Report Suggests Confusion Reigns In White House

With Obama having now tapped over a dozen lobbyists for govenment slots despite anti-lobbyist guidelines and the withdrawal of Daschle only the latest in a long line of problems for Obama - going all the way back to Bill Richardson withdrawing under a cloud - the Obama administration continues to assert that they have "set the bar" higher for themselves than has any previous administration.

The confusion seems rooted in their not understanding that when one sets the bar "high," it is with the expectation that they intend to clear it going over, not attempt a good limbo to barely slide by underneath.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite the tax problems faced by high-level nominees, and the exceptions made to the no-lobbyists pledge, President Barack Obama's spokesman is defending the administration's ethical standards.

Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, "The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set."

Comments

[Lala]

Maybe he means the bar in the saloon.

[Anon]

Oy. I have to agree that if the best messaging they can come up with is "we set the bar higher than anyone before us, so it should be expected that many of our nominees can't clear that high bar" then we are in for a long four years.

This is the same thing that happened to Clinton...so much bungling in the first year that all his political capitol was expended in damage control from self inflicted wounds, nothing left over for governing.

[templar knight]

Or it could be that liberal Democrats are nothing but a bunch of tax cheats and criminals. That's the message that the public is getting.

[Lala]

So many Democrats in Congress are so rich (Pelosi, Boxer, Feinstein, Clinton, Kennedy, Kerry, Rockefeller) and yet they want to raise taxes on the rich. Doesn't make sense unless there is a built in way for them to avoid paying same taxes.

[JustOneMan]

More irony from the Whitehouse...

I guy who gets there due to the lower standards of affirmative action is perplexed by setting high standards...

[Lala]

Pelosi says every month 500 million Americans will lose their jobs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hMJVXt09E&eurl

[SacTownMan]

That's the best part about setting the bar so high. It makes it easier for the scumbags to crawl underneath

[mark l.]

caught the drudge headline with 'circus' in it.

very appropriate.

rather than the previous admins' ability to entice their team to fall on their swords, we now get to see professional sword swallowers.

one thing is clear, despite the 'lenghty' questionairre the obama admin wanted their employees to fill out, tax issues didn't make the cut. To be quite honest, daschle was the only one who had the bar raised on him in regards to taxes and I'm getting the idea that his 5 million dollar pay for 'consulting', which really is a polite form of 'lobbying', was the hidden straw that broke the camel's back.

There may very well be a riff between the 'old hands' and the 'newbies' on obama's team.

[Lala]

Jim Cramer says drug stocks rallied as soon as Daschle pulled out.

Larry Kudlow is calling for little Tim to resign now that little Tommy has pulled out.

[mary]

What happened to "that guy" who ran the most perfect presidential campaign ever? They didn't fire "that guy" did they?

[Lala]

"They say there's a recession on? Ha! There are people in America willing to pay six figures to hear a speech by Tom Daschle. In what other country on earth would this happen?" -- Mark Steyn

[WBestPresidentEver]

"Someone" needs to take a look at all of governemnts tax returns. Starting at the top.
If the real truth was REALLY know about all the peoples tax returns there woudl be a march of Washington to kick them all out.
Term limits is the only way to stop all this corruption in our government. Until this happens we are always going to be governed by a bunch of crooks, liars and thieves.
I get so tired of hearing the term serve. These people do not "serve". They are elected, (hired) and it is a job. They get paid. They work for us. They do not "serve" us. When that word is used it sounds like they are doing a service for us for free. LOL. They are working hard to take our f****** money and do with what the hell they please.
They are the ones that chose to make being a politician their line of work.
We the people are who elect them. I am just glad I am not one of the ones who votes for these sorry ass (crooks)scumbags. Some of our folks are half way decent I am sure but they all need to be checked out.
Prove to the American public you are not corrupt. If you have nothing to hide then lets see those tax returns !

[mark l.]

funny that you mention mark steyn...

I heard people discussing him on the street. I have this feeling that people want to hear libaugh's take on the stimulus and govt at large, whether they would agree with him or not.

Limbaugh's past couple of days?
free pr from the president, the steelers win the superbowl, and daschle falls down...

He spent years trashing daschle, making him a personal nemesis. It's probably as sweet a victory as the superbowl.

[Lala]

Steyn is filling in for Limbaugh for a couple of days.

[nina]

I thought McClellan was horrible but this dude Gibbs is missing a few screws. This WH looks so disorganized and ignoring all the fumbles they made like they are going to go away. A disaster.

[mark l.]

I see NK is testing a long range missile.
Probably upset that they were left out of the bailout stimulus.

obama is about to have to deal with an international shakedown...does he pull a bush, refusing to cave, or can he buy some cred for foreign policy with a couple hundred million?

seeing as money is no object for these guys, and seeing kim jong il 'seeing that money is no object for these guys', I bet one can actually buy world peace, or at least a decent 'backdrop' of world peace.