Off With His Head: Then What?

From Ecomomist:
"CONNIE MACK IV, a semi-obscure Republican congressman from Florida (and son of Connie Mack III, the former senator), made a stab for glory today by calling for Tim Geithner to resign as treasury secretary. "President Obama should nominate a new treasury secretary with the experience and leadership skills America deserves," Mr Mack said.

That's all the Capitol Hill press needed. Hours later, John Boehner said that Mr Geithner was "on thin ice". Shortly thereafter, Darrell Issa of California let it be known that he wanted Mr Geithner out.

Why do a few members of the minority party suddenly matter when they talk about Tim Geithner? Greg Sargent explains that "if Republicans can make this a conversation focused solely on the AIG mess and whether Obama's Treasury Secretary is to blame for it, they could do the White House some real damage." No need to accuse Mr Geithner of any wrongdoing; a rumour mill and a few calls for resignation should be enough. There's no sign that they've thought through the implications of decapitating the Treasury department in the middle of an economic crisis."

TW: I must admit I have been surprised at the virulence directed at Obama's efforts to do things differently than Bush. Naively I assumed since Bush's presidency was such a clear disaster and Obama was elected by a decent margin that if Obama tried to do the things he outlined during the campaign folks would be more or less pleased. Obama's poll numbers are holding up fine but the Republicans and some Dems and a fair amount of MSM just cannot abide the change.

It is clear the Republicans are trying to cut the Obama administration off at its knees before it really even gets started.

Demagoguery is nothing new in Congress or from opposition parties. In reading about an Andrew Jackson or Abe Lincoln or FDR one sees his political opponents continuously maneuvering to slay the POTUS lest he do something challenging. One of the problems with democracy is that populist grandstanding is the easy path.

I would say W. Bush got half way there. He was right in understanding one must be doggedly stubborn in the face of opposition. Of course, when your policies are foolish such stubbornness only perpetuates the foolishness. One rarely hears of the other POTUSes who were personally willful but substantively wrong (e.g. James Polk, Herbert Hoover etc.), not to mention other powerful political figures like John Calhoun, Jefferson Davis etc. You need to be stubborn and right.

Will Obama's policies work, one cannot say but I would hope he sticks with them long enough despite the opposition to give them a shot. We need bold, creative leadership not the status quo, opposition at any cost peddled by the Republicans.