Drive the new Pelosi

You owe it to yourself, the Earth, the UAW, and big government to drive one. Courtesy of Iowa Hawk.



h/t Carpe Diem via Right Michigan

To Lansing

There will be zero posting later today which, by itself, does not seem that impressive. But, in dog years, that is easily 0000000 posts.

Is it any wonder that I have become so popular by churning out the content?

Pat Buchanan and the Israeli Blitz

It is always a nice touch when the word "blitz" can be used to describe a military action carried out by the Jews. That Pat Buchanan can do it in his current description of the Israeli offensive against Hamas in Gaza is almost delicious. Pat has, after all, become an apologist for the Third Reich over the past few years, and his latest column offers us the same sort of historical revisionism we have come to expect from a man that wishes the Jews would go the way of the dinosaurs or, at the very least, stop fighting so hard to get off of the endangered species list.

There is no crime too great that the Jewish state should not tolerate beyond a very measured response, and there is no response big enough to end Hamas launched terrorism that is justifiable. Striking back with too much vigor is so off putting. Better, I suppose, for Israeli children to routinely play in rocket bombarded fields launched there by people who send their children to terrorist camp the same way we parents send our children to summer camp.

After all, that is exactly how we Americans would act if a horde of crazy Canucks started lobbing both home made and Iranian made rockets at us from across Lake St. Clair. "Kids, remember your umbrellas if you go out to play."

Pat does give Israel a leash, one long enough to do exactly what I am not sure. He admits that Hamas had it coming, but then qualifies his tepid statement by surmising that

[...] crass Israeli politics seems to be behind this premeditated and planned blitz.

Pat pines for the day when nations (well, at least Jewish ones) would forget about the hundreds of rockets launched at its territory by sworn enemies, even if the launchings take place in the midst of a so called cease fire.

It is the only way to guarantee a response as pristine and unplanned as the freshly driven snow. Totally ineffective, of course, but short of surrender and marching into the Mediterranean voluntarily, it is the best, if not the final, solution.

Rod Marinelli is no Politician

If only politicians were as easily separated from their jobs as coaches are.

Rod Marinelli, the oft ridiculed coach of the hapless Detroit Lions, cleaned out his locker today at Ford Field. His team finished 0-16.

“You can’t go 0-16 and expect to keep your job,” Marinelli said in a news conference. “I didn’t conquer anything. I got defeated.”

There is no way to nuance an 0-16 record. A record like that is self defining. Sports teams are pretty easy to figure out.

Football, like sports in general, is a zero sum game. That is, whenever one team wins, another loses. At the end of the year you have, all teams combined, a .500 record. When exposed to such brutal measurement, it is easy to pick the winners and losers.

Oh that it were so in politics, where the winners and losers are so intertwined with regulation, obfuscation, and political favoritism that it is almost impossible to find where the wins and losses are listed.

That is why someone like Barney Frank can stand before the whole world and declare with certainty that there is nothing systematically wrong with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He can spend a large portion of his career doing his level best to submarine any and all changes designed to steer the mortgage giants toward fiscal health, this while collecting into his campaign coffers large amounts of Fannie and Freddie donated cash. Which, by the way, came in pretty handy in that last election, months after Fan and Fred melted down.

So, Rod Marinelli is out of work and Barney Frank is gainfully employed. One man will wear his 0-16 record like an albatross around his neck for the rest of his coaching career. The other has sidestepped all culpability for his miserable record and will ride the crest of a successful blame game into another term in the Congress while sitting at the helm of the Financial Services Committee.

Its good work if you can get it.

Another Chapter in the Book of Unintended Consequences

Government knew what was best and it acted.

This is where we are now:

The heavily subsidized ethanol industry is the latest to seek a federal bailout. If there is any industry that deserves to go bankrupt, it's this one. Time has come to stop putting food in our gas tanks.

The bailout-seeking domestic auto industry has been criticized as being unproductive and inefficient. It hasn't been helped by mandated fuel economy standards that have done little to reduce our dependence on foreign energy or help the environment. Now the fuel we have been mandated to put in our cars, equally unproductive and inefficient, is also seeking a bailout.

Ethanol never made much sense economically or environmentally. It never would have made it to market without congressional mandates and huge subsidies. Having the first presidential contest in the corm state of Iowa didn't hurt either. With oil prices plummeting, it is even less competitive — if it ever was.

The product has benefited from a tax credit paid to gasoline producers to blend gasoline with ethanol; a federal fuel economy standard that sets a minimum amount of ethanol to be blended; and a 54-cents-a-gallon tariff on cheaper imported ethanol made in places like Brazil. Brazilian ethanol is made from sugar, not corn. But corn is grown in Iowa, and Brazilians can't vote.

Read the whole article.

This is just one more benevolent boondoggle in a long line of benevolent boondoggles that our federal government has misguidedly gotten us involved in, all because they do not have the wisdom to use the truths of economic laws to their advantage. If these government do-gooders were rocket scientists, all of their projects would take shape without considering gravity.

Let us hope that those in power have the foresight to drop this monster dead in its tracks, regardless of how Iowans vote.

All Cultures Are Not Created Equal

How dare we make judgments! From the AP:

Late at night, the neighbors saw a little girl at the kitchen sink of the house next door.

They watched through their window as the child rinsed plates under the open faucet. She wasn't much taller than the counter and the soapy water swallowed her slender arms. To put the dishes away, she climbed on a chair.

But she was not the daughter of the couple next door doing chores. She was their maid.

Shyima was 10 when a wealthy Egyptian couple brought her from a poor village in northern Egypt to work in their California home. She awoke before dawn and often worked past midnight to iron their clothes, mop the marble floors and dust the family's crystal. She earned $45 a month working up to 20 hours a day. She had no breaks during the day and no days off.

Is it not ironic that a nation that tore itself apart 150 years ago to end the practice of slavery, would, under weighty accusations of racism and Islamophobia, be urged to adopt cultural mores that accept slavery as a way of life?

h/t Dhimmi Watch

UAW Benefits from Failure

Now that the bailout has been secured the UAW has, predictably, decided it will not work to make the automakers viable.

IBD asks, can we get our money back?

The government gave the Big Three a $17.3 billion bailout based on the idea that both management and the unions would make concessions. Now the UAW says no thanks. Can we have our money back?

Last week's deal was supposed to hold both the managers' and unions' feet to the fire. In handing out the taxpayer money, the White House insisted the auto union cut worker pay roughly to the levels of their successful competitors, Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

For $17 billion in emergency bailout cash and possibly much more later, it was a reasonable request. As President Bush said, "The time to make the hard decisions to become viable is now — or the only option will be bankruptcy." He added that a deadline of March 31 for the industry to prove its "viability" and other limits "send a clear signal to everyone involved."

Well, if so, the United Auto Workers didn't get it.

And, how could they have gotten it? Did we really expect anything different?

This is tantamount to an intervention being planned and carried out by the largest of enablers. The intervention was a no strings attached permission slip to an ever-flowing liquor cabinet. The UAW knows this first paltry stipend (if 17.3 billion could ever be considered paltry) is but one of several more (less paltry) installments to come.

"Ron, we need you to stop that drinking. It is killing all of us. And, as an incentive for doing the right thing, here is a shot of Bourbon."

We need to exit out of the fantasy land where companies can remain viable when not profitable, the land where finger crossing carries the same logical weight as does cutting costs.

If we want to save the domestic automobile industry, we need to save it using tough love measures, measures designed to force all parties to tow the line when it comes to regaining profitability. That the UAW is refusing to, and that the government will allow them to refuse to do so, speaks volumes about how successful these bailout tactics will be.

How many billions of taxpayer money will we waste in the interim, hoping upon hope, that all interested parties will reach the same conclusion, all on their own, especially when we grant incentives that will do nothing but sow contrary opinions?

The bailout has given the UAW incentive to resist making the changes it must make for the auto companies to remain viable. Future bailouts have now become part of the equation and it is money that the UAW is banking on.

When the UAW benefits from failure, should we expect success?

Obama Cleared of Any Wrongdoing

The findings were uncovered by a spectacularly objective internal review. Fitzgerald might as well not even bother sniffing anything in that direction.

Meanwhile, President Nixon declares he is "not a crook" and Robert Mugabe exclaims "Rwanda is mine!"

I personally doubt that Obama did anything inappropriate here. But, what I think will be very interesting is how much validity the press will give this internal investigation based on its own merits.

AJ Strata has more.

Father Knows Best: Iran

Seventy eight years after abandoning his two year old daughter, the Iranian government is looking for the father of an 80 year old bride-to-be in hopes that the deadbeat dad might give her the permission necessary to tie the knot.

[...] Iran's laws require a father to give permission before a daughter can marry.

Now the lovestruck octogenarian has asked a Tehran court to establish whether her father, who abandoned her when she was two, is dead or alive so her wedding can go ahead.

The legal obstacle came to light when Setareh and her betrothed, Jamshid, tried to tie the knot at a registrar's office, only to be told she needed written agreement or proof of death of her father.

What other evidence would be necessary to prove to the world that Iran and Islam have little respect for the standing of women in society? A woman presumably never reaches the age of accountability. She never reaches a point in her life when her emotional maturity would allow her to live outside of the control of a man, even one proven to be an unfit father to begin with.

Her plight is an example of what campaigners say is systematic discrimination against women under Iranian law.

But the state-linked Iranian Women's News Agency said women need their father's permission to protect them from "emotional" marriage decisions.

Robert Spencer gets the h/t over at Dhimmi Watch and adds:

Yes, we can't have a lonely and bereft octogenarian woman being "emotional." It would be...un-Islamic!

Welcome to my World: Chapter 47

Don't worry, this is supposed to end in the next day and a half.

Rewarding Failure

We all threw a hissy fit when AIG spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a spa getaway for special clients and staff. As far as I'm concerned those pampered souls could have worked up a good sweat shoveling my snow and then enjoyed a comfortable cool down taking turns in my bathtub/shower. We don't do foot treatments, but if you aren't quick putting on a sock you might get a disgusting lick from the dog. (We change socks quickly around here.)

Now it is becoming known, despite attempts to shroud it all in secrecy, that many of the receivers of bank bailout monies spent quite a bit of that cold cabbage on hefty executive bonuses. That is, $1.6 billion to be shared among 600 bankers. This without so much as a thank you to taxpayers, which would include the underpaid management of Rougman's Resort and Spa.

From Investor's Business Daily:

On Sunday, the Associated Press found that $1.6 billion of bailout cash was converted to gravy for 600 bankers. They got bonuses, club dues, financial planners, corporate jet travel, daily limousines and home security systems, courtesy of the taxpayers.

This is a bad sign of what's ahead if failure continues to be rewarded and government keeps propping up uncompetitive companies and industries in crisis.

$1.6 billion is small change in comparison to the total amount of bailout money being tossed around like so much green confetti at the moment, but it is by itself a huge amount of cash, larger than Michigan's projected budget shortfall for this fiscal year.

If added compensation is a reward for good performance, the bankers have just been given 1.6 billion kudos courtesy of US taxpayers. At $1 apiece, that would net you a whole boatload of struggling auto executives who, by the way, seem to have chosen the wrong vocation.

Glee Club of the Year: Time Magazine

This is old news, of course, but when I first heard it I was somewhat surprised.

I do not read Time Magazine because the weekly glossy long ago joined the progressive glee club. That they cheered for Barack Obama all the way through 2008 is no shock, and that Obama was ultimately named Person of the Year by the publication is not startling either. It would be hard to argue against that designation regardless of one's political bent.

What is surprising, however, is the shameless level of cheerleading that the tired political rag engaged in. Fourteen times during the course of the year, Time dedicated its front cover to The Obama and, when you include the "skybox" portion of the cover, Barack Obama had a presence, in name or in picture, on 25 of the magazine's 52 covers. "Korea Dictators Today" wouldn't be vacant enough to dedicate that many covers to Kim Jong-il.

When seeking hard-hitting and objective political journalism, Time Magazine is not the place to look. One could find more objectivity on Obama Girl's debut release.

Stamping out Dreaded Library Favoritism

"We decided to err on the side of caution"

Whenever you hear this phrase uttered by a government worker it would serve you well to prepare for the disclosure of an extremely stupid policy. This time the phrase was used by St. Tammany Parish Library Director Janice Butler, and it not an exception to the rule.

After asking the state Board of Ethics last month whether library staff can accept inexpensive and homemade Christmas gifts from grateful patrons, St. Tammany Parish library officials last week received the board's response: Bah, humbug.

Even small gifts, such as "cakes, pies, houseplants, etc., from patrons of the library for their performance of the library employees' duties" are off-limits, according to an advisory opinion issued by the ethics board.

Any employee of a Louisiana public library who receives such a gift from a library patron needs to "return the cookies to the person and say that, 'I cannot accept these cookies under the ethics law,' " said Aneatra Boykin, staff attorney for the ethics board.

We can assume, given the strict nature of ethics rules, that all lobbying efforts in the great state of Louisiana have ground to a screeching halt. (Ya, right.)

How can it be that ethics laws have come to mean that I cannot give a library worker, or a postmaster, or a school teacher, a plate of cookies if I feel I was well served by their efforts? Is our society bettered in any way by the peanut butter cookie being placed on the same ethics plane as a $2000 campaign contribution? Just what office, exactly, is the lady at the counter running for? Is the dreaded chocolate chip cookie as harmful to public works as the $1,000,000 a year lobbyist?

A junket financed by an oil company or hedge fund? No problem...just keep those corrupting Rice Krispies treats out of my sight!

It doesn't stop at holiday cookie plates, however. No, to see stupidity harnessed on that small scale would actually be a victory for sanity.

Butler said ethics concerns have also prompted her staff members to forgo their traditional holiday party and employee gift exchange.

Get ready for it, here it comes!

"We decided to err on the side of caution," she said.

Now, that is really taking an effective swipe at corruption--those reference librarians are in a perfect position to offer huge political favors to the readers of romance novels and the latest from Larry McMurtry.

And honestly, nothing torques me off more than knowing that the library staff gets together once a year after hours and exchanges brownie plates!

Covington library patron Chandler Willis said he is planning to lobby the ethics board on behalf of public library employees.

"I think that this is political correctness run amok," he said.

Now, that is exactly the type of thing I would expect to hear from an abuser of the system. Come clean, Mr. Willis. What sort of favors are you seeking? What, exactly, are you hiding?

h/t Pirate's Cove via Right Wing News

A Long Bridge to Detroit

The automakers will receive their first installment of their bailout on December 29. It was not as much as they were hoping to get, and it was not nearly as much as most analysts say they are going to need.

While I was not supportive of the bailout, I must say that it is not as bad as it could have been today, nor is it as bad today as it probably will be in the next six months. Of course I have no way of knowing exactly how this will all play out, but it seems to be frighteningly similar to a Nigerian e-mail scam.

You know the story, Great Uncle Joseph Hazzid, a diplomat and businessman, was assassinated by rebels but left behind $25.2 million American in a bank in Lagos. Unfortunately, the family cannot access the money unless they find a most sincere and trustworthy foreign agent to assist them. This trustworthy soul will receive a full 20% of said funds as thanks for the assistance.

The fish nibbles at the bait. Correspondence takes place. There is a back and forth and trust is established. The money is very close to being free. But then a catch develops. A small pittance must be delivered to the family in advance to assist them with the paperwork. Later, another pittance is needed to free up regulators. Then another. And another. Every fiber within the fish says cut the losses...but the goal is so close at hand.

It is hard, of course, to consider $17.4 billion a pittance. Unfortunately, when it is compared to what will be necessary to elevate these companies to profitability, it is but that.

This deal does ask for the companies to strive for a new business model. Unfortunately for the executives, they have partners in this mess. And while one begrudging partner, the UAW, has been asked kindly to please deliver on some concessions, the second partner, the US government, which through shortsighted energy policy, monetary policy, heavy regulation, and its unrelenting pursuit of a cooler climate, caused most of this problem to begin with, has agreed to make no concessions at all. This money buys the government, from a practical standpoint, an electric prod with which to herd the cattle toward the government's desired corral. (This would be the big green corral where physics has little import and economics even less.)

The biggest fly in the ointment however, is the overall economy. A credit crunch that affects all but the most qualified of buyers is still in place. Unemployment figures are bulging like the midsection of a gluttonous Santa, and many people who are employed are not buying anything right now because a job is nothing to take for granted these days. Who is going to buy enough of these products to enable the Big 3 to get back on their feet in the short amount of time allotted?

In the meantime, where, exactly, will this money be used? Even with extended plant shut downs in vogue these days, UAW workers still receive 95% of their base pay. (Incidentally, how many out of work construction workers do you know that would like to have a deal like that?) And don't forget, legacy costs have not gone away either. I guess those $1 executives will come in handy.

This whole bailout measure was presented as a bridge loan to the companies. Only enough money will be given to the troubled automakers to allow them to get back on the path to profitability. It could not have been presented in any other way. Detroit was a good citizen fallen on hard times, its major industry having spread wealth across an entire nation. It needed help, and it needed it quickly. This was not welfare, it was a loan.

Washington responded in the only way that it knows how. With ponderous inexactitude, the taxman wore a white hat.

I grumbled and groaned during the whole process, but now that the first hurdle has been crossed, I am pulling madly for Detroit. The money is committed. It will be spent. As a Michigander that does not want to have to pull up stakes, I want this plan to work.

Not too far from GM world headquarters sits the 7,500 foot Ambassador Bridge. Upon its completion in 1929 the steel structure, which crosses the Detroit River from Detroit to the city of Windsor, Ontario, could boast the longest suspended bridge span in the world. It did that for all of two years.

The much longer bridge that was financed today runs all the way from Washington, DC. to Detroit. In order for this whole thing to work, I hope that the cars traveling along this new bridge to viability contain people who are as wise as they think that they are, have good reasons for the all the confidence that they enjoy, are a lot less belligerant than previous travellers, and very hopefully, contain only a few necessary bureaucrats.

We can always hope.

Top 10 Reasons for an Auto Bailout Bill and/or Needed Repairs/Maintenance For My Sleek 1995 American Four Door

1. American manufacturing could otherwise be destroyed
   
2. Bent windshield wiper shaft
3. UAW might have to sell its golf course on Black Lake
4. Bad smell in the glove box
   
5. Check engine light on for three years
   
6. Buick Open!
   
7. Destruction of the middle class/oil change
8. Acorns hidden inside the hood
9. Detroit might start to deteriorate
   
10. Ron Gettelfinger needs the work
    

At Least Someone Is Getting a Raise

Fortunately for all of us, at least one highly efficient and valuable segment of our society will not be forced to wallow in the tar spits of a sputtering economy. It will probably help them with their concentration.

With approval ratings at about 20%, Congress is getting itself another one of its annual pay raises with a big thank you courtesy of, you got it, themselves.

The raise will amount to $4,700 a year per House member.

The really cool thing about the way this whole Congressional pay raise business works is that it is automatic. It takes an act of Congress to actually stop the process. By doing it this way Congresspeople don't have to spend a lot of time gaveling and debating the finer points of their own compensation when there might be other pressing business to take care of, like asking auto maker executives and UAW workers to agree to slash their own pay.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe we need qualified people willing to serve in government, and I think that in order to attract high quality candidates the salary does need to be high enough to compete with the private sector for talent. Guys like William Jefferson and Duke Cunningham don't come on the cheap. However, I also think that current economic conditions should dictate to these lawmakers that there are times when even the most encumbered among us must make some sacrifices.

As it turns out, however, some people are simply better at leading through pointed posture than they are by, you know, taking any action. It wrinkles the suits, and you should see first hand the skyrocketing costs of dry cleaning/ironing in DC.

h/t Protein Wisdom

It Couldn't Happen To A Nicer Bunch of Guys

Impoverished OPEC ministers met today and agreed to an unprecedented cut in oil production, a cut they deemed necessary to stabilize world oil prices that have dropped over $100 per barrel since a $147 per barrel peak was reached earlier this year.

To see these corrupt dictatorships struggle is a great spectator sport. Having squandered their billions on political favors, extravagant palaces, and on exporting funds to encourage the growth of Islam, many OPEC members are no longer sitting on huge piles of cash. Every dollar that a barrel of oil falls in price will cost these nations millions. Sadly for these countries, every barrel they do not produce also reduces their revenues, which is why most analysts doubt that all those who pledge to cut production in solidarity will actually adhere to the allotments.

The natives are already restless in Iran and Venezuela and time may soon run out on a couple of tin pot dictators.

Mired in a recession, it truly is nice to finally find something to smile about.

Business as Prey

From Thomas Sowell:

Detroit and Michigan have followed classic liberal policies of treating businesses as prey, rather than as assets. They have helped kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. So have the unions. So have managements that have gone along to get along.

Toyota, Honda and other foreign automakers are not heading for Detroit, even though there are lots of experienced automobile workers there. They are avoiding the rust belts and the policies that have made those places rust belts.

The auto industry is deserving of all the added attention these days because of its sheer size and extreme difficulties.

I would, however, take Sowell's comments one step farther. The state of Michigan treats every working person and struggling business in this state as prey rather than as an asset, this through punitive taxation, encumbering regulation, and through an ever expanding arena of invasion.

Recent changes in the building energy codes (adding restrictions and cost,) discussion of expanding smoking laws (more restrictive and hurting private business's revenue,) and skirt chasing green energy initiatives (stunting competition) that will wipe perhaps thousands of dollars a year out of individual's home budgets, are but a few off the cuff examples.

The well worn prey vs. asset miscalculation on the part of Michigan governments is certainly true, but it does not stop there. It is an attitude that is applies to all enterprise in this state, not just that of the automakers.

h/t Carpe Diem

John McCain, It Is Not About You Anymore!

There was a lot about John McCain that I disliked in the last election. He had proven himself to be pretty much of a jerk during his years in the Senate, and there were no particular high points in the campaign that did anything to convince me otherwise.

Perhaps he is taking an undeserved drubbing over recent comments about Sarah Palin, but I think he should be better prepared to answer questions about his former running mate; a simple shrug and an admission that he might not support her in a run for the Presidency is a bit too mavericky for my taste.

We all know that McCain's first choice for VP was Joe Lieberman. That in itself should be a real reminder as to how dedicated McCain is to conservative principles. The guy hangs around with Lindsay Graham for crying out loud. Other than being right on Iraq and national defense, what exactly did McCain do to distinguish himself from most of the Democrat Senators in Washington? I blackened the little circle next to his name because the circle just beneath his belonged to Barack Obama who could not even get Iraq correct with hindsight. It was, shall we say, a classic lesser of two evils choice.

Now we have all of that behind us, and McCain and Palin lost their bids for higher office. In the aftermath McCain has done nothing to shrug off the Maverick image and still appears to be trying to strengthen his appeal to centrist voters by casually dismissing Palin.

Sure, there are other young GOP governors around, and Palin does have to win another election in Alaska to remain viable. Who knows, she may not even decide she wants higher office. These things are a given to all of us, and not just discernible through the the eagle eyes of a documented maverick. Please John, cut the crap. It all isn't about you anymore.

Obama's Reluctance

It was a point blank question, and it was a question that had to be asked.

Did The Obama have any conversations with the corrupt Democrat Governor of Illinois over who he would appoint to the Senate seat he had vacated? It wasn't even a gotcha question, for it had already been asked and answered weeks earlier.

Back in November, Obama adviser David Axelrod had said there had been conversations between the two camps. The statement had been in the public record and it had not been downplayed or denied by anyone from the O-Team or, just as notably, it had not been a point of contention for any political foe of Obama. But, that was before Rod Blagojevich was arrested, and that was before it became public knowledge just how brazenly stupid and corrupt Rod Blagojevich actually is.

So, when Obama was asked about any conversations between the two, Obama curtly denied any. Shortly thereafter, Axelrod himself submitted that he had been mistaken.

Of course, now we know that there had been conversations between the two parties.

Barack Obama had every legitimate reason to be concerned about whom the corrupt Illinois Democrat was going to appoint to the Senate seat vacated by Obama. Good grief, when I left the stock room at the college food commons I went so far as to talk with the boss to see who was taking over. Now, that is not to say that Obama could demand the appointment of any one of his favored candidates, (he is denied that power in the process,) but presenting his opinion to the Governor on the matter should have been expected. Who would have thought otherwise? No one that I know of.

And yet, out came the denial.

Politics is a rough game, something that Obama has probably figured out even with the media performing during his latest election like the Harvard Glee Club on his behalf. He can expect things to get appreciably tougher now that he has ascended into a new theater.

By most accounts I have seen, Team Obama probably performed admirably during its communications with Blagojevich concerning the Senate seat. There certainly is nothing on the surface that would point to any questionable behavior. Except the denial, that is.

So, what does this episode tell us about Barack Obama?

During the campaign, when asked to dispute accusations that he was too inexperienced to ascend to the White House, Obama used the shallowest of qualifications as an example of his experience, that being the size and scope of his own campaign team. In effect, running for the office of the presidency was the best qualification he felt he had in actually holding the office of the presidency. As it turns out, that experience, and John McCain, were good enough to get him elected. Well, that and the Glee Club thing.

His inexperience, his glorious campaign machine notwithstanding, might already be showing. So afraid of the appearance of impropriety or dirty associations, the Obama did what lawyers do best, deny everything, when the truth would have been a better option. His tactic of denial might work well in a courtroom venue or in any legal process where all players are routinely expected to only begrudgingly accede to a distant foregone conclusions--for knee jerk denials and obfuscations in law are nothing more than a part of the landscape. In the office of President, however, a more forthright approach might be advisable.

I hope that we can expect Barack Obama to perform admirably whenever he is confronted with not only corruption, but pointed questions. Both flow in politics as frequently as the f-bomb does from the noted potty mouth of Mrs. Rod Blagojevich. He is going to have plenty of chances to learn the ropes.

It is not going to help his ability to govern when the truth can only eke its way out on the third try.