NYT Magazine: Matt Bai Writes on Newt Gingrich

CLICK NEWT FOR STORY

The Daily Graphic: Obama Approval After One Month Still High, Though Disapproval Has Doubled

From the Gallup release yesterday:

President Barack Obama remains highly popular among the U.S. public at the end of his first month in office. However, the 63% of Americans currently approving of his job performance is down slightly from his initial 68% rating in January. The percentage disapproving has doubled, from 12% to 24%.

State of Ohio Reaches Tentative Agreement with Major State Workers Union

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Bailouts, Stimulus, Etc. – What Has The Rush Gotten Us?

Drudge Report has been trying mightily since Saturday to “sell” this story: If there was such a hot rush to pass the stimulus bill, why was President Barack Obama taking the weekend off in Chicago?

What Drudge does is show he’s in the tank for the Republicans when he runs a picture like the one to the left “above the fold” all weekend with the following headline: What’s the rush? ‘Urgent’ stimulus on hold for Obama’s weekend off …

First of all, no president of the U.S. has a “weekend off.” Not even George W. Bush, although some may say he took years off.

This is a potshot – Drudge urging the producers over at Fox News to beat up on the president.

But, despite Drudge’s partisanship, he points out a real problem with Republican and now Democrat management of the U.S. economic crisis.  Our politicians are scaring us silly and ramming TARPs, assorted bailouts and stimulii through the government machine with very little transparency and even less accountability.

Back in the Fall when the Troubled Asset Relief Program, aka $700 billion bailout, was rammed through Congress there was lots of scary talk about meltdowns and companies so big and far-reaching that we couldn’t possibly let them fail.  $350 billion of that bailout went out to the banks and Wall Street.  We still have barely working credit markets.  They’ve loosened up a bit, but nothing much has changed in the past several months.  We also know that a lot of our tax dollars were wasted on bonuses, exorbitant compensation for failing management teams, mergers and acquisitions.

Read more

Transcript: President Barack Obama, First Press Conference, February 9, 2009

(Source: CNN)

President Obama: Good evening, everybody. Please be seated.

Before I take your questions tonight, I’d like to speak briefly about the state of our economy and why I believe we need to put this recovery plan in motion as soon as possible.

Read more

Senator David Vitter’s Ungrateful Political Act

Just tune in to CSPAN2 for the debate on the economic stimulus bill and you’ll see that Republicans aren’t merely engaging in philosophical arguments against the bill, they’re still taking drive-by political shots at Dems and progressives.

Last night, Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, offered an amendment to the bill which would have precluded any stimulus dollars from going to a community activist group located in over 100 U.S. cities, ACORN.  Honestly, I don’t know that much about ACORN because the only time I hear about them it’s coming out of the mouth of a right-wing talk show host or one of the ultra pols in Washington.  I know they work on inner city issues, especially things like affordable housing.  They also register people to vote, and have been in some hot water somewhere over their registration methods.  End of my knowledge of ACORN.

This was a bad amendment for two reasons.  First, United States Senators do not lower themselves to exclude single American groups or organizations from legislation while on the floor of the Senate.  Those actions are for the relative safety of committee.  Vitter looked like a punk.

Second, Vitter proved he was a punk by singling out ACORN.  The group is the whipping boy of every “Barack was born in Kenya” right wing nut job.  The group also, according to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, was responsible or partially responsible for the rehabilitation of 3,500 New Orleans area homes after Hurricane Katrina.  That’s the same NOLA which Vitter under represents in the Senate.  David Vitter is an ungrateful punk.

Congressional Republicans Fiddle While Economy Burns

Apparently, GOP leaders still don’t get it.

The events of last Fall should’ve been enough failure, enough repudiation for even the most stubborn to take a step back and rethink their world view, re-evaluate their approach.  Rational people might think that the continuing unwinding of the economy should be enough to appeal to Republican lawmakers’ sense of patriotism and push them in favor of government investment in jobs and the future.  On the contrary, President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill received not a single Republican vote in the U.S. House and is only moving in fits and starts through the Senate.

Notably, one Republican amendment which passed the Senate last night added $19 billion to the bill.

Today, in the Washington Post, Obama made a direct appeal to Washington in an op-ed piece.  Two things stand out form me in what the president wrote.

First, he reminds political Washington about the ‘fierce urgency of now.’

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives — action that’s swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

We are in historic times, perilous times in fact.  At this point it doesn’t matter why we’re here, what matters is what moves us forward.

Second, Obama illustrates the stakes and describes the solution:

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

That’s why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress. With it, we will create or save more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, provide immediate tax relief to 95 percent of American workers, ignite spending by businesses and consumers alike, and take steps to strengthen our country for years to come.

As the fundamentals of the broad economy begin to turn positive and unemployed Americans go back to work and those with jobs shed their anxiety, we can rebuild parts of the system and have all of the big government/small government arguments from a position of economic security.  The time for Democrat v. Republican is not suited for this stage of the game.  We’ve tried trickle down tax policies as an economic engine and the horsepower just isn’t there for where we need to go today.  Barack Obama and the Democrats have the ‘hemi.’

President Obama: Day One News Roundup

• On First Day, Obama Quickly Sets Tone – New York Times
• Obama halts prosecutions at Guantanamo – New York Times
• Oath administered once again – New York Times
• Clinton approved, Holder delayed – New York Times
• Obama: New era of openness – Washington Post
• Lobbying rules tightened – Washington Post
• Guantanamo closure faces hurdles – Washington Post
• Inauguration head count: 1.8 million – Washington Post
• Obama asks Pentagon for responsible Iraq drawdown – Associated Press

How Many Right Wingers Talked About This On The Radio Tonight?

If the last two days didn’t prove that most of what is said about the U.S. stock market and politics on talk radio is bull, I don’t know what does.

Yesterday the conservatard radio jocks had a field day with the fact that the Dow shed over 300 points on President Barack Obama’s inaugural.  The market did, by some credible reports drop more yesterday than on any previous presidential transition day.  Big Deal.

Today, during Obama’s first full day in office, the Dow added nearly 300 points.  Being forever entertained by the likes of Savage and Levin, did I hear either one of them proclaim economic crisis over?  Hardly.  Did Obama get credit for the upswing? No.

The fact is, the ever swinging fortunes of the Dow are the greatest pegs of convenience for whenever the anti-Obama forces’ talking points for the day are bolstered by either a fortuitous swing one way or the other.  The Dow will continue to swing by hundreds of points on a weekly and sometimes daily basis until the last bunches of bad news are wrung from the economy.  The only thing the latest swings tell us is that the financial services sector is still sucking wind and Wall Street is gambling up and down with equal frenzy until there is a clear sign the credit crisis is past.

Obama Inauguration: News Roundup – Stories From Around the Planet

New York Times

• Obama is sworn in as 44th President
• Analysis: Speech spanned history and confronted Bush
• Opinion, Timothy Egan: Man in a Hurry
• Hope mixes with doubt as world reacts
• Obama team moves into White House
• Still calling Dr. Gupta

Washington Post

• Obama sworn in as 44th U.S. President
• Obama halts all regulations under review
• Analysis by Broder: Obama asks Nation to rise to the challenge
• “He’s for the whole world”

Chicago Tribune

• A New Era of Responsibility
• Analysis: Blunt criticism of the past
• While Obama sworn in, Blago fingerprinted
• Link: Inauguration Breaking News Blog

Other U.S. & World Coverage

• For thousands there was only one place to be – Christian Science Monitor
• Obama vows to meet U.S. challenges – BBC
• Analysis: The speech translated – Times of London
• Obama takes office as Republicans’ scapegoat – Pravda
• Let the remaking of America begin today – Guardian (U.K.)
• Obama: We are ready to lead – Jerusalem Post
• Obama makes history – Agence France Presse
• President Obama – Los Angeles Times
• Obama takes reins of presidency – Associated Press

Transcript: CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger State of the State Address | California is in a State of Emergency | January 15, 2009

(Source: State of California, Office of the Governor) 12:14 PM PST, January 15, 2009

Official transcript of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2009 State of the State address

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, Lt. Gov. Garamendi, for the nice introduction. Chief Justice George, President Pro Tem Steinberg, Speaker Bass, Senate Republican Leader Cogdill, Assembly Republican Leader Villines, members of the Legislature, ladies and gentlemen:

First of all, I want to congratulate the four that have been responsible for creating, really, the Martin Luther King holiday. So I want to say thank you because Martin Luther King has been a great hero who has given his life for justice and for equality and has been a great inspiration not only to Americans but to people all over the world. So congratulations to all of them. Let’s give them a hand, again, for the great work that they have done. (Applause)

Read more

Bush’s Last Stand – Or, You Won’t Have Bush to Kick Around Anymore

Bush Tells ‘Opiners’ to Pound Salt

Uh, Mr. President, it’s not just the media elite and a few Norwegians and Swedes over there in Europe who feel your Administration has eviscerated America’s moral authority.

The Real Clear Politics average approval rating for George W. Bush stands at 27%.  Check out the Pew Research World Opinion Map.  It doesn’t look like Mr. Bush is popular anywhere except for Tanzania and for some reason, India.

I only got to hear a bit of Bush today on the radio at work.  What I heard didn’t completely sound like the usual Bush newser.  There was a bit of wistfulness, but there was still a great deal of that Bush defiance.  Damn those who don’t agree with him, he’s right — just ask him.  You can check out the transcript here.

This was so much better than the sit-down interviews he’s done on all the networks.  Someone actually asked him, directly, what he thinks about President-elect Barack Obama and others who have said there is a lot of work to be done to restore America’s moral standing in the world. In part, he answered:

I’ve heard all that. My view is, is that most people around the world, they respect America. And some of them doesn’t like me, I understand that — some of the writers and the, you know, opiners and all that. That’s fine, that’s part of the deal. But I’m more concerned about the country and our — how people view the United States. They view us as strong, compassionate people who care deeply about the universality of freedom.

The first thing I thought when I read, “they respect America” is that perhaps the healthy respect you have for a beloved member of the family who is always there for you has been replaced by the fearful respect you have for the neighborhood bully when you’re a kid.  When I was surfing around looking for info on world public opinion I found this piece from The Guardian, a newspaper in London, U.K.  The story is about a group of newspapers around the world that banded together to do a world opinion survey during the latter days of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign.  This part was interesting when it comes to the fear factor:

Many people now fear rather than warm to America. In France 25% of voters say relations with the US are tense, against 38% who say they are friendly and 39% who think they are neutral. In Japan only 16% say friendship and 19% tension, with 62% neutral. In no country does a majority think relations should be described as friendly.

Even America’s two neighbouring states are sceptical of US intentions. Only 23% of Mexicans describe relations as friendly and 28% say they are tense. In Canada, which has just re-elected a Conservative minority government, voters are strongly supportive of a Democratic presidency; 43% say relations with the US are friendly and 14% tense.

Today may have been Bush’s Last Stand with the media, but America, brace yourselves, the long goodbye continues on Thursday night when we hear the 43rd President’s farewell address.  Let me guess, he’ll tell us that he’s right and the rest of us are wrong.

Transcript: President George W. Bush Final Press Conference – January 12, 2009

(Source: White House Press Office)

9:17 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Tapper. We have been through a lot together. As I look through the room, I see Jake, Mike, Herman, Ann Compton. Just seemed like yesterday that — that I was on the campaign trail and you were analyzing my speeches and my policies. And I see a lot of faces that travel with me around the world and — to places like Afghanistan and Iraq and Africa. I see some new faces, which goes to show there’s some turnover in this business.

Read more

Sanjay Gupta Would Be Another Inspired Pick

How about a U.S. Surgeon General who still practices neurosurgery from time to time, donates his time to worthy health-related causes around the world and has the media chops to liven up the staid post?  How about Dr. Sanjay Gupta?

Word out tonight is that the Obama team has approached the CNN star who was also a health care adviser to Hillary Clinton when she was First Lady.

I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea who currently holds the surgeon general’s post.  I’m not even going to expend the energy to look because whoever it is won’t be there in a month or two.

I remember Jocelyn Elders – I think she advocated something that the right wingers got all bent out of shape about.  I also remember C. Everett Koop, he was the guy who stood up to the cigarette industry.  I also remember that if you held a picture of Koop upside-down, it looked like Koop right-side up.

Read more

Israeli-Gaza Update Sunday a.m. | Ground War | Jan. 4

• Israeli troops bisect Gaza – New York Times
• Israeli Govt: No intention of taking over Gaza – Jerusalem Post
• Civilians die in Gaza fighting – al-Jazeera
• Civilian toll rises; operation could take days – Reuters
• Bodies of Hamas leader’s children paraded – Daily Mail (U.K.)
• Egypt condemns Gaza attack – Bloomberg
• Gaza attacks further split Arab rulers, people – Washington Post
• Analysis: Invasion a double-edged sword – Washington Post

Next Page »