baldilocks

Bow Down

Well.  I know what brand(s) my next vehicle won't be.

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.

On Monday, President Barack Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler. The plan is based on recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, headed by the Treasury Department.

The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.

Do the last 69 days give anyone from the other political disposition a clue as to why the prospect of this man as president--Barack Obama--made those of us on the right cringe?  Probably very few.  

But no worries.  We'll all be clued in soon enough.

UPDATE:  Let them die (ignore the headline).

UPDATE:  Take over.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry Monday, bluntly rejecting turnaround plans by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, demanding fresh concessions for long-term federal aid and raising the possibility of quick bankruptcy for either ailing auto giant.

Obama took the extraordinary step of announcing the government will back new car warranties issued by both GM and Chrysler, an attempt to reassure consumers their U.S.-made purchases will be protected even if the companies don't survive.

Vengeance is His

Yes I know.  I’m just jumping back in without an explanation.  Maybe later.

President Obama seems to have a problem with our closest ally, the United Kingdom.

First there was the bust of Churchill:

A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to [Former President] George W Bush from the Government's art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.

The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush's tenure.

But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks."

(Rumor has it that the president treated the bust far less ceremoniously than that.)

Then there was the president’s treatment of  UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown days ago:

Obama, breaking with precedent, wouldn't grant the prime minister the customary honor of standing beside him in front of the two nations' flags for the TV cameras. [SNIP]

Still, Brown kept a stiff upper lip as he sat in the Oval Office yesterday as Obama, skipping the usual words of welcome for his guest, went straight to questions from the news services. Brown didn't get to speak for six minutes, after Obama had already answered two questions.

Many observers seem puzzled.  I’m not and neither is the UK press.  It’s about Kenya.

If you recall, before Kenya became Kenya (1963) it was a British colony known as British East Africa.  Between 1952 and 1960, there was this little “difference of opinion” between the UK and the natives of British East Africa—primarily from the Kikuyu tribe.  That conflict is known as the Mau Mau Uprising.  There were tens of thousands of African civilians killed and, according to Wiki, seven to ten thousand Africans interned by the British colonial masters.  In Dreams from My Father, President Obama says that his grandfather was tortured by the British during the conflict, though he was not a Kikuyu but a Luo.  Guess which prime minister ordered the Mau Mau insurgency to be put down.

Mystery solved.  It seems that the president is seeking to humiliate the progeny of those who humiliated his ancestors.  Revenge isn’t that complicated a motive.

However, a question remains.  Is this any way for a President of the United States to behave?

Read also about the gifts which the Obamas gave to the Browns during the latter's visit, especially this one: a collection of 25 classic American films on DVD.  Not exactly special.  And even more curiously:  Brits can't play American DVDs.

To be fair, Prime Minister Brown was thoughtless in his gift-giving as well.  One of his gifts to the president:  a seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.  One would expect a UK Prime Minister to know the history of his own country, but one could say the same thing about our own head of state.

UPDATE: Welcome, Ace's morons!

UPDATE: Welcome all others.  Just to clear up some items, I am half Luo like President Obama (take note of my URL), born and raised in the United States.  My father and the president's father arrived in the United States via the same means--the Mboya Airlift.