[Peace-discuss] Uncle Noam on the BBC

[LAURIE SOLOMON]

>I think the best thing Obama can do is hire the best cabinet possible to do
the real 
>work and he be the negotiator between the groups. He's smart enough and
there is 
>some evidence that he just might find the humility to do this.

Interesting how this presumes one very big assumption, which is yet to
really be empirically proven.  Namely, it assumes that Cabinet members do
the "real work" whatever that is and that they are not lead and/or
constrained by their underlings and bureaucracies.  It further presupposes
that they can even have some significant effect on the direction and
behaviors of agencies they command - let alone the ear of the President they
serve.

However, in light of Karen's notion, it was a deliberate strategy of FDR to
create conflict among his cabinet and advisors just so that he could mediate
and impose on them what he wanted them to do all along but had trouble
getting done because of institutional interests as well as interest group s
who were invested in the various agency bureaucracies.  Mao on the other
hand had a different approach were he instituted the Cultural Revolution in
which he either removed and imprisoned recalcitrant bureaucats or sent them
to work in the rural areas in the factories and on the communal farms.  The
really unresolved question of our times is what does one do with and about
entrenched bureaucrats who have their own vested interests in policies and
processes, who have their own networks with the agencies, organizations, and
people they are suppose to regulate and control on behalf of the public and
the public interest, and move between governmental jobs and private industry
jobs with abandon and little change in whose interests they really are
working for while working in governmental positions - they change hats but
not heads.

-----Original Message-----
From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net
[mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Karen Medina
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 11:12 AM
To: peace discuss
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Uncle Noam on the BBC

>The Prophet [Noam] says: what matters is what people do with their 
disappointment when Obama fails to meet their expectations.

I think the best thing Obama can do is hire the best cabinet possible to do
the real 
work and he be the negotiator between the groups. He's smart enough and
there is 
some evidence that he just might find the humility to do this.

He should take on one thing himself: universal healthcare would be a good
choice. 

My worst fear is that he appoints only centrists and the right to his
cabinet. He has 
a mandate to move left, but he may not be able to recognize it. He has a
tendency 
to overcompensate to the right.
 
-karen medina
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