A Major Coup

President Obama just took a potential 2012 rival off of the chess board.

Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. (R) will be introduced today as President Obama's choice as ambassador to China, a source familiar with the decision said last night.
Huntsman, 48, was mentioned this spring as a potential Republican contender for the White House in 2012, and Obama's former campaign manager recently suggested that he is a rising force in the GOP.

Several Salt Lake City media outlets reported last night that Huntsman had accepted the offer to head the U.S. mission in Beijing, and that Lt. Gov. Gary R. Herbert would replace him as governor. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Huntsman was in Washington last night, but that calls to his spokeswoman and various staffers were not returned.

Huntsman was elected in November to a second term as Utah's governor, drawing 70 percent of the vote. He served in the George W. Bush administration as deputy U.S. trade representative from 2001 to 2004 and, for President George H.W. Bush, was ambassador to Singapore. He is an expert on China, and he speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently.

Now make no mistake, there are major benefits for Jon Huntsman in this move also. I believe he can see the writing on the wall when it comes to his own party. Right now they are going through a purity purge and the truth is in 2012 its likely they won't have any room for moderates. So his running for the Presidency in 2012 would have probably failed in the primary. However a lot of people believe that at some point his party will get tired of losing and wake up to the realization that if they no longer elect moderates then they will no longer be sustainable as a national party. You combine that with the experience he will gain as being ambassador to the country we are most reliant on right now in terms of financial dealings and you have the makings of a strong candidate in 2016. But there is no way for the GOP to spin this as anything other than an indictment of the state of their party. And at the same time it gives President Obama even more bipartisan cred and burnishes his reputation of being a person who isn't afraid to work with his rivals. WIN!

Policy Not Politcs

We finally have a President who keeps it real

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Obama Is Playing Chess While The GOP Plays Checkers

President Obama commenting at the Summit of the Americas.

As for Venezuela, Obama's friendly encounters with Chavez at the summit drew intense publicity — partly, Obama said, because Chavez is good at getting in front of TV cameras. Chavez's anti-American rhetoric has, in the past, led Obama to call him a demagogue.

Before he even got back to Washington, Obama was facing condemnation from some Republicans about how he dealt with Chavez. The president brushed that aside, noting that Venezuela has a defense budget about one-six hundredth the size of the United States' and owns the oil company Citgo.

"It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States," Obama said. "I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so."

Poll Porn

In case you can't see it that's 67 % approval rating for President Obama's handling of the stimulus bill and a 31% approval rating for how the WingNuts Republicans are handling the stimulus bill.

That kinda shits all over the all of the pundits and even some left wing blogs who were trying to say President Obama was getting sonned doesn't it?

Yes, it really does.

"I'm Lebron baby, I can play in this league"

Barack Obama 2004



(h/t Greg Sargent)

The Chessmaster Strikes Again.

MSNBC has an article up about a just released NYTimes poll which reveals that most Americans not only approve of Barack Obama but are also willing to be patient with him and give him time to implement his agenda. Please feel free to check out the poll, I for one am all polled out at this point. We get it, they like him, blah blah blah. But I just HAD to excerpt this lady's quotes to illustrate my point again about how Obama is moving the goal posts under everyone's noses. Check out how this Republican lady explains why she answered the poll the way she did.

“I think those of us who voted for McCain are going to be a lot happier with Obama than the people who voted for him,” Valerie Schlink, 46, a Republican from Valparaiso, Ind., said in an interview after participating in the poll. “A lot of the things he said he would do, like pulling out the troops in 16 months and giving tax cuts to those who make under $200,000, I think he now sees are going to be a lot tougher than he thought and that the proper thing to do is stay more towards the middle and ease our way into whatever has to be done. It can’t all be accomplished immediately.”

The ridiculous pot shot she takes at us "dirty hippies" she takes in the beginning aside, notice the two examples she pointed to as to why people who voted for McCain are going to be happy with Obama.

1. The 16 month timetable for withdrawal in Iraq

2. Tax cuts for everyone making under $200,000.

Ahem, maybe she hadn't noticed but the Status of Forces Agreement already has a timetable in it that we have to abide by and the Iraqi's have the ability to actually make us leave earlier with the referendum their citizens are going to vote on this spring. To put it bluntly nothing has changed. If anything America will be getting out of Iraq faster than before.

As to the tax cuts uhmmm what did she think was in Obama's stimulus plan that he submitted to Congress last week?

Man I have to tell you, I am not one for over hyping someone but this guy is killing em right now. Next thing you know he is going to have wingnuts saying universal healthcare ain't so bad after all! LOL

Now my fellow liberals and progressives keep this in mind the next time you are ready to fly off the handle about something President Obama "might" do. Sometimes you just have to work the refs a little and he definitely seems to know how to win the game.