maybe it's a little show they do (4.00 / 2)

you know, Summers puts on the beard and gets on his knees and does his Robert Reich imitation, and everyone has a good laugh. o those kids and their high spirits.

not everything worth doing is profitable. not everything profitable is worth doing.

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by: tatere @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 15:44:38 PM CDT

Comedy central (4.00 / 4)

Let's see:
"I know [of]Robert Reich, Mr. Summers, and you are no Robert Reich".

Summers is just the opening vaudeville act for Geitner. At this juncture, he is so preposterously embarrassing that I doubt anyone knows what to do with him(or Geithner). The President needs to let go and move on and stop endlessly and foolishly defending the juvenille actions of these two.

Obama is being 'ruthless" only in his stubborn refusal to listen to any one of the members of that phalanx of much more qualified people who are hurling corrective information rocks at the problem. Acting like a mule and being a pragmatist are hardly the same thing.  

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by: hivanh @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 16:26:03 PM CDT

summers is geithner's cheney (0.00 / 0)

And mr. fraud is supposedly seriously considering putting that wall street whore summers in charge of the federal reserve.  

If the people in this country had one bit of fight left in them or any sort of cohesiveness ... or anything above a collective IQ of 12 ... they'd storm dc on that one.  That's about the most evil fucking thing that you could do to the citizens of this country and supposedly obama is thinking seriously of doing just that.  If he does that, anybody that continues backing him is dangerously uninformed or just flat out stupid.

Z  

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by: Z @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 16:48:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

There was some really good-sounding stuff in that interview (4.00 / 2)

on the importance of producing things as opposed to financial fluff.  And his remarks on college education and its necessity or not were refreshing.  When's the last time anyone talked honestly about the obvious fact that not everyone will be able to go to college and the need to bring more respect and compensation to those who do not.

But note I say good-sounding stuff.  Barack Obama can talk the talk - as well as anyone.  And it's clear he's THOUGHT about some of these issues - which is very nice.  But it would be nice not to be disappointed with the delivery.  We get sound bites, they get Summers.  

sTiVo's rule: Just because YOU "wouldn't put it past 'em" doesn't prove that THEY did it.

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by: sTiVo @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 16:40:42 PM CDT

We're not his target audience ... (4.00 / 2)

... for this cynical bullshit .. and he damn well knows it's bullshit ... it is the people that don't know any better.  

It's often largely about headlines, semantics, visuals and other forms of deceit with obama.  That was pretty evident in his handling of the aig bonus situation when he deployed a bunch of deceitful tactics and lies to put the fire out on the justifiable populist rage rather than tapping into it to effectuate true change.  And in the end he did nothing except make damn well sure that the wall street thugs got their bonuses and maintained their power.  Hell, goldman sachs is back at it again getting reeady to dish out mega-bonuses that they wouldn't have the money for except that they were bailed out by their government.    

He's a fraud ... the dude is OWNED by wall street ... and what else would U expect from someone that hires rahm emanuel as his chief of staff?

Z

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by: Z @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 16:40:44 PM CDT

They don't remember Reich well (4.00 / 3)

Who remembers Labor secretaries who left office over a decade ago? How much of the population even know who the current Labor secretary is?

This is an appeal to the activist base who know who Reich is and who hate Rubinomics, and it's ridiculousness is only matched by its stupiditt. It's frankly insulting that he thinks this crap will work.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

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by: Englishlefty @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 18:28:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You are probably right ... (0.00 / 0)

... most americans do not remember robert reich, but the larger point that he wished to make to the american people was that there was a team of rivals within his economic team which is complete bullshit although trusting americans may be dumb enough to believe him.  

That is the target audience in my opinion:  americans that don't fully realize how wall street-centric his economic team is and how ludicrously full of shit he is to claim otherwise.

Z

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by: Z @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 18:43:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Barack Obama Is A Delusional Ideologue (4.00 / 2)

He thinks he has no ideology, and that's a central part of his delusion.  

Frankly, I think Robert Reich has a cause of action against Obama for defamation of character.

"Senate passes expanded GI bill despite Bush, McCain opposition"

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 23:17:54 PM CDT

oh come on (0.00 / 0)

while robert reich is a smart man, larry summers is not just a wallstreet hack. David, please. He's a genius. He was the youngest tenured professor in Harvard history. The man is no slouch/

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by: platanoman @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 01:26:06 AM CDT