Althouse: "The Obama administration hasn’t been distinguished by cool, cerebral, sure-footed professionalism, but by something closer to amateur hour."

May 26, 2014

"The Obama administration hasn’t been distinguished by cool, cerebral, sure-footed professionalism, but by something closer to amateur hour."

"From the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act to the bloody aftermath of the intervention in Libya, from enabling political witch-hunts at the IRS to being repeatedly outmaneuvered by Russia’s Vladimir Putin, from swelling the debt he was going to reduce to embittering the politics he promised to detoxify, Obama’s performance has been a lurching series of screw-ups and disappointments."

From "Obama fails to show his vaunted ‘competence,'" by Jeff Jacoby in The Boston Globe.

87 comments:

LYNNDH said...: OCH!; 5/26/14, 9:02 AM
rhhardin said...: Women were surprised.; 5/26/14, 9:03 AM
Nichevo said...: He'll never eat lunch in that town again.; 5/26/14, 9:13 AM
Unknown said...: The only thing worse than the idiots (i think more criminal than incompetent) in the administration are the idiots who elected them, twice. Goddamned twice.; 5/26/14, 9:13 AM
FleetUSA said...: This has been evident from almost day one. He was never involved in the hard working discussions surrounding his signature legislation Obamacare. Rather he was more interested in the Nobel prize, the Chicago Olympics bid and speechifying in Cairo.; 5/26/14, 9:13 AM
Rumpletweezer said...: The problem with constantly telling people they're better than they are is that they come to believe it.; 5/26/14, 9:14 AM
Nichevo said...: He'll never eat lunch in that town again.; 5/26/14, 9:15 AM
Big Mike said...: It think it needs to be said -- he is not anywhere near the manager that George W. Bush was.

The evidence that Barack Obama couldn't manage his way out of a wet paper bag was there to see in 2008 if one was willing to look at his record and ask what he led that turned out well. The closest thing would be agitating for asbestos removal at Altgeld Gardens in South Chicago, but after he won an agreement from the city he lost interest, went off to Harvard Law, and years later, in 2008, there were still homes that were unremediated in Altgeld Gardens.

It was there to see, if one looked.; 5/26/14, 9:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Racism!; 5/26/14, 9:17 AM
Sorun said...: But Obama speaks so well. I don't get it.; 5/26/14, 9:17 AM
Gahrie said...: I sure hope mr. Jacoby has been truthful on his tax forms the last couple of years.......

I'm just saying......; 5/26/14, 9:19 AM
Misinforminimalism said...: Oh, the examples are large and small. Witness today's story that the admin accidentally, one presumes, outed its CIA chief of mission in Afghanistan by releasing his name with his title in a PR piece.; 5/26/14, 9:19 AM
cubanbob said...: I for one am quite glad Obama is such an incompetent. It's the slightly silver lining in the very dark,ominous cloud. Hillary scares me simply because she might implement these very same policies competently.; 5/26/14, 9:23 AM
Unknown said...: Obama will find out about his incompetence by reading about it in the Globe, and will hold a press conference declaring:

"We're all angry over this, I am very angry, my incompetence will be addressed, and I'm going to look for some asses to kick!"

Then he'll go golfing, or flying.

I'll bet he cheats at golf.; 5/26/14, 9:24 AM
AntiBathos said...: We as a people and the world population as a whole are to blame for failing to seize the opportunity to accept guidance from a Light Worker, I.e., somebody who apparently does not work very hard at becoming competent.; 5/26/14, 9:24 AM
Michael K said...: The Obama campaigns were conducted with all the honesty and accuracy of the "Sham WOW" salesman.

There was never any reason to expect competence from him. He had botched the few tasks he attempted in Chicago. The housing campaign, The Annandale Challenge to fix Chicago schools. How have they worked out ?

Among other things this has been media malpractice. A lot of us saw this in 2007 but of course, RACISM!; 5/26/14, 9:28 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: That essay by Mr. Jacoby was very persuasive and I'm grateful for his valuable suggestion that we not vote for Obama the third time around.; 5/26/14, 9:28 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Obama's incompetence is what I like most about him.; 5/26/14, 9:28 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: So? Just another racist self identifies.; 5/26/14, 9:29 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Why is ANYONE surprised???; 5/26/14, 9:29 AM
The Godfather said...: Yes, it's true. But on what possible basis could anyone have thought in 2008 that Obama would be a competent manager, other than his own high opinion of his own competence? He had absolutely NO experience managing anything.

But then his opponent for the nomination claimed to be an expert on foreign policy who knew all the world's leaders, because she'd been First Lady for 8 years. We now know how she responded to the 3 AM phone call -- and how Obama responded.; 5/26/14, 9:33 AM
John henry said...: I know that we are supposed to believe in Obie's high level of smartness and intellect. The newspapers and TV all say so.

However, where is ANY evidence of this. Either from before his presidency or during? If he is so smart we would have expected to see some magna cum laude grades, instead we don't know what they are.

As numerous people have mentioned here and over the years, his record of accomplishment is even slimmer than Hilary's.

I don't see any evidence to support any statements that Obie is any smarter than average.

Can anyone cite anything other than statements that he is?

Ditto speaking ability. He can read a speech off a teleprompter. At that he is not much better than average. When he does speak without the teleprompter he gets tongue tied with lots and lots of ummmms

Joe Biden said it: He is a clean (as far as we know) well spoken black man. that seems to be his only qualification for any office.

It is not enough for the presidency.

John Henry; 5/26/14, 9:41 AM
Anonymous said...: If Obama was a woman would Sulzberger fire her?; 5/26/14, 9:45 AM
tim maguire said...: Eric the Fruit Bat, I'd give you a "like" if I could. Barack Obama has never done anything with his life other than accept awards and honors he hasn't earned. His only talent, getting influential people excited about him (which says plenty about how we ladle out influence).

His shortcomings were plain to see in 2008 and it's useless, pointless to admit them now.; 5/26/14, 9:46 AM
John henry said...: Unless Obie is a trojan horse for Charles and David Koch and liberals in general.

Liberalism (or libertarianism if you prefer) has made tremendous strides in the past 6 years. Prior to Oboe, most people didn't even know what it is.

Now we have Cruz, Paul and others in office. We have the Tea Party. We have general support for liberal ideals. Not enough yet but more than ever and it continues to build.

I think Obie is either hideously incompetent or a sneakily brilliant mole.

In either case, to the extent that he advances the liberal ideal, I am a supporter. I supported him in 2008 and in 2012.

No, he is not a good president in terms of short term policy. In the longer view, getting the country back to our founding ideals I think he is perhaps the best president ever!

Bumbling or brilliant doesn't really matter. It is results that count and I like what Obie is doing.; 5/26/14, 9:48 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Libruls tend to be impractical, inexperienced, underinformed especially when they are affirmative action hires like Prez Obama.; 5/26/14, 9:52 AM
John henry said...: In 93 Hilary tried to ram govt healthcare down our throats. (Sort of like Willy did to Monica). She was not successful but the idea never died. She still blames its failure on the "vast right wing conspiracy"

Nobody ever drove the proverbial stake into the heart of govt healthcare.

Now we have something similar. Had the Supremes put the kibosh on it, we would see it coming around again in another 10-20 years.

Now we have a chance to see how horrible the idea is and what a complete failure it is.

"That's why we need single payer!" many people say.

And, just in time to put the kibosh on that we have everything that is coming to light in the VA.

I think it still has to get worse before it gets better but I think that eventually we will kill the beast AND we will drive the stake through its heart to assure that is stays dead for generations to come.

Roll on Obie. I like your style.

John "Obiebot" Henry

Palin and Paul or Paul and Palin in 2016!; 5/26/14, 9:55 AM
furious_a said...: More "light worker" than "Lightworker".; 5/26/14, 9:57 AM
Bobber Fleck said...: Mr. Jacoby touches on just a few of the many damning quotes in Obama's past. Given their complete absence of memories from the last eight years regarding Obama's past statements, the members of the press should go in for cognitive screening (and take Hillary with them). Never have so many utterances, claims and promises gone down the "memory hole".; 5/26/14, 10:03 AM
Real American said...: Affirmative action strikes again!; 5/26/14, 10:04 AM
Meade said...: Bob Boyd said...
"Obama's incompetence is what I like most about him."

In 2008, Obama was super competent at defeating Hillary's super-delegates.; 5/26/14, 10:05 AM
Anonymous said...: The surprise to me is that this is the Globe (owned by the NYT); 5/26/14, 10:11 AM
Meade said...: "Never have so many utterances, claims and promises gone down the 'memory hole'."

"did you plug the memory hole yet, Daddy?"; 5/26/14, 10:13 AM
David said...: Jacoby is the house righty at the Globe. He does not reflect the views of his employers, co-workers or readers. Or at least their published views.; 5/26/14, 10:15 AM
David said...: I am still waiting to see the photos of Obama's interactions with the troops during his "surprise" visit to Afghanistan. None so far, but there are photos and stories about briefings by bigwigs who could just as easily have briefed him by teleconference.

He can't even pull off a good photo opportunity these days.; 5/26/14, 10:19 AM
khesanh0802 said...: Wow!…. from the Boston Globe no less. The NYT will be next - Ha! Ha!; 5/26/14, 10:19 AM
alan markus said...: @ Misinform......

today's story that the admin accidentally, one presumes, outed its CIA chief of mission in Afghanistan by releasing his name with his title in a PR piece.

Well, let's how this is handled compared to "Plamegate". - Scooter Libby available for comment at 6:00.; 5/26/14, 10:19 AM
PB said...: No argument from me. You could spend all day listing the lies, misrepresentations, screw-ups, and illegal actions of this administration.; 5/26/14, 10:21 AM
Larry J said...: T Rellis said...
The only thing worse than the idiots (i think more criminal than incompetent) in the administration are the idiots who elected them, twice. Goddamned twice.

This. It was plainly obvious to anyone paying attention and not duped by the hype that this particular emperor was (and still is) naked.; 5/26/14, 10:22 AM
harrogate said...: Oh my , *Jacoby* attacks Obama? That is truly a shocker! Next thing you know we will find out that Jonah Goldberg has been criticizing him!; 5/26/14, 10:22 AM
Michael K said...: One other objection to Jacoby's piece: The real estate bubble was largely the work of Alan Greenspan who wanted to reinflate the Internet bubble of the Clinton years. The thing was risky but it spun out of control after the Democrats took Congress in 2007.

Bush was a passive spectator. Maybe he should have seen this coming but he was distracted by Iraq and good managers delegate to experts like Greenspan was supposed to be.

Look at some YouTube videos of Barney Frank and Maxine Waters abusing Bush officials who were trying to shut down the party,; 5/26/14, 10:24 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: OH MY GOD! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!

[Place image of me, flipping the bird, here,…]

This country is so wrong I can't take any black criticism seriously anymore,...; 5/26/14, 10:31 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Real American,

"Affirmative action strikes again!"

Any white person who can say that - without mentioning slavery's advancing whites - is a pooka shell,...; 5/26/14, 10:33 AM
Fernandinande said...: Big Mike said...
It think it needs to be said -- he is not anywhere near the manager that George W. Bush was.

That is Bush's fault.; 5/26/14, 10:39 AM
Original Mike said...: "Joe Biden said it: He is a clean (as far as we know) well spoken black man. that seems to be his only qualification for any office."

Affirmative Action hire nails it. Hell, I thought about voting for him early on because I thought it would be good for race relations. However, that the opposite was true was already apparent in the 2008 campaign, as his fellow liberals tarred criticism of him as racist.

I also had real fears for his competence before the vote. The criticism that he had no executive experience was laughed off by his supporters (no surprise there) and the press (a lot of our current mess in on their heads).

Still, in 2008 he was an unknown quantity and I can excuse those who put hope over common sense. But there is no forgiving those who voted for him in 2012. What the fuck is wrong with those people?; 5/26/14, 10:47 AM
jacksonjay said...: Domestic abuse victim Paul Simon said it best,

"Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest."; 5/26/14, 10:57 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Meade said:
"In 2008, Obama was super competent at defeating Hillary's super-delegates."

Even his incompetence is unreliable.; 5/26/14, 11:00 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Michael K said...
One other objection to Jacoby's piece: The real estate bubble was largely the work of Alan Greenspan who wanted to reinflate the Internet bubble of the Clinton years. The thing was risky but it spun out of control after the Democrats took Congress in 2007.

This is complete and total BS. You obviously have no understanding of the timing of the real estate bubble or even what one is. The bubble built throughout Bush's term and was beginning to collapse by the end of 2006. But don't let the facts hit you on the way out.; 5/26/14, 11:05 AM
Original Mike said...: 'Obama came to the White House with a carefully cultivated image for almost preternatural competence — an image no one esteemed more highly than he did. “I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters,” he had told his campaign staff. “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that . . . I’m a better political director than my political director.”'

Of all the reasons I have lost respect for this man, this may be the worst. To have such a high opinion of yourself. What an ass.; 5/26/14, 11:13 AM
SteveR said...: What I see now is all the "smart libs" qualifying their positions, as if to say they knew he was not that special. Of course they will do the same with Hillary. Well guess what, she won't be any better. You aren't that smart. There was no eveidence for his competence, there is no evidence of hers. But the easy thing is going for the story.; 5/26/14, 11:14 AM
Achilles said...: AReasonableMan said...
Michael K said...
One other objection to Jacoby's piece: The real estate bubble was largely the work of Alan Greenspan who wanted to reinflate the Internet bubble of the Clinton years. The thing was risky but it spun out of control after the Democrats took Congress in 2007.

This is complete and total BS. You obviously have no understanding of the timing of the real estate bubble or even what one is. The bubble built throughout Bush's term and was beginning to collapse by the end of 2006. But don't let the facts hit you on the way out.

I love progressive "facts." The housing bubble started during Clinton's terms in office when they instituted changes in Fannie and Freddy and installed a bunch of Clinton cronies to lead said companies. It was Clinton that repealed glass steagle and allowed the banks to "bundle" all those toxic mortgage assets. When Bush tried to reform those two entities later in his term he was shut down by congress. His only mistake was acceding to the constitution and not making executive orders.

The housing bubble was caused by a series of progressive invasions into the free market and by a group of progressive cronies who became multi-millionaires while multi-millions of US homeowners are now underwater and forclosed on.; 5/26/14, 11:29 AM
Big Mike said...: In response to the economic illiteracy of the Unreasonable Man, there is this article, which times the bubble's onset to the late 1990's, but points away from the policies of either Clinton or Bush as the cause and towards global conditions.

That said, the efforts of Dumbocrats Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to block Bush's efforts to reform Fannie Mae did not help, and instead ensured that when the bubble did break it would be catastrophic.; 5/26/14, 11:47 AM
John henry said...: Crack,

Thomas Sowell, who had written extensively about the history of slavery in all countries and since time began has addressed this.

He once said, tongue in cheek, that southern blacks should pay reparations to southern whites.

The point he as making is that there is a direct correlation between the predominance of slavery and economic wellbeing of whites. Even today areas where slavery was most prevalent, as well as most severe, are still the poorest states.

Slavery, rather than benefiting whites, held them back.

And held blacks back too, of course. As much as they might have been held back had they stayed in Africa? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Blacks have done pretty well in Africa, haven't they?

John Henry; 5/26/14, 11:51 AM
traditionalguy said...: So the Ichabod Cranes of journalism have wakened up just in time to clear a narrative for Hillary Clinton' election, and all without telling a word of the truth.

This line says that the loving Obama is mistake prone, and then implies that a Clinton from Sleepy Hollow's 1990s can handle the hard things that eluded the loving but mistake prone Obama.

But the never asleep observers know that Obama has craftily sabotaged every source of American strength. He has rigged them all for implosion. Obama never was failing at everything by mistake. He has been sabotaging everything intentionally.

And it will seem worse as more of his carefully crafted work in military surrender around the world, environmental hoax based destruction of American coal energy and a sudden monetary collapse comes to light.

Obama's cabal only has 18 months left to go before the stalemate partner Harry Reid, who has held the Senate for eight years, loses the power to block all legislation aimed at saving America from final collapse.; 5/26/14, 12:02 PM
Browndog said...: SteveR said...

What I see now is all the "smart libs" qualifying their positions, as if to say they knew he was not that special. Of course they will do the same with Hillary.

I disagree.

What you are witnessing, I believe, is the long thought out campaign strategy by the Clintonians. Hillary is the next torch bearer of the marxists/progressives. "They" have to find a way to separate her from Obama.; 5/26/14, 12:03 PM
furious_a said...: It's always so awkward and uncomfortable for all concerned when an affirmative action hire doesn't work out.; 5/26/14, 12:03 PM
Paul said...: John,

Of Course Thomas Sowell is correct but it's wasted on the Crackhole who just can't cut it on his own and wants a handout plain and simple.; 5/26/14, 12:15 PM
tim maguire said...: Bob Boyd said...
Meade said:
"In 2008, Obama was super competent at defeating Hillary's super-delegates."

Even his incompetence is unreliable.

Assuming Obama ran the Obama campaign. That's assuming a lot out of Chauncey. My own belief is that Obama entered the 2008 election as a trial run, hoping to position himself to succeed Hillary in 2016. At most he would come out of it as Vice-President. He didn't intend to win.

But then the Chicago syndicate bussed a gang of thugs down to Iowa to rough up Hillary's supporters, giving Obama the win and suddenly he had the tiger by the tail and had to see it through. It may well be the worst thing that could have happened to him. If he'd stuck to plan and waited for 2016 to make the real run, his competence levels would have been much higher and history might have been kinder to him.

The upshot of all this is, I give Obama very little credit for his 2008 campaign. He was the recipient of a gift that he should have immediately refused.; 5/26/14, 12:21 PM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: "Narcissistic personality disorder is a personality disorder in which a person is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and to others in the process. It is estimated that this condition affects one percent of the population." (Wikipedia); 5/26/14, 12:45 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: John,

"Crack,

...Slavery, rather than benefiting whites, held them back."

I know that - has nothing to do with the injustices blacks had committed against them - by poor and rich whites alike.

"[Slavery] held blacks back too, of course. As much as they might have been held back had they stayed in Africa? Perhaps, perhaps not."

I hear a guilty conscience emerging, trying to change the subject.

"Blacks have done pretty well in Africa, haven't they?"

After whites plundered the continent for a few centuries? Not really. Or are you under the impression Africans sold other Africans - to white men with guns - without pressure being involved? You are so naive.

Next you'll be telling me American blacks owned slaves - but not to protect them from whites.

The history of racism is a motherfucker to contend with, ain't it?; 5/26/14, 12:55 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Trad Guy - I think that the reality is that Obama was just plain incompetent as a manager. He had no training for it, and found himself running a bureaucracy with millions of minions under him.

The thing that still boggles my mind is how otherwise smart people could have voted for him in the first place. At that point, he had no experience or training running anything larger than his Senate staff. No foreign policy training or experience. No military training or experience. In fact, he probably had less training and relevant experience for the job than some on this list.

I don't blame hard core progressives for voting for him. I just question how reasonably intelligent moderates could have figured that he had the competence to even contemplate running this country. I remember talking to one friend at the time, a Chicago MBA. When I brought this up the first time around, his response was that McCain was too old, plus something about the Christianists. The second time, the cognitive dissonance was almost overwhelming. We had a details oriented Harvard MBA, with a lot of successes under his belt running things running against someone who appears not to have learned anything about running the government in his first 4 years. I had to hear about polygamy, weird underwear, etc., in order to keep from discussing the most important point - Obama's towering incompetence at doing anything required of his job, except look good for photo ops.; 5/26/14, 12:57 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Paul,

"John,

Of Course Thomas Sowell is only one guy in a tiny minority of blacks - instead, the 97% who disagree are the natural result of the full weight of white America's historical racism and unfair laws, for most of the last 400 years, leaning on them."

FIFY.

Racists always seem to get the story wrong for some reason,...; 5/26/14, 1:04 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Assuming Obama ran the Obama campaign. That's assuming a lot out of Chauncey.

How could he have run it? Is it reasonable to think that someone with no relevant prior training or experience could jump in and run that sort of winning campaign the first time he tried it?

I always figured, even back then, that he was a mere figurehead. And, since then, he has done nothing to disabuse us of that. He is always finding about what is happening in the government that he is supposed to be running from the TV news and newspapers. And, he seems to think the duties of the office, such as running the country, are an imposition to his enjoyment of the perks of the office, such as the golf, the big house, private 747, helicopters, motorcades, private theme song, etc.

I am guessing that the same people have been running him since he found himself elected to the Illinois legislature, and maybe even before that. I doubt that he had nearly the competence nor the connections to pry open those divorce records that greased his run for the U.S. Senate.; 5/26/14, 1:08 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I think that the only good thing that will come out of eight years of Obama malfeasance misrunning and not running the government, is that it is going to be that much harder for progressives to sell anyone except for themselves that governments can do anything better than the private sector. The reality, of course, is that the bigger the government, the worse they tend to do, the more resources they squander, and the further their results are from what they were sold to be. And, meanwhile, our civil liberties are increasingly curtailed, as a natural and consequential result of imposing more and more government over the people it is supposed to be working for.

The question that is becoming ever more evident, is why should anyone trust our federal government, as its power increases, along with its appetite for the fruits of our labors, while our liberties are ever more eroded in the name of government efficiency? Especially, when it does things so badly, and corruptly.; 5/26/14, 1:16 PM
Rusty said...: AReasonableMan said...
Michael K said...
One other objection to Jacoby's piece: The real estate bubble was largely the work of Alan Greenspan who wanted to reinflate the Internet bubble of the Clinton years. The thing was risky but it spun out of control after the Democrats took Congress in 2007.

This is complete and total BS. You obviously have no understanding of the timing of the real estate bubble or even what one is. The bubble built throughout Bush's term and was beginning to collapse by the end of 2006. But don't let the facts hit you on the way out.

Your utter lack of self awareness never ceases to amaze me. The AHA was put on over drive under Clinton. Remember Holder also worked for Clinton. and had a hand in the Chicago anti redlining scandal. The dems controlled congress. Bush wrote Barney Franks commitee and the directors of fannie and Freddie TEN TIMES concerned about their lending practices.
You're entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts. The housing bubble was belongs to the progressives.
You don't remember that suburban and rural family owned banks were threatened with federal audits when they refused to approve low interest loans to unqualified buyers.; 5/26/14, 1:40 PM
Rusty said...: Jesus. Will somebody give Crack fifty bucks to shut him up.; 5/26/14, 1:41 PM
Gahrie said...: Racists always seem to get the story wrong for some reason,...

Well...that would explain your ignorance..........; 5/26/14, 1:45 PM
Jupiter said...: The claim that the Obama administration is incompetent requires some dubious assumptions about Obama's intentions. To the extent his limited intellect allows of a coherent worldview, Obama believes what his professors taught him -- that American history is a tale of racist, capitalist, imperialist oppression of other nations. God Damn America! is the sermon he took his family to hear. And his administration consists in roughly equal parts of leftists who hate America and long to destroy it, and careerist cynics who are willing to see it destroyed so long as they can own a house in horse country. Their failure to further American interests is not incompetence.; 5/26/14, 1:52 PM
Paul said...: "Racists always seem to get the story wrong for some reason,..."

It's clear the most racist and race obsessed individual here is you.

You couldn't in a million years measure up to Thomas Sowell in intellect, wisdom, accomplishment, or pretty much any other quality. But mostly manliness, as your failure in life is always someone else's fault. Pathetic.; 5/26/14, 2:30 PM
hombre said...: Wow! Just look at the comments from the Dems at the end of the piece. Obama's been just great and Jacoby is a bastard for suggesting otherwise.

No scandals. No lies. No incompetence. And ... BUSH!

Heads must be exploding in Boston from cognitive dissonance.; 5/26/14, 2:40 PM
John henry said...: So what are you saying, Crack, that 97% of people don't believe the north did better than the south both before and after the war between the states?

With prevalence/intensity of slavery being correlated to how poorly some states/sections did.

I doubt that this high percentage is true though there may be some people who believe that. It is not a matter of opinion, though, it is a matter of fact. You could look it up.

While you are at it, you might also want to look up some basic facts about black slavery.

In the 1000 years ending in 1900 about 100 million blacks were taken into slavery in sub-Saharan Africa.

About 1mm were taken to what is now the US.

About 10mm were taken to South America, principally Brazil and the Caribbean.

The rest were marched overland to Persia, Arab countries, Turkey, Egypt, India. Some exported by ship but mostly they walked. And mostly they died along the way but something like 40mm made it where they had life expectancies of less than 2 years and they were basically viewed as disposable.

Not many white men involved in this trade. Not unless you want to count the Arabs who ran trading posts at which they bought blacks from other blacks as slaves.

White men didn't even get to Africa until about the 15th century Portugese explorers discovered it.

In one of Richard Burton's books he describes a visit to a slave market in Madagasgar (Tanzania?) in the mid 1860's. He said it sold about 100,000 black slaves a year (about a million every 10 years)

Not a white man involved. By that point there was no Atlantic slave trade to speak of. Had there been, it is unlikely that slaves would have been shipped from the East coast of Africa to Brazil, a couple thousand miles (and a month or two out of the way). North and South American slaves came pretty much exclusively from the west coast.

Even there, it was not a question of white men going into the interior and capturing slaves. If you think about it, you would find it a pretty laughable idea. Black men caught the slaves and white men came in ships to buy them.

Your black ancestors were sold into slavery by your black cousins. Whites took them on down the supply chain but the initial forceful capture was by blacks.

So blame them, not me.

And get yourself some knowledge if you want to talk about this with grownups.

John Henry; 5/26/14, 2:50 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/23/opinion/shapiro-mcconnell-senate/

Ira Shapiro will tell you it's all Mitch McConnell's fault.

All of it.

Harry Reid and Obama just want what is best for America as selfless servants and Mitch McConnell just wants to be a bully you guys.

This is CNN.; 5/26/14, 4:52 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: "Obama fails to show his vaunted ‘competence,'"

Vaunted by whom? Hammond asks.

Listen to BHO in 2008. Nothing but complaints and hot air. A child could have seen this coming. The Main Stream Media did not. (Or maybe, did; worthless pimps.); 5/26/14, 4:54 PM
Gahrie said...: And get yourself some knowledge if you want to talk about this with grownups.

Facts are nothing more than weapons wielded by the White, heteronormative Patriarchy in an attempt to oppress the rest of the world.; 5/26/14, 5:17 PM
Anonymous said...: Vaunted competence?

Yes, we are about to hear a lot more vaunted competence about Hillary.

But first, to recover their bonifedes, the press must pretend like they were always on to Obamas game. Or that they were tricked along with everyone else.

Otherwise, who will pay attention to them when 2016 comes along and they start feeding us a line about the next new fangled Democrat President in waiting?

Perhaps this is another good thing about our Affirmative Action President. The Democrats pretending to be press take yet another hit to their vaunted credibility.; 5/26/14, 5:30 PM
RecChief said...: No Shit.
Next.; 5/26/14, 5:46 PM
averagejoe said...: To Michael K @10:24 AM- You refer to President G.W.Bush as a passive spectator, but he addressed congress and urged them to address the housing bubble over 20 times since he took office in 2001. You refer to the youtube videos which show democrat party officials making racist hay over the president's legitimate and prescient concern. HUD officials addressed congress at the president's urging. The fact that the democrat party turned the hearings into a race-baiting Bush-bash should be no surprise to anyone. The entire affair should serve to bolster the reputation of the Harvard School of Business graduate who, as president, attempted for years to prevent the collapse that he could see coming. And it should serve to indemnify such incompetent ideologues like Frank, Dodd, Waters, Davis, Meeks and their destructive policies. But no, instead we get "Bush did it!".; 5/26/14, 6:19 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Gahrie,

"Facts are nothing more than weapons wielded by the White, heteronormative Patriarchy in an attempt to oppress the rest of the world."

ROTFLMAO!!!!; 5/26/14, 6:21 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Rusty said...
You're entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts.

Let's do the numbers.

This graph shows the housing bubble, as quantified by the Case-Shiller index. Notably, it takes off in 2000 and peaks in 2006. Historians will not have to work very hard when they attempt to apportion political blame for the housing crash. There may have been other economic contributions, but only one political party owns the housing bubble and crash. There is a reason economic growth always lags under Republican presidents compared to Democrat presidents. Yammering on constantly about free markets is not the same thing as economic competence.; 5/26/14, 8:32 PM
Rusty said...: ARM
The facts are Democrats controlled the commitees responsible for Freddy and Fannie. Democrats promoted home loans to unqualiufied borrowers.
The fact is Bush warned both lending institutions that their actions were economically unsound.
now please quit expounding on things economic. It just makes you look silly.; 5/27/14, 7:11 AM
Brando said...: Doesn't Jeff Jacoby realize that we're the ones who failed Obama, not the other way around? He was sent as a gift to us from on high and we squandered him!

It's quite clear that the debt has only grown because of the Bush tax cuts, which Obama only extended because racism. And the Obamacare rollout mess was clearly due to Fox News tricking government employees who were tasked with the rollout into thinking that the rollout wasn't really due for a few more years. As for Putin, only a fool would fail to see that Obama was playing three dimensional chess with him and we are about to see a true "meep meep" moment when it is revealed that Putin was playing into his hands all along.; 5/27/14, 7:19 AM
kcom said...: For those who haven't heard, the Boston Globe is no longer owned by the New York Times. They sold it last year. Perhaps "dumped" would be a more accurate description.

After purchasing the Boston Globe in 1993 for a then-record $1.1 billion, the financially troubled New York Times just announced that it sold the 141-year-old paper to Boston Red Sox owner John Henry for a mere $70 million. That's a straight 93% loss.; 5/27/14, 9:31 AM
kcom said...: For those who haven't heard, the Boston Globe is no longer owned by the New York Times. They sold it last year. Perhaps "dumped" would be a more accurate description.

After purchasing the Boston Globe in 1993 for a then-record $1.1 billion, the financially troubled New York Times just announced that it sold the 141-year-old paper to Boston Red Sox owner John Henry for a mere $70 million. That's a straight 93% loss.; 5/27/14, 9:32 AM
Sabinal said...: furious_a said...

More "light worker" than "Lightworker".

for the win

people do not like to admit that O is lazy because they are afraid of being seen as racist. What I- and most people who did not vote for him - is coming true and people have become resigned and just counting to 2016 to say they did their part for civil rights and be done with it.

Even if Hilary is elected, I seriously doubt she will be scott free of criticism, because we see race trumps sex in politics.; 5/27/14, 10:26 AM
Drago said...: ARM: " Notably, it takes off in 2000 and peaks in 2006."

Hmmmm.

Bush was not inaugurated until January of 2001.

What specific Bush/Cheney policies, if any, would have been responsible for this?

Note: Do keep in mind that we are in the 6th year of obama and the left still does not think that obama is responsible for any of the outcomes from the implementation of his own policies.

Even better, ARM and garage have been patiently explaining to us over the last few weeks how negative GDP for the last quarter indicates a "growing economy".; 5/27/14, 1:03 PM
Drago said...: ARM: "There is a reason economic growth always lags under Republican presidents compared to Democrat presidents."

Hmmm.

"always"

I guess those stupid voters in 49 states (and almost 50!) in 1984 simply don't understand what you do.; 5/27/14, 1:28 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Drago, you have nothing to argue with. It is truly sad that you guys can't just admit what a failure Bush was and move on.; 5/27/14, 7:18 PM