Recently in Competence Category

I've not much to add to the debate about Obama's efforts at bipartisanship. Better bloggers than I have made hay over that subject.

However, I do have an opinion. I also go to the bathroom a lot. Anyway, when it comes to Obama's efforts, I am willing to allow him his timing. I figure, at some point, he is going to discontinue the following efforts:

Time

When Barack Obama informed congressional Republicans last month that he would support a controversial parliamentary move to protect health-care reform from a filibuster in the Senate, they were furious. That meant the bill could pass with a simple majority of 51 votes, eliminating the need for any GOP support. Where, they demanded, was the bipartisanship the President had promised? So, right there in the Cabinet Room, the President put a proposal on the table, according to two people who were present. Obama said he was willing to curb malpractice awards, a move long sought by Republicans that is certain to bring strong opposition from the trial lawyers who fund the Democratic Party.

What, he wanted to know, did the Republicans have to offer in return?

Nothing, it turned out. Republicans were unprepared to make any concessions, if they had any to make. But the encounter did make some Democrats wish they could see more of that kind of presidential engagement on the issue that Obama says is his top legislative priority. "I want the White House involved, maybe to be at the table," says Senator Chris Dodd, the second-ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "It's very important." (See five truths about health care in America.)

Look, Obama has shown good judgment, patience, and an innate sense of timing. It was on display during the election. Now, though, people are reacting to the current political situation as if he's lost that particular set of skills. I suspect he will know when to stop giving the GOP an opportunity to participate in the crafting of bills and just work with the Democratic caucuses in the congress.

I voted for the man because I believed he would be able to do the job as he saw fit, not as I saw fit. So far, he's managed to achieve a semblance of what I see fit. Not a perfect fit, but I'm not one to truly judge. Now, don't get me wrong; I do judge. But I also go to the bathroom a lot.

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (CNN) -- Hillary Clinton says her first overseas trip to Asia as U.S. secretary of state is aimed at creating a "network of partners" to tackle problems that no nation can deal with alone, including the global economic crisis.

Good luck Hillary. Hopefully, you'll restore our honor after having had the face of the US be a shoe shopping incompetent.

It's interesting, by the way, that she's going to Asia first, and not the middle east.

John Amato is upset at Obama's late use of his internet/email list.

I have a question for the Obama staff. Why was the Democratic Party so miserable in trying to explain your stimulus plan to the American people when the mass media finally gave them some air time? Why did you let the messaging get away from you? Why wasn't this LIST immediately implemented to take the lead on the messaging of his economic plan? Don't you think it's a little late to remember that this LIST existed?

Obviously, I don't believe Obama forgot the list. In fact, I am quite sure he knows it's there. But there is such a think as over kill. During a presidential campaign, we all are more than willing to put up with a constant stream of email's requesting donations, enlisting aid, etc., etc., etc. But there is no campaign. This is a different situation, with different expectations. Are people willing to put up with the same level of emails from the President? Will it even work? And if it does, will it work every time he breaks it out?

Now, I don't even begin to believe I have the answers to those questions. But to assume that the power of that list is going to work now that he is in the Oval Office is presumptuous. Of course, I know he's going to use the list. That's a given. But I also understand why he's been hesitant until know. Had he used it earlier, when the debate on the stimulus bill was just starting up, and it failed, what then?

When the use of the internet first occurred with Dean's campaign, the one thing I noticed was it's rapid fire response. The ability to generate donations was instantaneous. What use to take weeks, happened in 24 hours. Also, the response of progressive and moderate blogs to counter the lies and distortions of the Republican talking points was also rapid. This ability to immediately respond makes the net a better defensive tool.

The greatest weakness of the progressive movement has been it's impatience. John Amato is putting that impatience on display. Can we all remember:

 

Finally, a clear sign of this administration breaking with the past.

Washington Post

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 20 -- In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration.

The instruction came in a motion filed with a military court in the case of five defendants accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The motion called for "a continuance of the proceedings" until May 20 so that "the newly inaugurated president and his administration [can] review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases currently pending before military commissions, specifically."

They can't move fast enough to undue the damage of the last 8 years. But at least they are moving.

This, people, is what leadership looks like.

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama is already making presidential history by naming -- or at least his transition team is leaking to the press -- his Cabinet picks faster than nearly all of his predecessors.

"If we do not act swiftly and boldly, most experts believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year," Obama said Monday.

With an economic crisis spiraling out of control and a lame duck in the oval office, presidential scholars say the next commander in chief simply had no choice.

"This is really unprecedented. But it's an unprecedented situation," said Larry Sabato, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia. "Obama is doing what the public and the markets demand be done -- and that is to show that the next president is really in charge before he even takes the oath of office."