Not Only Can He Give Campaign Speeches, He's Really Good at Pointing Fingers Too

There's not other way to put it: Not only is our President a clueless amateur, but he's rude too.

If you’d dialed up the "Additional Issues" portion of the [WhiteHouse.gov] Web site’s "Agenda" section earlier this week, the entry on Hurricane Katrina would have left you with zero doubt about who was to blame for the governmental failure to respond to the storm: the Bush administration. "President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," the section read...

The irony is that Obama seems intent on breaking as many campaign promises as he can in his first 100 days. Hey, even before the inauguration, he tossed aside the pledge to accept public campaing funds, and it turns out that was a mere taste of what was to come.

But the best part is this:

The economic stimulus signed by President Barack Obama will spread billions of dollars across the country to spruce up aging roads and bridges. But there's not a dime specifically dedicated to fixing leftover damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Barack Obama: Do as he says, not as he does.

Seeing the World through Rose-Colored Glasses (or These People Wouldn't Say "Shit" If They Had a Mouthful)

With the country at war abroad and on the brink of passing a domestic spending bill that big majorities of the public oppose, the Obama Administration is spending its time on a truly important matter: what to rename the war on terror. The main reason to do so in the first place is that George W. Bush coined the phrase, and if Bush said the sky was blue, Obama would avoid using that particular description too. The excuse, though, is that "war on terror" isn't accurate enough.

When asked about the "war on terror" phrase by CNN's Anderson Cooper, Obama said, "Well you know, I think it is very important for us to recognize that we have a battle or a war against some terrorist organizations … Words matter in this situation because one of the ways we're going to win this struggle is through the battle of hearts and minds."

This isn't just semantics; it's a shift in the essence of the fight. Obama thinks we're fighting against "some terrorist organizations," which misses the point that terrorists don't have to be very organized to be a threat to our security. But even ignoring that fact, it seems that Obama wants to set the tone for a kinder, gentler war.

"We're trying to come up with a phrase that better articulates a hopeful message," said one administration official involved in the discussions about terror terminology.

Because, you know, if we hope terrorists will stop wanting to kill us, they will.

I seem to recall that the last President who thought that using warmer, fuzzier words would help matters was Jimmy Carter. And for his naivete, he was rewarded with the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

In the wise words of Santayana, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The same fate waits those who remember but choose to ignore.

Do Any of These People Pay Their Taxes?*

It must be considered a form of stupidity for a chief executive to habitually nominate lawbreakers as cabinet officials or other high-level appointees, wouldn't you think?

First there was the curious case of Timothy Geithner, our newly confirmed Treasury Secretary, initially refused to pay self-employment taxes for which he was reimbursed while working for the International Monetary Fund. Only when audited by the Internal Revenue Service did he pay overdue taxes (but no interest or penalties) for 2003 and 2004. He ignored the 2001 and 2002 debt altogether until forced by appearances to pay up (again, sans interest or penalties) after Obama nominated him. (One Politico reader points out that because Geithner didn't pay those years until after the statute of limitations ran out, he may actually get the money back.)

Earlier this afternoon, Nancy Killefer pulled her nomination to be the nation's first "Chief Performance Officer" because of an apparent failure to pay some or all of the required payroll and/or unemployment taxes on her household staff.

Now we have the latest and greatest scandal, that of former Senator Tom Daschle, who was approximately the gazillionth Obama nominee/appointee to have been exposed as a tax cheat for failing to pay taxes on perks provided to him in a prior job. Daschle withdrew his nomination to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.

You have to hand it to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, nominated to head the Department of Commerce. At least his downfall wasn't precipitated by tax evasion, just a grand jury investigation into his alleged role in a pay-to-play scandal.

But it does add to the questions about whether Obama keeps company with any ethical people at all. Perhaps being from Chicago, he doesn't think ethics are all that necessary.

*Tip of the hat to Glenn Reynolds, who asks this question on almost a daily basis.