SMACK DOWN!!!! Obama tells reporter he himself is the change

[bigdarryl]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/26/obama-defends-cabinet-the_n_146648.html

[JuniperLea]

1. I've been saying this around here until I'm blue in the face!

"Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost," he said. "It comes from me. That's my job, to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure then that my team is implementing ."

He is in charge. Period. He is the director of this play, all others on his team are actors, he is the boss, he directs the scenes. That in itself is major change from the last administration... or, the current one, actually:)

[earthlover]

3. wow...it wasn't too long ago when he said the vision of change came from the PEOPLE

[JuniperLea]

6. got a link? eom

[Jim Sagle]

9. Your request for a link is quite disengenuous.

Everybody goddamn well knows Obama said, "We are the change we've been waiting for."

NOT "I am the change you've been waiting for."

Get it?

[JuniperLea]

10. Lighten up

Who is "we"? I say it's the Obama administration. In that context, he is the change and he has the vision.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[symbolman]

14. Hoo boy! A Card Carryin' Mensa Member!

That explains a LOT.. No wonder I had a certain vastly more Intelligent member on ignore for four years..

BFD, my brother clocks in at an IQ of 200 and he's the dumbest kid on the block, NO Social Skills, arrogant, refuses to admit he's wrong, and pretty much an mediocre life..

Smart people know how to get along and appreciate humility in themselves and others. Spiritual aspect, dear..

Put it away, got no more meaning than a Costco card really, says more about pulling rank, trumping others.

I think this is one of the saddest things I've ever seen to be honest. Maybe talk to a shrink if you get a chance..

A really Smart One, and no cheating. :)

[JuniperLea]

15. You and your brother are so much alike

So, it's ok in your estimation to bash someone by saying they have the IQ of a dead dog, but it's not ok to prove said poster wrong.

Jealous much?

Deal.

[rasputin1952]

29. I am a card carrying Mensa Member...I am not the dumbest kid on the block...

(my older brother is also a card carrying Mensa Member, and if he had zero social skills, refused to admit he was wrong...(but I'll give you the mediocre life)...I certainly wouldn't tell the world about it...:eyes:

;)

[JuniperLea]

33. Smart = Bad

And we wonder why Idiocracy looks like a documentary.

I hate myself for posting that card... but I was told I had the IQ of a dead dog... what was I to do? Walk away... that's what I should have done.

Good to know someone else in the club is here... I joined it for the Headbanger's Special Interest Group, but stayed for the incredible conversations:)

[rasputin1952]

38. I went to several meet-ups over the years...(oddly none here in

Nebraska), and had good times, great discussions and enjoyed myself...(I even learned a few things...:D )

I have no problem at all being a Mensa member, and I don't look at anyone differently, I respect everyone that respects others.

[JuniperLea]

39. That's how I've always felt too...

... the fighting Irish in me gets all bent when I'm challenged. Certainly there's no oneupmanship in any of the groups I've ever attended. One lady I met told the group she cheated on her test... everyone laughed, and one guy said, well, if you are smart enough to do that with someone staring over your shoulder the whole time, you belong anyway.

Funny how IQ is meaningful to some when they are disparaging another, but not when someone proves their IQ... I've always found that very interesting.

[rasputin1952]

40. It's no big deal for me at all...another way to network...

:)

My math skills are atrocious, (I still love the people who make calcualtors), but all things considered, I find it an excellent way to meet people and have good discussions...for me, it beats going to a bar...:D

[JuniperLea]

42. One of my groups MEETS in a bar!

:)

[rasputin1952]

44. ...

:D

[trumad]

53. Funniest post I've read in a long time...

Nice take down Symbolman....

[Kalyke]

16. That's pretty crass.

Really... pulling out a Mensa card?

Geesch. That's just classless and, frankly, rather silly.

A Mensa card?? :eyes:

(And, no, I'm not jealous. I've never applied, but would be accepted).

[JuniperLea]

17. So, it's ok to bash someone and say

They have the IQ of a dead dog, but proving them wrong, is wrong. You wouldn't know crass if it walked up and punched you in the nose.

[Kalyke]

20. And you wouldn't know decorum if it bit your ear.

Being a member of Mensa no more proves you have critical thinking skills than being a member of the Democratic Party means you are a liberal.

[JuniperLea]

21. Hahahaha!

Perhaps you can explain the meaning of IQ to me?

:rofl:

Oh, yes! I can see you have so much decorum! I should bow to you... no, I'm building a shrine!

:rofl:

You still don't get it. I have the right to prove a poster wrong when said poster insults my intelligence.

[Runcible Spoon]

30. IQ tests LOL are you serious?

One class in freshman psyche was all I needed to get a cursory overview of eugenics and the use of pseudo-science to perpetuate hegemony over the underclasses and ethnic minorities. What's your fucking excuse "genius"?

edited to stick pseudo in front of science because that's exactly what IQ tests are

[JuniperLea]

31. Spoken like a true

High functioning moron.

[Runcible Spoon]

32. wow one would think a MENSA card-carrying member could conjure up something better than that

Please, dazzle me with your superior intellect! And if that fails, there's always http://thesaurus.reference.com/.

[JuniperLea]

34. Look upthread, oh snarky one...

One of our mods belongs to the club too.

:eyes:

You don't have the brains to be dazzled, clearly.

[Dis Pater]

35. That was your goal, to dazzle?

[JuniperLea]

36. Not at all, newbie

I'm not surprised you don't get it.

[Dis Pater]

37. Now I'm dazzled.

[Indenturedebtor]

43. Depends on the test but generally they're predictive of a number of things

: life satisfaction, looks, lack of disease, income, crime, etc etc.

Now those are just trends and a high IQ doesn't mean much on an individual level. The proof is in "the pudding" of personal success. :shrug:

I'm sorry that your school didn't have a good psych program.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted sub-thread

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[JuniperLea]

13. I guess that's why you can't see it like I do

:shrug:

But you shouldn't be so down on yourself, really.

[stillcool]

8. The "vision" of change?

or change comes from the bottom up? I believe that he has the vision, and if the bottom does it's part in lobbying their representatives perhaps his vision will come to fruition in some degree. I don't believe for one minute that will happen. After all there is no 'we' the people. There are red states and blue states, Democrats and Republicans, gays and straights, religious and non-religious..and on..and on...and on.

[jenmito]

27. So he should've answered that the CITIZENS (WE) are in his cabinet?

It was a question about his choices for his cabinet not bringing change-not about having an administration that will (or won't) listen to our input (via his website for example).

[quiet.american]

45. Dupe. nt

[quiet.american]

46. Dupe. nt

[BrklynLiberal]

2. makes sense to me.

The question of whether Obama's Cabinet undermines his message is, in many ways, a media creation (though there are some legitimate understandable gripes from the labor community). As the president-elect rightfully noted, the issue is a lose-lose proposition. Either he appoints some experienced hands to deal with the economic crisis (and gets labeled as more of the same) or he taps new people to handle the situation and is accused of leaving the country at risk.

"The last Democratic administration we had was the Clinton administration," said Obama. "So it would be surprising if I selected a Treasury Secretary who had had no connection with the last Democratic administration, because that would mean that the person had no experience in Washington whatsoever. And I suspect that you would be troubled and the American people would be troubled if I selected a Treasury Secretary or a chairman of the National Economic Council, at one of the most critical economic times in our history, who had no experience in government whatsoever. What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking."

"I think when you ultimately look at what this advisory board looks like, you'll say this is a cross-section of opinion that in some ways reinforces conventional wisdom and in some ways breaks with orthodoxy in all sorts of ways," he went on. "And that's the kind of discussion we want. We want ideas from everybody. What I don't want to do is to somehow suggest that somehow suggest that since you served in the last Democratic administration, that you're somehow barred from serving again. Because we need people who are going to be able to hit the ground running."

[JuniperLea]

23. Wish I could rec a post...

Well said.

[DireStrike]

4. Some reptilian-paranoid corner of my mind says:

He picked up on this message as soon as he heard it being said in other quarters. Very savvy - good move, good cover.

Then the voice slithers away and I'm left with a sick little knot of doubt burrowing into the lining of my stomach.

Plaid Adder is right. What the fuck has the Bush presidency done to my regard for politicians and government?

[gulliver]

5. No no no!

The cabinet fights among themselves. Then the vice president sneaks into the Oval office to tell the president what to decide. So the president just decides after the cabinet people figure out what to do and clear it with the vice president.

That reporter is right. If Obama has cabinet members who have ties to old administrations, then they and the vice president will undoubtedly lead the president to do the "same old things." So there goes change right there. If you are going to have change, you've got to have a cabinet who will come up with different decisions for the decider to agree with (in consultation with the vice president). Who does Obama think he is, President of the United States or something?

[high density]

25. You almost had me!!

:)

[ecstatic]

7. new phrase needed. "I am the changer?"

:shrug:

[Lord Helmet]

19. hope so because his appointments so far aren't

[bridgit]

22. KO made the connection, "Has Obama just said in effect he's 'the decider'?"

To Richard Wolf on Countdown...not a big fan of Wolf; he nevertheless is of the opinion that both Obama's recognition of personal responsibility and bush 'decider moment' contain measures of hubris and are therefore similar. Setting aside the bottomless questions our free press is capable of asking, I can't wait to start moving beyond the "SMACK DOWN!!!!" phase and into areas where resolve becomes active

[quiet.american]

47. Utter horse-hockey.

Just utter horse-hockey.

[bridgit]

48. I'm no uber-fan of KO's either, but pull up the transcript for confirm...

It seemed odd they were talking about it in those terms at all

[quiet.american]

56. No, I hear you, but I think the premise is utter horse-hockey.

There are times when I can't agree with KO. :)

[high density]

24. Thank goodness for that

This "buyer's remorse" sort of shit I'm seeing here on DU stinks to high heavens.

[Dis Pater]

26. His acceptance speech was better

"But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you."

[high density]

28. Right, now he's going to do his best to fix the country for us

And to do that he needs some people that know how to navigate Washington.

[Tribetime]

41. Excellent good to see n/t

[soothsayer]

49. Ah, to be a leo

[flamingdem]

50. Yes. Bossy, but in a good way, leos that is..

Hey we need a leader so let the dude lead!

NO APOLOGIES NEEDED FROM ME BARACK!

LEAD AWAY!

[democracy1st]

51. K & R

[iamthebandfanman]

52. which is why im waiting till next year

before i become to critical.

[DCBob]

54. How presumptuous of him even before he is inaugurated!

The press will never allow it.

[Warren Stupidity]

55. le changement, c'est moi