Obama tried to make every shutdown as painful as possible; here’s how Trump’s team is doing the opposite

Herman Cain

The last thing Obama wanted to do was apply skilled management tactics to minimize the pain for the public. He wanted everyone hurting, freaking out and upset because he knew the media would keep telling people the Republicans caused the shutdown.

. . . "But Obama exploited his shutdowns shamelessly for political purposes. The first thing that would always happen would be barricades and CLOSED signs at popular tourist attractions. Next you’d hear the sordid tales of furloughed workers and spoiled meat that would end up on your grocery shelves because there were no FDA inspectors to intercept it. (That’s now how it really works, but who cares when the narrative is working?)"
. . .

Photo added by TD

"Trump has done exactly the opposite. He has dispatched his budget people and his legal team to find every legal and administrative way possible to keep things running smoothly. There are limits to what the law allows, and there are limits to the resources available. But everywhere they can minimize the pain, they’re doing it. 

"Is Trump going to get credit for this in the media? Of course not. They’re going to portray the 25 percent shutdown as Armageddon regardless of what the facts really are. They’re going to blame Trump for what’s happening – even though it takes two sides to make a deal or not to make one – and they’re not going to make any distinction between a well-managed shutdown and one exploited baldly for political purposes." . . .

Lift Up Your Hearts: The Democrats Are in a Shambles

"America is truly blessed in unsuspected ways. Sleep soundly, Mr. President."

Conrad Black  "It is time to rekindle our political spirits in this new year, and to take stock of the subjects of encouragement.


"First, the takeover of the House of Representatives by the Democrats was, on balance, not as jarring to the vital organs as was feared. As a figure of horror, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has become almost like Bette Davis, one can believe she just acts the part, though she acts it convincingly. And she has earned her spurs as a Democratic legislator with staying power, the first speaker to serve non-consecutive terms since Sam Rayburn (D-Texas). She certainly didn’t get much back-talk from all those bushy-tailed Democrats who were going to send her off to knit antimacassars for her grandchildren. She does not, however, appear to be an effective spokesperson as leader of the opposition, and is strangely inarticulate for someone who must have spent more time in public speaking for the last 40 years than almost anyone in the country.

"A second source of happiness, despite the Democrats’ window-rattling ululations of joy, is that they have no mandate to do anything, and they have taken the bait the president dangled to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Pelosi at the White House three weeks ago. The Democratic leadership seems to think they can convince the country that the well-being of 800,000 federal employees, which could be ameliorated without capitulating on the spending bill, is more important than dealing with the protracted shambles in immigration, which most Americans acknowledge to be the country’s greatest problem.

"Third, the official debut of Schumer and Pelosi as leaders of the opposition where one of them is actually at the head of part of a branch of government, following the president’s address from the Oval Office on Monday, was a hilarious fiasco. They made an American Gothic apparition with forked tongues rather than a pitchfork and looked like an off-duty pantomime horse doing straight-up. They aren’t making it. They failed to convince anyone that a few weeks of furlough for government employees is more worrisome than the unarmed invasion of the United States by millions of unskilled foreigners.

 

"Fourth, Speaker Pelosi is shutting down her caucus-members who were calling for impeachment of the president, the surest sign that the whole idea is made of straw and hot air." . . . Full article.

Proof that most leftist critics of Israel don’t give a damn about Palestinians, they just hate Jews

Thomas Lifson  "One of the best and most conclusive tests of antisemitism among Israel’s many critics is whether or not they apply the same standards to others that they apply to the Jewish homeland. Virtually every time Israel responds to violence launched from Palestinian enclaves, we read and see stories damning it as “not proportional” or “callous” or ‘racist.”
"But what about when Palestinians are responded to by other nations?
"Writing in The Forward last year, Elizabeth Tusrkov published a very enlightening, and pretty conclusive examination of this question:
. . .

And yet, despite these horrors, no significant protests took place anywhere in the West or Arab world. The traditional champions of the Palestinian cause — those same people who have protested Israeli attacks on Gaza — have remained silent as the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus in Syria was shelled by Russian and Syrian air forces, while militias loyal to the Assad regime enforced a brutal siege.

"If there was a chorus of condemnation of these attacks, and lionization of the Palestinians as anti-imperialists, it must have escaped my attention."

Exasperated Democrats try to rein in Ocasio-Cortez

Politico

The effort is part carrot, part stick. But it's far from clear the anti-establishment political novice can be made to play ball.

 

 

 But man, can she dance.

Govern; maybe not so much.

 

"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is already making enemies in the House Democratic Caucus — and some of its members are mounting an operation to bring the anti-establishment, democratic socialist with 2.2 million Twitter followers into the fold.
"The effort, described by nearly 20 lawmakers and aides, is part carrot, part stick: Some lawmakers with ties to Ocasio-Cortez are hoping to coax her into using her star power to unite Democrats and turn her fire on Republicans. Others simultaneously warn Ocasio-Cortez is destined for a lonely, ineffectual career in Congress if she continues to treat her own party as the enemy.

Story Continued Below

“ 'I’m sure Ms. Cortez means well, but there’s almost an outstanding rule: Don’t attack your own people,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). “We just don’t need sniping in our Democratic Caucus.”

"Incumbent Democrats are most annoyed by Ocasio-Cortez’s threat to back primary opponents against members of their ranks she deems too moderate. But their frustration goes beyond that: Democratic leaders are upset that she railed against their new set of House rules on Twitter the first week of the new Congress. Rank and file are peeved that there’s a grassroots movement to try to win her a top committee post they feel she doesn’t deserve." . . .


h/t to Nikki Lund

 

Donald Trump to Jim Acosta: ‘Good Job! I Appreciate the Sales Pitch’

I worry that this newest kerfuffle can affect the Trump-Acosta relationship in a negative way.

Breitbart

“ 'Good job yesterday,” Trump said to Acosta after spotting him at the White House. “I appreciate your sales pitch.”

"Acosta filmed a video of a “steel slat” barrier on the Southern border, noting that there was no crisis there, which prompted wide-spread mockery on Twitter from Trump supporters." . . .

 

 

 

De Blasio builds ‘privacy fence’ around Gracie Mansion