Famous Yakker Revels in Financial Crisis
Recently, a man famous mostly for speaking was quoted saying something that makes it sound like he’s happy about the fact that we’re in a deepening financial crisis.
Well, he and his supporters are only saying what they believe:
“Rule 1: Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told the New York Times right after the election. “They are opportunities to do big things.” Over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told members of the European Parliament, “Never waste a good crisis.” Then President Obama explained in his Saturday radio and Internet address that there is “great opportunity in the midst of” the “great crisis” befalling America.
These people really should wipe the drool off of their mouths before they speak in public.
Remember when The Left went apoplectic just imagining Bush THINKING along such lines?
But Obama gets to have key members of his Administration flat-out state it in public multiple times. I’ll admit, I can admire that amount of chutzpah.
Techie (9c008e) — 3/11/2009 @ 7:54 amJonah writes today on NRO that he got heavy mail from that column, about 1/3 of the “drop dead” variety. ca imagine what those 189 comments look like. Andrew Grove another grownup who supported Obama has a column today in WaPo suggesting it is time for competence.
I find myself wringing my hands, not over the goals President Obama has set but over the ineffectual ways the administration has pursued them. I have no qualifications to judge how well the Obama team manages the political dynamics, but as a business executive with 40 years’ experience, much of it managing change, and a part-time academic dedicated to studying why so few corporations succeed in navigating change, I feel compelled to comment not on the what of the Obama team’s efforts but on the how.
Another disappointed supporter.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/11/2009 @ 8:05 amThere is so much nuance and ambiguity in their position that this crisis affords them extraordinary opportunities. It is prolly racist to apply the standards that they tried to apply to Rush to the statements of Rahmbo, Hillary, and Teh One.
JD (b2da6e) — 3/11/2009 @ 8:42 amhow dare you mock Ear Leader?
i denounce you!
redc1c4 (9c4f4a) — 3/11/2009 @ 8:48 amJust so I understand the present dynamic – a radio personality is called traitorous for expressing his hope that the POTUS’s policies will fail, while the POTUS’s Chief of Staff is allowed to hope for the country’s continuing ruination in order for same policies to be inacted? Can you say “Animal Farm?” Sure, ah knew you could.
Dmac (49b16c) — 3/11/2009 @ 9:17 amTotally off topic… but CT scan shows no cancer… once again the Gmann has beat the devil… 3years, 3 months, closing in on the 5 year cure stage.
GM Roper who wants DRJ back on Patterico's Pontifications (85dcd7) — 3/11/2009 @ 9:46 amAh Rahm Emmanuel. Realpolitik right out front.
Dmac, trying to look on the bright side of a disaster and see if good things can come out of it is just not the same as hoping FOR a disaster to continue.
Of course the creepy thing about the former is how those “good things” are defined. What “opportunities” are being provided is what gets everyone all nervous right coz history says this kind of crisis can lead to a new industrial revolution OR to the swastika. Or worst of all to both.
EdWood (c2268a) — 3/11/2009 @ 10:16 amRightys and lefties need to pay attention, while they are accusing each other of being creeping facists, that some other group doesn’t saunter in and take on that role.
I wonder if “rule 1” was just a figure of speect by Rahmbo. It’s not rule one of Alinksy’s 12 rules for radicals. It is a creepy thing to say though, given not only the teeth-gnashing at Bush’s ‘terror’ policies but the historical record of what happens when people take advantage of crises.
carlitos (3f0da9) — 3/11/2009 @ 10:25 am“Totally off topic… but CT scan shows no cancer… once again the Gmann has beat the devil… 3years, 3 months, closing in on the 5 year cure stage.”
– GM Roper
Congratulations. I don’t know enough of your situation to say anything beyond that, but I mean it sincerely.
Leviticus (68eff1) — 3/11/2009 @ 10:32 amMaybe Rush should have phrased it differently. Maybe he could have said, “This lurch towards big government solutions is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate once and for all that nanny-state liberalism doesn’t work.” Of course, by the time we find this out it may be too late to roll it back.
JVW (bff0a4) — 3/11/2009 @ 10:40 amTotally off topic… but CT scan shows no cancer
Please allow me to offer my congrats as well – was diagnosed with Non – Hodgkins Lymphoma almost 5 years ago, stage 4. Many doses of massive chemo and a later stem cell transplant was the last – ditch treatment option at the time. Great news for you, no doubt.
Dmac (49b16c) — 3/11/2009 @ 10:40 amIn a similar headline but completely unrelated story, a famous yankee is about to end up in a perjury crisis…
Joe (dcebbd) — 3/11/2009 @ 11:03 amGmann–congratulations!
Joe (dcebbd) — 3/11/2009 @ 11:04 amto all, THANKS… getting the diagnosis of lung cancer was scary as hell, as I imagine Dmac’s Non – Hodgkins Lymphoma was… each time for the CT I wonder, shake, get sleepless, then relief.
GM Roper who wants DRJ back on Patterico's Pontifications (85dcd7) — 3/11/2009 @ 11:14 amto all, THANKS…getting the diagnosis of lung cancer was scary as hell, as I imagine Dmac’s Non – Hodgkins Lymphoma was… each time for the CT I wonder, shake, get sleepless, then relief.
GM Roper who wants DRJ back on Patterico's Pontifications (85dcd7) — 3/11/2009 @ 11:16 amNow (tiny) Tim Geithner has even more to do.
Neo (cba5df) — 3/11/2009 @ 11:41 amLOL
O’Dumbo tries to coverup his 8,500+ lies by signing a bill containing 8,500 porkchops in secret, no camera’s, including still, allowed. I doubt the really stupid democrats will notice this.
Scrapiron (4e0dda) — 3/11/2009 @ 11:54 amIt’s time to get scared, really scared, of the O’Dumbo crowd.
At least O’Dumbo’s ethics matches Queen Po-lo-shi’s most unethical congress in history.
Scrapiron (4e0dda) — 3/11/2009 @ 11:56 amScrapiron – I thought the Messiah promised to post bills on the White House website for five days for public examination before signing.
Yet another promise down the drain. The bestest transition and most transparent administration EVAH!!!!!
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 3/11/2009 @ 12:00 pmDmac, speaking of Animal Farm.
Today Citigroup lowered its rating on Wal-Mart from a buy to a hold because of the Employee Free Choice Act, “citing concern that legislation intended to make it easier for employees to unionize would raise the retail giant’s labor costs and hurt its competitiveness.”
This is startling for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they’re downgrading the stock based on an assumption that a piece of legislation will pass that hasn’t even been introduced yet.
The Citigroup analyst, Debora Weinswig, said Employee Free Choice (EFCA) “could be a significant drag to earnings.”
It’s hard to view this as anything other than a reckless and overt political act on the part of a company, Citigroup, that has made stupendously bad business decisions with dire economic consequences necessitating billions in taxpayer bailouts, at a time when the market can ill-afford it.
Take the money and keep your mouth shut, even if it is your business. We’re from the government and we’re here to help you.
Mike K (8df289) — 3/11/2009 @ 12:15 pmSo would it be fair to accuse the the Obama administration of wanting the economy to fail?
Sean P (e57269) — 3/11/2009 @ 12:37 pmYou forgot to add in the rantings of the labor unions about how negating secret balloting in future elections is the truest symbol of a functioning democracy, Mike. Yes, no doubt the union goons will pay no heed to those who are unwilling to toe their party’s line.
Dmac (49b16c) — 3/11/2009 @ 1:58 pmIn a just world, a union that attempted to force people to support it would get disemboweled via RICO.
Of course, we all know what will really happen.
Techie (9c008e) — 3/11/2009 @ 4:19 pm[…] Patterico’s Pontifications » Famous Yakker Revels in Financial Crisis – Recently, a man famous mostly for speaking was quoted saying something that makes it sound like he’s happy about the fact that we’re in a deepening financial crisis. Well, he and his supporters are only saying what they believe: … […]
Forex Forex Forex Forex - Forex Learn (49b52b) — 3/13/2009 @ 5:36 amMike: why is it reckless for Citigroup to downgrade its rating on Wal-Mart? Or were you trying to say something else?
Hax Vobiscum (4012df) — 3/13/2009 @ 6:08 amWe can count on the hack of sacks to not really understand … well … anything.
JD (537b67) — 3/13/2009 @ 6:34 am