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A photo can tell a thousand words Well, here is a good way to start the week.
The photo reminded me of a joke I heard somewhere. Back in the 1950s, the-then President, Eisenhower, was famed for enjoying his golf. There was apparently a bumper sticker around at the time that said something along the lines of, “If We Wanted A Golfer President, Vote Ben Hogan”. That’s quite funny, but at least Ike, given his pretty weighty military record and – in my view – pretty decent performance in the Oval Office – was a better president than the current occupant. (H/T: Instapundit)
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Well, I don’t want to put a damper on your enjoyment, but I don’t think that photo/caption is particularly amusing or insightful. The two men each took some time off; so what? Everyone does, and everyone needs to. Being CEO (of either the US or a major multinational corporation) is a 24/7 job. What do you expect them to do, spend every waking moment (and maybe every sleeping one, too) in the office “doing something”? I don’t care that Obama plays golf, and I don’t care that Hayward sails; both have underlings who are supposed to be handling things, and both are on call if needed. Let it rest.
If you’re looking for something amusing, try this.
Then political insight ain’t your thing. The media was squealing like a stuck pig at the sight of the BP Honcho sailing, as if he should be spending his time flogging himself while wearing sackcloth. So the juxtaposition is very apt indeed.
Face it, Obama simply doesn’t know how to act. I’m sure my mother would have found him charming but even she, at this point, would be shaking her head in sorrow at his gormlessness.
While I am dismayed at the President’s job performance (even though I voted McCain, I had hoped for better from Obama), I must point out that this caption makes reference to gulf states that voted Democrat. If you go back and look at the map from 2008, you will see that TX, LA, AL, and MS all voted Republican, while only Florida voted Democrat.
I must point out that this caption makes reference to gulf states that voted Democrat.
I think you need to read it again, Chet. It says, “Sorry you McCain voting Gulf states. You are totally screwed.”
Yeah, I just noticed that. My bad. 🙁
It would be better for the US and the world in general if he played golf all day, every day.
It is when he tries to practice being a big, powerful political leader that things go all to hell.
The only possible positive benefit from the utter incompetence of the current regime, and its predecessor also, for that matter, is the growing awareness among the populace that none of these alleged experts, whether political, academic, or commercial, know what’s going on from one minute to the next.
Everything is unexpected, everything is a surprise, everything is baffling and incomprehensible, every development throws all these supposed experts for a loop and leaves them gasping, clutching at straws, incoherent with disbelief.
If there was ever a completely transparent and understandable argument for reducing the power, scope, and funding of the state and its cadres better than this ongoing keystone cops show, I have yet to see it.
Let’s not forget that it was living under a collectivist regime that turned so many in the former marxist states into adament opponents of that philosophy.
One of the great benefits of touching a hot stove top when one is growing up is learning just how painful that type of carelessness can be.
The current regime in the US is pressing the hands of the citizenry against the hot plate of incompetence and arrogance of the overarching state.
Those of us who have been warning about these very elements of the collectivist program have been provided with a wide ranging set of examples which clearly demonstrate exactly what we’ve been talking about, and warning against.
Just as every child must feel that burn at some point to understand why mommy and daddy are always saying “HOT” when fingers get too close to a candle or stove top, so too must every generation take a little sip of the bitter brew that statists serve up in order to realize how sweet liberty truly is.
The greatest strength of a free society is the unrelenting grimness and stupidity of any and every collectivist alternative.
As that great old song goes, “send in the clowns—don’t bother, they’re here.”
Laird, sorry, but I have to disagree here. I don’t mind folks taking time off – what VeryRetired said – but let’s realise what the issue is.
Obama is a man who thinks little of using a CEO’s way of relaxing (such as on a boat) as a stick to beat the CEO with. The hypocrisy of Obama and the rest of his kind is what that photo was about. Obama likes us all to believe he is working 24/7 to create his socialist paradise, but even he likes to chill out on the fairways. Good for him. All the more reason why politicians should shut the fuck up when they notice that other people do the same.
Rant over.
Does Obama take mulligans, the way Free Willy used to? I think we should be told.
I’m with Jonathan on this. The problem with that poster is that it puts Obama and Hayward on the same footing, which actually goes against Jonathan’s point. The two jobs are not the same: one is a CEO of a private company, the other is a politician.
I agree with Veryretired – if only Comrade Barack Obama just played golf, did nothing else at all.
However, yes the “mainstream” media are hopelessly biased and play their game of double standards even more than Barack plays golf.
But please not the word “hopelessly” – the msm are not going to reform, they are worse now than they were in the past but (for example) the last election they covered without bias was that of 1956.
Come on – if after more than 50 years people still do not understand how biased the media are and respond by NOT BUYING the newspapers and news magazines and NOT WATCHING the “Free” Networks – then there is not just something wrong with the msm, there is something wrong with the people as well.
Well, at least I got you all talking!
Seriously, though, if the point of that poster were to excoriate Obama for hypocrisy in playing golf while criticising Hayward’s recreational activities, I’d be OK with it. And maybe that’s what was intended, but that’s not the way I read it. What I see is someone implying that both men are arrogant, lazy slackers, with neither caring in the least about the tribulations of the Gulf states, and essentially saying “a pox on both your houses”. Which certainly is unfair to Hayward.
“there is something wrong with the people as well.” You’re starting to catch on, Paul. We get the government we deserve.
I agree Laird.
I’m with Laird on this too, but I find the comparison between Obama’s attacks on BP and the recent court decision in India on Union Carbide interesting.
As I understand it, BP were not responsible for the actual operation of the platform, this was Halliburton. Nevertheless they have accepted responsibility. (I suspect there will be some interesting times for the lawyers in the years ahead though) Compare that with how Union Carbide behaved in respect of a plant owned and managed by them.
The current regime in the US is pressing the hands of the citizenry against the hot plate of incompetence and arrogance of the overarching state.
The Tick said it best:
The life of a superhero is a lonely one, filled with hardship and danger. The few who answer the call must leave comfort, safety, and often sanity behind. But someone’s gotta stand the heat and stay in the kitchen. Someone’s gotta don the oven mitts of all that’s right and strangle the red-hot throat of all that’s wrong. This is that someone’s story.
“the oven mitts of all that’s right”…jeez, sounds like something out of “Mystery Men”.
“What’s your super-power?”
“Why, I just slap the bad guys silly with the soufle’ of righteousness and the hot pads of rectitude.”
Midwesterner is the expect on Union Carbide – but they stil maintain the plant was sabotaged.
Of course it should never have been built – but the company was informed by the Indian government that it would not be allowed to export its products to India if it was not.
As for mangement – it was managed (as Indian law insisted) by an Indian Union Carbide (a subsid of the American company).
Warren Anderson (fool though he may well have been) had no say in how this Indian plant was run.
Of course, after the event, Anderson went off to India (although he did not have a clue what to do when he got there) – he was lucky to get out of the place again. The Indian media are still insisting that he should have been kept in prison for ever – in fact they still want him (although he is now senile and does not understand what is going on around him).
Also, Paul, as I recall Union Carbide was a minority holder of that company, as Indian law required that Indian nationals hold the majority interest (in addition to being the on-site managers).
Well, as I understand it, the BP platform was not operated by them but by a contractor – Halliburton. Nor are BP the sole owners – at least 25% is owned by a US company (the name of which escapes me), but who were on the TV news recently trying to put as much air between themselves and BP as they could.
My point is that BP are being told they must meet all the costs – including loss of business for companies not directly affected by the spill, while Union Carbide paid over only the insured costs of about $350m – the plant is still leaking contaminants now.
Double standards I think – but we are talking of course about politicians manoeuvring for party advantage so I suppose that is going to be a given…
Well, Ian, one other diffence is that Union Carbide was driven into bankruptcy. That tends to put a limit on what a company can pay. So far, anyway, BP has not been pushed that far.
This seems a reasonably dispassionate discussion about the events at Bhopal.
http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/02C2/Union%20Carbide.htm
My point however is not about the actions of the respective companies, but the reaction of government. To be fair, the actions of the US government re BP, don’t seem a million miles away from the actions of the Indian Government re UC and Bhopal. However the reactions of the US government when comparing BP and UC are very different and that is where I think the double standards apply. Although, one could be charitable and say that lessons have been learned.