That
POLITICO would serve up a ridiculous article wasn't surprising. It does that daily.
That it would be on Barack? See above.
But how stupid are they?
I'm not talking about opinion or whoring.
I'm talking about basic facts.
In their too long "
Barack Obama's Paragraph: Ten leading historians assess Obama's rank in the pantheon of American presidents," they allow Stephen Sestanovich ("author") to offer this:
There’s a reason Obama is so frequently compared to Dwight Eisenhower
and Richard Nixon. For all three, the first order of business on
becoming president was to bring ends and means into balance after a
period of costly excess and chaotic decisions. In different ways, all
sought to rebuild White House dominance over the rest of the executive
branch.
Are POLITICO and Sestanovich complete and utter morons?
Do they even understand American government?
It's like we need to get them copies of the DVD of My Favorite Brunette so they can hear Peter Lorre explain separation of powers.
The White House is at the top of the executive branch.
They never, ever have to assert that. When the day comes that they do?
They'll fire people. Nixon did just that when his AGs refused to be as
crooked as he wanted them to be. (See the events known as both "The
Midnight Massacre" and "The Saturday Night Massacre.")
I'm having a real hard time grasping how anyone could be so damn stupid.
And let's run this 'logic' out. If Eisenhower fought to restore the
White House as in control of the executive branch? That would mean
Truman had allowed various Cabinet heads -- or maybe a clerk at the
Department of Health and Human Services -- to seize control of the
executive branch.
This is beyond stupid and only POLITICO would run a column with such a glaring error.
There are three branches of government on the federal level in the US.
The legislative branch is headed by Congress. The Supreme Court heads
the judicial branch.
Eisenhower and Nixon did not "rebuild White House dominance over the
rest of the executive branch." They attempted -- Eisenhower via
executive order -- to exert dominance over the Congress -- that would be
the legislative branch. Eisenhower also used executive privilege to
try to block and control Congress.
How does an adult teaching politics (Sestanovich teaches at Columbia)
not know this? How does an outlet covering politics not know this?
Even allowing that Sestanovich does know the topics but mistyped
"executive" when he meant "legislative," that only excuses him. He may
very well have made an honest mistake.
That doesn't excuse the outlet which should have caught the mistake,
contacted the professor and asked, "Is this a mistake we need to fix?"
How stupid is POLITICO and it's staff?
Clearly, they should stick to gossip because they can almost handle that.