Originally posted by sos37
Maybe. But this is about Obama's cabinet choices isn't it, and how badly he judges the character of other people.

I'm not exactly sure you can tell whether or not someone has paid their taxes based on character. How often can it be said of a co-worker, neighbor, friend, or family member who is found out to be a drug abuser/spouse or child abuser/suicidal/severely in-debted/ill-tempered rampage/etc. whereas everyone who knows them says, "I don't understand it! I've always known him/her to be such a kind, loving person"? A person's 'character' is what they want us to see...it's their demeanor, not their nature. We can never really get into the heart (or checkbook) to get all the details of their lives that they try to cover up soley on character alone. I doubt Mr. Obama has really had to get to know any of these appointees any more than a few lunches and recommendations from others.

What it does reveal is his lack of foresight, planning, research, inquiry, and evaluation of his 'MVP' picks for his team (repeatedly). That causes me much greater concern than any character oversight. I'd expect a president to say, "You think I should pick John Doe? Okay, tell me everything about him both sins and praises. I want to be sure there's nothing the press could dig up to tarnish his, my, or my party's name".


[edit on 3-2-2009 by saint4God]

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by sos37
Maybe. But this is about Obama's cabinet choices isn't it, and how badly he judges the character of other people.

And then this who voted for BUSH twice walks in and says "...HOW BADLY HE JUDGES THE CHARACTER OF OTHER PEOPLE".

Originally posted by Wethesheeple
Wow, this is getting ridiculous. Obama clearly has a poor judgement in character lol. Rezko, Daschle, Geithner, Emmanuel, Blagejevich, Ayers, Wright, and he newest one.....Killefer.

You may have to add the closing of Gitmo to the list.
Poor judgment indeed.

Originally posted by jam321
You would think that taxes would be part of the vetting process before nominees are nominated. Obviously it isn't or Obama could have saved himself from this type of embarrassment.

Obama's picks are definitely MORE honest than the ones Bush put into office -- without a murmur from the press. It wasn't until around 2007, when any real criticism started to surface.

I'm disappointed in his pick of Rom Emmanuel -- but perhaps it's better to have him WITH YOU than against you. I also don't like his picks of Wall Street insiders.

Tom Daschell would have done fine -- but I'd prefer someone like Howard Dean.

We've already had enough evidence, especially from whistleblowers, to let us know that the NSA was spying on Bush's political opposition. So, it stands to reason, that ANYTHING that can be found out about a political pick can be brought to light.

If Obama puts someone forth who is a full on BushCo crook -- then we probably won't get any surprise dirt on them.

Not to defend characters like Bloggo from Chicago -- but, why was there a phone tap on him? In that state, I doubt that anyone DOESN'T try to trade political favors. So, if only the people who defend unions gets dirt dug up on them like Bloggo, we will only get the most corrupt people.

I don't think they let you in the club these days, without getting some dirt on you. It allows control.

So if the WORST about Daschell is that he owes back taxes -- well, to me, that's probably a ringing endorsement. This is the guy who had the Anthrax shipped to his office, just before the vote on the Iraq invasion. Why would they bother intimidating some crook in the club?

I'm not going to bother convincing people who voted for Bush with such "conspiracy theories" -- God knows, you have to hold onto some illusions not to hate yourselves. But for the rest of us, who want Obama to be another FDR -- let's realize that we had a Hoover in the White House, running the economy into the ground and making government fail, so that he could undo all of FDR's improvements. And we had a Hoover (FBI) in the White House, spying on everyone to extort them.

I think we've been damn lucky so far. It's going to take either bribes or bullwhips to get the crooks who actually run this country to Go along with an actual honest administration.

I think Obama's biggest mistake wasn't putting most of the Bush administration (like Hank Paulson and Bernanke) on the witness stand the second day in office. They should be busy trying to stay out of prison, rather than robbing our country and sabotaging any chance at salvaging this mess.

Only half of you know what I'm talking about.

This is my take on the reason Daschle did not take the position offered to him by Obama. Yes Daschle owed back taxes and finally paid up and if Obama let him take the Secretary of Health position I believe there would of been a great backlash.

The backlash could of led to a great number of We The People refusing to pay taxes and the reasoning being if this guy can get away with it so can We the People. This could of cost the government big time when it came to collecting taxes because of the inequality of the matter. What is good for the goose Is good for the gander.

With the economy being the way it is We The People are tired of examples of do as we say and not as we do Republican or Democrat.

[edit on 3-2-2009 by amari]

Correct me if I'm wrong, nut I'm almost positive the news reported that the IRS is creating hundreds of jobs for more auditoers because they want to make sure they get every penny coming to them.

Anyone here this.

Maybe theyshould start with the elite scum who've been cheating on their taxes and raping us honest folk for decades.

I perosnally think we should arrange a country wide, no tax paying protest. This would surely rip'em a new hole and let them know what the consequences of their corrupt actions will be.

People are always looking for a way to amend the government and the first/last response is a violent revolution. Not the answer.

DO what they do to control the masses. Hit em in the wallet. Guarenteed it will change everything.Only problem is everyone talks and is scared *snip*less.

Obama flat out stated "I screwed up". How many times did you hear that from the Republicans the last 8 years?? I'm waiting.............

Nobody's perfect and as President you have to rely on your staff and the people your picking. Daschle has known about this 'mistake' for over 6 months and didn't bother to tell the vetting committee. Obama stepped to the plate and took responsibility...something sorely lacking in American Presidents for decades. That's change I can believe in. If you go over every Republican's taxes with a fine tooth comb you could probably pay for the Stimulis package on those missed taxes alone. People slagging Obama need to grow up.

If anything this episode shows that our tax system is so screwed up that even someone as intelligent as Geithner can't figure the damn thing out. Anyone ever think of that before jumping into rip your President mode?

[edit on 3-2-2009 by hawkeye1717]

I was pretty surprised at the fact he even picked Tom.

I'm pretty sure that the people in Washington know Tom fairly well and know that he doesn't have the nations interest first and foremost.

I've argued this point multiple times with multiple people. Everyone that knew him knew what I said was true and the folks that would argue with me never even met the guy much less knew what he was like.

Really all you have to do is talk to folks in SD and they will tell you the only thing he did was what he felt would get him closer to the presidency. I had a friend who was surprised when SD got rid of him as a representative, at the time I had told him they were planning too and he laughed at me. A few months later he was out and my friend was just flabbergasted until I explained to him why this happened.

I was kind of hoping that he would have ended up in the spot because I knew he would turn out to look like well, lets just say he would have made a lot of enemies if he treated that position like he treated his position in SD.

Lots of promises for this or that bill and then every time voted opposite of what he said.

Ummm...."I screwed up" seems the "norm" lately...I can respect Obama for admitting his mistake (unlike Clinton who "didn't have sex with that woman") but he really needs to step up his vetting of these candidates...It is making him look incompetent as president...

We can bitch all we want but he is still the president...What we need is a solid Cabinet...Unfortunately, I truly believe that if Obama continues to seek political "veterans" to head his Cabinet, he will lose...He needs to think outside of the box...Most of these idiots he is choosing have lost grasp of reality and, like the idiots at Citibank who ordered the $50MM jet on OUR dime, believe that they are above the law and that "we" are just cattle...

Blago is a prime example...This idiot really believes that he is "entitled" to hold office...Apparently, tonight, he will appear on David Letterman and Letterman lambasts him...

So, hopefully Obama can get it together...or we're screwed...