Layer Upon Layer of Arrogance From Obama Administration

With continued arrogance solidly on display, Attorney General Eric Holder went before the Senate Judiciary Committee and did his best to mask his irritation with being questioned on 'his' decision to bring the GITMO detainees to NYC for trial. His arrogance, in step with President Obama's arrogance, prevented him from awareness that he would be the recipient of the questions. Despite what the mainstream media reports may write, it is not only Republicans who question the wisdom of this decision.

It is just another example of the arrogance of this administration in an ever growing list. This decision was another example of a big decision tossed into a late Friday afternoon news dump to the press, with hopes of an escape from scrutiny by the public. As Karl Rove writes in The Wall Street Journal, "What we are seeing with the White House's timing in releasing its decision on KSM and other terrorists is a presidency clinging to campaign tactics that aim to dominate the 24-hour-news-cycle. The problem is that ploys that work in a campaign don't work nearly as well when you're in charge of the executive branch. Once in office, you have to live with the consequences of a policy decision. The debate now taking place over trying terrorists in civilian courts is showing this White House that it cannot escape the hard realities that come with making presidential decisions. Not even Friday afternoons can offer sanctuary from dangerous or ill-considered policy choices."

As an added bonus, President Obama was conveniently out of the country when this decision was announced.

The bogus numbers being used in touting the success of the stimulus package passed by Congress are coming back to bite this administration. According to the blog posted on the Houston Chronicle site called Texas on the Potomac, "Nationally, the recovery.gov site has mistakenly attributed $6.4 billion in stimulus spending to 440 non-existent districts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and even four American territories, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan government oversite group, watchdog.org."

Continuing, "The White House's recovery.gov web site declares that Texas' 52nd district received exactly $8,937,289 in stimulus funds, while the 68th district has had precisely $310,963 funneled into it. Trouble is, none of these congressional districts exist."

The Wall Street Journal points to the naked politics of unemployment numbers and 'saved or created' jobs - "The nonexistence of the jobs and places allegedly stimulated by the Recovery Act doesn't necessarily mean the money was misspent or stolen. But it does indicate that the claims made on its behalf are a political illusion. The true jobs measure of an economic recovery is the unemployment rate, which rose to 10.2% last month. No matter how hard or imaginatively the Administration spins, the reality is that the stimulus has been the economic bust that critics predicted it would be."

One wonders if President Obama will ever be capable of setting aside the campaign mode to actually lead our nation. This is the most glaring of problems when a nation elects a person to be commander-in-chief with no executive leadership experience, only experience with running for the next higher office.

President Obama has surrounded himself with like-minded individuals, as all presidents do. In The Washington Post , Carrie Johnson writes about the time Eric Holder spent with time with family members of loved ones lost in the 9/11/01 attacks, after his time spent testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. The questions he faced from the family members are described as "unexpected queries". The encounter is described as "brief and respectful". It is noted in the article that the Republican members of the committee introduced the family members before Holder's testimony and they stayed until after the hearing to talk to Holder.

While critics of the G.W. Bush administration were fast and loose with the barbs of the arrogance of that administration, those voices are now predictably silent as the arrogance - of a different kind - permeate from the current administration.