That's it.
There's no loophole. There's no fairy dust. There's no time machine, no amendment, no Strongly Worded Letter that will change that simple fact of our democracy.
We have one president at a time, and right now, it is, quite unfortunately, George Bush.
This doesn't stop right wing idiots from calling the economic collapse an "Obama Recession." Our economy collapsed over night, according to the wingers, and it's all Obama's fault. Even though he isn't president yet. Thank you, Rush & Friends, for yet another demonstration of your not-so-clever wit and shocking dishonesty.
A mere five months ago, the recession was all in our heads, according to McCain's economic adviser, the "great economist" Phil Gramm.
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline," said the former Texas senator. "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession."
July 10, 2008
All year, President Bush has assured us we're not in a recession. It's just a "slowdown." Now, however, with one foot out the door, he's perfectly willing to say the "r" word.
"Our economy is in a recession," Bush said flatly, speaking to reporters on the South Lawn only hours after the release of a government report showing the biggest month of job losses in 34 years.
December 5, 2008
Yeah, would that be an Obama recession, Mr. President?
Six months ago, we're experiencing a mere slowdown, which is mostly psychological anyway, and now the Treasury Department needs
350 billion
700 billion
one trillion
lots of money to stop the "slowdown," and Paulson needs it faster than you can say
Patriot Act
Iraq War Resolution
"stick 'em up."
Then again, President Bush has no qualms about trying to revise history on his way out.
"For example, the fight in Iraq has been longer and more costly than expected," Bush said. "The reluctance of entrenched regimes to open their political systems has been disappointing, and there have been unfortunate setbacks at key points in the peace" talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Yeah. Gee. Shame about how that "cakewalk" war has turned out. Too bad Rumsfeld was wrong:
"It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."
Such a shame the countries we invaded weren't more willing to "open their political systems" to all the goodies we Americans had to offer. Hey, anyone over in Eye-rack want to buy any of three failing car companies?
It's those three failing car companies that have Congressional Democrats suddenly in a big hurry to take action -- as long as Obama provides cover leads the charge.
Just look at this headline on Huffington Post: Pressure Grows on Obama to Push Bush Aside. How, exactly, is Obama supposed to "push Bush aside"? Military coup? Strongly Worded Letter? Jedi mind trick?
According to Rep. Barney Frank:
"At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time," Frank told consumer advocates Thursday. "I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He's got to remedy that situation."
Got that? Our current president is asleep at the wheel -- which we've known since, oh, say, September 11, 2001 -- so it's up to Obama to "remedy the situation."
Except that Obama has no authority to remedy anything for another six weeks.
So while, yes, it would be just delightful if there was some way -- perhaps even a Congressional procedure -- by which we could get rid of President Bush before he does any more damage to the world, I believe that option was taken off the table long ago.
So now we wait. We have no choice.
Obama has assembled an economic team and a foreign policy team and will soon have the rest of his cabinet in place.
He's talking to everyone, getting all the information, making sure he is -- as his future Secretary of State would say -- ready on Day One.
And he's trying to keep us informed. In the past month, he's held half a dozen press conferences. That's more than our current president usually holds in an entire year.
But that is all he can do. Unlike Mr. Frank and others, Obama has apparently dusted off his copy of the Constitution more than once in the past decade, so he understands what he does, and doesn't, have the Constitutional authority to do. And so it is to the Constitution, and not impatient Democrats in Congress, that Obama should adhere, no matter how badly we all wish there were same way around it.
Because that is what democracy looks like.
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