Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Selfish Public "Servants"....

Our Selfish 'Public Servants'
From the White House to the schoolhouse to the George Washington Bridge.
By Peggy Noonan · Jan. 18, 2014
Sometimes the most obvious thing is the most unnoticed. I find myself thinking this week about the destructive force of selfishness in our political life. This common failing is the source of such woe! Politicians call themselves public servants, so they should be expected to be less selfish than the average Joe; their views and actions should be assumed to be more keenly directed toward the broad public good. But no one expects that of politicians anymore, and they know it and use the knowledge to justify being even worse than they'd normally be. “If I have the name, I might as well have the game.”

They are the locus of selfishness in the modern world.Chris Christie’s problem isn't that he's a bully, it's that he's selfish. Barack Obama isn't stupid and therefore the maker of mayhem, he's selfish.
There isn't a staffer on the Hill who won't tell you 90% of members are driven by their own needs, wants and interests, not America's. The former defense secretary, Bob Gates, has written a whole book about it, and the passages in which he speaks most plainly read like a cry from the heart. The chaplain of the Senate, Barry Black, made news a few months ago because he'd taken to praying that the character of our representatives be improved. “Save us from the madness,” he prayed one morning last October. “We acknowledge our transgressions, our shortcomings, our smugness, our selfishness.” The single most memorable thing I ever heard from a Wall Streeter was from one of its great men, who blandly explained to me one day why certain wealthy individuals were taking an action that was both greedy and personally inconvenient to them. “Everyone wants more,” he said, not in a castigating way but as one explains certain essentials to a child.
People in public life have become more grasping, and less embarrassed by it. But the odd thing, the destabilizing thing as you think about it, is that we're in a crisis. We've been in it since at least 2008 and the crash, and the wars. We are in unprecedented trouble. Citizens know this. It's why they buy guns. They see unfixable America around them, they think it's all going to fall apart. In Washington (and New York) they huff and puff their disapproval: Those Americans with their guns, they're causing a lot of trouble. But Americans think they're in trouble because their leaders are too selfish to face challenges that will do us in.
What's most striking is that in a crisis, you don't expect business as usual. You expect something better from leaders, you expect them to try to meet the moment.
Mr. Christie is a great talent, a political figure of real and natural gifts. What has jeopardized his position is not that he's gruff, in-your-face, insistent – a bully. It's that he's been selfish. In 2012 he was given a star role, keynote speaker at the GOP national convention. His speech was strong, funny and ran about 2,340 words. But it took around 2,000 of them before he got to a guy named Romney. Everything else was “The greatest lesson that mom ever taught me … When I came into office … I have an answer.” The GOP nominee needed a boost from blue-state man, but there wasn't much in it for blue-state man. He'd only get Republican cooties on him. So he played it like a vanity production and made a speech about himself.
That wasn't a major sin – it's only politics, not policy. But it fit in with his effusive embrace of Mr. Obama in the days before the 2012 election. Any governor would show strategic warmth for a president in charge of ladling out federal money after disaster. But Jersey was about to re-elect president Obama by nearly 18 points, and Mr. Christie wanted to win over Democrats when he ran the next year.
He was already going to win big. But he had to win bigger, had to have more.
Again, not much of a sin. But when Bridgegate came, it seemed to fit the pattern – he'll ding you when he doesn't have to, even if it makes local citizens cry, to gain an advantage, to get more. Whoever made the call, selfishness is at the heart of the scandal.
There's an increasing sense in our political life that in both parties politicians call themselves public servants but act like bosses who think the voters work for them. Physicians who routinely help the needy and the uninsured do not call themselves servants. They get to be called the 1%. Politicians who jerk around doctors, nurses and health systems call themselves servants, when of course they look more like little kings and queens instructing the grudging peasants in how to arrange their affairs.
Which gets us, inevitably, to the King of I, who unselfconsciously claims ownership of . . . everything. “My military,” “my White House,” “my cabinet,” “my secretary.” The president does first person singular more than Mr. Christie does. But his actions are so much more consequential, because they're national and because they play out in the area of policy.
The president's health-insurance reform had to be breathtaking, mind-bending, historic. It had to be a Democratic Party initiative only. It required a few major lies to gain passage, but what the heck.
It was political selfishness that blew up the American health-care system. And it's the public, in this and other messes, that's left holding the bag. But as government gets bigger the bag gets bigger, and people will get tired of carrying it. They're already tired.
I close with the selfishness story of the week, the stunning New York Post expose on Public School 106 in Far Rockaway, a neighborhood in the borough of Queens. The grade school is a poster child for the indifference of those who are supposed to be helping the country. There are no gym or art classes, the Post's Susan Edelman reported. The library is a junk room; the nurse's office lacks essentials; there are no math or reading books for the Common Core curriculum. Kids are left to watch movies. Kindergartners are shunted off to dilapidated trailers. The principal, Marcella Sills, often doesn't show up for work, or swans in near the end of the day. School staff were afraid to speak up because they feared retribution from Ms. Sills or the teachers union.
When the Post broke the story, the city's Department of Education sent an inspector. The principal actually showed up early that day. The school took delivery of some books. Everyone was in high spin mode.
The union will look to the union's interests, Ms. Sills will no doubt see to hers, the new city administration will try to limit embarrassment, handle the fallout and change the subject. But you couldn't read the stories without thinking: Who's looking out for the kids? And what's happening to us?
Someday history will write of our era, and to history the biggest scandal will be the thing we all accepted in our leaders, chronic and endemic selfishness. History will be hard on us for that.
*Z:  Can any of you disagree with this?   What are your thoughts?

z

54 comments:

Constitutional Insurgent said...

"Someday history will write of our era, and to history the biggest scandal will be the thing we all accepted in our leaders, chronic and endemic selfishness."

This is the money shot. Years into the future, people will look at our foundign documents and compare it to the record of pop culture and sensationalized news cycles.....and unless we've devolved to Idiocracy....they'll wonder how we lost our way.

THE ANTI LIBERAL ZONE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

And how about that absolutely horrible Racist movie with that Racist Opera, “The Butler” Thats Full of Racist Lies!
Liberals are such chronic liars, they can't even get their facts straight in a stupid Oprah craptrap movie. Liberals are intellectual, elitist idiots, no wonder they admire Treyvon Martin. And once again, Hollyweird, and those Hate-filled Race Baiting Progressive blogs, show how they can't help themselves as they rewrite history in yet another movie, and try to pass it off as facts. A great man once said, you're entitled to your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts.

Typical Liberal Propaganda, tell a story that can't be disproved because NO one is alive to disprove it (or to Prove it either).
Reminds me of those brainwashed haters in that hate filled racist's in Rev. Wright's church .

And how about the New Black Panther Party who are full of white haters and who wanted to lynch George Zimmerman before his trial!

TemplarKormac said...

How about a 'Public Servants' that says..."If You Are A "Extreme Conservative" Then You Are No Longer Welcome"! Well that's what the newly crowned King of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said!
Who are they, those extreme conservatives, who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, then they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are."

Those were the words uttered by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. These words have also signaled to me the arrival of something I've feared in America. This something is an era of hyper-partisanship, where mere political affiliation can warrant someone telling you "you have no place here." Has our partisanship reached such a level where we tell someone they no longer belong in the same state as you? Where will those of similar political leanings be speaking out against this?

Do Democrats and Republicans alike not have the same right to live in New York or anywhere? It was bad enough segregating blacks and whites some 50 and 60 years ago, now we must segregate between the letters "D" and "R"? This is why I speak in support of bipartisanship. This is why I favor it. For this is what partisanship will reap.

One will say "I will never get along with them." But I say you don't have to. However it isn't right or moral to begrudge them a place among their fellow Americans that they have made for themselves to live because of what their political beliefs are. The law notwithstanding, a man of any idea or philosophy should be welcome in America.

What Governor Cuomo demonstrated to the rest of America is an utter lack of tolerance, a lack of goodwill. No aspect of partisanship towards his fellow New Yorkers. The onus rests with the people who elected him, those people being the Democrats themselves. He is the manifestation of the intolerance they profess to combat. Cuomo represents an aspect of hatred that Democrats claim not to possess towards those of different beliefs.
First Obama, then Rahm, and now Andrew Cuomo. Liberals really think they own this country, don't they? I should leave MY State or MY Country leave America because I dare to criticize something that this government does.
Like Father, Like Son! What the HELL is going on in this Country

Wingnuts and Moonbats said...

I hear that China acts that that same depraved way, Cuomo was only being truthful about the way the progressive left really is, Intolerant, and arrogant .Maybe Andrew Cuomo should move there, it's Progressive paradise

DaBlade said...

The theme is "SELFISHNESS" exhibited by our leaders... "politicians call themselves public servants but act like bosses", but in a nation that "celebrates" the 40th anniversary of the right to infanticide (and the body count is 55 million and counting) WE GET THE LEADERS WE DESERVE.

Ducky's here said...

The political system has been bought and paid for.
Didn't really need Our Lady of the Perpetual Martini to tell us that. But as Rush is fond of telling us, "Money is speech" and a certain element of the population fell right in lne behind him. It's a little disingenuous to complain.

As for the Far Rockaway story, hat may well have something to do with Sndy. Far Rockaway was leveled by the storm. The reporting may be incomplete.

Wingnuts and Moonbats said...

Obama said “ THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT THERE’S SOME FOLKS WHO JUST REALLY DISLIKE ME BECAUSE THEY DON’T LIKE THE IDEA OF A BLACK PRESIDENT’

Awww Poor baby, Hey O’baby, It was the WHITES who elected you twice, do you really think that you would have been elected without their votes!
I'm getting really, really tired of the fact that our African-American president is unable to even mention the word "race" in an interview without conservatives moaning that he's pulling the race card. Grow up or get out of the way. Better yet, just get out of the way.

This miserable failure has been using race as an excuse for all his flailing policies since he got into office.
And his racist wife is the same way. I thought that Michelle was proud of her country for the first time in her life. Has something changed?
Did he ever think that maybe it has something to do with his record in office especially since Incompetence is color-blind? It has nothing to do with race but he is to stupid to understand he is doing nothing to help this country and un-able to do his job. Also it might be because he lied all the time for he doesn't understand how to tell the truth.

I Ain't Got No Blog said...


And there is also the simple fact that it took white people to elect him. Had the white population not voted for him he wouldn't be POTUS. Now, there are quite a few of us who realize that he is acting like a two bit African-American rapper from New York City not the Leader of the Free World.. We don't mind a black president...but we do mind one who happens to be an inept, disorganized, disinterested, selfish crybaby, who acts as if he’s a moron.
When Obama was first elected in 2008 his approval rating was in the mid 60s it now ranges from the high 30s to low 40s depending on the poll does anyone really think that people have just now realized he's black? What a joke.

Anonymous said...

Let's all eat an Apple and Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, like our Mentor The Moocher wants us too.

Right-Winger said...

Anonymous said..."Let's all eat an Apple and Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, like our Mentor The Moocher wants us too"

That's really the height of arrogance!

Jarhead said...


The Olympics Are Around the Corner and Obama Chooses to Insult and Bait the Terrorists!
The arrogance of this man is astounding.

This seems to be a pattern with these Progressive idiots, they speak before they think. .

Either says something stupid or nothing at all are the only alternatives you give Obama?

Sure, he should have said something.....But when you have the world stage, you need to pick and choose your words carefully. You do not want to incite, but you also don't want to ignore.

Perhaps....he could have said "Sure, we are concerned about terrorism and the Olympics. We are aware that an attack can be pre- planned, or a lone soldier and we expect Mr. Putin to consider all scenarios."
It’s no secret that I never had any love for Obama and he has NEVER been my leader. I am constantly being proven wrong when I thought that my respect for him could not go any lower, but it does almost daily.. Quite frankly, from day one he has made my skin crawl and listening to him has always made me feel as if I have to puke. My original instincts about him have been spot on.
I guess that Obama must have gotten his arrogance from his wife.
And that pretty much sums up my view on Obama

Z said...

had an amazingly ugly comment here. Had to delete. And Mustang will do the same during the day, I know.
You've got to admit one thing, folks; I'm not on comment moderation and so many are, then they scream censorship when we delete the truly sad, truly unhappy less-busy bloggers. :-) the left at work!!

Jarhead, Peggy Noonan wrote this; not me. I thought it was good for discussion.

Z said...

Jarhead, had to delete your last comment..soooo much room between your sign off and the end of the space it looked like no more comments were there! Sorry

Jarhead said...

Z said...Jarhead, had to delete your last comment..soooo much room between your sign off and the end of the space it looked like no more comments were there! Sorry

No problem Z, I understand. You run a great blog here and as you said with no comment moderation, and we appreciate that.
Be well.

Z said...

thanks very much, jarhead...
Please comment any time...just be careful about that last empty bit...
probably was a computer glitch!
You be well, too

Proud American said...

Michelle Obama:”'It Is Our Responsibility As a Nation' to Remember the Slaves”!!
The stories of those slaves "too often get lost," Mrs. LardAss said.

Oh come on now, what’s going on here! ! Gimme a break Moochelle. It's been over since 1863, and nobody alive is responsible for it. You and your husband simply cannot stop playing the race card, can you?

More evidence that we have a Race-Biter in the White House. Gawd I'll be glad when these TWO hating people don't have that soapbox know as the Presidency, and feel entitled to PREACH their crap on us.

George Cucumber said...

Ms. Lard Ass aka The First Moocher said, An Apple a day keeps the Slave Master away!

And the bed wetters wonder why there's still racial animosity...
Hey morons, it's because your masters won't let it go!

Anonymous said...

I'm a little over the insulting names to Michelle Obama. I am no fan of hers in any way, but I'm starting to wonder at so many people very suddenly stopping by and using pretty racist language here. It doesn't fly here, folks.
Odd that none of you have blogs, isn't it? Or maybe not?

By the way, I do agree with the sentiment that it's the people like Sharpton and Jackson who've kept racism alive. I believe the only nuts who actually DO resent Obama for his (half) color are klans idiots.

I'll never forget a top Wash. DC lawyer telling me that Jackson gets paid by the unions to keep workers down; "We'll give you thousands to subdue the workers and convince them to calm down," which I find repulsive. And, please, people...don't argue; this man knows. I don't tell you things I'm not very sure of.

Yes, if we had a president who soothed rather than hyped up, we'd be much much better off race-wise. If he'd talked about that Harvard situation a few years ago with an open heart, "let's look into what really happened before we make accusations of racism," but no, he had to make the hackneyed observations, which turned out not to be true.
If he'd only speak to young people, telling them he made it and they can make it, too, with hard work, staying out of gangs, dreaming of a big future they accomplished.
If only he'd weighed in on Trayvon in a way that didn't divide.
If only, if only....

Someone mentioned The Butler above...I mentioned the other day that my friend knew the butler at the White House when she worked there for Reagan; his son did die in 'Nam, the other son had nothing to do with the Panthers and there was no animus between the father and son. And the portrayals of the presidents were self serving...

Anonymous said...

I forgot to mention the comment above is from Z, the owner of this blog.

Constitutional Insurgent said...

"By the way, I do agree with the sentiment that it's the people like Sharpton and Jackson who've kept racism alive."

That's the truth. The race industry has been quite profitable to many, and nobody is going to want to be that guy, who declares racism dead, turns off the lights, and gets a real job.

Mustang said...

Is the so-called Rainbow coalition and NAACP relevant today? Yes, but only as a source of income to Jesse Jackson, Benjamin Jealous, or any other charlatan that follows them.

Rita said...

I hate these nut jobs have decided to infiltrate your blog Z. The writing is all the same and they all are either anonymous or have suspicious profiles.

I would bet they think they are trying to bait someone here to bite into their racist rhetoric so they can go report it back to some leftist blogger.

I don't even read their rantings, I just skip right past them. I will be nice when they get tired of their ignorant games.

Anonymous said...

Rita seems to "hate" every one who comments everywhere

Anonymous said...

From Z of GeeeZ:

Rita, you're absolutely right.
Odd they come in droves every week or so for a day or two :-) Someone's got too much time on his/her hands and a lot of hate in his/her heart. So sad.

Thanks.

Sam Huntington said...

@ Anon 1:09

Are you really that stupid, or is your comment just a fluke?

Rita said...

It's obviously no fluke Sam. Well, it could be Sandra Fluke. That's a real possibility. ;)

Impertinent said...

Oprah, Sharpton...all of them were not ready for a "black" POTUS, were they? The country wasn't ready for one either, were we? They voted for this guy cause he was "cool"....calm...hip and spoke well. Did they all actually think that he'd not come under a microscope or any scrutiny or...god forbid, responsibility?

Why? Cause if they were...they'd accept the criticisms that come with any administration, wouldn't they? Without having to paint every one who sees the mans incompetence...as racist.

In that respect, his time is a complete failure to those who had high expectations for this guy. And IMO...we'll never see another black POTUS in the near future again. He's worn the country out with his refusal to toss off the "racism' baggage that has kept us divided and given his lack of performance cover.

I find it hard to believe that any smart black person could not accept that he is not a god...that he is fallible and he is not without serious flaws.

Should we now thank him in advance for sparing us the same agony in the future?

Now the man has sunk so low as to defend his incompetence and failures because he's half black? Has he not said that's why he's flawed? It's incredible the disservice and damage he's done to the black race in the past 5 years.

Impertinent said...

@Z:

"they come in droves every week or so for a day or two.."


Ebb and flow..the tides wash in and then out. Natural flush cycle?

Impertinent said...

The Story of Your Enslavement

Excellent watch.

http://youtu.be/Xbp6umQT58A

Anonymous said...

from z of geeeez

imp, if it wasn't a remarkable, very sudden bunch of this type of comments happening from time to time, I'd not have mentioned it! I know ebb/flow and this is absolutely not it.
Also, notice how they haven't been around since I mentioned it?

:)

happens ALL the time. xx

Kid said...

Folks, folks, folks....

IMP - January 22, 2014 at 2:49 PM

No truer words were ever spoken.

If you are a speed reader like me, you can skip about the first 3rd of it.

Word...

Ducky's here said...

Dam, Imp, when he started talking about the farmer putting some of the cows on the payroll I thought he was talking about the military and the cops.

Oh well, it made me think of putting on The Seventh Seal tonight.

Impertinent said...

@Ducky:

Appropriate metaphor, I thought.

Ducky's here said...

Well, the question of what we do about time is strictly a human issue. Don't know that we must fear it.

Ducky's here said...

It's like Kristallnacht with them every single day...it never stops.

-----
Stunning.

Just because someone called Tom Scott a ventriloquist's dummy? You can say that of 95% of the congress.

Seems a little short of Kristallnacht.

Ducky's here said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Z said...

poor Ducky...you really think I said that because of ONE incident? Good try.
What's it like to ignore Andrew Cuomo's fascist remarks about conservatives in NY?
How about Obama saying "I've got the pen.." ? Sure, ignore the laws, do what you want...stop necessary discourse.
How about passing laws before people can read them, Ms Pelosi?

I can go ON and ON...the left's IN CONTROL...look out!
Censorship, denial, breaking laws, dissing half the country?

Kristallnacht/. I thought you'd get it...

Impertinent said...

@Z:

Tim Scott...South Carolina and the sole black senator...just a house negro though according to the naa c(ra)p

Impertinent said...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sixty-five percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation's system of government and how well it works, the highest percentage in Gallup's trend since 2001. Dissatisfaction is up five points since last year, and has edged above the previous high from 2012 (64%).


What happens when we hit, say 98%?

Z said...

Imp, I felt so sorry for that Senator....what a lonely feeling. He must feel somewhat the slave to be so ridiculed and repressed and insulted.
Yet, I've heard him interviewed and he's bright, optimistic and convicted of his values and ideals.
you just can't differ from the left; impossible to do without insults and name calling.

it's going to get MUCH worse this year, MUCH worse....as Andrew Cuomo did, they'll be making ridiculous comments and then pulling them back...because the pull back's never heard...but people hear the lies and the nasty recriminations... They're SCARED TO DEATH OF THE SENATE GOING RIGHT...AND THEY WILL DO ANYTHING.

Rita said...

You just don't get it Imp. Nothing is racist if it comes from the left. It's acceptable, no it's encouraged to call conservative women the c word and hurl insults and their handicapped child.

They think nothing of using the term "darky"' when describing people of color.

It's gotten worse than the "soft bigotry of low expectations " now. Senator Scott explained it pretty clearly that there is now philosophical bigotry.

OT, thx Ed for standing up for me bro. But don't worry, Anon was just trying to sweet talk me. Those little libs are just so precious when they're mad.

Impertinent said...

@Rita:

Oh I get it Rita. What better way to beat a country down, break it into hateful camps by increasing racial disharmony, privileged, poor minorities. Increasing the size of the government with a POS POTUS that's beneath contempt and unwilling to abide by the Constitution? Obama ought to have that pen stuck hard up his ass.

Ducky's here said...

Well, z, you missed the context of Cuomo's statement. He was asked a question by a right wing radio host and made an observation that far right candidates cannot win statewide elections in the New York because their political philosophy is not a reflection of the state’s electorate.

True enough. The culture war doesn't play well in a lot of New York.

As for executive orders, the first were issued by George Washington. They've been part of American government from the beginning and Obama has issued far fewer than any contemporary president, 160 vs. twice that for Reagan.
Your indignation is simply not based in reason.

Ducky's here said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ducky's here said...

They think nothing of using the term "darky"' when describing people of color.

-----
Are you serious?
That's absurd.

Rita, why not go out and stop and frisk a couple local minorities.

Rita said...

Some word coming back to haunt you Duck? You used it, own up to it.

You're such a cute little commie.

Z said...

Whew!, Ducky!
Thanks for that explanation that no other person's mentioned in re to Cuomo.
I guess he really didn't MEAN that people who aren't pro choice aren't wanted in NY, right?
And, by the way...I guess he didn't mean it when he said the Right "HATES GAYS," right? If they champion traditional marriage, that means they HATE GAYS? :-)
SO glad for your explanation...alert the media; they'll be fascinated.

No, Ducky...he said what he said. There are plenty of New Yorkers who hate killing babies.

OH, by the way...How about Wendy Davis blaming her opponent for telling the truth about her? Perfect :-)

Ducky's here said...

No z, he said they aren't wanted in statewide office.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Statewide office representing their constituents.
Iow, disenfranchisement.

Anonymous said...

And Rita hates any commentor that don't agree with her or Z.

Rita said...

Not quite. Only the Anon imbeciles. You're cute though.

I'm surprised you had time to comment this morning, thought you'd be crying about Bieber getting arrested.

Impertinent said...

@Ducky:

"he said they aren't wanted in statewide office..."

And that parsing does what? Essentially he wants to purge his politburo?

So reps in his "state", elected for their conservative beliefs and opposition to abortion, support for traditional marriage need to leave office? Clue Cuomo in..."his" citizens outside of the sewer that NYC is...support those views.

Z said...

Tell the libs, Ducky...even some of them found it disgusting.
Keep pitching.
Sure, he might have said that....
One NEVER says that.

only you'd find that acceptable.
Imp's right.