“I was wrong“:
I’ve indicated I admire Hof’s honesty and courage in admitting this. But that doesn’t mean I admire everything about him. For example, why didn’t he speak up in September of 2012, which after all was prior to Obama’s re-election? Might it have mattered? I really don’t know, but maybe. And why, oh why, had this very smart man not noticed that the biggest “policy priority” of the Obama administration has long been politics and spinning to political advantage?
Seriously, by March of 2012, how could he have not realized this? His bio doesn’t say much about his political affiliation—I would guess “Democrat” and probably “liberal Democrat”—and this is the most likely explanation for his failure to notice things that were absolutely obvious but would mean splitting with the party.
And there is no more unforgivable thought crime than splitting with the Party, regardless of the damage to the nation
I imagine as Obama’s exit date nears there will be more such public soul searching, especially if the Democrat nominee looks like they have a good chance of winning the election. And of course, once Obama is out of office, everyone will feel free to admit that maybe Obama didn’t make such a great pick in the first place – though he was clearly better than the baleful, dread dark lords he ran against.
And I knew that the White House had little appetite for protecting civilians (beyond writing checks for refugee relief)
Asking for increased spending is the only way Obama can show he cares and he does it everywhere. Turns out there isn’t anything special or caring about wanting to spend more money on something and it is a pretty poor metric, especially when spending requests are up on every budget line. But if you only focus on a few issues, like NASA, you might think that requests for additional spending show a love or appreciation of those issues over others, it doesn’t.