Innovation Economy, Afghanistan, and that White House Crashing Couple
01 December 2009 8:57 am by Taylor Marsh
I’ll be at an economic conference most of the day today. It’s sponsored by the Aspen Institute, Intel, Democracy (A Journal of Ideas), and The News Hour (with or without Jim Lehrer’s name on it). Call it a day of listening and learning. I’ll weigh in on Twitter for those interested.
Pres. Obama’s big speech is tonight. It’s going to be very important for him, with a focus on sending a message to Pres. Karzai, while setting some goals as well, even if there might not be any clear signal on Pakistan, but let’s wait to hear what he has to say. Though never fear, Dick Cheney has already weighed in, basically saying Pres. Obama is showing “weakness” as commander in chief who also isn’t up to the job.
“I begin to get nervous when I see the commander in chief making decisions apparently for what I would describe as small ‘p’ political reasons, where he’s trying to balance off different competing groups in society,” Cheney said.
“Every time he delays, defers, debates, changes his position, it begins to raise questions: Is the commander in chief really behind what they’ve been asked to do?”
[...] “Here’s a guy without much experience, who campaigned against much of what we put in place … and who now travels around the world apologizing,” Cheney said. “I think our adversaries — especially when that’s preceded by a deep bow … — see that as a sign of weakness.”
This from a man who didn’t have the moral courage to fight for his country, getting five deferments. But also helped out a covert CIA operative, lie to Congress and the American people, and help produce a foreign policy that eviscerated America’s moral high ground on the altar of torture, while using the U.S. military for escapades that got us into the situation in Afghanistan in the first place.
There’s an open thread “In the News,” so keep chiming in. Besides, you should go over there just to see Fergie tear the house down from HBO’s Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame broadcast. What an amazing night of artists. It’s worth subscribing to HBO just for this special.
I also want to weigh in on the White House State Dinner crashers, the Salahis, as Desiree Rogers has been asked to testify at the gatecrashers hearing, as she continues to take some serious incoming over this one.
“Our lives have been destroyed,” – Mrs. Michaele Salahis
Oh, well, boo-hoo, babe. You should be in jail.
That said, having been to the White House and seen the security first hand, it’s hard to imagine how the Salahises got in. But the scuttlebutt clearly is that there was a bit of security confusion that night. However, let’s not forget that the people entering the White House were all assumed to be known and of that upper tier of elites, so nothing was anticipated. It didn’t hurt that Mrs. Salahis was a drop dead gorgeous blonde. Would a butt ugly woman have gotten such attention or treatment? Something to discuss, for sure, and a clear embarrassment for the Secret Service, with someone definitely needing to answer for this one.
Off to the Innovation Economy conference. It’s well off my usual turf and I’m looking forward to a little eggheadness enlightenment. We’ll see if they deliver.
Oh, and it’s World Aids Day, so I’d like to take one moment to recognize William Jefferson Clinton and all his Foundation does for this cause.
