The simple truth is, not all of us become the men we once hoped we might be.
Early on in the Obama administration, I had a revelation that I think explains a lot of the resentment toward him. There was a news feature about a photog who’d rediscovered some photos she’d taken of the Obamas back in the 90s. Think it was 1994, and there was a quote from Michelle saying that Barack is thinking about going into politics. And I thought, my god, Joyce, you retired from the Navy in 1994, what have YOU done since then?
And then it hit me. Young people of the era would look at Obama and think, “I could do that.” MIddle-aged people would look at Obama and think, “I could have done that.” That thought actually crossed my mind, before I snapped out of it. No, I realized, I could not have done that. I might (might!) have the brains, but not the people skills or the organizational ability, or the charisma, or the willingness to put in the truly grueling hours it would take to repl
From the ‘Short Attention Span’ file, by an experienced
Washington Post reporter:
Early forecasts of major policy proposals on the horizon, a.k.a. the grand tradition of the Washington trial balloon? A story we’re not getting to read these days.
Insider accounts of West Wing rivalries, analyses of who wields influence with the president, detailed lists of Oval Office visitors? No such thing anymore.
Reporters drank lustily from the fire hose of leaks that emanated from the West Wing during the past four years. President Donald Trump’s inexperience and chaotic management style begot “West Side Story”-level infighting among subordinates, which translated into the drip-drip-drip of insider accounts, sometimes on a near-daily basis. The leaks were pooled into detailed narratives, featuring multiple sources. Despite periodic vows of a crackdown, the leaks ran nearly unplugged for four years, including during Trump’s final, desperate days in office.
It’s been a really long fucking year.
We can agree to disagree, but i’m right.
I did not have this on my fuck 2020 bingo card.
There’s some extremely good trouble headed their way.
I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.
We have all the best words.
Shelter in place is one thing. shelter in pants is quite another.
We need fewer warriors in public service and more gardeners.
Reality always wins in the end.
There will be lawyers.
Fuck these fucking interesting times.
And we’re all out of bubblegum.
… makes me wish i had hoarded more linguine
This is a bad idea ( waves in the general direction of S. Huntington ) but it’s also a petulant one, born of frustration that a lower-case c conservative institution has not abandoned that conservatism and whole-heartedly embraced the kind of populism others have. https://t.co/hZxtyNrA7y
At least, Vance
hopes those cornpone-sucking clodhoppers will fall for his high-dollar schtick…
A long-anticipated shoe drops in #OHSen: Peter Thiel is backing a J.D. Vance super PAC to the tune of $10 million. (via @jbalmert) https://t.co/oYnflIxNV9
Vance, like his paymaster Thiel, wants ‘the proletariat’ to be semi-literate serfs who vote when they’re allowed to vote the way they’re told. Letting those serfs better themselves by trading military service for an education damages their usefulness to Vance / Thiel, because educated troops are
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