Paradise 2

Let's finish up the discussion we had yesterday with Paradise Lost where we noted with grave disappointment the Obama administration's shortcomings in broken promises and silence. Since yesterday, I have been reminded of two more silence examples:

• When one of his personal czars, Van Jones, was recorded in a public media calling Republicans assholes, President Obama should have spoken out that such crude name calling has no place in a democracy. He was silent.
• According to the White House email home page, "President Obama is committed to creating the most open and accessible administration in American history. To send questions, comments, concerns, or well-wishes to the President or his staff, please use the form below...". Having sent any number of emails to through this email process (probably dozens of times), I always check the box at the end of the form that stipulates I would like an answer to this email. So far, silence on every request.

Now, I will give the President some props for the way he is handling the whole flap about the outburst during his health care reform speech when a South Carolina Congressman called him a liar. That kind of outburst was crude, disrespectful, and uncalled for. The Congressman apologized quickly and directly to the President, who accepted the apology and publicly has said this is much ado about nothing, citing it as typical of the distractions in Washington that derail positive actions. He could have remained silent and let this thing get bigger and bigger, I give him credit for accepting the apology and recognizing what is going on. However, this one instance of speaking up pales in comparison to his other instances of silence and broken promises.