An article in an Irish newspaper that makes me want to SCREEEAAAAAM!

[Jackeens]

Evening everyone. I'm on holidays at the moment and vowed to avoid newspapers during my break because they're too damned depressing these days. So it was a big, big mistake to read this article from an Irish Sunday paper today. I've no problem with any reporter arguing about ideology or the effectiveness or otherwise of the stimulus package, but to lace an article with Free Republic-type bullshit - eg "Nobody cares that he can't speak in public without the use of a teleprompter that he carries around the world with him like a baby's blanky" - just makes me want to spew. This will actually be held up as a balanced and honest article because it appears in what is a decent quality paper. Who gives a ****? I know, no one should....but it makes me want to scream. :-(



The Spin King

Aura? What aura? There's not a lot to show for Barack Obama's first six months in power apart from a glut of soft-focus TV appearances and some very bad politics, reports Dave Hannigan from the US

Imagine living in a banana republic whose charismatic leader rushed through the passing of a $787bn spending bill without giving his supporters or his opponents any time to read the 1,000-plus page publication. It was a matter of too much national urgency for him to permit any scrutiny, yet five months later not much more than 10% of the money has been spent. Of the cash that has been allocated, two-thirds has somehow ended up in counties which voted for the charismatic leader in the last election. What sort of tin-pot third-world country would allow such blatant favouritism?

Welcome to the America of President Barack Obama. On the ground, it's a little bit different from the place you see on television or read about in giddy newspaper dispatches detailing how we are all supposedly enthused and excited by this historic administration. Tomorrow it will be six months and a trillion dollars or so in increased spending since he entered the Oval Office. What a short, strange trip it's been with a leader who's so far evinced much more audacity than hope. How else to classify a man who talks a way better game than he actually plays?

In February, Obama boldly told us the stimulus bill that will doom future generations of Americans to massive debt repayments would, in a deliberately vague turn of phrase, "create or save" four million jobs. With the catchphrase "Anybody seen a stimulus job" having become a standing joke in delis and diners across the country since then, the president now claims to have "saved or created" around 150,000 jobs. Just another 3.85 million to go then.

More: http://www.tribune.ie/magazine/article/2009/jul/19/the-spin-king/


If you could be arsed, how would you respond to this guy?

[rwheeler31]

1. Dam he slept through more than half the speech.

Questions are your friends.

[Tarc]

2. I'd repond "Hey Paddy, hit the Guinness AFTER you write the newspaper columns

not BEFORE."

[Rosa Luxemburg]

23. he's is probably eternally drunk

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

3. I humbly submit that the Irish take a look at their own problems

before commenting on ours.

Unemployment in Ireland will rise to almost 17 per cent next year
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0429/breaking18.htm

Ireland’s external debt, at $1.8 trillion, equals 900% of the country’s $200 billion GDP.
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20090217/REG/902179967

Who's the Banana Republic again?

[Jackeens]

22. For fuck sake: the author of the article does not represent Ireland, so spare me the anti-Irish crap

:shrug:

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

24. Eh, this guy has plenty to be critical of at home before pointing fingers over here.

Sorry, Ireland's a lot more of a mess then the U.S. This guy is just a projectionist hypocrite u know? Who gives a fuck what he says?

I'm 1/2 Irish so you can give me a break.

:eyes:

[Aragorn]

4. ?

So 6.6% of it went to "his" districts? So what?

I read that "stimulus jobs" are in fact coming online now. Doesn't seem that long to me.

My family has Irish roots but I don't think the country is a particularly liberal place, especially not economically. Or socially. Well, I guess I can't think of any area....

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. As far as I can tell, he's a sports columnist. So WTF he's doing writing a political article is

is anyone's guess.


Update: He's also a professor of history at Suffolk, but a longtime McCain supporter.

"I was reading an article today by Dave Hannigan, adjunct-professor of history at Suffolk Community College, New York, rebuking the national broadcaster RTE for its open advocacy of the Democratic Party in the American presidential election. Mr. Hannigan is a Republican supporter, which is clear from the outset of the article.

This is how he states his case: "The scene was a train trundling between Dublin and Cork one Friday morning last month. Three middle-aged passengers were passing the journey in casual conversation and eventually the talk turned to the American presidential election.

There followed half an hour during which each member of the trio agreed whole-heartedly that whatever happened in the race for the Democratic nomination, the USA would be much better off once Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama reaches the White House. They offered no specific reasons for this, just a lot of ill-informed platitudes about both candidates being wonderful, talented and vastly superior to John McCain". Mr. Hannigan was not pleased but, apparently, remained mute although he's made the following points in his article:

l. "There is a large constituency which sincerely believes strong and often overbearing government is what has prevented further terrorist attacks on America over the past seven years.

2. "That McCain is vastly more experienced in life and politics than the former First Lady or the junior senator from Illinois offers yet another reason for preferring his candidacy. He may be thrilling to listen to but Obama's own supporters struggle to name a single legislative achievement in his short career.".

Hannigan also claims that Chuck Schumer has been a far better and more diligent representative of New York's interests in Washington than Hillary Clinton has been. He says that Clinton's and Obama's "notions about introducing universal health care are fanciful and misguided", although he doesn't explain why this is so, mentioning only that he pays l,200 dollars a month for "bells-and-whistle" healthcare for his family."

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/04/18/debate/view/index26.html

[malletgirl02]

12. So he is a McCain and a Schumer Supporter?

That says a lot right there.

[Beacool]

6. Well, some of it is nonsense and some of it is not.

Like this:

"Obama escapes censure for the routinely enormous gap between what he promises and what he delivers because he is so historic and symbolic a figure, many in the media appear unwilling or unable to do their jobs when it comes to subjecting him to the normal journalistic rigour. Half a year into his regime, the absence of critical evaluation is as stunning to behold as it is potentially damaging to the body politic. What does it say about a country that the television networks appear more interested in getting him to take their star reporters on cringe-inducing tours of the White House rather than seriously examining his performance as leader?"

And this:

Everybody expects naked cronyism from politicians but wasn't Obama supposed to be cut from a different cloth? After all, he campaigned as an agent of change. For starters, there were to be none of the hated lobbyists in his employ. Well, until he decided there were a few he liked too much and simply had to have working for him in his administration. Still, it was a brand new world where nobody with even a whiff of impropriety would be tolerated. At least until half a dozen of his most high-profile appointments, including his treasury secretary, were outed as tax cheats.

His feet should be held to the fire like those of the other 43 presidents who came before him, no matter how "historic" his presidency.


:shrug:

BTW, I hope that you're having a wonderful time and stop reading the newspapers!!!

:hi:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. "Obama escapes censure"!?!? Are you kidding me?

Obama isn't criticized? Look at the front page of Yahoo! Every damn day there's article after article about Obama the screw up. This guy is a nut as evidenced by the fact he teaches history and has no fucking clue what a banana republic is.

[Beacool]

8. The two groups who criticize him the most are Progressives and the Conservatives.

The MSM has been in full fledge adoration mode since the primaries. The writer of this piece sounds like a Conservative and some of his criticism makes it evident, but not everything he wrote should be considered not to be valid.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

9. I live in Chicago and there are stories every day about whether Obama is doing well or not.

Some yes, some no. And this is his hometown.
Today alone, WAPO, LA Times, AP and the FRONT PAGE OF YAHOO all have critical stories on Obama. Surely you are not going to argue that these are not MSM sources.

[Beacool]

10. I haven't read today's articles.

I'll check Realclearpolitics for them. In general, though, he has been allowed to coast in areas where other politicians would have been lambasted. Too many walk on eggshells for fear of offending.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

11. Really? Please give an example.

[Beacool]

13. There are many instances,

some are even mentioned in this guy's article. We had a thread right here recently where the OP stated that the "racists" had booed the president when at the All Star's game. Most people reminded him that every president gets booed at these events.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

15. One thread on DU is not an example. Further, one of the guy's "examples" is the teleprompter.

Every president has used a teleprompter and not one of them ever got called out for it. That seems to contradict his point completely.


The other example is the stimulus, and if there is one topic that Obama absolutely HAS been called out on it's the stimulus as the front page of RCP shows.

[Beacool]

18. It's the frequent use of it that people find amusing.

Personally, I couldn't care less. It's a non issue. Other presidents have used the teleprompter for major speeches, but not for minor ones. Obama uses it even for speeches lasting less than 10 minutes. But again, who cares?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

19. No, it's just a phony way to attack Obama that people have found.

Presidents have always relied on teleprompters or note cards. If they didn't have a teleprompter, they had cards or notes. There is nothing strange about this. But the rightwingers started up a meme and unfortunately some people have bought it hook line and sinker.

[zulchzulu]

14. "It wasn't Obama's fault he inherited the worst economic conditions for 80 years. "

Then we get... "he hasn't fixed everything yet!"

'nough said...

[quiller4]

16. When you were reading the only really right wing paper in Ireland what do you expect?

[Jackeens]

21. What?! The Tribune is 'traditionally' left or left-of-centre-ish - that's why...

....I was so pissed by this right-wing pile of shit!

[CakeGrrl]

17. "Welcome to DU!"

:evilgrin:

[Avalux]

20. It's an op-ed from a right wing irish paper -

written by Dave Hannigan "from the US". I don't know who this guy is but keep in mind that pukes are notorious for this sort of propoganda. Their new talking point - "6 months in and Obama's a failure". Expect a lot more opinion pieces popping up saying the exact same thing.

I don't think it's worth a response.