As noted in the New York Times 44 has pledged to get out of Washington frequently. The article details his latest swing, the most recent stop in Arizona to announce a mortgage rescue plan. Whether or not his absences from Washington will draw any fire depends in part on the watchful eyes of his opposition and in part on the never sleeping news media. 43 was criticized for his absences, in particular when he went to his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The presumption was that he was "on vacation" and behaving much as the rest of us do on vacation by doing nothing that resembled the work for which we are paid to do.
This blog will informally track the whereabouts of 44 over the course of his term and produce an apples-to apples comparison with 43 at a later date.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Stimulation and then some
44 is off to Denver to publically sign his economic stimulus bill, which critics have labelled "porkulus" because of the many pet projects funded which seemingly have nothing to do with stimulating the economy, and everything to do with adding to the entitlement burden on taxpayers. As a sidelight, his choice of Denver as the site to sign the bill has some up in arms, recalling campaign promises by 44 to post bills on a website for 5 days before signing them.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
On the Road Again
Like Willie Nelson, 44 couldn't wait to get out of the house and off to a campaign stop, even if only for a day. He chose Elkhart, Indiana as the location for a town meeting style exchange with sympathetic citizens, and later referred to the city in his East Room prime time news conference. Elkhart indeed has fallen on hard times, suffering a 15.3% unemployment rate. 44 mentioned that Elkhart is the "RV capital of the US", an ironic distinction given his insistence elsewhere in his press conference remarks that the US had to advance further along in energy conservation measures, particularly when it comes to use of foreign petroleum. Maybe he intends for Elkhart's unemployed to work in factories that produce the fluorescent light bulbs that will be mandatory in a few years. He didn't say.
Nevertheless, it was an impressive display by 44 as he chided his Republican opponents for running the national debt to $1 trillion (that's $1,000,000,000,000) but being critical of his economic stimulus package. To the degree that the economy is in free fall, every day spent arguing about the means to recover is another day longer before things turn around. On the other hand, those brave enough to withstand the heat have to muster an argument that 44's plan will waste time doing exactly the wrong things to pull out of the recession. Among economists there is disagreement that cleaves along predictable fault lines. There is Paul Krugman, who thinks 44's plan doesn't do enough in terms of government spending. He unabashedly favors more, not less, government involvement in health care financing, for example. On the other end of the spectrum, a column in the Wall Street Journal by Nobel laureate Gary Becker presents a different take on the same problem.
So what are non-economists supposed to do? If 44 is the surgeon with a scalpel and the US economy is a sick patient, the obvious thing to do is let him operate. he made that plain in his remarks and in the question and answer period. He, as he so bluntly put it in a conversation with some Republicans, won the election and he gets to be in charge of the toys for the time being.
The press in attendance were respectful, not fawning as much as during the campaign, as if they were starting to wake up from their trance and remember to ask tough questions of the President. A couple of partisans, one from CNN and one from the Huffington Post, asked questions that would have painted 44 into a corner. One was about the prohibition of taking photographs of "flag-draped coffins" returning from Iraq, as if the question hadn't already been rendered moot by the recent reduction in numbers of coffins returning. The deaths that day of four US serviceman in an IED explosion equalled the combat deaths in Iraq in the entire month of January, a fact that 44 could have pointed out, but didn't. He merely deflected the question by saying that the policy was "under review", a polite way of saying "shut up." 43 would have risen and taken the bait, much to the delight of his many critics in the media. The other question was more argumentative, asking if 44 agreed with a proposal by Senator Leahy for a "truth commission" to investigate the administration of 43 for various alleged abuses. The questioner clearly hoped for just such a witch hunt and lynching party, but if he thought 44 was going to buy a ticket, he was sorely disappointed in 44's demurral from the festivities.
The most entertaining moment in the entire news conference when 44, after recognizing Helen Thomas of the AP and answering her question about Afghanistan, he brushed aside her attempt at a followup as if she were a whelp and not a dried up fossil occupying valuable space in the room.
Nevertheless, it was an impressive display by 44 as he chided his Republican opponents for running the national debt to $1 trillion (that's $1,000,000,000,000) but being critical of his economic stimulus package. To the degree that the economy is in free fall, every day spent arguing about the means to recover is another day longer before things turn around. On the other hand, those brave enough to withstand the heat have to muster an argument that 44's plan will waste time doing exactly the wrong things to pull out of the recession. Among economists there is disagreement that cleaves along predictable fault lines. There is Paul Krugman, who thinks 44's plan doesn't do enough in terms of government spending. He unabashedly favors more, not less, government involvement in health care financing, for example. On the other end of the spectrum, a column in the Wall Street Journal by Nobel laureate Gary Becker presents a different take on the same problem.
So what are non-economists supposed to do? If 44 is the surgeon with a scalpel and the US economy is a sick patient, the obvious thing to do is let him operate. he made that plain in his remarks and in the question and answer period. He, as he so bluntly put it in a conversation with some Republicans, won the election and he gets to be in charge of the toys for the time being.
The press in attendance were respectful, not fawning as much as during the campaign, as if they were starting to wake up from their trance and remember to ask tough questions of the President. A couple of partisans, one from CNN and one from the Huffington Post, asked questions that would have painted 44 into a corner. One was about the prohibition of taking photographs of "flag-draped coffins" returning from Iraq, as if the question hadn't already been rendered moot by the recent reduction in numbers of coffins returning. The deaths that day of four US serviceman in an IED explosion equalled the combat deaths in Iraq in the entire month of January, a fact that 44 could have pointed out, but didn't. He merely deflected the question by saying that the policy was "under review", a polite way of saying "shut up." 43 would have risen and taken the bait, much to the delight of his many critics in the media. The other question was more argumentative, asking if 44 agreed with a proposal by Senator Leahy for a "truth commission" to investigate the administration of 43 for various alleged abuses. The questioner clearly hoped for just such a witch hunt and lynching party, but if he thought 44 was going to buy a ticket, he was sorely disappointed in 44's demurral from the festivities.
The most entertaining moment in the entire news conference when 44, after recognizing Helen Thomas of the AP and answering her question about Afghanistan, he brushed aside her attempt at a followup as if she were a whelp and not a dried up fossil occupying valuable space in the room.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
School for scandal
The latest of 44's picks for a high administration post has bitten the dust. Nancy Killefer, the "performance officer" at the White House, has withdrawn her name from consideration after news reports surfaced that she had failed to pay employment taxes on household help, among other indiscretions. Timothy Gaithner managed to be confirmed as Treasury Secretary despite serious omissions of information about income were uncovered. Former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle led the pack of tax cheats with his failure to report over $140,000 in income, including a chauffeur driven auto. An old campaign spot has surfaced, depicting Senator Daschle driving his beater Pontiac around the capital city, demonstrating how committed he was to saving money. It is wet-your-pants funny.
All kidding aside, isn't it ironic that left wing pundits and bloggers love to rail about how the affluent members of society need to pay more taxes , and then the agent of change in Washington appoints individuals who aren't even paying what they owe under the current system.
All kidding aside, isn't it ironic that left wing pundits and bloggers love to rail about how the affluent members of society need to pay more taxes , and then the agent of change in Washington appoints individuals who aren't even paying what they owe under the current system.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Super Sunday
NBC, as part of its pre-Super Bowl hype, presented a brief interview of 44 by Today show host Matt Lauer. The video clip can be viewed here. Mr. Lauer would have the world believe that he is a serious journalist in the tradition of David Brinkley and Chet Huntley. For anyone still disposed to agree with that claim, watching a fawning Matt Lauer launch a powderpuff pitch at 44 with his opening question ought to dispel that notion.
But perhaps it is unfair to single out Matt Lauer for the practice of suspending journalistic standards that were enforced to the maximum degree during the eight years of the administration of 43. He is not alone in rushing to the front of the stage, desperate for recognition by the rock star president. In fact, he uses the term "rock star" to describe 44, who does nothing to discourage the comparison.
My friends at Powerline have some sharp observations about the lack of interest displayed by 44 in the ice storm devastation which just occurred in the state of Kentucky, particularly as it was given minimal air time compared to the post Hurricane Katrina coverage. It seems to this amateur weather observer that the ice storm, although terrible, didn't match the top to bottom property devastation of Katrina. But the point is well taken that there was widespread loss of power, not insignificant in wintertime, and the Kentucky National Guard had to be mobilized. In fact, the response of the local authorities was appropriate and a concerted effort by the federal government was not necessary, as it should not have been necessary post Katrina were it not for the rank incompetence of the New Orleans and Louisiana governments. That was the real scandal of Katrina, but it was not the one called for by the mass media narrative that blamed 44 for everything, including the storm (global warming, according to Al Gore), the levee failures (the feds should have been proactively fixing them, even though it is the local government's responsibility by law) and the isolation of people at the New Orleans convention center (where they had been ordered to go by the city government).
The media coverage was appropriate for the level of damage from the storm, just as the Katrina coverage was over the top. To paraphrase Rahn Emanuel, 44's chief of staff, a disaster is a great opportunity. In the case of Katrina, it was the opportunity of a lifetime for faux journalists like Anderson (Gloria Vanderbilt's son) Cooper to make their bones at the expense of a sitting president. Had the levees held, there still would have been a heck of a mess to clean, but not the video opportunities to show families who ignored evacuation orders being plucked from rooftops by helicopters dispatched by the very government being maligned by the journalists. There also wouldn't have been the spectacle of the media trying to shoot fish in a barrel by relaying monstrous and false rumors of carnage, rape and starvation at the iconic convention center. When the light of day finally revealed the stories to be uniformly false, it was as if there had never been any reporting of babies being raped by sex offenders. Nothing was said, no retractions or apologies for lying on camera were offered.
43 took it all in stride, trying to be magnanimous and reach out to the legitimate storm victims and not engage in a vigorous defense of his government. Instead, the nay sayers commanded the high ground, and used it to their advantage. If 43 had a flaw (he had many, as do we all) it was not standing tall and outing those who lied about him. When the lies were repeated day after day, they achieved status as truths, part of the mythology about the deficiencies of 43's term.
But perhaps it is unfair to single out Matt Lauer for the practice of suspending journalistic standards that were enforced to the maximum degree during the eight years of the administration of 43. He is not alone in rushing to the front of the stage, desperate for recognition by the rock star president. In fact, he uses the term "rock star" to describe 44, who does nothing to discourage the comparison.
My friends at Powerline have some sharp observations about the lack of interest displayed by 44 in the ice storm devastation which just occurred in the state of Kentucky, particularly as it was given minimal air time compared to the post Hurricane Katrina coverage. It seems to this amateur weather observer that the ice storm, although terrible, didn't match the top to bottom property devastation of Katrina. But the point is well taken that there was widespread loss of power, not insignificant in wintertime, and the Kentucky National Guard had to be mobilized. In fact, the response of the local authorities was appropriate and a concerted effort by the federal government was not necessary, as it should not have been necessary post Katrina were it not for the rank incompetence of the New Orleans and Louisiana governments. That was the real scandal of Katrina, but it was not the one called for by the mass media narrative that blamed 44 for everything, including the storm (global warming, according to Al Gore), the levee failures (the feds should have been proactively fixing them, even though it is the local government's responsibility by law) and the isolation of people at the New Orleans convention center (where they had been ordered to go by the city government).
The media coverage was appropriate for the level of damage from the storm, just as the Katrina coverage was over the top. To paraphrase Rahn Emanuel, 44's chief of staff, a disaster is a great opportunity. In the case of Katrina, it was the opportunity of a lifetime for faux journalists like Anderson (Gloria Vanderbilt's son) Cooper to make their bones at the expense of a sitting president. Had the levees held, there still would have been a heck of a mess to clean, but not the video opportunities to show families who ignored evacuation orders being plucked from rooftops by helicopters dispatched by the very government being maligned by the journalists. There also wouldn't have been the spectacle of the media trying to shoot fish in a barrel by relaying monstrous and false rumors of carnage, rape and starvation at the iconic convention center. When the light of day finally revealed the stories to be uniformly false, it was as if there had never been any reporting of babies being raped by sex offenders. Nothing was said, no retractions or apologies for lying on camera were offered.
43 took it all in stride, trying to be magnanimous and reach out to the legitimate storm victims and not engage in a vigorous defense of his government. Instead, the nay sayers commanded the high ground, and used it to their advantage. If 43 had a flaw (he had many, as do we all) it was not standing tall and outing those who lied about him. When the lies were repeated day after day, they achieved status as truths, part of the mythology about the deficiencies of 43's term.
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