Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Semi-Retired President Takes Time Away From the Fairways to Offer a Statement on Ferguson | Main | You're Not Going to Believe This, But a Low-Level Reporter Said Something Dumb »
August 14, 2014

You Had One Job

There's a meme on the internet, and a Twitter account, called "You Had One Job." The idea is to post some kind of ridiculous error on the part of a worker and then inform him You Had One Job.


Obama has significantly re-defined his job down to, basically, nothing. He doesn't want to do legislative work; he doesn't want to do much work at all.

He is employing a "reign, not rule" style of governance -- this being a dictum offered to British kings in more modern times. Don't rule, just reign. Be a comforting presence, not a day-to-day manager of government.

But the One Job He Still Has (by his definition) is to give speeches and act as a general pillar of reassurance for the country.

So last night, as protesters were shooting at police helicopters, and police were (in the opinion of many) overreacting in a militaristic way, a White House aide tweeted this:



You Had One Job.

Now today Obama offers a statement on Ferguson.

Note that Obama conceives himself as a powerful, charismatic speaker who can bring feuding parties together just by the force of his personality and intellect.

He loves giving speeches. No one else loves his speeches, but he does.

In the Ferguson matter, and in the Yazidi/Kurd relief matter, Obama has offered the most bloodless, perfunctory empty bromides.

Even if you're not as taken with Obama's tin-eared rhetoric as Obama is, you can tell the difference when Obama thinks he's offering lofty pronouncements and when he thinks he's offering tedious pro-forma quasi-statements.

In the former case, he uses grand rhetoric and Strawman Constructions and Stage Whispers to convey just how passionately he believes in whatever he's claiming to believe this week.

In the latter case, he goes up to a microphone and says a couple of obvious things, then makes a quick exit so he can change into his golf pants.

You Had One Job, Obama. Actually, you have many jobs, but you've made it clear you're only interested in doing one of those jobs, which is, by your lights, touching our hearts and firing our minds with your glittering rhetoric.

And yet as the Islamic State -- the new Caliphate -- slaughters the unbelievers, and an American city burns with racial animus and also fire but mostly fire, Obama saunters up to the microphone and offers a few obvious observations (people shouldn't shoot at cops, cops shouldn't arrest people for peacefully protesting, something something all part of the American family) and then leaves.

You Had One Job.

That job was at least pretending you cared, at least pretending you were engaged on both an intellectual and emotional level with the pressing matters of the day.

You Had One Job, by your own self-definition of your job.

And you're not showing up to even do that much.

Update: Seriously, You Had One Job.


Via Zombie, who notes this picture was snapped just as the heartland was burning.


digg this
posted by Ace at 01:46 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Alberta Oil Peon: "Well, off to the snoozer for me. Night, Horde. ..."

Alberta Oil Peon: "King Biscuit Boy with Crowbar. Had beers with Bisc ..."

Doo-Dah, Doo-Dah: "Regarding the lack of prosecution: Isn't the corr ..."

Ciampino - Update #171: "Brooklyn woman has jaw wired shut after stranger s ..."

Ciampino - Update #170: "Army suffers two Apache helicopter crashes within ..."

m: "499 ..."

m: "498 ..."

Ciampino - Update #169: "470 They say that the drummer and his Dad's reuni ..."

Ciampino - the cost of a new engine will buy a lot of fags: "459 I doubt an ordinary camera-equipped drone cou ..."

Alberta Oil Peon: "Little Feat, "Waiting For Columbus" is a darned go ..."

Stress Management Techniques for Women: "First off I want to say excellent blog! I had a qu ..."

SunyD: "The Who were never high on my playlists. None of ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64