Is Obama's cabinet in a bubble and infected with groupthink?

[Quixote1818]

It's as if they didn't read any of the polling that came out of MA or if they did guys like Rahm shot it down and shut down discussions. Are there any strong progressives in his cabinet that can open his eyes a little or has groupthink shut down the dissenters around him? I just don't get how they can be so far off in their interpretation of what occurred in MA, which was that Obama lost his base and of course a poor economy had an effect plus a poor candidate against a strong one. On top of that, now every decision they make is beyond reason even for many conservatives. Not even Bush and Cheney wanted to give Hoover's policies another try. It's the weirdest thing I have ever seen. Groupthink is what comes to mind because when it has taken control then bad decision making starts to occur. It has happened in many administrations causing things such as the Bay of Pigs and the Iraq war.

Simptoms of groupthink: http://www.abacon.com/commstudies/groups/groupthink.html

Conditions Groupthink occurs when groups are highly cohesive and when they are under considerable pressure to make a quality decision.
Negative outcomes Some negative outcomes of groupthink include:
Examining few alternatives
Not being critical of each other's ideas
Not examining early alternatives
Not seeking expert opinion
Being highly selective in gathering information
Not having contingency plans

Symptoms Some symptoms of groupthink are:
Having an illusion of invulnerability
Rationalizing poor decisions
Believing in the group's morality
Sharing stereotypes which guide the decision
Exercising direct pressure on others
Not expressing your true feelings
Maintaining an illusion of unanimity
Using mindguards to protect the group from negative information

Solutions Some solutions include:
Using a policy-forming group which reports to the larger group
Having leaders remain impartial
Using different policy groups for different tasks
Dividing into groups and then discuss differences
Discussing within sub-groups and then report back
Using outside experts
Using a Devil's advocate to question all the group's ideas
Holding a "second-chance meeting" to offer one last opportunity to choose another course of action

[glinda]

1. I believe he is being isolated on purpose IMHO

[donheld]

2. I've been thinking that for some time now

Somebody needs to break through to that bunch before the ship sinks

[DKRC]

3. Looks like you could use a kick

Interesting info ~ thanks for posting it.

:thumbsup:

K&R

[Quixote1818]

6. Thanks for the kick.

Also a clever way of kicking myself :)

[DKRC]

8. You're welcome

and there's another kick for you. :evilgrin:

[RedCloud]

4. He is surrounded by deranged wing nuts. And he chose to be so!

I have to call him an asshole because his cabinet is not too different from the Bush cabinet. He gave us all the finger when he made his center/right selections for all positions.

[Quixote1818]

7. Thats very true. The buck stops with Obama. nt

[TexasObserver]

5. Yes, and he needs to clean house.

Fire Geithner, Bernanke, and Summers. Fire Rahm.

Bring in some new faces, people who are Democrats and who understand that the president has to act now to address the jobs problem. If the president goes through with the freeze, he's sealed our fate in November, and he's likely made himself a captive to a GOP congress after November.

[victoryparty]

9. Fire Rahm? But who takes his place?

I'm not necessarily opposed to Rahm being fired, but who would take his place as Chief of Staff?

And please, don't say "Blago."

[TexasObserver]

11. Howard Dean would be a good Chief of Staff.

Rahm has been terrible.

[amborin]

10. k&R