Time magazine’s grade for Obama’s presidency thus far: A-; Update: Old?
posted at 10:37 pm on October 8, 2009 by Allahpundit
Reading this is like watching an unassisted triple play in baseball. You see it, you pause to make sure you’ve seen what you think you’ve seen, and then you marvel at the sheer odds of it having happened. Would a big name at a big magazine like Mark Halperin really sign off on something so absurd, and so fawning in its absurdity, as to be instantly destined for infamy in the blogosphere? Of course not. The odds against it are a million to one. And yet.
This is a magic moment, my friends.
Instantly comfortable and highly skilled at the hardest job in the world — proving his supporters’ contention that all the traits that made him a great candidate would serve him well in the White House: even temper, cool demeanor, boldness under pressure, shrewd facility for managing personnel, unfailing instincts about when to delegate and when to engage.
There are only two more sentences after that but I can’t go on. And a good thing too: Tom Maguire and Ace got to this first and used up all the best one-liners. Follow the links for a few of the many, many reasons why a guy might not deserve an A- if his major accomplishment to date is passing a gigantic stimulus bill that was designed to cap unemployment at, um, eight percent. Exit quotation from Maguire: “I shudder to think what a B+ would have looked like.”
Update: In a sweet stroke of irony, Time was also the magazine that reported earlier today on how unhappy the White House is with its press coverage. Anyone want to make a prediction about how Halperin will backtrack from this tomorrow? I’d say it’s 50/50 between a humiliating climbdown on tomorrow’s “Morning Joe” and a sheepish “upon further review” featurette published on Time.com. Internet-only for that, of course.
Update: Perspective from the Freepers.
Update: I don’t how or why Halperin’s piece started circulating on blogs yesterday but it looks like the grade was actually part of Time’s “First 100 Days” package. I was fooled by the date on the upper right, which I thought was the date of publication but actually turns out to be today’s date. No idea why he would have earned an A- by May either, but it was more defensible at the time than it was before the long slide towards 10 percent unemployment and the ObamaCare meltdown. Sorry for the error.
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T
He would have gotten an A but Time felt he was too conservative.
Wow, that means that George Bush is the valedictorian of the class then
John Edwards got an A- for manliness.
Ted Kennedy got a A- for sobriety, sexual restraint, good looks and number of homicides.
John Kerry got an A- for military valor.
Nancy Pelosi got an A- for facial naturalness.
Keith Olbermann got an A- for sanity.
Michael Moore got an A- for fitness.
Barbara Boxer got an A- for intelligence.
Bill Ayers earned an A- for Dreams From My Father
Barney Frank got an A- for property management.
Charlie Rangel got an A+
SEIU gets an A- in peaceful negotiations.
Charles Johnson plays well with others, A-
Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid A-
ACORN’s tax advice: A-
Megan McCain’s analytical skills?
Roman Polanski’s baby sitting? A -
Joe Biden’s ability as a military strategist?A -
Being nicknamed “Cockmouth” in eighth grade? A-.
Bending over during your prostate exam, and realizing the doctor has both his hands on your shoulders
lovingmyUSA on October 8, 2009 at 11:54 PM
LOL. We are all experiencing the grading system. It makes people laugh. We all know his grades were a total joke, just as this grade is.
I care about the principles that guide her views. And she’s still smarter than your moron Precedent. I’ll bet you her math is better. I have no doubt about that, because Palin would NEVER say “and” in describing a ratio. NEVER. I think your idiot messiah has some awful troubles with his mathematics, especially word problems. I’d wager he can’t deal with fractions, either. I think his SATs would make even your jaw drop. He’s one stupid person. He’s been showing us all, and the world, too.
progressoverpeace on October 8, 2009 at 11:54 PM
“You know your arguments suck when you’re complaining that that your political opponent only graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.”
crr343 on October 8, 2009 at 11:35 PM
Thank you. That illustrates your problem right there. You think graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School means a person is smart, or competent, or both.
Meremortal on October 8, 2009 at 11:54 PM
We look at actions and results, not diplomas and speeches.
Meremortal on October 8, 2009 at 11:55 PM
lovingmyUSA on October 8, 2009 at 11:54 PM
Somehow it posted before I was done!
Those were comments from Ace’s thread that I thought were hilarius!
lovingmyUSA on October 8, 2009 at 11:56 PM
Yes. We should have just let the South secede and let the slaves take care of their own problems.
Loxodonta on October 8, 2009 at 11:59 PM
They really are working hard for the Duranty Award.
Blake on October 9, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Time is positively enchanted!
PattyJ on October 9, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Obama will be so wee-weed-up because he did not get an A+ that he’ll send Axelrod to meet Halperin for coffee.
HellCat on October 9, 2009 at 12:03 AM
You know your president sucks when he’s 47 years old and his supporters are still pointing to his college degree as his “achievement”.
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:06 AM
Had Lincoln’s priority been slavery’s abolition he would have made the Emancipation Proclamation upon his Inauguration or by April 1861, not in 1863 when the war was bogging down, street riots in DC and a huge decline in enlistments.
viking01 on October 9, 2009 at 12:07 AM
^ Oh wait, he’s 48 now I think.
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:07 AM
So, lacking National Lampoon or Mad to spoof them, Time chooses self-parody.
JEM on October 9, 2009 at 12:08 AM
He certainly doesn’t seem to know what a “ratio” is.
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:11 AM
I give him Alpha and Omega . Have you seen him topless ? Much better than Pooty-Poot .
borntoraisehogs on October 9, 2009 at 12:12 AM
Ahh, Mr. Halperin–you have something on your chin…
lovingmyUSA on October 9, 2009 at 12:14 AM
Pfffft. Time is just angling for their share of Media Bailout money.
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:16 AM
Based on what? If you knew anything about law school grading (which you obviously don’t), you’d know that exams are graded anonymously for at least the first year, and generally afterwards as well.
Whether it makes a person competent depends on the job I suppose, but in general, yes graduating magna cum laude from HLS probably means you’re smart. Only someone who’s been drinking that sweet, sweet populist Kool-Aid from Palin et al. would think otherwise.
crr6 on October 9, 2009 at 12:18 AM
Rumplestillskin awakens from his 10 month nap and rushes to his desk at Time magazine. Aahhh…just in time to write a glowing report card for the president…what was his name again? Whew! …now back to sleep under another mushroom.
LEBA on October 9, 2009 at 12:19 AM
The front page pic is my favorite of Dear Leader.
d1carter on October 9, 2009 at 12:21 AM
For you crrap, nothing’s quite as hard as that basket weaving course.
anXdem on October 9, 2009 at 12:21 AM
It’s not the horizon that is rising about you.
The secret to surviving quicksand is to stop flailing about.
viking01 on October 9, 2009 at 12:21 AM
As everyone knows who has been to college, their grades only matter for getting their first job. Wait! Wait! This is Obamas first real job!
docdave on October 9, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Ace nailed it:
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Lincoln’s views about slavery changed over time. He was far from a perfect man. But he was a great man. And he stopped our country from splitting apart and he ended slavery.
Loxodonta on October 9, 2009 at 12:24 AM
with baracky, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know – Ayers to
write your booksbe just a guy in the neighborhood, “Rev.” Wright to help with spiritual growth, even though you don’t hear a word he says for twenty years, and that nice Khalid al-Mansour to, well, to introduce you to peoplerunner on October 9, 2009 at 12:24 AM
It may mean you’re smart. It may also mean you simply graduated magna cum laude from HLS.
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:26 AM
Now we know why there’s an incongruity between student standardized test scores and the grades they get in the classroom. The way the “system” operates…how’s it working for us?
“Yeah, he’s lazy and dumber than a brick, but hey, he has a 4.0, is popular and runs really fast…just can’t figure out why he can’t read…hmmm.”
Dr. ZhivBlago on October 9, 2009 at 12:27 AM
He is? Have you seen his birth certificate?
mike in NV on October 9, 2009 at 12:28 AM
You also have to look at where someone started. Obama was never “underprivileged”. He had access to the finest schools, not merely on his own brilliant merit (we’ve not seen any evidence of that academic brilliance, have we?). He’s no self-evidently “smarter” for having gone through Ivy League academia than Bush was.
Sarah Palin has also achieved quite a bit on her own smarts as well, and starting with less in the way of connections than either Obama or Bush. One would have to have one’s nose waaaaay up Obama’s anal orifice to think otherwise.
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:31 AM
it is also possible to cheat in Harward and buy off professors in Harward, and buy grades in Harward, just like it is possible to buy magazine editors and media heads
runner on October 9, 2009 at 12:31 AM
Nope. But I’ll take it on faith. He looks 48 anyway. ;)
ddrintn on October 9, 2009 at 12:32 AM
MB4 on October 9, 2009 at 12:36 AM
Oh come now. You know the drill. Sure, there are some smart people in law school; but there are plenty of people there who really aren’t all that bright. You probably also know about how grades really are meaningless in top tier law schools, as is class rank and all the rest, because they’re just given to you by virtue of your being there.
Both as a candidate, and as a president, Obama exudes not intelligence, but instead a cunning ability to shirk decision-making while blaming others for his mistakes.
Revenant on October 9, 2009 at 12:38 AM
If you knew anything about grading at Harvard Law, you’d know that they changed the grading system, not long before the idiot messiah’s entrance. They stopped rankings and gave the professors more personal discretion to make the grading much more subjective – to help the minority students. They weren’t even shy about saying it, at the time.
They did the same with the qualifications for Editorship of the Law Review. That used to be on straight grades – the top 40 got offered the positions, but after some sit-ins and complaining, they changed it to 20 based on grades and 20 getting in via a “writing contest”, which just so happens to be how your moron Precedent got on the Law Review. Well, we know how little the imbecile knows about most things. We’ve seen that pathetic piece he wrote at Columbia – 10th grade level, at best. We’ve heard him talk. He’s an idiot. You really crack me up, crr.
But, keep praying to his Harvard Diploma. I’ve heard it has magical qualities.
LOL.
progressoverpeace on October 9, 2009 at 12:41 AM
What are they grading him on exactly?
Michelle’s toned arms?
jhffmn on October 9, 2009 at 12:42 AM
I don’t disagree that Lincoln was a great man. One of his best virtues was to preserve a nation yet one of his biggest flaws was to let the Beltway mentality of his time warp his views of the Constitution’s limits. So he started changing things to suit how the Beltway had changed him as did his approach following his son’s death’s, his wife’s mental illness impact upon his already seriously declining physical and mental state.
That said, I see Lincoln’s assassination as being the worst possible outcome for the South because his absence enabled the Carpetbaggers and other parasites to gain hold and Andrew Johnson to become the whipping boy.
viking01 on October 9, 2009 at 12:44 AM
So why won’t Odumbo release his grades and his master’s thesis?
lovingmyUSA on October 9, 2009 at 12:46 AM
I’m guessing the “A” stands for A$$hattery?
Roc on October 9, 2009 at 12:47 AM
Most hard scientists would disagree with you, and laugh about at the very idea. BTW, do you know that your imbecilic Precedent still hasn’t learned the proper usage of the indefinite article? I bet you cannot find a single video of him speaking contemporaneously where he uses the word, “an”. Not a one. It’s not in his vocabulary. It’s probably some weird artifact from the Indonesian upbringing, during his formative years growing up. But I guarantee that you can’t find a single video. He likes to elongate his “a” instead of using “an”. “Aaaay illegal …” “Aaay enormous …” I can find you a thousand of these. Your eloquent Precedent can’t even handle the most basic aspect of English. I don’t think his verbal SAT score was anything to write home about.
Your Precedent’s quite the moron, and quite the un-American moron, at that. You must be proud.
progressoverpeace on October 9, 2009 at 12:49 AM
Time magazine and Obama are snoodling right now.
noblejones on October 9, 2009 at 12:49 AM
I would just note that Rev Wright helped him with a book, too. The title of “Audacity of Hype” is right from a Wright sermon – though the idiot messiah changed ‘to’ to ‘of’ … kind of like that 90 degree ‘variation’ on the Matisse they have in the White House. There are patterns all over this guy. Stupid, pathetic patterns.
progressoverpeace on October 9, 2009 at 12:52 AM
Time Magazine obviously made a typo the minus is actually a hyphen which was supposed to be followed by another “A” thus abbreviating Affirmative Action. Something bestowed. Not earned.
Most likely that Hahvahd requested that Zero not request they release his grades. Probably upon the realization that once the real number value of Zero’s quantity was defined that any Empty Set, even town simp Joe Biden, could have earned Zero’s fake grades and set-aside parchment.
viking01 on October 9, 2009 at 12:56 AM
Err err .. extemporaneously, obviously.
progressoverpeace on October 9, 2009 at 12:56 AM
crap6 will have to have sloppy seconds, O beat him to it…
http://www.faithmouse.com/Barack_Obama_Victory_Print.html
lovingmyUSA on October 9, 2009 at 12:59 AM
*dumbfounded*
RedNewEnglander on October 9, 2009 at 1:03 AM
Takes credit for what Bush did…
A huge stimulus package that doesn’t stimulate, which has yet to be spent in any meaningful way, which isn’t even designed to take effect until years after the “crisis” it is supposed to fix, and which added more to our deficit in a single stroke than the entire Bush administration (or Clinton, or Bush 41). Other than that, good one!
Taking over the auto industry is not saving the auto industry. And stealing money from the bondholders to give a payoff to the unions, his political backers, is more like grounds for impeachment than cause for praise.
My personal favorite: credit for being on the verge of doing something, even though a) it’s questionable whether he will in fact accomplish it b) it’s immensely unpopular c) it’s nothing that our Constitution authorizes Congress to do, and is therefore unconstitutional, and d) best of all, the healthcare reform is a purely mythical creature at this point. Neither house has actually passed a bill yet.
And now we see the kind of grading Time used to give TOTUS an A-. Though frankly, I got a bigger kick out of seeing Michelle O get an A+, and Joe Biden an A-.
Pass the popcorn, folks. This is just getting good.
ThereGoesTheNeighborhood on October 9, 2009 at 1:03 AM
A- on the dingbat curve.
Really Right on October 9, 2009 at 1:03 AM
If you’ve ever done anonymous grading, you’d know that you can often tell who wrote the paper or exam you’re grading. Many students have particular interests they focus on language patterns they use. Especially the ones that are trying to suck up to the professor.
In general, the HLS graduates and most of the magna cum laude’s I’ve met from any graduate program are very smart, but not all. And other than on paper, where has Obama demonstrate his intelligence? He seems to have lofty rhetoric that has no purpose other than sounding good.
I am not a supporter of Palin or any other potential Republican presidential candidate for 2012. I am remaining neutral. I have criticized Palin for her decision to resign. So, there goes another theory of yours.
I am an independent thinker, and don’t go through Hot Air regurgitating undigested partisan hogwash like you routinely do.
Loxodonta on October 9, 2009 at 1:15 AM
Is it just me or have there been an unusual number of whiskey tango foxtrot moments lately?
Erich66 on October 9, 2009 at 1:16 AM
As far as Time is concerned, Obama is too big to fail.
If you invested everything in Obama, you’d be tempted to feel that way, too. But you’d have to abandon all reality to get there.
In reality, Obama is so far away from A- that he couldn’t see it with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Daggett on October 9, 2009 at 1:25 AM
Just a reminder: the Nobel Peace Prize is given out in Oslo, Norway in about 3.5 hours.
And yes, Barack Obama is nominated. Of course.
Seixon on October 9, 2009 at 1:39 AM
Barack won the election, that’s an automatic A.
Seixon on October 9, 2009 at 1:41 AM
Progress. It is worse than ozero being stupid. First of all, I think it is stupidity combined with willful ignorance. He has a limited mental capacity plus he shuts out all that doesn’t fit his view of the world.
On top of that we have arrogance. Some of his poses really remind me of the posturing of Mussolini. All we need now is for ozero to design a uniform and a bunch of medals for himself.
The thing that goes along with the arrogance is narcissim. Both the arrogance and narcissim are fed and watered every day by the fourth estate/fifth column.
(am I on THE LIST yet??)
bullseye on October 9, 2009 at 1:43 AM
Do you mean moments like finding out that a supporter of pedophilia is made “safe schools czar” and on top of that, the lamestream media refuses to cover the situation???
if so, yep.
bullseye on October 9, 2009 at 1:44 AM
Yes. And Obama completely backtracking on Afghanistan, CNN fact-checking SNL, the administration complaining about bad press, hiring a 9-11 truther as the green czar, ACORN, etc.
Erich66 on October 9, 2009 at 1:51 AM
I have to call BRAVO SIERRA on this. I quit my position as an adjunct at one of the better universities in the area. There was an african student who plagarized twice. I gave him a C for the class. The dean gave me a bloody hard time over it saying that there was nothing in my syllabus to allow for giving a C instead of an A. I told her that there was nothing against masturb&ting in the back of the class but that I would penalize that.
The schools are so geared toward attracting and pandering to minorities that it makes you want to puke.
The dean went on to accuse me of racism and hostility to foreign students. My response was that I gave 2 A’s in the class. One to an african american male and one to a Russian Female. The 10 white males got a B or lower so just how in the hell can you accuse me of racism.
Anyway, given the leftist bent of the university administration, staff and faculty, my guess is that Barack Barry Hussein Soweto Obama could have sat in the back of the class when he occasionally showed up and picked his nose and still got A’s.
bullseye on October 9, 2009 at 1:54 AM
Well said (again), progressoverpeace.
With all the hoopla from the Left about Obama’s grandiosity as to Harvard, we the public can’t see his academic history. Yet we’re supposed to BELIEVE the man’s capable.
On experience, as you’ve well pointed out, he’s not intelligent. Cunning, yes, a need and habit of “surrounding” himself with “big names” (so he can look “big” himself, is my estimation about that practice) (it also allows Obama to avoid the pressure and responsibility of actually forming and stating opinions himself while leaning instead on the information from those “big names” he surrounds himself with) (none of which indicates intellgence, just craftiness or cunning, but not intelligence — I’d call it more specifically to be a learned behavior he’s acquired and developed, leaning on others, using others, by pretense of “listening” to them)…
All that grandiosity, yet no one can know so much as anything about his academic history, his admission test scores, how and who actually wrote his books for him.
Lourdes on October 9, 2009 at 2:03 AM
Exactly on target.
Also, Crr6 makes a big deal about academic credentials. I’ve been around academia for two decades and I’m not very impressed by most of it.
I was on a panel to review grant applications from school districts in our state. Supposedly these were written by senior administrators in the various school districts. We are talking half mil to million dollar requests. Most of the submissions I read were a total joke. The grammar and english was bad enough. The part that really hit me was the sloppy thinking embodied in the proposals. Yeah, let’s spend a half mill to give a bunch of third graders laptops but don’t mention maintenance, training, repairs and software much less provide any coherent thoughts as to how that will enhance learning.
bullseye on October 9, 2009 at 2:05 AM
And Harvard nor any other Ivy League does not admit a Legacy student or an Affirmative Action one otherwise who they then will ‘allow’ to fail. They carry them forward, they reward them, they applaud them, they carry their books for them, they graduate them and all the while have told them how great and wonderful they are.
It’s a failed strategy academically to bolster who they believe to be otherwise people of low self esteem and underprivilege. I deem it failed because it does not correct the deficiencies involved, it just creates greater deficiencies by way of “proving the artificial to be genuine” (which it isn’t, of course).
Lourdes on October 9, 2009 at 2:07 AM
I’m sorta’ curious if you can explain, and would, how you believe it was that Obama “worked (his) way through college” (as he claims he did, his words there, quoted), while working for “two weeks” (again, a quote) at an “ice cream parlor”.
Then he toured the world.
Sure was hard work there, earning all that money to fund all of that in two weeks scooping ice cream.
Lourdes on October 9, 2009 at 2:11 AM
Another thing to those here who are star-struck with the “Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School”:
Take a look at those Czars Obama thinks are so laudatory. Cass Sunstein, now, there’s a guy from Harvard, wrote books, published them, on the faculty at Harvard and completely crazy.
Same goes for Holgren but in his case, I think “monstrous” more categorizes who he is.
I’ve met fine people at great universities or with degrees from some, I’ve also met quite psychotic people from some of them.
People are evaluated as to capability and intelligence by their behaviors.
Lourdes on October 9, 2009 at 2:15 AM
…and by their thought processes.
Lourdes on October 9, 2009 at 2:15 AM
Is this kind of an article supposed ot help them sell the magazine unit, or close it down?
Freddy on October 9, 2009 at 2:28 AM
The last 3 months were the three deadliest months for coalition forces in Afghanistan.
That, the doubling of debt, record unemployment and zero foreign or domestic achievements worthy of mention are what probably cost him the A+
Chuck Schick on October 9, 2009 at 2:40 AM
Thanks, again, Lourdes. It’s amazing how The Precedent is treated and defended by his supporters and the media. Right after that Copenhagen fiasco, which was one of the most ridiculously stupid and embarrassing acts by a Chief Executive that I have ever seen or even heard about, his fan club is still trying to defend his competence. Not only did the guy totally twist and pervert American tradition for the Olympic trip, but he fell flat on his face doing it. And yet, they’ve already forgotten about it. Just a few days is like an eternity to these fools.
What really gets me is that they are crowing about things that normal people would be embarrassed about. They are screaming about how the Porkulus was such an accomplishment, but only the most pathetic character would be proud of having gotten a hugely bloated piece of legislation shoved through Congress, sight unseen and unread (as they were proud to tell everyone) on The Precedent’s claim that it had to be passed on Friday, only to have him jet out to Chicago for a break and finally sign the “emergency bill” on Tuesday .. in Denver. For anyone with a brain, this would be something to avoid talking about, but the Precedential a$$kissers have to claim it, since it is one of the only things he was able to do – no matter how insane the process was or how ineffective and poorly structured the actual bill was. It would be comical if it weren’t so dangerous to us. But, as with the Copenhagen fiasco, which just faded in their minds after a few days, they forget the details of anything that has happened.
It’s an amazing vacuum that his cult members studiously ignore. But they know they are running out of road on this ride. They can’t even name a single topic that The Precedent has not lied about or made a major mistake in trying to address. They can hear him babble stupidly about “$30,000 … $40,000 … even $50,000 [to amputate a foot]” for a procedure that costs $1,000 and not bat an eye, still looking to the imbecile to tell them about the whole health industry and how it should be structured. They can watch him make a total fool of himself with the Gates-race fiasco and just pretend that it never happened. They can watch him make mistake after error after humiliation and just repress the memories within a day. Who of them even remembers how pathetic his attempt to put together a cabinet was? It’s just crazy. Literally. And if the truth about his books ever really gets play … whoa!
This whole period of idiocy is going to live for centuries, if not millenia, as a cautionary tale to people of the future, and The Precedent and his insane cult followers will be jokes of history. Unfortunately, we are all going to suffer their drive to embarrass and humiliate themselves into the pages of history as the greatest bunch of brain-dead scoundrels, ever.
progressoverpeace on October 9, 2009 at 2:55 AM
Obama inherited a disaster. He will be given credit for whatever he manages to accomplish with this.
Nobody, but fools, is confused about the financial disaster he hit.
I fault him on a ton of stuff, but not on slowing down the impact.
I think we’re now going down the elevator. We’ve been living in a gilded era, which was unrealistic and personally dangerous to most people.
But there you go. We’ve done it before.
All any administation can do is try to slow down the slide.
He’s done that.
Now, does he have the vision for the future?
I don’t think so.
AnninCA on October 9, 2009 at 2:56 AM
This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read in my life.
They cannot be serious!!!
therightwinger on October 9, 2009 at 2:58 AM
Reagan- A
George H.W. Bush- B-
Clinton C
GW Bush C-
Obama- F
therightwinger on October 9, 2009 at 3:04 AM
Nixon- D
Ford- D
Carter- F
therightwinger on October 9, 2009 at 3:04 AM
Ann, Obama’s budget will create twice as much debt tbat Bush did and crank up debt to GDP from 40% to 80%
I would call that an acceleration.
Chuck Schick on October 9, 2009 at 3:13 AM
OK, I can play pretzel logic, too.
Jimmy Carter = B+
cane_loader on October 9, 2009 at 3:26 AM
I’ll give Mr. Halperin the benefit of the doubt that SEIU thugs were holding him by his ankles over an open elevator shaft, ‘k?
Orange Doorhinge on October 9, 2009 at 3:27 AM
This one hits home. I grew up on Time magazine. Back in the late ’60s & early ’70s I read it as a toddler. Yes, that’s right. I saw my dad reading it each week and it had pictures of the astronauts and so I knew Time had to be cool.
All Dad and I wanted was a weekly, objective view of the world. That’s what Dad paid for. There are still stacks and stacks from this era in the attic.
So I became a subscriber, as well. The betrayal began with a man named Joe Klein, who was allowed by the editor to slander President George W. Bush in each edition, and to otherwise skew the focus of Time Magazine.
Things got worse until I canceled my subscription not long before the 2004 election. I canceled Newsweek the same day for the same reason. Think about that. I canceled two of the longest-running news periodicals simultaneously because BOTH had decided to abandon news reporting.
This was a pitiful failure of editorship.
I was incensed that I had paid for a weekly objective report and now had a rag full of nakedly biased shots at anything to do with the Republican Party or the president, coming into my house. This was fraudulent misrepresentation and outright theft of my subscription funds.
In 2004, I tried to convince my dad to cancel his subscription because Time no longer pretended to supply the only service that he and I had hired it for.
Dad hung on for five more years, until now..
Now, with Obama receiving an “A-” grade from a fawning Helprin, Time Magazine has finally committed ultimate suicide.
There is no place in the modern media for people to pay hard-earned money for an ostensibly objective news weekly and then have leftist cant pumped into their homes. What with the Internet already encroaching, the least Time could have done was to live up to the smallest shred of journalistic integrity left, by providing news.
But now my father, a subscriber since 1964 and the Goldwater campaign, has had enough. He is canceling his 45-year subscription.
I myself will never pick up such an overpriced and useless piece of wrong-headed opinion again.
Tine Magazine.
Dead of suicide – 2009.
cane_loader on October 9, 2009 at 3:46 AM
What Obama promised his Economic Recovery Plan would do is different from what the economy has actually done, as shown in this graph, which was posted in this Hot Air thread on 10/1. The economy has performed worse than Obama said it would without his Plan.
So, this is evidence that either Obama’s Plan has worsened the economy, or Obama and his team grossly misunderstood the economy when they devised their Plan. Either of these conclusions will be very damaging unless the economy improves greatly before 2012.
An administration can slow the slide, reduce the depth, shorten the duration, and speed the recovery.
Hoover didn’t do that, and was fired by the people. And even though Carter got the Oil Crisis pushed on him, he didn’t respond well to it, so he was fired.
And I believe Obama does have a vision for the future: whatever is good for Barry is good for America. And since not getting fired is good for Barry, and especially if the House is retaken by Republicans in 2010, I expect that a lot of liberals are going to be very disappointed by Obama’s moves to the right in an attempt to secure his re-election.
Barry has no higher calling than to serve himself.
Loxodonta on October 9, 2009 at 3:52 AM
On the topic of education (as in the “Harvard Diploma = Sainthood” argument offered above) ~~
I’m just stupid (though my daughter did graduate with honors in Astro-Physics from Princeton – she got if from her mother), so explain this to me, please….
So, graduating from a really cool school means that you can’t be narcissistic, scheming, self-congratulatory, vain, shallow, spoiled, sexist, socialist, communist, nihilist, dishonest, manipulative, cunning, deceptive, inexperienced, naive, sophomoric, flatulent (that one to see if you’re paying attention), immoral, immaterial, irrelevant, inconsequential, weak, indecisive, tone-deaf, or full of yourself…. right? Did I get that right?
The Harvard thing, that makes you perfect and we should all leave our diamonds with you when we go out of town because larceny or dishonesty are simply not possible once that crimson parchment thingie is thrust into your hung-over hand on graduation morning.
I admit. I did NOT know that.
IndieDogg on October 9, 2009 at 4:03 AM
No, you’re not.
Contrarian logic: A+
Here’s your diploma.
Loxodonta on October 9, 2009 at 4:21 AM
One can be highly educated about things which are fundamentally wrong. A “smart” Marxist is still a dumb economist. Obama’s problem as far as I can tell is that he is very intelligent but he believes a lot of dumb things. He believes in things that you can only believe in when you’ve spent much of life sheltered from the real world in the halls of academe and the halls of Congress. So he’s very smart about gaming the system. He’s very smart politically.
But my goodness, outside of that realm he’s dumb as a post. He’ll say and do things that make you scratch your head and say “what?…”
Now this is not unique to Obama. I dare say its a truism that any of us is dumb outside of the realm of our expertise. No shame there. Obama’s problem – and this is common with many in politics and academe – is that he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. He assumes that because he was smart at Harvard he’ll be smart in dealing with Iran and Afghanistan. He assumes that he can make the economy work because of his genius. He’s the most vain and arrogant SOB I’ve seen in quite some time on the national stage.
I see quite a contrast with Reagan. Reagan had a 1st-class intellect but he also knew what he didn’t know. It didn’t bother him and he was quite willing to delegate because of it. The other advantage that Reagan had/has over Obama is that Reagan believed in things which are true and Obama believes in a lot of nonsense.
PackerBronco on October 9, 2009 at 4:33 AM
In a sense yes, on the other hand the guy was also in the Senate with the majority party. The Dem’s policies had a big role in creating that disaster. His hands are dirty as well.
PackerBronco on October 9, 2009 at 4:37 AM
So Obama gets an A- for:
-something that already happened
-something that shouldn’t have happened
-something that didn’t happen
-something that hasn’t happened and will get his party tossed out of office if it does
Model glue can also be used to make models, you know.
Chuck Schick on October 9, 2009 at 4:48 AM
A round of applause for thee
http://fyitup.ytmnd.com/
macncheez on October 9, 2009 at 5:08 AM
Grade inflation: D, at best, and we haven’t hit winter.
BuckeyeSam on October 9, 2009 at 5:25 AM
Good morning morons and moronettes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nobel_peace
macncheez on October 9, 2009 at 5:33 AM
This is getting crazier and crazier. Obama is praised in Time Magazine as getting an A+ as President. Now he has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? He hasn’t created peace anywhere. He has only been President for less than 10 months! He hasn’t accomplished anything and he is being praised as the best ever. Ridiculous. The world has gone upside down.
Buffalo on October 9, 2009 at 5:50 AM
Usually it takes years before one cooks up revisionist history. Revisionist history now comes in a new instant type.
Hmmm..kind of like the history of pudding.
Jeff from WI on October 9, 2009 at 5:51 AM
I’d like to know who were the other nominees for this prize
macncheez on October 9, 2009 at 5:54 AM
I was listening to Halperin on Imus after the Van Jones scandal. His big take away…How Decisive Obama Can Be.
rob verdi on October 9, 2009 at 5:54 AM
PackerBronco on October 9, 2009 at 4:33 AM
That was a good post. Very well said.
SueM on October 9, 2009 at 5:57 AM
In other news, Barack Hussein Obama just got the same prize as terrorist Yassir Arafat – the Nobel Peace Prize.
Niko on October 9, 2009 at 5:57 AM
^ It just goes to show that the Nobel peace prize is utterly and completely worthless.
Rush will have lots of fun with this one today…
Dickie Dunn on October 9, 2009 at 5:58 AM
Hope, change, yes we can.
Slogans go a long way with the sheeple (and Nobel selection committees) these days.
Dickie Dunn on October 9, 2009 at 6:00 AM
let’s see:
Nobel peace prize – December 10, Oslo
Climate conference – December 7-18, Copenhagen
Phoenician on October 9, 2009 at 6:05 AM
Holy sh*t. I just saw this on Morning Joe. To his credit, Scarborough is howling about it. Even Halperin is saying that “it’s premature.”
Seriously, for what? Mika is saying that it’s for the nonsense about nuclear disarmament and reaching out to the Muslim world. If so, I guess this POS deserves it.
For those who live in the real world, so what?
BuckeyeSam on October 9, 2009 at 6:06 AM
Why are you saying he never accomplished anything?
Obama, almost single-handedly, managed to ensure that the Palestinians and Israelis will not even sit down for peace talks, by making a new demand that Israeli will stop all construction all over Judea and Samaria and all over Jerusalem before peace talks can start. Even the Palestinians never demanded such a thing.
Phoenician on October 9, 2009 at 6:08 AM
Delurking here to say: What the hell?
Nobel Peace Prize? Seriously? I even thought it was a joke at first!
It shows really, that Europeans do recognize socialist friends around the globe.
Don’t get it? You see, for most euro’s socialists are seen as men of peace, of good deeds. None is a man of war or ill intentions.
I love how in the US Socialism truly has the bad rep it deserves, but around here is a halo that politicians cover themselves with…
lostineurope on October 9, 2009 at 6:12 AM
Wow! Reading Halperin’s writing about Obama is like reading my brother’s blog. It’s scarey that we have these people who heap such undeserved praise on BHO. I can’t figure it out.
themediansib on October 9, 2009 at 6:13 AM
Obama is Commander & Chief of two wars (Iraq & Afganistan) and they are giving him the nobel peace prize. What an oxymoron.
Buffalo on October 9, 2009 at 6:17 AM
I had to go take a bleach shower….what’s wrong with people??
yoda on October 9, 2009 at 6:18 AM
yoda on October 9, 2009 at 6:20 AM
So, they Nominated Obama for the Peace Prize before he made his speech to the Muslim world and his abandoning Poland to Russia, because they knew he was going to be such an awesome man for peace. It gets weirder and weirder.
It is typical of the left to award good intentions, instead of awarding someone that actually has accomplished something.
Buffalo on October 9, 2009 at 6:31 AM
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