Leave a Comment

Claiming a mandate
Political Animal — ... without hesitation that he'd earned "a mandate to move the country in a new direction and not continue the same old practices that have gotten us into the fix we are in." He added, however, that he's anxious to work with Republicans and listen to their ideas. "[W]e enter into the administration with a sense of humility and a recognition that wisdom is not the monopoly of any political party." Greg Sargent raised a good point. This is probably too obvious to point out, but the game here is that Obama is working to frame GOP obstructionism in advance. By simultaneously claiming ...

Relax, lefties!
Sister Toldjah — ... In other words lefties, give Barry Oh! the full four years to work his “mandate” magic before you start assessing whether or not his decisions have been right or wrong. You’ve already given him a pass for ...

Crystal Ball Today
N/A — ... Is the picture getting clearer in the center?  Or on the left?  Which way are we headed? “ . . . the real tell will lie in his actual policies.“ ...

Obama says the "m" word
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth — Mandate, baby. Obama mentioned it yesterday during a press conference: "We had, I think, a decisive win, because of the extraordinary desire for change on the part of the American people," he said in response to a reporter's question. "And so I don't think there is any question that we have a mandate to move the country in a new direction, and not continue the same old practices that have gotten us into the fix that we're in."You may recall that Dick Cheney, I believe, claimed a massive mandate shortly after the Supreme Court gave George Bush the ...

Meet the New Boss …
The Opinionator — ... Secretary of Defense is the big enchilada. Arguably, due to the vast percentage of federal spending it receives, it is more important than all other cabinet secretaries combined. The President may be Commander in Chief, but it is the Secretary of Defense who is decides how most federal revenue is spent. We need change in the Department of Defense, and keeping Gates along with his entire team of advisors and assistants doesn’t fit the bill. Greg Sargent at TPM, however, thinks all this conciliation on Obama’s part is the laying of a clever trap : This is probably too obvious ...