The story starts on June 25, 1950 when John R Steelman makes the fateful decision to commit troops in Korea. Steelman decides that the United Nations and the United States should intervene on behalf of the South Koreans.
Although the war is a stalemate, it ends when Sherman Adams decides to accept the armistice in 1953. Later, Adams' reputation is stained when he does nothing to stop the reign of Joe McCarthy...
Chapter 3 occurs when Kenneth O'Donnell decides to send "advisors" into Vietnam. W. Marvin Watson later decides to escalate the war - which tragically leads to the deaths of 58,000 Americans.
Still later, after Richard Nixon resigns, Donald Rumsfeld decides to pardon him, leading to Gerald Ford's defeat in 1976.
Fast forwarding, Mack McLarty decides early in 1993 to put Hillary Clinton in charge of the health care plan. It does NOT go well...
In 2001 Andrew Card decides that the best strategy for America is to cut taxes for billionaires, while ignoring the threat of Al Qaeda. He further seals his place in history by deciding to invade Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack.
This alternative history has been brought to you by one of the good people of DailyKos. This otherwise brilliant, progressive blog was stricken with a horrible mass psychosis in late 2009. Scientists who analyzed the mental remains of the participants coined a name for the deadly disorder:
Rahm Emanuel Derangement Syndrome --- R.E.D.S.
It caused victims to believe that unelected Chiefs of Staff made all decisions in the White House throughout history. It even caused these poor souls to believe that a President smart enough to become head of the Harvard Law Review, was so dumb/naive that he believed any bullshit that this COS told him.
Let's examine further. Tis a magical thing, this REDS. When the current President was successfully getting an increase in the minimum wage, or obtaining equal pay for women, or naming an historic Supreme Court justice, REDS went into TOTAL remission.
When the President got us back safely from the brink of economic catastrophe, REDS remained dormant. Ah, but we got complacent. We should have realized that as soon as anything went wrong with the adminstration, REDS would appear WITH A VENGEANCE. And so it has...
Now the Chief of Staff is running everything: foreign policy and domestic. For example, REDS showed us that Rahm is ordering missiles strikes against Iran, even as we speak....And he is currently hypnotizing Obama to repeat the following phrase "I am a Blue Cross/Blue Shield zombie"...
Now, Doctors haven't identified the exact mechanism by which REDS takes over. But medical research is working on the problem and there is hope. It seems that REDS is related to another dreadful illness that appears frequently in the blogosphere:
ICR
Inability to Cope with Reality....
Did my alternative history sound ridiculous? That's how ridiculous Kossacks sound when they blame the Chief-of-Staff for everything that goes wrong in this administration. You may try to scapegoat Emanuel for anything or everything, but here is the bottom line:
Nobody cares. Truman got us into Korea (for good or evil), Eisenhower let McCarthy run wild, Kennedy got us into Vietnam, and LBJ escalated. Clinton screwed up health-care, and W was a disaster.
The President is responsible for everything that happens during his term: good, bad, or indifferent. Neither Rahm nor Hillary (for that matter) will be responsible if Obama decides to put more troops in Afghanistan. If the economy fails, neither Rahm nor Timothy Geithner will be responsible.
So get over it. Let's cut these bullshit **conspiratorial REDS diaries out forever. They are a sick fantasy that the guy we voted for isn't responsible for his own actions. We're better than this. We used to be located in the reality-based portion of the world. Let's get back to it, shall we?
**I thought conspiracy theory diaries were banned. Oh, wait...I see. If the front pagers have REDS, the rule doesn't apply...Well...never mind...