House of Eratosthenes

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a rather vicious swipe at President Obama — or — belittled, perhaps rightfully, the practice of anyone taking what democrat candidates have to say on the campaign trail seriously. One or the other.

Pelosi emerged from a meeting with her leadership team and committee chairs in the Capitol to face an aggressive throng of reporters who immediately hit her with C-SPAN’s request that she permit closed-door final talks on the bill to be televised.

A reporter reminded the San Francisco Democrat that in 2008, then-candidate Obama opined that all such negotiations be open to C-SPAN cameras.

“There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail,” quipped Pelosi, who has no intention of making the deliberations public.

That day, Bagdad Bob Gibbs, the President’s Press Secretary, sidestepped the issue entirely:

QUESTION: C-Span television is requesting leaders in Congress to open up the debate to their cameras, and I know this is something that the President talked about on the campaign trail. Is this something that he supports, will be pushing for?

GIBBS: I have not seen that letter. I know the President is going to begin some discussions later today on health care in order to try to iron out the differences that remain between the House and the Senate bill and try to get something hopefully to his desk quite quickly…

The following day, when Gibbs would presumably have had time to see all the letters he wants to see, he discovered the issue wasn’t going away. And he dealt with it in a way that is rapidly becoming the hallmark of his adminstration:

QUESTION: During the campaign the President on numerous occasions said words to the effect of — quoting one — “all of this will be done on C-SPAN in front of the public.” Do you agree that the President is breaking an explicit campaign promise?

GIBBS: Chip, we covered this yesterday and I would refer you to yesterday’s transcript.

QUESTION: But today is today and —

GIBBS: And the answer that I would give today is similar to the one —

QUESTION: But there was an intervening meeting in which it’s been reported that the President pressed the leaders in Congress to take the fast-track approach, to skip the conference committee. Did he do that?

GIBBS: The President wants to get a bill to his desk as quickly as possible.

QUESTION: In spite of the fact that he promised to do this on C-Span?

GIBBS: I would refer you to what we talked about in this room yesterday.

“LOOP, ENDLESS: See ‘Endless Loop.’ ENDLESS LOOP: See ‘Loop, Endless.'”

Things got even sillier after that…

QUESTION: Well, does the President think it would be more helpful if this process were more transparent, that the American people could see —

GIBBS: Mike, how many stories do you think NBC has done on this?

QUESTION: Speaking for myself —

GIBBS: Just a guess.

QUESTION: That’s not the issue. The issue is whether he broke an explicit campaign promise.

GIBBS: So the answer is —

QUESTION: I deal with the information that —

GIBBS: So the answer is hundreds, is that correct?

QUESTION: Right, but that’s got nothing to do with it. I deal with the information, however much or little of it, there is. I’m saying would people benefit by having more information?

GIBBS: Have you lacked information in those hundred stories? Do you think you’ve reported stuff that was inaccurate based on the lack of information?

QUESTION: Democrats ran against the very sort of process that is being employed in this health care —

GIBBS: We had this discussion yesterday. I answered this yesterday. Is there anything —

QUESTION: But the President met with members of Congress in the meantime —

GIBBS: And he’ll do so today.

QUESTION: — and pressed them to —

GIBBS: Do you have another question?

Perhaps, now, those that need to figure it out can now do so. These people think they’re popular and always will be…or dang it, that’s the way things should work, anyway. They think they’re wonderful public speakers and that’s all that should matter. So they can say the most absurd things, like for example “the system worked perfectly.” We’ll just gulp it all down and beg for more. All of us.

I suppose it makes some kind of sense if you think back to the campaign of ’08. Hope! Change! Greek columns! Planted sluts, pretending to faint!

Hate to say it, but a genuine revolution would look so good right now. Not a pressuring of the President to resign at noon tomorrow, but a complete dismantling of the Government. New Constitution. A “reboot.” One in which (somehow) nobody gets hurt.

Imagine the message that would send to the world. They’d say “Holy CRAP!, the Americans just took down Obama! He failed some of His campaign promises, so they took Him out! Marched Him out at midnight, in His underwear. Those Americans…you tell them something, you’d better live up to it.”

And then, in my fantasy, all those other countries say “Hey — come to think of it, our own leaders lie to us pretty regularly, hmmm.”

And that is change I can believe in. The entire world facing down gasbag politicians — the world! — and telling them “We don’t give two shits how wonderful of a public speaker you think you are.” The human race acting…well…intelligently. Treating the garrulous lectern people, with all their perfect lilts and cadences, their expensive suits and their perfect hair, exactly the same way we treat car salesmen. Or anybody else. Keep your promises and maybe you can have our trust. For a while. Break them, and all bets are off.

Instead, we drift from one year to the next, humming Fleetwood Mac lyrics…

Gibbs must really think we’re obtuse. What “discussion we had yesterday” is he referring to? All he said then was “I haven’t seen the letter.” That’s not a yes or no answer.

What letter is he referring to, anyway? Isn’t this something Obama said on TV while campaigning?
- cylarz | 01/07/2010 @ 11:29

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