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Ex-president seeks gainful employment

By Michael J. Smith on Tuesday January 19, 2010 11:28 PM

So when Obie gets turfed out of office in '12, which path will he follow? Will he build houses and tell some home truths about Israel, like Jimmy Carter?

Or will he turn into a garrulous prosing prating platitudinous bore, hobnobbing with witless actors and soulless billionaires, like Bill Clinton?

Presumably he will split the difference. That's what Democrats do. When the difference gets down to the quantum level -- what then, one wonders? Flip a coin - a loaded coin?

Comments (21)

MicroBill looks almost deferential toward BimboBill. Must be an optical illusion provided by MicroBill's "heil Hitler!" salute.

Hopefully I'm not too drunk to post tonight...

http://www.drunkpundit.org/drunkpundit/wordpress/

Man, you guys just nail it. Hard!!!

But not in any gay sort of way or anything.

Michael Hureaux:

And it won't be long now. Man, did these fools have their heads handed to them in Massachusetts. Damn straight, too. I hope it hurts. But of course, it doesn't, they'll learn nothing, and will be tweeting away about how they "can't build a progressive agenda" in the United States in short time.

They lost a senate seat they've held for close to sixty years, and they'll learn nothing. Boneheads.

Lajany Otum:

From Angry Arab:

Jimmy Carter: do you know now why he can never be forgiven or supported?
For me, I never ever considered what Jimmy Carter says worthy of support. This is a man who considered his biggest inspiration of life to be Anwar Sadat. A man who was responsible for brokering the Camp David accords, and for bribing Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel. A man who spoke about human rights as president, while he was toasting pro-US dictators who passed by his White House. And now this: "Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has apologized to the American Jewish community for 'stigmatizing Israel' and asked for forgiveness for his actions, the JTA reported on Monday. "We must recognize Israel's achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel," Carter wrote in a letter to the JTA." (thanks Sarah)

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/12/jimmy-carter-do-you-know-now-why-he-can.html

op:

turfed out ???

as in 80 vs 96 ???

now we have another chance to seperate
the sidewalk touts from the insiders

recall the various hillary a sure thing
to get the nom types
circling thru SMBIVA in 96
yes smithhee i mean you
and of course others too

well again
you are likely to be wrong

this sort of side show shocker
will only strengthen the hand of an axelrod

i look for clear signs of what move next
over the hi fi bill

the medi bill is in the bag now
watch the dembots turn tought guys in the senate
what have they got to lose

up the rhetoric and the helot rabble yells

watch
wall streets liberal wing is prepared for flexible indy voter response

the embattled potus rises to the challenge
gets his "reforms" so to speak

contrarian of me ??

no just looking at trend lines not headlines

as billy is wont to say

op:

96 owen ??

try
07

dates ...dates
what silly arbitrary triumphs
you mortals celebrate

P'ah. I think he's already there. I can't stop thinking about Nicaragua, or Iran -- especially Iran -- and his goddamn' human rights blather, not to mention the rolling over on draft registration and marijuana legalization, and then trying to guess just how many goddamn' HFH houses he's going to have to build to jack his karma back up to where it was before Nicaragua or Iran. (I still can't believe I actually volunteered for this cracker in Virginia when I was nineteen.)

He did write that book on Israeli Apartheid, but then, didn't he end up apologizing?

Better get to work, Jimmah.

(...and do something about that goddamned bandana.)

op:

"Man, you guys just nail it. Hard!!!"

leave me out of that
if you haven't

the tide has turned
the repugs are headed
err still headed
err already there :

where?

long term hind teat status

these petty glam shot defeats
are the faggot fires
of the great corporate renewal

not likely to be the work
of the pallin express ...eh ??

maybe obama will need an assasination attempt

...oh, and I like how Gates looks like he's heiling in that shot...

...and how Bubba's doing such a great job of appearing absolutely rapt and dialed into what the other person is saying, when he's actually just thinking about sweet potato pie or something. He was always great at that.

op:

angry arab

the two moments of jimmy need to be maintained
in FP
lets call it the vance carter
and the brezy carter

bob:

op, I think your being a bit stubborn in sticking to your earlier prognosis. not necessarily a bad thing, but didn't you also guffaw at the thought of the Dems winning in 06?

op:

mf

billy hardly looks dialed in

he looks utterly bored and far off

sweat poon tang not potato pie i suspect
maybe something he beat off to as a band boy

op:

bob
"didn't you also guffaw at the thought of the Dems winning in 06?"

indeed:
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org/2006/01/we_stand_at_armageddon_and_bat.html

my record speaks for itself

Owen Paine on Monday January 16, 2006 12:45 PM:

"We the people might get a Democratic majority in the house -- but it'll be the same old dirty Democratic party that went along with the Iraq war, the Patriot Act, the bankruptcy bill, and so on ad nauseam -- a majority that empowers the worst elements of present-day donkey-party bizwiz hawks"

since then we have had a syeismic shift in the economic base plates of near epic proportions
all is born anew
even if the clear child of yesterday
the new babe is gonna move forward
not like reaganian amerika ...backward
foreward
kicking and screaming??
why not ??

i'll repeat

we are in a new phase
there has been a paradigm shift

corporate amerika
no not pwog amerika...CORPORATE AMERIKA

whether the big board room swells
like it or not
or even know it or not
know it now or only later
hate it like squire weston hated london
or not

the system their system thru its zillion agencies is groping toward signifigant changes

because ??.....
well because their system requires it

so they and their deputies goons and shills
will face up to change and face it down
to it's necessary proportions

we're in for a bout of "internal reform " corporate hegemon style
as in 1913-14 and 1964-65

---nb not as in 33-35
the national kettle of fish
was at a far higher boil then

hell the corporates had to project the petty bourgois "other" into power
topple itself to save itself

i suspect comparatively
this ought to require less delusional
antic dispositioning on the part of
the silk hat


clio's voice calls this turn
and has been calling this turn
from every puppet mouth she runs

okay if not now in 09-10
as it was not in 61
but was in 13
then we await the further shock events
that correspond in cummulative impact
tothose that climaxed in november 63

if not if i'm dead wrong
then we take a more checkered course
and yes we could get a switch back
even one of a decades duration
like the brit's took in the 30's

but i doubt corporate amerika
has that
sort of final dance
myopic lingering
infecting its soul ....yet

and the repubs are the party of rump white kulack reaction
not the vehicle for corporate guided
midf-course corrections
nope they must stand on their principles
ie stand aside
let the pleb furies fly
and tea bags land where they may

the dem revival in 06 was well anticipated
and not just by me

it met with sarcasm of course
and well deserved at that


bob:

op, I was referring to this post on the early signs of a shift, like we are seeing today:

http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org/2005/10/deluge_or_delusion.html

but on second reading, it seems like you were arguing more against a landslide than any victory. my bad.

I can sort of understand the historical-necessity logic of the system needing to save itself, but where's the evidence? It seems more like the system has gone pathological. Health reform is getting ditched.. isn't that also supposed to be a system-saving necessity?

Truman's quote "Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time." could also apply to corporate lobbyists, boardroom titans, etc.. Why settle for dems when they can have repubs?

Why would they go for painful changes when they could have a fresh round of looting right now? Do you think they actually have any long term allegiance to America? By the time the whole thing collapses they'll be long gone.

bob --

I'm guessing op will disagree with me here, but my opinion and conclusion is that it's end-stage looting, and that looking backward doesn't explain things.

op:

"It seems more like the system has gone pathological. "
if that only were true
if
the self destruct were even likely

we all could fairly
turn red/green survivalists

" Health reform is getting ditched.. isn't that also supposed to be a system-saving necessity"
precisely
and that's why i've never seen
its ditching as sustainable

we'll get it in some way shape and form
its merely the hegemons luxury we had this highly profitable bloated ineffective leviathan

we can and will have some version of reform
simply because everyone else in the oecd
has it
and a very long record now
of peaceful co existence
has shown
the two universal health
and private capitalistic corporationism
can get along just swell
side by side

hell even the beveridge type systems
let alone medicare for all

harryt was wrong

bill clinton is a counter example

changing class and economic base conditions produce various possible outcomes


"Why would they go for painful changes when they could have a fresh round of looting right now? "
hey you are looking only at the oecd part of the [picture china is booming and now its seeing huge gains in domestic market size

the trans nats of the oecd want in
but they also want to get in cheap
ie thru an over valued currency whether its the dollar euro yen etc

"Do you think they actually have any long term allegiance to America? "

of course not

beyond uncle's marvelous armada ...and imperial dollar ...no
but that's enough for now


"By the time the whole thing collapses they'll be long gone"

no no

the whole thing won't collapse
why should it
yes
it must brake into great power blocks
eventually
one ayankee led

the other
oh why speculate

but it will end in global war i suspect

my guess limited wars
like the 18th century wars
that might be worth speculating about
given the rev ops
that inevitably creates

bob:

"if
the self destruct were even likely

we all could fairly
turn red/green survivalists"

I'm not referring to an immediate collapse of the global system, just a terminal decline for the USA, over the course of a few decades. It seems like the US has lost the capacity to course correct. The mighty have been known to fall...

"hey you are looking only at the oecd part of the [picture"

just the USA actually, other OECD markets will be OK and can step in to buy Chinese exports once American consumers are completely tapped out. If China has their way, the IMF reserve currency (w/ IMF bonds) will provide a handy means of spreading the peg across all trading partners, with no special role for the imperial dollar or the imperial market

"china is booming and now its seeing huge gains in domestic market size"

you need to take a closer look at China. Demand is still stagnant, while overcapacity is worse than it has ever been. the mythical domestic consumer market is still decades away. the "boom" is almost entirely a function of the massive, completely speculative property bubble being fuelled by corrupt lending. the Chinese government is currently panicking. They have raised reserve ratios (as of yesterday), raised interest rates (as of last week, EDIT: they just raised again, minutes ago, in an unprecedented move), and are bringing in draconian property regulations in order to try to rein in the dangerous bubble. You need to take a closer look at how China's credit system actually functions, how credit is actually directed in real life, as opposed to in Rodrik's oped fantasy works. It's very interesting and very ugly.

The Chinese aren't lying when they say that they have severe problems of their own that prevent them from getting off the peg. They have not gotten away from export dependency, and currently do not have the means of doing so.

"the trans nats of the oecd want in
but they also want to get in cheap
ie thru an over valued currency whether its the dollar euro yen etc"

there's plenty of time left for that. no hurry.

"beyond uncle's marvelous armada ...and imperial dollar ...no
but that's enough for now"

yes, and they can continue to enjoy those things for a few more decades while not passing healthcare or other serious reforms and continuing to loot the country. I think that's what they've learned from this whole debacle. They've got it sewed up, they've won. Once the victim is powerless, it's time for the bust out. Uncle's assets and credit lines should provide for years of looting

"the whole thing won't collapse
why should it"

I was just referring to the USA. I'm arguing that the US has enough resources that it can be pillaged until say 2030-2040 without necessitating any reform. I imagine it would look something like 1990's Russia by the time they are done. By that point I imagine TPTB will have plenty of other options for relocating the head office.

op:

"you need to take a closer look at China. Demand is still stagnant, while overcapacity is worse than it has ever been. the mythical domestic consumer market is still decades away"

i always look at china closely
i'm a maoist after all
and well..
you are plain and simply behind the curve here

"the Chinese government is currently panicking. They have raised reserve ratios (as of yesterday), raised interest rates (as of last week, EDIT: they just raised again, minutes ago, in an unprecedented move), and are bringing in draconian property regulations in order to try to rein in the dangerous bubble."
ahh my economic specialty
capitalized ground rent
of course i follow this
and u are right
lot values are a constant plan de-stablizer
if not carefully controled
as are equity bubbles

but these ersatz value booms
are not the sole area of heavy activity
recently
check out car sales

"there's plenty of time left for that. no hurry."
that's just silly
the task of a MNC is profit max
right now that means ride up the china boom
and of course prevent oecd protectionist pressure from mushrooming into
a forex fiddle revolt

bob i think you are too anti red china to see the real authors
of the trans pacific profit slurry

"yes, and they can continue to enjoy those things for a few more decades while not passing healthcare or other serious reforms and continuing to loot the country"

you confuse norte amigo

with errr argentina or south africa
or dubai

this is the metropole bob

the monopole metropole even
desperate of looting mentalities
morph into statesmen with gravitas
when it comes to uncle's home nest

look at volckers recent foray
into hi fi rectification

you need to give tthe devils their due

it ,akes the task of beating them all the more dauntling hard

they aren't simply dick cheney
there's a jim baker in there too
and a george soros

one thinks of the noblemen whigs
their task completed
morphing as elite
into the liberal haute bourgoise


bob:

"i always look at china closely
i'm a maoist after all
and well..
you are plain and simply behind the curve here"

I am behind that curve, but very much on purpose, and for good reason. A year ago I would have been right out there with you, but I've learned a lot more about China, and I now view that whole trajectory as a wildly unrealistic hyper-extrapolation.

op, I'm not doubting your economic chops, or your grasp of political issues, from which I've learned a lot, but on this one issue (domestic chinese political economy) I respectfully put it to you that there is a lot more going on than you are taking into account.

This is a good start:
http://ifile.it/zpsr1hg

"bob i think you are too anti red china to see the real authors
of the trans pacific profit slurry"

If you read the book above I think you will see that that is not the case.

Also I'm not anti-red China. I may not be a Maoist (post rev he was mostly a disaster IMO, I'm more of a fan of Peng, Deng and Zhou Enlai) but I am an unabashed leftist sinophile. I would love it if they had found the third way. Maybe someday they will, but as of today they just haven't. nowhere even close

My obi wan on all things China has been there on the ground since 73, and has been involved in the reforms from the earliest Deng years onward. He's also, I might add, a draft dodger, a closet comrade and responsible for inadvertently indoctrinating Canada's first and only Maoist bomb-making cell. Verily, a man who is of use to the people. Anyways, he never fails to mock these concepts of the "beijing consensus" or the "China strategy". There was never any plan. There's no plan now. Don't let the monolithic front of the CCP fool you. It's all just a hodgepodge of often inconsistent reforms taken to address immediate concerns, formed through a process of bold experiments, compromises and retreats, factional struggles, local-central struggles etc. etc.. it's more common law than civil law, if you know what I mean

bob:

"you confuse norte amigo

with errr argentina or south africa
or dubai

this is the metropole bob"

metropoles come, metropoles go, the profit slurry will still be produced.

maybe the US will soon have outlived its usefulness?

"the monopole metropole even
desperate of looting mentalities
morph into statesmen with gravitas
when it comes to uncle's home nest

look at volckers recent foray
into hi fi rectification"

I hope you are right.. but wasn't that supposed to be Obama?
why do you think the current noises coming from Volcker are any different than those during the campaign? seems more like release valve rhetoric to me

A year ago I would be with you on the course correction meme, and hey, maybe now Obama has seen the light after getting a spanking in Mass. but what evidence is there of any willingness to change course so far? words.. thats it

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