One point I’ve made repeatedly about good oratory is that it isn’t enough to have a well-paced, sonorous delivery; content is extremely important, too. President Obama is widely credited with having superior oratorical skills, which is a view I have never shared, precisely because the content is so mind-numbingly vapid.
And now his rhetoric has veered into the truly idiotic. Why, if you’re trying to peddle a government health care option, would you (a) bring up the post office, and (b) admit that it is less efficient than its private-sector competitors? Betsy’s Page has some excellent excerpts from a Heritage Foundation article on the subject.
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Paco, I deal with one Federal agency that has a lot of engineering capability. I know for a fact that there are a whole lot of smart, competent people in that organization.
Yet the quality of their work is going downhill. Not so much in terms of content (although that suffers as well), but in simply getting the job done in the first place. I mind me some very simple projects that were delayed because the internal decision making process simply won't decide when to stop making decisions. They strive for 100% perfection, ignorant of the reality that such is neither necessary nor desired.
This was not the case even a few years ago. But after a round of "improvements" in management approaches, things went downhill VERY quickly. Projects take longer to compelte, and cost more.
And that's in the relatively simple field of construction projects. Which the Feds are screwing up anyway.
So I view the Post Office analogy as being spot on as an argument against ObamaCare.
And a solid reason to be very afraid of ObamaCare, especially considering just how badly Obama is messing up getting trying to ram his crap sandwich down our throats.
(BTW, I now hold the view that Obama is indeed a liberal warlord unto himself, and not a front for someone. Not after this amazing display of stupidity. As a prop, he wouldn't be going into his "greenhall" so poorly prepared; his "sponsor" would make sure of it. Nope, this is all his doing, 'cuz he's a incompetent community organizer trying to succeed on his own....for the first time EVAH.)
Sorry, make that "greenhous".
No offense meant, Mr. Treacher!!!!!
;-p
Oh, Lord! "Greenhouse"!!!!!
PS:
Upon further thought, you do realize what this episode says about Obama's supporters, don't you?
Obama's comment went exactly against his objective of promoting health care. Period. If he was preaching to the undecided, he missed the target completely.
Anyone blindly accepting his Post Office analogy as a valid argument for health care is either a dyed in the wool religious fanatic worshipping at the altar of Obama,
or a die hard communist (but I'm sure that many of those cringed when Obama said it).
One could argue that he misspoke, if one assumes that the Post Office is a roaring success. But since it's not a roaring success (as Betsy points out), that argument is quite hollow.
Jeff: I feel your pain, brother! Our decision-making processes have often moved at a glacial pace (frequently due to the interference of our General Counsel's office, which has developed a strong tendency to interfere with everybody else's job, while neglecting to do the things we really need them to do - like, you know, legal work). All of our board members are political appointees, most of them interested primarily in trying to create press releases that will help them move up the ladder to some larger agency (or even a coveted Cabinet-level position; so far, nothing but epic FAIL in that career ambition).
But there are tenured civil service types, as well, whose creativity and courage have ossified over time, to the point where rocking the boat has become a greater offense than, say, throwing a Vice President out of the window, or setting fire to the library.
And then there's everybody else, mostly intelligent, dedicated and hard-working people who live in a constant state of frustration.
And we're generally considered a pretty good agency, as government outfits go!
"...like a hippopotamus drowning in molasses..." Chuck Jones' father on the oratory of Warren G. Harding, the last President we elected because he "looked Presidential."
America -- We're proud of our achievements but we cherish our mistakes. That's why we keep making them over and over...
BTW -- JeffS -- it's 'grnhs'. Y'r wstng crbn wth ll ths vwls...
richard mcenroe
Y r prfctl rght.
w mngd wtt vwls fr vr!
Ptr
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