luce are stomping their feet and are outraged because Obama is not doing things exactly their way and THEY SHOULD BE DAMMIT!! I smell a hidden agenda here somewhere, and I’d rather be smelling limburger. At least you can do something decent with stinky cheese.

  204. 204.

    Martin

    @MJ: I took that a bit differently. I took the FT piece largely on face value (which doesn’t include the ‘thug’ trope – it presents them more as a ‘tight inner circle’, or the suggestions on the B team.) Clemens just appears to be piling on, adding his small observation, and his bit of punditry, and I expect there’ll be more of this coming. I discount most of Clemens’ piece, but I think the Jarret observation is useful. If she did in fact bail on the Zogby event, that’s pretty bad, particularly considering the importance of Zogby’s group. It might only have been a one time thing, but I don’t see how Clemens could make the claim and have it stand with so many others that could either verify or refute it. That’s not some insider account – that’s public. But I think it’s valuable just to reaffirm some of the claims of the FT piece, but the rest can be ignored.

    And yeah, the B team idea is just bullshit. I agree.

  206. 206.

    NobodySpecial

    Glad the Saints won, but I still like Peyton Manning. Yeah, Bill Irsay can suck my dick forever for running out on Baltimore, but Peyton has tremendous ability and approximately two to the 18th power more humility and goodness than his bitter, bitter old man. I get why people hate him for being ‘overhyped’ and ‘overexposed’, but they should save that hate and give Favre a double dose instead.

  207. 207.

    Glocksman

    @Yutsano:

    I’m the proud owner of a 2008 Kia Spectra EX.
    The one time so far I had need of a warranty repair (TPMS sensor gone bad), the dealership was ‘johnny on the spot’ WRT fixing the problem.

    Contrast that to the problems my mother had with the local Chevy dealership who managed to break the radiator in her car while ‘repairing’ it under a recall and denied doing so when she mentioned the leak.

    IOW, until GM starts treating their customers right, they can die in a fire.

  209. 209.

    Glocksman

    @Yutsano:

    Oh, and a friend once observed that the difference between a porcupine and a BMW is that the prick was on the outside of the porcupine.

    I have yet to see any evidence that he was in error.

  210. 210.

    Comrade Baron Elmo

    I’m happy as hell about the Saints win, not least ‘cos so many right-wing asswipes were backing the Colts, either

    A) because Obama chose to root for New Orleans…

    or B) they didn’t want to hear more “whining” about Katrina. Our local wingnut talk radio station was pushing this one hard. Seriously. To them, New Orleans is guilty of embarrassing the Bush administration, so the entire city and everyone connected with it should fuck off and die.

    Isn’t it in-ter-est-ing how reverent and respectful wingers are of 9/11 victims (despite having resided in a city that all good Repubs loathe), compared to how dismissive and contemptuous they are of the Katrina dead and displaced? Nothing whatsoever to do with the color of their skin, I’m sure.

  212. 212.

    Lisa K.

    @robertdsc:

    What’s funny for me is when I got dressed to get something to eat, I put on my Pats t-shirt and Belichick sweatshirt. Lo and behold, Peyton loses. Heh.

    Ha! The old Belichick curse raises it’s ugly head to bite Manning in the butt again!

  213. 213.

    Banzai Bunny

    The coyotes in northwest Tucson must all be Saints fans. They were all out doing the yip-yip-yip thing after the game.

  214. 214.

    Pasquinade

    @gizmo

    That halftime show with the geriatric WHO onstage was the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever seen. Great game, though- and I’m happy for the people of New Orleans.

    from a live Tweet:

    Saints fans so loud. Shhhhh! The Who are trying to nap!

    http://twitter.com/pourmecoffee

  215. 215.

    Sam Hutcheson

    @20, @29, @32, etc. This whole “isn’t it great for the city to win?!”

    The owner of the New Orleans Saints threatened to move the team to San Antonio in 2006, unless funds for rebuilding the city were diverted towards rebuilding the Superdome so he would have rent free playing facilities.

    Seriously, this is why I hate the f8cking ‘Aints. It’s a goddamned football game, not salvation from the floods.

    Also, Jeremy Shockey is the worst player in the NFL who has not knowingly murdered two people.

  216. 216.

    Sam Hutcheson

    @205 – Drew Brees will fade into the night and Peyton Manning will continue to rake in sponsorships, because Peyton Manning doesn’t look like a drowned rat.

  217. 217.

    South of I-10

    @Kiril: I hope you had the time of your life!! P.S. Work sucks, but that’s okay, causey the Saints won the Super Bowl!

  220. 220.

    Joe Bauers

    Can I just scream here how stupid it is that QB’s are measured by how many SB rings they have? Dan Marino is tied with thousands of other guys for Worst QB of All Time because he never won one, while Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson are just as good as Peyton Manning and Brett Favre.

    (Having said that, even though my Colts lost, I’m happy for Breesus.)

  221. 221.

    mike hartley

    best call during superbowl. I text my son-in-law during comercial. No turn overs yet watch this next play and that’s when Peyton threw an interception that sealed the Saint’s first ever superbowl victory.what insight i saved it so i would have proof. time was 20:27 Feb 7

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