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Obama and lobbyists

January 30th 2010 23:47
1/27/10 version of Obama:

We face a deficit of trust -– deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we have to take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue -- to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; to give our people the government they deserve.

1/28/10 version of Obama (yes, the VERY NEXT DAY):

A day after bashing lobbyists, President Barack Obama’s administration has invited K Street insiders to join private briefings on a range of topics addressed in Wednesday’s State of the Union.

People like you, Mr. President, are the reason why there's a deficit of trust. The next time you wonder why people despise Washington, look in the mirror.
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The State of the Union

January 28th 2010 00:29
Tonight, Barack Obama will give his State of the Union address. As such, I'd like to present the state of our Union as I see it.

State of the Union - January 27, 2010:

As of this time, the state of our Union is wretched. The economy is in awful shape with no real prospects for substantive improvement. Unemployment is way up and doesn't appear to be headed down anytime soon. Our elected officials in Washington spend most of their time pandering to special interests and they bend over backwards to help Wall Street -- but they do virtually nothing for Main Street. This is not the country our founding fathers envisioned. We...are...in...trouble.

What will "we, the people" do to get things back on track? Consider this metaphorical action plan:

Our country is a car and we still owe a TON of money on it. It's constantly needing repairs and we keep going to loan sharks to get money to patch it up. We're driving recklessly on a curvy road on a rainy night and the car is slipping and sliding all over the place. The "adults" (the House and the Senate) are bickering back and forth in the front seat while the driver (Barack Obama) is fiddling with the radio -- seemingly oblivious to what's going on. The kids (we, the people) are sitting helplessly in the back seat SCREAMING at the "adults" to slow down and pay attention. It's all to no avail, though. The front seat's not listening. If things don't change, it looks like we're headed for disaster.

There is hope, though. At various places on this road, there are some rest stops. We (the people) in the back seat plan to kick as many of the front seaters out as we can at every stop. We'll try to get some more responsible adults to take their place and, hopefully -- eventually -- a responsible driver who has at least a shred of concern about us in the back seat. What is our goal? We want to make sure that the bickering, clueless adults don't cause us to careen off a cliff and plunge to a fiery death before we can find more capable replacements for them. That is our only chance at self-preservation. That is what we must do.

Will we succeed? Based on the recent mood of the country, I'm hopeful that we will.
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A good issue for Obama?

January 26th 2010 09:36
Since the Massachusetts wake-up call, Obama has been trying to morph himself into the king of the populists. Apparently, he has determined that he needs to do something for the everyman who took a charge as Obama tried to drive to the hoop for a health-care layup. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?

Obama's initial populist issue appears to be an attack on the biggest banks. If Obama gins up some real anger on this issue, it could work out well for him. Those groups aren't popular with the American people right now. While average folks suffer under the burdensome recession, the bankers are making out like bandits. They nearly collapsed the economy with their awful decision-making and they reached the precipice of insolvency. With huge injections of taxpayer dollars, though, they have rebounded and are making record profits. As a result, they are handing out record bonuses. Do you think someone on Main Street who can't get a job will be thrilled with a taxpayer-buoyed bank handing out seven-figure bonuses? No, I don't think so, either. If Obama can take some kind of restrictive or even punitive measures (e.g., regulations or high taxes on banker bonuses) against the irresponsible and, apparently, ungrateful banks, he could curry some favor with the average man on the street.

This particular issue can be especially rewarding for Obama if the GOP stands against any efforts he takes. The GOP has always been in favor of less regulation and they are largely viewed as being cozier with Wall Street than the Dems. If Obama tries to crack down on the banks and the GOP stands up to defend huge bank bonuses, it will very quickly make the GOP -- and not the Dems -- appear tone-deaf and out of touch. That could be a win for Obama and it could knock the GOP down a few pegs just as they're starting to get their footing.

It all sounds great for the Dems, right? Not exactly. Obama can act tough against the banks, but he has a credibility gap. Folks will remember that he funneled money to the banks and to Wall Street against the wishes of the American people. That was just last year, so I doubt folks will forget that it happened. An about-face now may not be very believable. Also, Obama has surrounded himself with some suspect financial advisors. Robert Rubin is the former director of Citigroup, one of the banks that would've gone under without taxpayer assistance. Lawrence Summers is a trusted Obama advisor. Mr. Summers was the architect of the Wall Street deregulation that caused a lot of the problems we have today. Finally, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is the tax cheat who, to this day, seems in way over his head. Also, Geithner is thought to have been particularly close to Wall Street execs when he was with the NY Fed. While Obama is surrounded by these advisors, his credibility is questionable -- to say the least.

Will Obama get tough on the big banks -- or is this just more of his empty rhetoric? Perhaps he is just playing politics by putting the GOP into a difficult position on an issue where their views are out of step with the voting public? We'll see if he's serious about this. If he plays his cards right, though, he could use this issue to blunt the criticism that he has done everything for Wall Street and very little for Main Street. If he can pull that off, he may be able to build up a small amount of capital with some of the folks carrying pitchforks on the White House lawn.
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GOP on the rebound?

January 26th 2010 08:00
Is the GOP on the comeback trail? The election of Scott Brown last week in Massachusetts suggests that voters are beginning to tire of the Democrats. However, it seems to me that folks are tired of Washington as a whole. If that is true, we are likely heading towards an anti-incumbent election in November. And, if that's the case, the GOP stands to gain since there are a lot more Democrats than Republiicans in Washington. As a result, November could be very good for the GOP.

With that being said, I have a lot of confidence that the GOP could easily get in their own way and hurt their chances in November. It wasn't that long ago that the GOP was in charge of Washington. Folks may be sick of the Democrats, but I doubt they've forgotten how bad things were when the Republicans were in charge. All it'll take is the discovery of a congressman running around after pages with his pants around his ankles (a la Mark Foley) or a congressman caught taking bribes (a la Duke Cunningham) for the voters to remember just how detestable some of the Republicans were when they were in power. The Democrats have proven to be largely corrupt and tone-deaf, but don't think that the remaining Republicans are all crystal clean, either


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Supremely troubling

January 26th 2010 07:28
I'm not a lawyer -- nor do I play one on the internet. However, I'm deeply concerned by the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission:

Government cannot restrict corporations from spending money to influence political campaigns, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in an opinion that immediately reverberated across the political landscape and drew strong criticism from the White House.

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Advice for the Dems

January 26th 2010 06:42
No Democratic strategists come to me for advice. Maybe that's wise. If they did, however, I would offer up this advice to them:

Treat Republican Scott Brown's election to the Senate as a reality check. If you do, it could provide you with the impetus to keep you from driving your party over a cliff. At a time when the electorate is seething in anger, the ultimate sin is to be tone-deaf -- and you have been tone-deaf to the biggest needs and concerns of the citizenry. You now have a chance to slam on the brakes and turn in the direction the country wants you to go (the economy and jobs, jobs, jobs). The biggest challenge, though, is to create jobs without blowing the deficit up even more than you already have. That's not an easy task. You should provide tax cuts for businesses -- especially small businesses. And, in particular, you should offer tax cuts for job creation at companies. If you can do those things, you may have a chance to get the country back on track. If you can get the unemployment percentage headed down and the economy growing at a pace faster than a crawl, November may not be a complete debacle for you


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Copenhagen Climate $ummit

January 26th 2010 04:48
Ah, yes. The House expense reports are in. The total cost (excluding Obama's entourage) to the US taxpayers for that little trip to Copenhagen last month? $1.1 million.

Total hotel, meeting rooms and "a couple" of $1,000-a-night hospitality suites topped $400,000.

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Obama and no-bid contracts

January 26th 2010 02:24
2009 version of Obama:

"We will stop outsourcing services that should be performed by the government and open up the contracting process to small businesses," Obama said. "We will end unnecessary no-bid and cost-plus contracts that run up a bill that is paid by the American people. And we will strengthen oversight to maximize transparency and accountability."

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The GOP doesn't get it

January 25th 2010 03:21
I see that the GOP is heading to Hawaii for a "strategy" meeting.

Why is this a problem? They have to meet somewhere, right? This is why their choice of location irks me: They are showing that they, like the Dems, don't get it. Americans are sick of the wastefulness and largesse of our political "leaders". It doesn't matter that they aren't doing this with taxpayer dollars. Spending time for a simple meeting in luxurious (i.e., expensive) settings demonstrates to me that they are just as out of touch with the average person as they always were


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A suggestion for the GOP

January 23rd 2010 10:39
If the GOP wants to win big in November, here's my suggestion: Cover Obama's expenses so he can fly around the country and personally campaign for all the Democratic candidates running for office. Why? Here's why:

* Obama campaigned in person for Jon Corzine in the New Jersey gubernatorial race. The result? Corzine lost


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