Judge by Actions, Not Words

[drscott]

[programming note: Paul's away visiting his grandma in Houston, and I have some personal things I may finally get time to write about. But first.. breaking news.]

I never drank the Kool-Aid, but it's almost painful to see the disillusionment spreading.

Under the Bus: DOMA

If you read me during the election campaigns, you may remember the last straw for me was the Obama youth corps programs, which looked suspiciously involuntary and smacked of fascism. Well, the administration has fired the IG responsible for investigating fraud and corruption in those programs: Fired inspector general says he acted properly.


And here in tech-land, business people who supported Obama are having second thoughts:

But that was in November. It’s June now, and while the big companies have largely gotten their wish when it comes to new start-ups - as I’ve said, entrepreneurship is under assault in the U.S. like we have not seen in our lifetimes - the tech giants are now discovering they may have made a devil’s bargain. The Administration’s brute force handling of the Chrysler and GM take-overs, seemingly violating contract law in the process; its mutterings about managing executive bonuses; its creation of industry czars without the need for Congressional approval; and the prospect of endless debt, economic stagnation and runaway inflation waiting in the wings - all have to be making the same CEOs pretty darn nervous these days . . . and asking themselves if they’ve made a terrible mistake.

And that’s only the start. Intel, already getting hammered by a billion dollar-plus fine by the EU, is now facing a similar punishment from the U.S. Justice Department. And poor suck-up Google, which tried to be the President’s BFF, now finds itself facing multiple Federal probes regarding its recruiting policies and its book database settlement - not to mention a Justice Department that appears to be opposing it on net neutrality.

And you’ve got to figure that’s only the beginning. No doubt right now somebody in the White House is looking at the low levels of union membership in high tech and vowing to do something about it. And don’t forget anti-trust. And woe be it to any shareholders or creditors of a big tech company that finds itself in financial trouble as this recession drags on - you saw what happened to Chrysler’s shareholders and creditors.

High tech CEOs are supposed to be the smartest people you’ve ever met. And most of them are. But when it comes to politics and dealing inside the Beltway, experience has taught me that these men and women are fools, dupes and rubes - and too arrogant to realize it. They thought they were electing one of them, and someone pliable enough to help them succeed while at the same time crushing their competition.

Comments

[pklexton.livejournal.com]

The DOMA thing is disturbing, can't argue with that.

I don't think the IG case is quite as simple as your blurb implies; he had been criticized by the US attorney prosecuting the Sacto case as well as the Republican vice-chair of Americorps.

And finally, not sure Michael S. Malone really speaks for too terribly many people other than Michael S. Malone. I certainly wouldn't call him a disenchanted former Obama supporter.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

I agree the IG case is still murky, but since I am mildly paranoid about the potential for abuse in funding "community service" (as a political arm), it looks bad.

And I agree Malone is being hyperbolic in this column, but I have other sources telling me "many" Valley business people are disenchanted. I don't remember what his position was in the election, but he's implying some of the people he's writing about are transitioning to being former Obama supporters.

[pklexton.livejournal.com]

Given the unrealistic expectations many people had about Obama, I think a wave of disenchantment was unavoidable. I'm beginning to wonder myself, but given that W. was such a rank incompetent it will take a long time before I regret voting blue last year.

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

I'm up for forced service. Either community or military service. Israelis do two years in the military, and I like that idea.

It's one way to level people of various socio-economic statuses. It would be a good learning experience for spoiled brats and sheltered whities.

[markosf.livejournal.com]

"Never drank the Cool-Aid"?? Sweetie, when I told you Hillary why back when, you sounded positively loopy on the Cool-Aid. ;-)

If we see unionized tech I'll definitely worry, but I'm willing to give Obama until a year from now and then weigh the pros and cons of where he's taken us.

[pklexton.livejournal.com]

BTW, Andrew Sullivan just broke the story that W. Scott Simpson, the author of the DOMA brief, is a Bush holdover at Justice and a devout Mormon. Not that Obama isn't still ultimately responsible as CEO, but it could explain some things. Perhaps there is more to the story.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/who-wrote-the-doma-brief.html

[joebehrsandiego.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this link, Paul.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

The Israelis are surrounded by enemies and need every citizen to be trained to fight if necessary. We live in one of the least-threatened countries in the world (at least in terms of conventional armies that could be countered by universal military training.) There is no justification -- other than convenience of the government -- for conscription or universal service.

Who is to decide what civilian service corps workers should work on? What safeguards are in place to prevent them from being "educated" politically or used to reward political friends and punish enemies? Nothing wrong with kids doing community service work; but forced to? I react negatively because I know how much damage it did *me* to be forced to do things "for the common good." I know you have good memories of your service, but the "everyone should do it, it was good for me" thought is an authoritarian impulse.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

You're right, I went through a period when I thought Obama was a good choice because he promised to be inclusionary and start bringing back civil discourse and a more consensus politics. I only gave up when I read the campaign proposals through very carefully and realized how much authoritarian thought, fairy-tale economics, and class warfare was lurking in them.