What was Obama thinking?Well, we know he's been thinking about how nice it would be to work hand in hand with Republicans in Congress and elsewhere in order to proceed quickly with his agenda of putting the nation back together again.
I guess we all like to dream on occasion.
By now, however, our worst fears are confirmed and we know it ain't gonna happen. The Repugnican nogoodniks decided from day one that Obama and the Dems are the "enemy," and they are the "insurgents," and they're gonna fight tooth and nail to continue to disrupt any semblance of cooperation and continue their demented and destructive policies.
They learned well from Newt Gingrich and the likes of the crook, Tom DeLay!
So, when Judd Gregg withdrew his name for Commerce, all I felt was a sense of relief. We don't need him or anyone like him anywhere near the Obama Cabinet.
According to P. M. Carpenter writing for BuzzFlash, it was Gregg who approached the Obama people, it was Gregg who reached out and offered his name to Obama for a cabinet position. Then, all of sudden, he said he realized he didn't agree with Obama on too many things. "I couldn't be Judd Gregg and serve in the Cabinet."
Did he just figure that out? How stupid is he?
Obama was taken aback: "It comes as something of a surprise," he said, because the truth, you know, Mr. Gregg approached us with interest and seemed enthusiastic."
Hah!
Carpenter wants to give Gregg the benefit of the doubt. "He did seem conflicted," writes Carpenter, "and somewhat tormented at his embarrassed debutantish, not-coming-out-after-all press conference -- he seemed sincere in wishing Obama the best, as well as the president's receding dreams of bipartisanship -- but why it took so bloody long for the New England senator to comprehend that 'this is simply a bridge too far' is, for now, a mystery perhaps too deep."
I don't think it's all that big a mystery. If this whole crummy scenario was not dreamed up by the Repugs in the first place to embarrass Obama, then it is likely the Repugnican rotters in Congress got to Gregg; the purpose, no doubt, to imply Obama didn't properly vet Gregg, and thus is incompetent or naive, and that Obama's policies are just too radical for a decent, god-fearing, family values Republican.
Bipartisanship? The dream is broken! It's over! Forget the Repugs. All they do is drag down the country anyway. You can't dance with the devil and expect to come away without reeking of the scent of evil!
Goodbye Gregg, and good riddance!
Read Carpenter's entire article here.
And here's a video of Obama's speech at the Lincoln bash where he takes a shot at Judd. Video courtesy of Video Cafe.
