John Heilemann of New York magazine tells Andrea Mitchell that his investigation uncovered the truly remarkable fact that President Obama never spoke to six members of his cabinet during his first two years in office. Not once.
Why speak to mere cabinet members when you have czars out the wazoo?
John Heilemann of New York magazine tells Andrea Mitchell that his investigation uncovered the truly remarkable fact that President Obama never spoke to six members of his cabinet during his first two years in office. Not once.
Not a single “Hey, how are the wife and kids.” Not one “How ’bout those wacky Iranians.” Nary a “Hey, got any ideas on the economy?”
If we had to make a wild guess, we’d say Secretary of Defense was one of the cabinet members Obama hasn’t spoken to.
In a comical move even for a czar-happy president who has rewarded dozens of cronies with distinguished titles, the White House has named the Obama’s personal Chicago cook as “Senior Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives.”
Food Czar Sam Kass knows it pays to have friends in high places
This is one of the strangest stories yet out of the strangest White House yet.
Judicial Watch has the dietary details:
In a comical move even for a czar-happy president who has rewarded dozens of cronies with distinguished titles, the White House has named the Obama’s personal Chicago cook as “Senior Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives.”
It’s no joke, even though is sounds like a bad one. The Chicago chef’s rapid ascension, reported this week by a conservative Washington D.C. newspaper, has been kept under the radar for the last month. Sam Kass went from being a 20-something, Windy City gourmet cook—privately paid by the Obama’s to feed them—to big-time White House adviser in a matter of months.
In between, Michelle Obama made Kass a “Food Initiative Coordinator” for her new healthy nutrition program which is supposed to eliminate childhood obesity within a generation, especially in the nation’s inner cities. The First Lady claims that childhood obesity is a threat to national security and a crisis equivalent to AIDS and youth violence.
Because it’s such a dire situation, she has convinced her husband’s administration to spend $400 million a year to bring “healthy foods” to low-income neighborhoods and $10 billion to revise a decades-old federal measure that already feeds tens of millions of poor children at school for free.
This culinary revolution no doubt requires a trusted senior policy adviser—like Kass—who is an expert in healthy cuisine. The First Lady refers to her cook as a “partner in crime” and says it’s “just pretty powerful” to see what started out as talk in her South Side Chicago kitchen turn into a major initiative that “hopefully will change the way we think as a country.”
What’s next? Court jester? Oh, wait. We already have Joe Biden.
Six months ago, had you attempted to tell us that Rachel Maddow could become even more smug and annoying, we would have said it was impossible. We were wrong.
Six months ago, had you attempted to tell us that Rachel Maddow could become even more smug and annoying, we would have said it was impossible.
There is nothing green about Jones, the green movement is simply a convenient vehicle for his, and Barack Obama’s, social justice (aka marxism) movement. But hold on–aren’t republicans part of the social fabric of this country. If so, where is the social justice in him calling Republicans assholes?
By now you’ve all heard of about the self-described communist, Green Czar Van Jones. You know him, the Berkeley radical who is going to save the earth and transform America at the same time by “moving formerly incarcerated people from jail cells to solar cells—helping to harvest the sun, heal the land, and repair our souls.”
It’s all bull. There is nothing green about Jones. The green movement is simply a convenient vehicle for his, and Barack Obama’s, social justice (aka Marxism) movement. But hold on–aren’t Republicans part of the social fabric of this country. If so, where is the social justice in him calling Republicans assholes?
The bigger question to us is, where are Republican leaders on the subject of Van Jones? Are we really at the tipping point in America where we don’t scream about the president picking a Marxist as a key advisor to cripple the economy?
Dan Rather is out to save the rapidly-depleting stock of journalists, reporters, editors and empty-headed news anchors by asking for a media czar.
"Hello? Mr. President. It's Czar Rather. I have a typo on page 3. Go to DefCon 4."
The sky may be falling and the earth may be boiling polar bear cubs at a rapid rate, but Dan Rather, a leading, but by no means only reason journalism is no longer respected, is out to save the rapidly-depleting stock of journalists, reporters, editors and empty-headed news anchors.
Rather, who spoke at the Aspen Institute, called for the Obama administration to create a “commission on public media.” The commission would, among other things, try to find new business models to help save media outlets because, if it’s one thing that the hundreds of years of the free enterprise system has shown us, it’s that people are incapable of creating a business model without the interference from a government commission.
Remember the Commission On 144-Character Micro-Blogging Messages that brought us Twitter?
“A truly free and independent press is the red beating heart of democracy and freedom,” Rather said in an interview. (A free and independent press that is overseen by a government commission?)
The commission might also be able to help forge documents, too, like military letters about presidents whose politics you don’t necessarily agree with.
If the commission is created, we would need another Czar, a Czar of All Media.
Let’s see. Where could we find a liberal, out-of-work journalist who left his career in disgrace and may need another shot at proving his worth before he’s rolled up like newspapers used to be and tossed away in the dustbin of media history?
We hope Obama's czars start wearing fancy uniforms with epaulets and gold braid like their Russian imperial predecessors
If there’s a crisis, an issue, even a question in Washington, President Obama will appoint a Czar to manage it. He’s named more than 20 of them so far.
Democrat Senator Robert Byrd believes these Czars give the president too much power. He said the Czar system “can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances” and he points out that the power to oversee federal agencies is supposed to be reserved for officials approved by the Senate.
“…these White House staffers are not accountable for their actions to the Congress, to cabinet officials, or to virtually anyone but the president,” Byrd noted. “They rarely testify before congressional committees, and often shield the information and decision-making process behind the assertion of executive privilege. In too many instances, White House staff have been allowed to inhibit openness and transparency, and reduce accountability.”
Let us sum this up in three words: Obama Power Grab.
Here’s a list of Obama’s many power-grabbing czars: Af-Pak (Afghanistan-Pakistan) Czar, Border Czar, Car Czar, Climate Czar, Cyber Security Czar, Drug Czar, Economic Czar, Energy Czar, Faith-based Czar, Great Lakes Cleanup Czar, Guantanamo Closure Czar, Health Reform Czar, Infotech Czar, Iran Czar, Middle East Czar, Pay Czar, Persian Gulf & Southwest Asia Czar, Regulatory Czar, Stimulus Accountability Czar, Sudan Czar, TARP Czar, Terrorism Czar, Urban Czar, and last in alphabetical order, but not least, Weapons of Mass Destruction Czar
It appears, however, that President Obama has neglected to appoint Czars in some very important areas. We urge that he act immediately to name outstanding liberal Americans to fill these voids:
Biden Czar – someone to keep the Veep from saying stupid things that embarrass the administration and all Americans Teleprompter Czar – someone to make sure that the President’s favorite electronic device is always working Pantsuit Czar – someone to make sure Hillary never wears anything but pantsuits Limbaugh Czar – someone to oversee regulation of conservative talk radio Middle Name Czar – someone to make sure the name “Hussein” is never used unless the President is speaking in a Muslim country Date Night Czar – someone to schedule taxpayer-funded romantic getaways for the President and First Lady DoubleSpeak Czar – someone to keep track of all the Obama administration’s new terminology (like changing “Terrorism” to “Man-Caused Disaster”) Power Grab Czar – someone to be Czar over all the other Czars
Any we left out? Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comment section.
If there’s one thing Obama should keep in mind, it’s that things didn’t work out to well for the Russian Czars in the long run.
