Obama Staffer Caught in Compromising Position

reply to post by jibeho


I live in the same town as him, know his brother. Great guy, great family. Can you honestly say that because someone has a personality and has fun with his friends that he's a bad person? Please... come on, get a grip.

Most politicians have just a BIT more dirt than a funny picture.

Originally posted by JipStix
reply to post by jibeho

 

I live in the same town as him, know his brother. Great guy, great family. Can you honestly say that because someone has a personality and has fun with his friends that he's a bad person? Please... come on, get a grip.

Most politicians have just a BIT more dirt than a funny picture.

I never had a problem with the actions of this young guy. If you read any of my litany of posts in this thread I have questioned this guys judgement in posting these pics on his Facebook page. These recent pics were only up for a couple of hours and then he removed them. Its not like they were old pictures from his college days.

This guy should hold himself to a higher standard considering who is employer is. He has worked with Obama since 2004 and is the writer responsible for the majority of what came out of Obama's mouth during the campaign.

Obviously, the majority of responders here are probably the same age as this guy and you probably have the same types of pics of yourselves posted for the world to see. Nothing to brag about by the way. Keep it private between you and your friends.

In fact I have questioned why anyone would post pictures of themselves drunk and stupid for the world to see. Have fun explaining the pics to your parents if they ever see them. My old pics are in a box in the attic. I'm married with kids so I guess I see things in a different light.

This incident just gives a touch of insight into this guys mindset. He clearly lacks forethought, respect and wisdom.

I clearly hold people in the White House to a higher standard. Shame on me for expecting to much.

If you think I am critical of this incident, wait until the foreign press and our enemies get their hands on this picture. It will be great to show the pic when the Secretary of State comes to visit the Middle East. They will make a mockery of this. White House Staffer disrespects Secretary of State. Way to start the new era of CHANGE.

[edit on 6-12-2008 by jibeho]

[edit on 6-12-2008 by jibeho]

what? Seriously...

I didn't hear anything to really be concerned about...
What???

Oh, Maybe this guy will write some sick A** speeches, because he's obviously a crazy drunk. God knows NOBODY would ever do anything weird with a life sized card board cutout. Especially not in front of others. I have a picture of my Mom and her sorority friends holding the junk of a giant Horse(statue) outside of the Wild Horse Saloon... Alcohol and fake things make people very funny. Anyone who see's anything else in this is digging WAAAAAYYYYYYY TOOOOOOOOOOO DEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPP.

reply to post by coven


Did your mom post the pictures on the internet? Would you post the pictures of your mom on the internet? Are either of you the chief speech writer for the Flippin White House? It is all about the poor judgement and lack of respect that this guy displayed given his position of great influence and authority within Obama's inner circle. Comedy Central is even running with this story. This picture is out there and it will never go away.

Originally posted by jibeho

 

It is all about the poor judgement and lack of respect that this guy displayed given his position of great influence and authority within Obama's inner circle.

Uhmmm... He's a 27 year old speechwriter... His extent of time exposure to the president is barely minimal at BEST.
These guys write their speeches, bring 'em in, and the president chops up the speech to fit their needs. I'd be surprised if this guy has meet with Mr. Obama for more than an hour in the past few weeks.

Comedy Central is even running with this story. This picture is out there and it will never go away.

So Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are running with it? I wonder why would comedy central run articles on this picture??? Ah... Because they are a HUMOR channel and this photo is humorous.

It will go away in a day or two, except for a few of you who are too stubborn to realize this is a nothing deal.

P.s. My mom is the spouse of a former major political figure in my community... I.e. the statement about the photo. Nobody was bothered by it. Hell No newspaper thought it was even newsworthy...

reply to post by jibeho

I never had a problem with the actions of this young guy. If you read any of my litany of posts in this thread I have questioned this guys judgement in posting these pics on his Facebook page. These recent pics were only up for a couple of hours and then he removed them. Its not like they were old pictures from his college days.

I agree. There are many reasons not to even USE facebook. First of all, there is a very serious virus/trojan horse, the Koobface virus, which has pretty well overtaken Facebook. Here is the info on it:

www.pcworld.com...

In addition, using facebook just might cost people looking for a job, that job. Almost all of the employers that I know check facebook, when a young man ior woman applies for a job. I used to tell all of my students NEVER to post anything on facebook, even if you think it is innocent, because a prospective employer might take it the wrong way, and you won't get the job. Of course, the employers aren't stupid enough to tell you that they check facebook, but I know for a fact that they do. One student bragged on Facebook that he and his friend stole a golf cart from a golf course at night, and then he had the gall to apply for a job with the FBI!
Even innocent pictures can end up costing you a job. It isn't worth it. I don't agree with the practice of checking facebook, but there is nothing to stop them from checking. The same goes for youtube.

unacceptable and simply in poor taste. fire the guy and move on. obama's speechs haven't been what they once were...as far as quality. i used to dig his speeches. now i find them to be very monotone...status quo comes to mind

Originally posted by jibeho
Did your mom post the pictures on the internet? Would you post the pictures of your mom on the internet? Are either of you the chief speech writer for the Flippin White House? It is all about the poor judgement and lack of respect that this guy displayed given his position of great influence and authority within Obama's inner circle.

Did this guy post these pics? Doesn't look like it from your source:

-- popped up on Facebook for about two hours. The photos were quickly taken down -- along with every other photo Favreau had of himself on the popular social networking site, save for one profile headshot.

Some pretty creative writing to make it appear that he did though.

So if his fault is that he posted these, until I see confirmation that he did post these himself, that argument is moot and this is a non-issue.

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


Thank you for your voice of reason!!

At this point it is still not known how the pics magically appeared on his facebook page. The star speech writer has only offered an apology but no explanation. Probably because an explanation does not exist and he knows it.

A secret few may know but it is said that George W. Bush's speech writers actually forced themselves to get totally wasted before watching him read anything they had written.

Originally posted by Walkswithfish
A secret few may know but it is said that George W. Bush's speech writers actually forced themselves to get totally wasted before watching him read anything they had written.

stay on topic

Hey, the more they party, the less time they spend at work which mean the less time they have to spend our money!
Party on!

Originally posted by jibeho
. . .
My brother has passed up a lot of talented job candidates based on what he has seen on their web pages. . . .

I can't help wondering how badly businesses suffer from the exclusion of potentially brilliant employees, on the basis of an episode of tipsy exuberance.

I'm a shy, quiet nerd with a genius IQ and have achieved a lot in several different fields, but I've sure managed to shock some people on the few times I've let my hair down.

And, to people worried about a staffer once being a bit silly, have you never seen the videos of Bush drunk?

Have you ever seen videos of Obama "doing a Bush"?

Originally posted by Walkswithfish
A secret few may know but it is said that George W. Bush's speech writers actually forced themselves to get totally wasted before watching him read anything they had written.

I doubt that.
I'm guessing they just pretended to be drunk to explain the fact that they were falling off their chairs in fits of giggles.

Originally posted by Kailassa

Originally posted by jibeho
. . .
My brother has passed up a lot of talented job candidates based on what he has seen on their web pages. . . .

I can't help wondering how badly businesses suffer from the exclusion of potentially brilliant employees, on the basis of an episode of tipsy exuberance.

I'm a shy, quiet nerd with a genius IQ and have achieved a lot in several different fields, but I've sure managed to shock some people on the few times I've let my hair down.

And, to people worried about a staffer once being a bit silly, have you never seen the videos of Bush drunk?

Have you ever seen videos of Obama "doing a Bush"?

Doesn't anyone understand? Congrats on your genius IQ. I hope you are smart enough or at least wise enough to leave compromising pictures of yourself off of the web. If you post them, beware of the consequences. Especially if you attain a high level position in your career. Yes, you may just be passed up for a job because of it. That is a reality some people just don't understand. Prof. Emeritus made that notion rather clear as well.

Originally posted by jibeho
Like I have said before, I could care less about the incident, the groping of the cutout etc.

Sorry to be OT for a moment, but I've seen Americans use this phrase often and incorrectly. The correct phrase is "I couldn't care less". This indicates that whatever your talking about is the bottom of the pile. By saying "I could care less" is saying this has some priority or importance over other matters.

English lesson over...

On topic: Are you guy's serious? Some speech writer has a drink and gropes a cardboard Hilldog, then his dopy mate posts the pic on facebook? Hardly worth kicking and screaming about, is it?

Bush was terminally moronic, yet he had two terms!
Cheney blatantly favoured his old corporate buddies AND shot one of his friends, yet he survived the full 8 years!
Rumsfeld lied continuosly and blatantly, yet survived into the second term!

And those guys have alot more importance than the speech writer!

Originally posted by jibeho
Doesn't anyone understand? Congrats on your genius IQ. I hope you are smart enough or at least wise enough to leave compromising pictures of yourself off of the web. If you post them, beware of the consequences. Especially if you attain a high level position in your career. Yes, you may just be passed up for a job because of it. That is a reality some people just don't understand. Prof. Emeritus made that notion rather clear as well.

To reiterate, as you appear to have missed my point:

I can't help wondering how badly businesses suffer from the exclusion of potentially brilliant employees, on the basis of an episode of tipsy exuberance.

This is not about me, I'm retired now and only do a little contract work now and then for the fun of it.

This is about businesses that may be depriving themselves of potentially their best workers if one Youtube incident showing mildly bad taste is more important than a person's:
- contribution to the business,
- general work ethic,
- honesty,
- ability to bring in new ideas,
- ability to help the business adjust to a changing world,
- ability to inspire and teach others,
- ability to work as part of a team, ....

Any business depends on the skills of its employees.
There are many people who can do a job.
There are very few people who will do a job brilliantly.

Not my problem though. I'd never work for a business that chose to handicap itself in such a shortsighted manner.

reply to post by Kailassa

Not my problem though. I'd never work for a business that chose to handicap itself in such a shortsighted manner.

Yes, it is possible that someone that is talented is passed up, because of "indiscretions" posted on the internet.

However, here are some things to consider:

1.) Assume such a person is hired, and also assume that at some point after that, they pull such a stunt in front of a customer or cause embarrassment that results in a sexual harassment lawsuit. Now assume that it is discovered by someone else that this person had posted previous similar incidents on the net. Do you realize the potential lawsuit that would result.

2.) In today's economic environment, jobs are few and far between. Given that a single opening can result in hundreds of applicants, a small "incident" would be immediate cause to put the resume in the circular file, when there are others without such incidents.

3.) I sat on selection committees in both the business environment and at the college I taught at, and when 100-200 people applied for ONE position, it didn't take much to eliminate people that had one questionable item on their resume. We did not do internet searches, partly due to the fact that the business searches were done before much was on the net, and at the college, we had much more information on the candidates, and didn't need to do such searches. However, today, I know for a fact, that HR people look at such sites. Lawsuits are one thing that HR directors go out of their way to avoid. Sexual harassment suits are a major source of concern for businesses.
Here is a chart that indicates how big of a problem it has been in the last 10 years, and what it has caused in economic terms:

www.eeoc.gov...

Originally posted by jibeho
I suppose I was comparing Hilary's chest to the cookie jar.
[edit on 5-12-2008 by jibeho]

I think this says an awful lot more about the type of people that post this stuff than the story itself says about anything? Now if only the last admin had some footage of some missteps like the pres himself claiming nobody could imagine that the levies would fail and then having footage of him being told on camera two nights before it happend that the levies were guaranteed to fail. But hey, no drunk cardboard groping, just dead American citizens. Thank god that was not embarassing.