Matthew Cooper
Recently by Matthew Cooper
Nov 18 2009, 12:36PM
Karl Rove's Self-Aggrandizing Title
Karl Rove is out touting his forthcoming memoir. He was on Fox News Channel today--naturally--showing off the cover, and he's promoting the volume to his million-plus Twitter followers.
I'm not unbiased about Rove. My conversation with him was a major part of the CIA leak case, and he came close to a perjury charge over his conversations with me. He also released me from a pledge of confidentiality that allowed me to avoid being sent to prison for contempt of court. I've questioned his candor on TV. So I look forward to the book with some personal interest. His editor at Simon & Schuster, Priscilla Painton, was the Time magazine editor of the piece I co-wrote that caused all the drama in the first place. As my colleague Josh Green has chronicled, I don't think the Rovian style of politics is good for America, but I bet the book will be interesting.
I'm not unbiased about Rove. My conversation with him was a major part of the CIA leak case, and he came close to a perjury charge over his conversations with me. He also released me from a pledge of confidentiality that allowed me to avoid being sent to prison for contempt of court. I've questioned his candor on TV. So I look forward to the book with some personal interest. His editor at Simon & Schuster, Priscilla Painton, was the Time magazine editor of the piece I co-wrote that caused all the drama in the first place. As my colleague Josh Green has chronicled, I don't think the Rovian style of politics is good for America, but I bet the book will be interesting.
Nov 16 2009, 5:06PM
Palin on Oprah
I don't usually say this, but I really wish there was a dial group on Palin's Oprah interview. What parts did undecided voters like? This is just the first salvo in the Palin Book battle. She's got a huge rollout with campaign-style events and interviews galore. Trying to be open minded, I thought she did pretty well. She's obviously comfortable in front of the camera, and she has an engaging story. But the ugly side of her, dissing her son-in-law, Levi Johnston and Katie Couric, coming up with a still inexplicable explanation for abandoning ger governor's post, well, those things couldn't have played that well. But I'm very curious to hear from you if you had the chance to watch. What did you think?
Nov 16 2009, 5:04PM
The Politics of "2012"
If you saw "2012" over the weekend, as I did, you weren't alone. The film took in $65 million over the weekend, making it by far the number one movie in America and more than $200 million globally. It marks a big comeback for Roland Emmerich, the man behind Independence Day, a somewhat similar end of the world thriller, who made the awful and little-remembered "10,000 Years B.C." Trying to discern the temperament of the times from its movies is always a little dicey. For every "Easy Rider," which came out 40 years ago this week and seems so emblematic of the 60s, there's a misleading touchstone like the fact that The Archies, "Sugar, Sugar" was #1 forty years ago this week, too. Still, the age of Obama is apparent in this movie in ways that are obvious and subtle, encouraging and not.
Nov 13 2009, 12:58PM
Can Obama Whack Unemployment And The Deficit?
It's not uncommon before presidents go on long trips abroad to try and signal that they haven't forgotten problems at home. So it's no coincidence that the White House announced a jobs summit on the eve of the president's trip to Asia, even before the dates of the summit are announced. Such summits can be gabfests but they can also be useful. Obama's summits on health care and deficit reduction helped the health care legislative process get off to a good start even if it's gone through inevitable death swoons since then. The White House is also signaling that it's going to start cracking down on spending after aggressive anti-recession moves that have swelled the annual federal budget deficit to over $1 trillion.
Nov 12 2009, 2:49PM
President Lou Dobbs
Would it be insane for the insane Lou Dobbs to run for president? I've written about this before. I don't share his immigration obsession or his anger, but he does fill a void in American politics, an ugly one. With a more or less free trade consensus between the parties--has Obama lifted a finger to renegotiate NAFTA--his protectionism would have an audience as much as his anti-immigration stand. There was more of an opening for him in '08 when John McCain was the nominee. McCain had co-authored comprehensive immigration reform and was backing off of it, but he was associated with the policy. Next time, the GOP is almost sure to nominate someone with a harder line. If Dobbs wants to remain a force--or a joke, depending on how you look at it--hinting at and beginning a run for president isn't the craziest idea. Pat Buchanan beat a sitting president of the United States in the New Hampshire primary. The Depression gave us voices of protest like Huey Long and Father Coughlin and Upton Sincliar as well as the sobriety of FDR. It wouldn't be surprising if this economic hardship gives us a candidate named Lou Dobbs. It used to be that you wrote books and went on TV to run for president. Now you would run for president to sell books and promote your radio show.
Nov 12 2009, 12:04PM
The Eikenberry Leak
I won't claim special sourcing or knowledge about the president's deliberations on Afghanistan. But I do have a hunch that the leak today that our ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, a retired Lt. General and commander in Afghanistan, is wary in the extreme of a big buildup there wasn't an accident. You could see it a few ways. One is that opponents of a buildup, fearing that Obama is leaning toward a bigger influx of troops per the advice of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, leaked this as an effort to strengthen their hands. My Washington-trained gut says it's the opposite, a trial balloon because Obama will go with a smaller buildup, and putting Eikenberry's concerns out there serves as a counterweight to McChrystal. It, in effect say, "Look I have smart generals who don't want a buildup."
Nov 6 2009, 2:31PM
Health Care Vote Might Be Delayed, But It Won't Matter
When are we getting a health care vote in the House? It seemed impossible that with her monster majority, Nancy Pelosi might need to delay the vote beyond Saturday to round up enough support for the House's version of a health care bill. But the Hill is rife with conflicting reports that the vote might go until Monday or Tuesday. Like most kerfuffles, this one won't matter. The Democratic House will pass a bill and that will eventually need to be married to whatever the Senate produces. But the fact that delay is in the air is not a great thing for the process. The conservatives who rallied yesterday on Capitol Hill will take credit for the delay, but in the end there is going to be a bill.
Nov 6 2009, 2:31PM
The Politics of Fort Hood And Lack Thereof
Yesterday's tragedy at Fort Hood has already given rise to a cottage industry of bloviation and idle speculation. Last night, I flitted around the cable universe. Sean Hannity asked if there was enough security on military bases. On Larry King, Dr. Phil offered the stunning insight that the shooter had had a break from reality and that this was a "major mental event." Rachel Maddow was more measured in her discussion of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, noting that we don't know if the shooter suffered from it. Since he hadn't seen combat, perhaps he had not.
Mass shootings have set off kabuki rituals before, usually in the form of gun control debates with both sides rehashing familiar arguments. Then, sometimes, there's really nothing to be said. As Andrew Sullivan notes today, there was a tragedy in Killeen almost two decades ago when a deranged man drove his truck into a Luby's Cafeteria. I wrote about it at the time. The man shouted epithets about the county where he was raised and where the killing took place. Since the weapon of choice was a truck, there was no gun control debate.
Mass shootings have set off kabuki rituals before, usually in the form of gun control debates with both sides rehashing familiar arguments. Then, sometimes, there's really nothing to be said. As Andrew Sullivan notes today, there was a tragedy in Killeen almost two decades ago when a deranged man drove his truck into a Luby's Cafeteria. I wrote about it at the time. The man shouted epithets about the county where he was raised and where the killing took place. Since the weapon of choice was a truck, there was no gun control debate.
Nov 5 2009, 3:50PM
Where's the Hope?
It's the day after the day after. And the punditocracy is still analyzing the off year elections. I thought E.J. Dionne had the most sober take--bad news for incumbents, Democrats, an annoyed electorate. If anything I think he may have underestimated the level of irritability out there. The defeat of Thomas Suozzi, the executive in Nassau County, should have been a real wake up call to Democrats. His election marked a big gain for the party in the land of D'Amato. Now it's gone. E.J.'s smartest take, I think, is the failure of the Obama base to be fired up and ready to go. A year's time has dampened some hope. That doesn't mean it can't and won't come back. The world will look different in a few months if we have 5 percent growth and something like universal health care.
Nov 4 2009, 4:35PM
The Fed Gets It. And What Was the Best Thing Bush Did?
Greatly relieved that the Fed didn't raise rates today and doesn't seem inclined to. Inflation feels like the last thing to worry about now when the economy is so weak. Yes, there's more reason to worry about inflation in the years ahead--commodity shocks and big spending could bring inflation back. But inflation scaremongers have been worried about its return in a serious way since the 70s and early 80s, and those were exceptional times. Bernanke hasn't done everything right. I think he was too late to the housing crisis and too slow to cut rates initially. But when the crisis came, he was innovative to say the least. Any doubt that his appointment was the best thing George W. Bush did in office? In fact, I ask you: What was the best thing Bush did in office?
Nov 4 2009, 3:15PM
Making Sense of Maine
I'll confess to being surprised by the result in Maine. Having spent a lot of time in the state, where my brother has lived for decades, I thought its libertarian streak would prevail. After all, this wasn't a court ruling being overturned by the electorate. The legislature had passed the gay marriage measure and the governor had enthusiastically signed it. Granted the law wouldn't take effect without the ballot measure, but still you had a big chunk of the political class behind the deal, and you have a state where the medical marijuana measure passed overwhelmingly on the same day. (Who were the pro-pot anti-gay marriage voters, I wonder?)
Oct 30 2009, 6:14PM
Cheney on Plame, Wilson, Etc.
We've finally got the release of Dick Cheney's interview with the FBI from the Valerie Plame investigation thanks to the folks over at Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW). I've just taken a quick glance at the documents, but already it's interesting, if not shocking. Cheney describes the situation at the CIA as "amateur hour," not only for its dispatch of Joe Wilson to Niger but also for its handling of the Iraqi intelligence. It'll take awhile to comb through all this but feel free to get started here and tell us what you think. For what it's worth there's only a passing reference to me and my conversation with Scooter Libby about the Plame affair. My take on the case can be found here and here.
Oct 30 2009, 6:00PM
The Case for Selling the Lincoln Bedroom
One of the overlooked stories of the week was The Washington Times account of big donors getting special visits and perks at the White House. No reports of the Lincoln Bedroom being used, but the efforts of the Times to stir the outrage that fueled conservative anger at the Clintons in the 90s is not surprising. But it is misplaced. Big donors or bundlers will always be with us, even in the McCain-Feingold era. They will get special treatment from presidents. The question is what kind of perks they get. If they get an NSC briefing or sleepover--not as a direct quid pro quo but as some sort of gesture of gratitude--seems reasonable to me, especially versus say writing legislation. If you have to give them something ego flattering, why not some time in America's house?
Oct 30 2009, 2:04PM
Ethics Committee Gone Wild
Being in the right place at the right time matters in life, and that seems to be what happened at The Washington Post. The Post noticed that some confidential documents from the House ethics committee had been put on a public server, and they got themselves a big scoop--a list of lawmakers being examined by the committee. Such information is supposed to be kept confidential because it doesn't take much for the committee to examine a member, at least in an informal way. But it was later revealed that a junior staffer, working from home, had not followed the necessary security protocols, and so the list got leaked. It shows no fewer than seven members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee under scrutiny. Does that mean these members have broken the law? Not necessarily. Does it raise long-familiar questions about what Eisenhower famously called the military-industrial complex?
Oct 29 2009, 6:08PM
Plouffe Time
David Plouffe, the Obama tactician, has a new book out and it's excerpted in Time. Crossing genres between political memoir and business advice book, it's called "The Audacity to Win." The new excerpts seem appropriately kind to the boss who brilliantly takes charge of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright affair with an oh-so-brilliant speech on race and who magnanimously considers Hillary Clinton for veep even while Plouffe and David Axelrod don't take the idea seriously. The weighty presence of Bill Clinton pushes her out of the final cut which includes no women--just three guys, Joe Biden, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh--who may become this generation's Dianne Feinstein, considered every four years and never getting the nod. Plouffe takes a gentle shot at Biden's famed locquaciousness but makes it clear that the veteran senator's experience and candor more than made up for it. I'd thought at the time that Obama would go with Kaine and double down on change in lieu of experience, and Obama did seem to consider it. I can't say the excerpt made me wanna read the whole thing, but I don't think we'll get a very revealing or cutting memoir from an Obamaite anytime soon.
Oct 29 2009, 4:50PM
Gallup: Obama Not Changing Racial Attitudes
There's some interesting new polling out from Gallup showing that, despite the election of the first African-American president, there hasn't been a big shift in racial attitudes. I suppose at some level that shouldn't be surprising. The election of Obama himself represented a thaw in racial attitudes, certainly since the civil rights era, but also since the 80s and 90s--the L.A. Riots, O.J. Simpson trial, etc. It's probably wrong to expect that after 10 months in office it would be much different. And the questions that Gallup poses are pretty crude measures: Do you expect America's race problems will end? That percentage is about the same as it was in 1963--55%--after dipping at the end of the O.J. trial to 29 %. Not surprisingly, African-Americans are more likely to say that racism exists now than whites. The more supple measures of race relations--intermarriage, friends of a different race, interaction, neighborhood and school integration--probably haven't changed perceptibly in the last year either, but those metrics will be interesting to watch in the coming years.
Oct 28 2009, 3:41PM
Crazed Anti-Obama Fantasies, In A Video Game
Wow. I clicked on one of those banner ads on the Drudge Report, which are usually right-wing but innocuous enough. This one, though, was for some crazed game called "The United States of Earth," a computer game that imagines an Obama coup that suspends civil liberties, sees Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh imprisoned and Cass Sunstein die. Sicko stuff. See it here.
Read a gamer mag's take on it here. Wow.
As one who covered nuttiness like the Jerry Falwell implication that Bill Clinton was involved in murders, I thought I'd lost my capacity to be shocked. Have you seen other things like this? Let me know.
Read a gamer mag's take on it here. Wow.
As one who covered nuttiness like the Jerry Falwell implication that Bill Clinton was involved in murders, I thought I'd lost my capacity to be shocked. Have you seen other things like this? Let me know.
Oct 28 2009, 2:30PM
Newt Makes the Case for Moderates
Even politicos sometimes forget how much Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay and the GOP House leadership of the 90s was liked by moderates. They may not have agreed ideologically, but the aggressive conservatives always took care of moderate members, making sure they were protected on their right flanks, not pushing them into too many painful votes. DeLay was known as the Hammer, but he was also a courtier, too. That tendency is on display today as Newt Gingrich makes the case for his support of the GOP nominee, Dede Scozzafava, in that contested congressional race in New York state where the likes of Sarah Palin and Dick Armey (an exception, perhaps, to the DeLay-Gingrich reign) and other prominent conservatives have endorsed the Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, over the Republican. Gingrich makes the case that moderates were key to the House Republican successes of 1994 and shouldn't be shunned. He makes the argument here. The seat is vacant because Barack Obama tapped John McHugh, a Republican congressman, to be secretary of the Army. For what it's worth, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, told me last month that he reassured the White House that McHugh would be a great "team player"--which is what LaHood himself has turned out to be.
Oct 27 2009, 4:15PM
Tacky, Tacky: Throwing Creigh Deeds Under The Bus
The throw-Creigh-Deeds-under-the-bus moment will be one of the more memorable from this off-year election. Last week, the Washington Post cited a White House official already distancing the president from the Virginia Democrat running for governor. Obama is in Virginia today, trying to drive up minority turnout in the Norfolk area. Polls, though, show Deeds is slipping and seems unlikely to win against his Republican rival, Bob McDonnell, who has portrayed himself as a moderate and seems to be doing a good job at it. Obama is not one to risk a lot for those pols in need. If he had gone to Minnesota to help Al Franken at the end of the 2008 campaign he probably would have avoided the runoff that Franken just barely won. Obama doesn't really appear on stage with other politicians generally. He throws out a few thank yous, but he's not a bear hugger with those in trouble. Maybe that's wise for him, but it's not the most generous tendency. That said, in Virginia, Obama's a mixed blessing, and he can't help as much as he can in New Jersey where the state is more Democratic and the Republican candidate is more hapless. Still, that quote in the Washington Post dissing Deeds was pretty awful and sends a message to 2010 candidates that the White House will help--but only so much.
Oct 27 2009, 3:57PM
The Fox Fight--A Base Rallier
The Fox News kerfuffle continues. Rachel Maddow made the point last night that Fox stopped being a regular news network when it moved into advocacy for the Tea Partiers. I'm not sure I buy that. If it wasn't an advocacy network before, that was hardly the turning point. I'm in the camp, as I've written, that most MSM journalists are: this was probably a mistake for the White House. That's not because I think Fox is fair and balanced--it's not--but because it looks small of the White House and it disses the Democratic and independent viewers who watch Fox. That said, one point I should have made: This sure has rallied the Democratic base, especially in the days before the public option got put in the Senate health care bill. If Obama was dragging on don't-ask-don't-tell and closing Gitmo and is about to add more troops in Afghanistan, well, this was easy red meat. I'm not saying the argument is wholly without merit, but it struck me as kind of a sideshow.
Oct 26 2009, 4:53PM
"An Amazing Thing To Watch"
Harry Reid weighed in on health care today, saying he'd advance a health care bill with a public option that allows states to opt out of the program. It seemed the surest way to hold together a coalition that could support a bill. The move must mean that Reid thinks he can keep 60 members of the Democratic caucus together to support bringing the bill to the Senate floor even if some vote against the measure on final passage. We'll see where all this goes in the coming days. Can Reid hold his people together? What happens when it's married to a House bill? What comes out of the conference between the two? For those of us who thought health care either wouldn't pass or the final bill would be much more stripped down, it's been a pretty amazing thing to watch, a healthy reminder that Washington still has the capacity to surprise. Paul Krugman pushes the argument forward today by optimistically arguing that a final bill, however flawed, is likely to work--that is, it will cut costs, get most everyone insured, etc. I guess I'm skeptical again about the laws of unintended consequences and that a bill of this size will take a lot of repair work no matter how complete it seems upon passage. But passage of something big and substantial now seems much more likely than I ever expected.
Oct 24 2009, 4:07PM
Can They Cover 350 Like They Covered Teabaggers?
There are protests all over the world today in support of reversing climate change. Sponsored by the organization 350, named after the parts per million of carbon dioxide. Scientists believe that's the limit for heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We're past that now and some scientists, as the New York Times notes today, think that's probably too ambitious a goal. The whole idea began with Bill McKibben, the environmental writer. Will these protests get teabagger-style coverage? Probably not. A good fight over crowd estimates always helps and so does having a television network devoted to revving up your cause. Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see where Congress goes on climate change and how Obama handles the upcoming meeting on climate change in Copenhagen.
Oct 23 2009, 4:00PM
Fox News, Chapter 263
Mickey Kaus has a smart take on the Fox News flap here. He makes the point that there's a distinction between conservative and independent. Conservative doesn't bother him (or me) but lack of independence does, and thus the White House is right when it says Fox is not a standard news organizaiton, not because it's right-leaning but because it's a defacto arm of the GOP. Not entirely sure I buy the argument. But it's an intriguing nuance. In any event, I still don't see the upside to the fight for the White House unless it succeeds in galvinizing those who are bummed about closing Gitmo, deferring don't-ask-don't-tell and other compromises. Today's story in Politico that Roger Ailes himself might run for president is so absurd--I'm sure there's talk about it but the prospect is so absurd--that I hope it marks a coda to this chapter. I doubt it. Meanwhile, did all of this have the effect of deterring the MSM from going after Fox-style stories? We'll see.
Oct 23 2009, 12:35PM
The 87-Year-Old's Case for Gay Marriage
Did the fight for gay marriage just find a new hero? This video of an elderly Maine veteran--heterosexual, Republican, authentic--arguing for gay marriage is going viral on the web. I found it thanks to Taeggan Goddard's Political Wire. It's quite something.
Oct 21 2009, 3:25PM
Fox News III: Enemies List? Really?
Sen. Lamar Alexander weighed in on the Fox News controversy today, accusing the White House of "street brawling" and likening their actions to a modern day "enemies list." Alexander noted that he was a young aide in the Nixon White House who saw the culture of attack and paranoia infect the presidency. All I can say is, "Really?"
I've written that the attacks on Fox are misguided and likely to backfire. But it's hard to see how the White House's jostling with its political foes is anything like an enemies list. And if you look at the crazy attacks on the president from the right--socialist, foreign agent, etc--they seem like pretty small efforts to push back. The genial Alexander will get a lot of attention for his lengthy remarks and call for more bipartisanship. Does that ever go over poorly? But the Obama-Nixon parallel seems more than a little strained. What do you think?
I've written that the attacks on Fox are misguided and likely to backfire. But it's hard to see how the White House's jostling with its political foes is anything like an enemies list. And if you look at the crazy attacks on the president from the right--socialist, foreign agent, etc--they seem like pretty small efforts to push back. The genial Alexander will get a lot of attention for his lengthy remarks and call for more bipartisanship. Does that ever go over poorly? But the Obama-Nixon parallel seems more than a little strained. What do you think?
Oct 21 2009, 1:50PM
Obama, Mainstream Reporters and Fox News, Pt. II
Yesterday's post on Fox News provoked an interesting discussion, and I wanted to follow up today with a few thoughts. Dave Weigel at the Washington Independent thought I'd missed the point of the White House's derisive comments about Fox. "You miss the point. It's specifically about the WH pressuring reporters not to take seriously/chase Glenn Beck scoops/stories," he Tweeted. Fair enough. The White House doesn't want less ideological news outlets going bananas over ACORN or the Czars. Media Matters has a very funny and telling video about Fox News here. But is the best way to "cauterize," to use Weigel's term, the wound a public attack on Fox? We'll see. Mother Jones's David Corn has his doubts, too. I think the whole episode will only elevate Fox. Politico has a much talked about story today that suggests the Fox comments are part of a larger White House effort to redefine the GOP.
Oct 20 2009, 3:54PM
So What If Fox Is Conservative?
On Sunday, two of Barack Obama's top aides took shots at the Fox News Channel. Rahm Emanuel said it was "not a news organization," and David Axelrod said it was "not really a news station." The White House is shunning the network. When the president made the rounds of Sunday shows recently he ostentatiously skipped Fox. White House Communications Director Anita Dunn has called FNC "an arm of the Republican party." Over at Slate, my friend Jacob Weisberg has urged mainstream journalists to avoid appearing on Fox. I think both the White House and Weisberg are making a mistake.
I wouldn't argue that Fox is "fair and balanced." It's a conservative news outlet, and to argue that it's not is ludicrous. That said, there's obviously a spectrum of bias ranging from the straight-style reporting of a Major Garrett at the White House to the rantings of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, and some anchors are more Foxy than others. I like it when Media Matters for America calls Fox on its bias, although it's a little bit like calling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for being anti-Israeli. I don't disagree that Fox News Channel is like the New York Post or The Weekly Standard, which was, until recently, another Rupert Murdoch property.
I wouldn't argue that Fox is "fair and balanced." It's a conservative news outlet, and to argue that it's not is ludicrous. That said, there's obviously a spectrum of bias ranging from the straight-style reporting of a Major Garrett at the White House to the rantings of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, and some anchors are more Foxy than others. I like it when Media Matters for America calls Fox on its bias, although it's a little bit like calling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for being anti-Israeli. I don't disagree that Fox News Channel is like the New York Post or The Weekly Standard, which was, until recently, another Rupert Murdoch property.
Oct 20 2009, 11:17AM
That New Washington Post/ABC Poll
It's wrong to put too much stock in any poll of the moment or to get caught up in Washington's kerfuffle du jour. But the new Washington Post/ABC poll really is worth noting for the way it would seem to stand conventional wisdom on its head. 57 percent of respondents support a public option. More than half--51 percent to be precise--want it passed and don't care if it gets a single Republican vote. Only 20 percent of respondents identified themselves as Republicans, the fewest in 26 years. Such moments may prove ephemeral, but it's a reminder that the gyrations of elite opinion don't always match what's going on in the country. Certainly all the attention paid to teabaggers and other Obama haters wasn't entirely misplaced. There were and are real expressions of anger. Still, Obama's slow-and-steady approach seems to be paying off.
Oct 19 2009, 4:54PM
The Politics of David Rohde's Story
If you haven't been reading David Rohde's account of being held by the Taliban, you really should. It comes highly recommended by my colleagues Jeffrey Goldberg and James "Editor of the Year" Bennet, who found it particularly uplifting after the balloon boy fiasco. I must say I began to read it more out of duty than desire. I've read accounts of hostages before--FARC in Columbia, Hezbollah in Iran, crazy lone kidnappers--and I didn't really expect this to be more than the usual grim predictability. We're only up to day two and--without spoiling anything--the moving around, the question of who is actually holding him and what they want is endlessly interesting. It's not self aggrandizing and not self loathing either. It's really quite something.
I'm interested in the politics of it, too. Rohde is a straight-shooter reporter with no political agenda than I can discern. (We've never met, but I have friends who have worked with him at the Times and think the world of him.) But what he's written will, I think, give plenty for left and right to mull over. Keeping in mind that we're only at day two of the five day saga--and there's surely a book to come--here are a few points that struck me:
I'm interested in the politics of it, too. Rohde is a straight-shooter reporter with no political agenda than I can discern. (We've never met, but I have friends who have worked with him at the Times and think the world of him.) But what he's written will, I think, give plenty for left and right to mull over. Keeping in mind that we're only at day two of the five day saga--and there's surely a book to come--here are a few points that struck me:
Oct 16 2009, 1:45PM
Sex Roundup: Where They Stand
Nevada Senator John Ensign's fundraising has collapsed. After more details emerged in The New York Times about how he tried to bury an affair with a staffer and find work for her husband, he's seen his campaign fundraising fall to just $33,000 last quarter, down from almost 10 times that during the previous period, according to new campaign finance reports that Politico examined. So just to keep track of the sexually troubled: Mark Sanford is still governor of South Carolina, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Meanwhile, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana looks like he's on track to be reelected next year. Vitter was the only sitting U.S. Senator to back Rudy Giuliani, who has had his own issues in this regard. He could be a strong candidate for governor of New York next year against David Paterson, whose troubled tenure began post Eliot Spitzer (!) when he disclosed his own extramarital affairs. So...lessons learned?
Oct 16 2009, 1:20PM
The Washington Post's Nobel Fetish
My colleague, James Fallows, made an excellent point about The Washington Post's op-ed lamenting that the Nobel peace prize didn't go to the martyred Iranian protestor. He noted that the award can't be given posthumously and thus never went to Gandhi and others who have been overlooked--a point that could have been checked rather easily. More Post weirdness today.
A different standard should probably apply to the opinion pieces. Authors should be given more latitude to hang themselves. But today the Post has a piece that says Obama's Nobel prize in unconstitutional because it violates the emoluments clause and constitutes an office from a foreign government.The piece by Ronald Rotunda and J. Peter Pham is here. A rather convincing takedown is here from Adam Blickstein at DemocracyArsenal.org. I won't rehash the arguments but suffice it to say that the knighthoods awarded by the British to Alan Greenspan and Norman Schwarzkopf survived constitutional muster. You do have to wonder why the Post wouldn't check out this piece more thoroughly. I'm not a constitutional scholar or an attorney but it seems pretty clear that Obama's nobel is constitutional just like Henry Kissinger's or Teddy Roosevelt's.
A different standard should probably apply to the opinion pieces. Authors should be given more latitude to hang themselves. But today the Post has a piece that says Obama's Nobel prize in unconstitutional because it violates the emoluments clause and constitutes an office from a foreign government.The piece by Ronald Rotunda and J. Peter Pham is here. A rather convincing takedown is here from Adam Blickstein at DemocracyArsenal.org. I won't rehash the arguments but suffice it to say that the knighthoods awarded by the British to Alan Greenspan and Norman Schwarzkopf survived constitutional muster. You do have to wonder why the Post wouldn't check out this piece more thoroughly. I'm not a constitutional scholar or an attorney but it seems pretty clear that Obama's nobel is constitutional just like Henry Kissinger's or Teddy Roosevelt's.
Oct 13 2009, 5:18PM
What The Budget Scolds Are Saying
One of the paradoxes of health reform is that you have to spend money to save it. The current system is killing our long-term fiscal outlook, and so it needs reform, but to achieve such reform you have to spend more now in order to save money later. The same logic applied, in a way, to the argument that the stimulus package was fiscally prudent--spend now so the economy doesn't go off a cliff. After the Senate Finance Committee bill passed today, one of the leading budget scold groups--and I use the term affectionately because I think they're more right than wrong--the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget praised the overall direction of the bill but noted things that could make it even more fiscally prudent. Given that the bill is going to get married to more liberal versions in the House and Senate, I doubt that'll happen, but it's worth noting what they point to:
Oct 9 2009, 11:40AM
His Elegant Remarks
I've laughed at the jokes this morning: This is what he gets for bombing the moon? Is he going to give the money to ACORN? Next year, Physics Nobel. And I was pretty stunned that he won. But I stick with original assessment that this is good for the president and that the right will look stupid if they keep slamming him. The ungracious condemnation from RNC Chairman Michael Steele contrasted with the gracious remarks of Tim Pawlenty and other Republicans. The president's remarks in the Rose Garden using the word "humbled" and recasting the award as "a call to action" instead of a reward for achievements put him in a good place. Elites may fret and wring their hands, but this can't hurt a president. It won't bring peace to Afghanistan or ease tensions with Iran or North Korea. But it gives Obama a boost at home and abroad that any president should savor. Andrew Sullivan makes a nice case for the award here.
Oct 9 2009, 8:16AM
Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize. What Now?
Will it matter at home? The stunning news that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize is bound to enhance his global reputation, but will it give him more juice domestically? I don't claim to know the answer but a few thoughts:
It Can't Hurt. By the end of the day, I'm sure Limbaugh and Hannity and the right chorus will have made fun of Obama for the win, cited it as proof of his European Socialist tendencies. But are many Americans going to feel offended that he's in the company of Teddy Roosevelt, who won for negotiating the end to the Sino-Russian conflict in 1905? Would any American feel embarrassed? Not really. By the way, doesn't this guarantee the president's third trip to Scandinavia, and a redemptive one? He went for the humiliating experience of lobbying for Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. I bet he goes back for the big climate summit in Copenhagen. Now he has to go and accept the prize. Kind of puts the Chicago episode in perspective.
It Can't Hurt. By the end of the day, I'm sure Limbaugh and Hannity and the right chorus will have made fun of Obama for the win, cited it as proof of his European Socialist tendencies. But are many Americans going to feel offended that he's in the company of Teddy Roosevelt, who won for negotiating the end to the Sino-Russian conflict in 1905? Would any American feel embarrassed? Not really. By the way, doesn't this guarantee the president's third trip to Scandinavia, and a redemptive one? He went for the humiliating experience of lobbying for Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. I bet he goes back for the big climate summit in Copenhagen. Now he has to go and accept the prize. Kind of puts the Chicago episode in perspective.
Oct 8 2009, 5:06PM
Bill Clinton: End The Cuba Embargo
I've written in the past about the idiocy of our embargo with Cuba. This isn't a novel or brave position, but it is, unfortunately, still American policy even if Barack Obama hinted at a thaw during the presidential campaign. His proposals would only have taken us back to the still-draconian restrictions of the 1990s, but that was better than nothing. Over at The Washington Note, Steve Clemons reminds us today that Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State George Shultz opposes the ban and in The Clinton Tapes, Bill Clinton tells Taylor Branch that the embargo is misguided and ineffective. I know the president has much on his mind, but hopefully the political space is there to end the embargo sooner than later. Pitch it as an economic stimulus package for Florida? Florida's Cuban community has seen a seismic shift on the issue. It doesn't help that Raul Castro hasn't made things easier for Obama to lift it, but lift it we should.
Oct 7 2009, 2:45PM
Oh, Andrew: A Response To The McCaughey History
I love my former boss and current colleague, Andrew Sullivan. But I think he makes a mistake today in his otherwise thoughtful account of his publishing Betsy McCaughey's 1994 piece on the Clinton health plan. He concludes the piece by saying: "There's one reason the Clinton healthcare bill failed and it isn't Betsy McCaughey. It's Hillary Clinton." But this is reductionist in the extreme. Clinton made mistakes as she's admitted. But the difficulty that President Obama is having passing health care reform under easier circumstances--a bigger Democratic majority, more frustration with the current system--shows that there's a reason presidents since Truman have been taking a shot at this and none has quite managed. One is the sheer size of the undertaking, and second, and more important, is the sheer tenacity of the opposition. Obama's done the opposite of Clinton. Instead of devising a bill in relative secrecy, albeit with consultation from Congress and interested parties, he let Congress figure it out. Instead of specifics, he offered broad principles. Nothing wrong with that. But the end result is that Obama is still fighting for his bill despite having 60--count 'em--Democratic senators and the House that Rahm and Pelosi built. It's tough. Hillary Clinton made plenty of mistakes, and you could argue she deserves the lion's share of blame for the '94 debacle. But to not mention the American Medical Association, Bill Kristol, Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich, Harry and Louise and all the other opposition to the plan is kind of myopic for someone with such good vision.
Oct 7 2009, 12:53PM
Waiting For The Numbers
The Congressional Budget Office is supposed to come out with its scoring today of the Senate Finance Committee's health care measure. If it doesn't say the bill is deficit neutral, then the chairman, Max Baucus, and the White House have a big problem. Some conservative Dems could be all aflutter and this morning on Fox News, Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the committee, talked about starting all over again. I doubt that, but this is one of those moments worth paying attention to. Of course, scoring is an inexact science at best. No one can ever foresee how much a program will cost, especially when it's a new entitlement. But this is the best we've got, and that's what Congress will work with.
Oct 7 2009, 9:45AM
When's He Getting to Gays In The Military? Or NAFTA?
There are a couple of things that Barack Obama promised in the 2008 campaign that he has not gotten to. Well, actually there are several but let's focus on gays in the military and NAFTA. On Sunday, Obama will speak at a big dinner for the Human Rights Campaign, but he seems unlikely to announce a repeal of the ban at the time--maybe reiterate his intention to repeal it but not the repeal itself. Over the weekend, Gen. James Jones, the national security adviser cast doubt that it would be soon. So if that's the case, how will the crowd react? Being a dressed-up Washington affair, I bet with polite applause but no catcalls.
Obama also promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. There was a kerfuffle in the primaries when his economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, was alleged to have said to Canadian officials that Obama didn't really mean it. Both Canadians and Goolsbee shot down the report. Still, no movement on NAFTA. The unions aren't putting much heat on Obama to get to this one, not with health care and the Employee Free Choice Act still on the table. But you have to wonder when he'll get to this one, too.
I'm not saying that Obama is spineless for holding off on these. It's probably the shrewd political move. But eventually he's going to have to address them.
Obama also promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. There was a kerfuffle in the primaries when his economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, was alleged to have said to Canadian officials that Obama didn't really mean it. Both Canadians and Goolsbee shot down the report. Still, no movement on NAFTA. The unions aren't putting much heat on Obama to get to this one, not with health care and the Employee Free Choice Act still on the table. But you have to wonder when he'll get to this one, too.
I'm not saying that Obama is spineless for holding off on these. It's probably the shrewd political move. But eventually he's going to have to address them.
Oct 5 2009, 4:18PM
What An Iranian Nuclear World Might Look Like
Anthony Cordesman, the acclaimed military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has a new book out on Iranian weapons of mass destruction. Needless to say, this is not a happy picture, and a lot of the book's conclusions are what you'd expect. The prospect of Iran having nukes would likely set off a nuclear race in surrounding countries. The prospect of Iran putting nukes in the hands of terrorists is a possibility, although we've heard this one before a la Saddam in 2003. I'm not sure why any country would struggle so mightily to get nukes and then give them away to terrorist allies. Yes, I guess you could set off nukes without it being traced back to you, but that seems like a pretty unreliable gamble. Interestingly, Cordesman notes that throughout all of this nuclear buildup, Iran's conventional forces are actually pretty crummy, although its missile technology is more than enough to intimidate neighbors. And its capacity for so-called asymmetrical warfare by causing havoc through Hezbollah or Hamas or in Iraq remains pretty high. None of this addresses the question of whether the president is doing the right thing by negotiating with Iran more directly, but it is a timely reminder from a sober voice that an Iran with nukes is not a pretty picture.
Oct 5 2009, 2:35PM
Obama Sees It Hillary's Way
Looks like the Senate Finance Committee won't get around to voting on health care for several more days. The Congressional Budget Office has taken longer than expected to tote up what the bill would actually cost. In the grand scheme of things this is no big deal, but it doesn't help matters when there's a delay, given all the forging and compromising and negotiating that needs to be done to try and get a bill through both houses of Congress by the end of the year. Odds are pretty good that the bill passes out of the Finance Committee on a party line vote, but Olympia Snowe, the Republican from Maine, could sign on, and Jay Rockefeller could opt out.
By the way, I don't think enough has been made of Obama's 180 degree turn on mandates since the Democratic primaries. As you may recall, Obama opposed mandates. Hillary favored requiring people to buy insurance. (To be fair, she opposed this back in '94 when the late Sen. John Chaffee proposed them.) This was one of the major issues dividing Obama and Clinton in a campaign that was more about gauzy themes of change and experience instead of real policy differences. Much was made in the elite media about Obama's reliance on the work of Cass Sunstein's book, "Nudge," about encouraging people to do the right thing. Mandates were paleogovernment in Obama's eyes. Now, um, not so much. As policy turnarounds go, this isn't on the order of, say, George W. Bush opposing nation building or Bill Clinton canceling the middle-class tax cut he promised in 1992. But it is a change, and it would probably be a bigger deal if Hillary Clinton were in the Senate instead of at State.
By the way, I don't think enough has been made of Obama's 180 degree turn on mandates since the Democratic primaries. As you may recall, Obama opposed mandates. Hillary favored requiring people to buy insurance. (To be fair, she opposed this back in '94 when the late Sen. John Chaffee proposed them.) This was one of the major issues dividing Obama and Clinton in a campaign that was more about gauzy themes of change and experience instead of real policy differences. Much was made in the elite media about Obama's reliance on the work of Cass Sunstein's book, "Nudge," about encouraging people to do the right thing. Mandates were paleogovernment in Obama's eyes. Now, um, not so much. As policy turnarounds go, this isn't on the order of, say, George W. Bush opposing nation building or Bill Clinton canceling the middle-class tax cut he promised in 1992. But it is a change, and it would probably be a bigger deal if Hillary Clinton were in the Senate instead of at State.
Oct 2 2009, 11:57AM
Obama's Olympic Fail
I wrote a few days ago that it was a risk for Obama to go to Copenhagen, and now we know it didn't pay off. Will it be a big blow in the long run? I doubt it. It takes a whack out of his global superstar image, but if he had not gone and Chicago didn't get it, then he might have taken a hit, too. I suspect Obama's got to be angry that Chicago was eliminated so quickly and that the Americans clearly didn't have a sense of that, or he wouldn't have gone. No Illinois pol is going to dis the president for going. Now if he doesn't go to Copenhagen for the Climate summit this winter...
Sep 30 2009, 12:38PM
Scalia Gets Another Crack At Gun Control
It looks like the Supreme Court is going to take another big bite at gun control. Last year, the Court overturned the District of Columbia's ban on handguns, but left it unclear whether the ruling would apply to states and cities. Now Chicago's strict gun control law is under scrutiny. I didn't much care for last year's opinion, written by Justice Antonin Scalia. I'm not a lawyer but I thought the minority made strong arguments about the nature of the Second Amendment and as a federalist I like the idea of communities being able to set these regulations without having them overturned. That said, I thought D.C.'s gun ban was draconian but that the District had every right to impose it. I wrote about the case and the murder of a friend here.
Given the tenor of Scalia's opinion last year, which put a lot of emphasis on the right of persons to protect themselves in their home, I don't think the court will touch concealment laws of assault weapons or other restrictions. Scalia made a big deal about handlock requirements being unconstitutional because the owner would need quick access to their firearm. Even if the Court strikes down Chicago's ban on handguns, I think a panoply of restrictions will get upheld. At this point, I don't see Democrats getting too flustered by this.. They've largely dropped the issue. President Obama's reaction to the Scalia ruling last year was muted. And there's no politician proposing anything like say, the licensing of all handguns, as Bill Bradley proposed in his failed 2000 presidential bid. For good or ill, Democrats have come to accept the prevalence of firearms in America--a fact of life the Court will uphold as well.
Given the tenor of Scalia's opinion last year, which put a lot of emphasis on the right of persons to protect themselves in their home, I don't think the court will touch concealment laws of assault weapons or other restrictions. Scalia made a big deal about handlock requirements being unconstitutional because the owner would need quick access to their firearm. Even if the Court strikes down Chicago's ban on handguns, I think a panoply of restrictions will get upheld. At this point, I don't see Democrats getting too flustered by this.. They've largely dropped the issue. President Obama's reaction to the Scalia ruling last year was muted. And there's no politician proposing anything like say, the licensing of all handguns, as Bill Bradley proposed in his failed 2000 presidential bid. For good or ill, Democrats have come to accept the prevalence of firearms in America--a fact of life the Court will uphold as well.
Sep 30 2009, 11:19AM
Bono, Politician
I saw U2 last night at FedEx field near Washington, D.C. You had to be awed by the spectacle of the show, the 360 degree video screen and stage set, dubbed the claw, the 90,000 fans singing along but it was a reminder again, too, that Bono may be as good a politiician as we've ever seen. Politics for rock bands is either predictible or treacherous. When Michael Stipe of R.E.M. wears an Obama button at a concert, it's all appreciated by his fans. When the Dixie Chicks or other groups slide into politics they risk alienating their base.
Last night's show was overtly political and bipartisan. He singled out George W. Bush for praise several times because of the increase in AIDS funding under his administration. He noted that Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Pat Leahy were in the audience and praised them as well as George W. Bush's Chief of Staff Josh Bolton. He dedicated "New Year's Day" to Ted Kennedy and a shortened version of the Beatles "Blackbird" to TIm Shriver. Bishop Desmond Tutu appeared on the giant 360 screen, which floated like an alien spacecraft over the state, to introduce "One" -- which is also the name of Bono's campaign to end poverty. VOlunteers from Amnesty International mounted the 360 degree outer ring of the state carrying masks bearing the likeness of Burmese leader-under-arrest Aung San Suu Kyi. When he introduced the band he described each as being in his cabinet, likening the drummer Larry Mullen Jr to the head of OMB. You don't hear the phrase OMB at many concerts. There was a tribute to Iranian dissidents too, as the stage was bathed in green lights and pictures from their protests lit up the video screens. It'd be easy to dismiss Bono as a wannabe messiah or picture him taking the act to Vegas in 20 years. But no rocker has had a bigger impact politically and the deft political skills that got him to this point were on stage last night in Washington.
Last night's show was overtly political and bipartisan. He singled out George W. Bush for praise several times because of the increase in AIDS funding under his administration. He noted that Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Pat Leahy were in the audience and praised them as well as George W. Bush's Chief of Staff Josh Bolton. He dedicated "New Year's Day" to Ted Kennedy and a shortened version of the Beatles "Blackbird" to TIm Shriver. Bishop Desmond Tutu appeared on the giant 360 screen, which floated like an alien spacecraft over the state, to introduce "One" -- which is also the name of Bono's campaign to end poverty. VOlunteers from Amnesty International mounted the 360 degree outer ring of the state carrying masks bearing the likeness of Burmese leader-under-arrest Aung San Suu Kyi. When he introduced the band he described each as being in his cabinet, likening the drummer Larry Mullen Jr to the head of OMB. You don't hear the phrase OMB at many concerts. There was a tribute to Iranian dissidents too, as the stage was bathed in green lights and pictures from their protests lit up the video screens. It'd be easy to dismiss Bono as a wannabe messiah or picture him taking the act to Vegas in 20 years. But no rocker has had a bigger impact politically and the deft political skills that got him to this point were on stage last night in Washington.
Sep 29 2009, 3:35PM
Well, So Much For That
The Senate Finance Committee put the kibosh on the public option today with Democrats Baucus, Conrad, Lincoln, Nelson and Carper voting against it. Will the Democrats who voted against it pay a real price with their base? What now? It's hard to see it coming back but I suppose nothing's impossible. Still, can liberals who were wedded to this idea still get behind a reform bill that doesn't have it? Will any Republicans come aboard? Oy.
Sep 29 2009, 3:11PM
President Santorum
Good lord, it can't be. Rick Santorum, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, is making so secret of his presidential ambitions. I suppose if Robert Dornan and Alan Keyes can run for president, why not a prickly conservative who soundly lost reelection in 2006? Santorum may be best known for his AP interview in which he likened homosexuality to man-on-dog sex. It's hard to see why social conservatives would rally around Santorum more than, say, Palin or Pawlenty. But every senator looks in the mirror and sees the next president, so there's no reason it shouldn't apply to ex-senators, too. My favorite Santorum anecdote actually comes from Bob Kerrey. After Santorum denounced Sen. Mark Hatfield, the Oregon Republican, for his opposition to the balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, the Nebraska Democrat was asked what he thought. "Santorum, that's Latin for a--hole."
Sep 29 2009, 2:08PM
The Politics of Polanski
Interesting debate on the left about Roman Polanski's arrest in Switzerland and his likely extradition to the United States. Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation, has expressed doubts about the Polanski case in her Tweets. "Polanski should
have served time then, but there's evidence of prosecutorial misconduct
& victim has spoken." So has Glenn Greenwald of Salon: I agree with most of it - there's just ambivalence about starting to punish someone for what they did more than 30 years ago." Conversely, Clara Jeffery, the editor of Mother Jones, decries the ambivalence on Twitter: "Srsly, all it takes 4 smart lefties 2 think Polanski shdn't B punished for child rape is agitprop doc?" She says this in reference to a recent documentary that questioned judicial handling of the case.
There's more at The Atlantic Wire. There's no way this will rise to the level of national discourse like the O.J. trial, but it is casting a light on rape and extradition. One hopes Obama isn't careless enough to weigh in, but I would have thought he'd avoid the Skip Gates arrest, too, with a quip about being focused on health care and the presidency.
There's more at The Atlantic Wire. There's no way this will rise to the level of national discourse like the O.J. trial, but it is casting a light on rape and extradition. One hopes Obama isn't careless enough to weigh in, but I would have thought he'd avoid the Skip Gates arrest, too, with a quip about being focused on health care and the presidency.
Sep 28 2009, 5:28PM
LaHood: 10 House Republicans Could Back Health Care
I mentioned on Friday that I'd gone to see Ray LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation. LaHood, as you probably know, was a Republican congressman from Illinois before he was Obama's transportation secretary, and he's a bona fide Republican--he took over the seat once held by House Minority Leader Bob Michel, which includes Peoria. I asked LaHood about health care and he told me that every Cabinet member has been enlisted in selling the package and that he thinks that in the end as many as 10 House Republicans might support the final passage of a bill. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it seems important to me for a couple of reasons. It gives the president some bipartisan cover assuming that he can't get any in the Senate, where all eyes are on Olympia Snowe, the moderate Republican senator from Maine. Sure, passage of what the president wants is inevitable in the House, where Democrats have a huge majority and there's no fussing around with 60 percent of the body being needed for passage. Any Republican support would be a blessing, and as a former House Republican LaHood is in a position to help get it. He helped pull in eight crucial GOP l votes for the president's energy bill earlier this year, something that Obama called and thanked him for the next day. "Part of the reason I have this job is because I can help bring in Republican votes," LaHood says. He helped recruit former GOP congressman John McHugh to be Army Secretary. "When people call me on their road projects, I take their temperature on health care."
Sep 28 2009, 5:00PM
Obama's Olympic Gamble
Must say that I'm surprised the president is going to Copenhagen this week to lobby for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Sure, we knew everyone from the First Lady to Oprah to Valerie Jarrett would be there to lobby for the president's adopted hometown. But it is going to be embarrassing if he gets there and the International Olympic Committee goes with one of the other cities bidding--Rio de Janiero, Tokyo or Madrid. South America has never hosted the games, and Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is emerging as a powerful and popular world leader. Of course, if the president brings the games home it's a great win and one that probably wouldn't hurt Democratic chances in next year's Senate and gubernatorial elections in Illinois. It can't look good, though, if the U.S. doesn't get it. Then again, if the U.S. lost its bid and Obama hadn't gone...
Sep 25 2009, 12:01PM
Census Worker Death: Time for Calm
My pals at Talkingpointsmemo.com are doing an ace job tracking the death of that Census worker in Kentucky, the one with the word "Fed" written on his chest. The first gruesome details of the case played perfectly into concerns that an antigovernment atmosphere had led to a murder. But Zach Roth notes that the FBI has not determined if it was a homicide and also notes that the marijuana-and-meth trade in that part of the state raises the possibility he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So everyone should take a deep breath.
Sep 25 2009, 10:55AM
More Obamaites to Copenhagen
It looks like Ray LaHood is the latest to join the delegation of Obamaites and Chicagoans going to Copenhagen for a final pitch to get the 2016 Summer Olympics for the windy city. I saw LaHood this morning for an interview and asked if the former congressman from Peoria, Illinois was getting involved in the pitch. He said that he was and would help reassure International Olympic Committee members that Chicago had the transportation infrastructure to handle the megaevent. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the former superintendent of Chicago schools and an IOC member as well as First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey are going to Denmark as well. Will Chicago Goldwater Girl Hillary Clinton show up as well? I wouldn't be shocked.
Sep 24 2009, 5:09PM
Senator Paul Kirk
Anyone who's met Paul Kirk knows he's a charmer, an old school lawyer-lobbyist in the vein of Robert Strauss, another former Democratic National Committee chairman. Apparently the Kennedys wanted him in the job, and now he's got it. But was this really the best pick, and what have Democrats done with their chances to appoint five senators since the election? I will be careful here since one of the picks involves my boss's brother.
Sep 24 2009, 4:24PM
The Abolition of Nuclear Weapons: Is It Possible?
I don't know the answer to the above question. But it's amazing that the idea now gets such serious discussion. Today, the president led the UN's passage of a resolution calling for such a goal. And while resolutions are all well and good, this one comes at a time when serious policy makers and one-time hawks now see the end of nukes as a realistic thing. Reagan's Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci and one of his arms control pointmen, Richard Burt, are on board with Global Zero, the group that's pushing this the hardest.
Sep 22 2009, 4:27PM
Andrew Cuomo's Dilemma
What's a Cuomo to do? He's found himself in a remarkable position in recent weeks. The New York State Attorney General is phenomenally popular in a state where Democrats are suffering and the governor, David Paterson, has been asked not to run by the president. If someone had told you in 2006 that Eliot Spitzer would be driven from office and Cuomo would be immensely popular, it would have been hard to believe. After all, he had a messy divorce from a Kennedy, and the former Housing and Urban Development Secretary had alienated the black community by running against Carl McCall for governor in 2002, who was considered to be next in line. Cuomo doesn't want to alienate African-American voters by challenging Paterson directly. But will the president's nudge have the effect of dissuading Paterson from running or moving black support away from the state's first African-American governor? So far, Patterson is digging in his heels, but so did Jim Bunning in Kentucky, the Republican senator who was prevailed upon to drop out of his reelection bid. If Patterson's money dries up, he may not have a choice. In the meantime, Cuomo can't be seen to be gleeful. But he's in a tough position. In a blue state, he's the most popular of pols but boxed in at a time when the Dems could easily lose the governorship and the Senate seat held by Kirsten Gillibrand.
The thing to watch for is black opinion in New York. Does Obama's abandonment of the governor affect it or not? And what happens to Paterson's money? It's a bizarre situation. About the only thing weirder would be a Spitzer comeback, and is that even so impossible to imagine? Yeah, probably.
The thing to watch for is black opinion in New York. Does Obama's abandonment of the governor affect it or not? And what happens to Paterson's money? It's a bizarre situation. About the only thing weirder would be a Spitzer comeback, and is that even so impossible to imagine? Yeah, probably.
Sep 22 2009, 9:34AM
Obama's Letterman Moment
They joked about how cold the studio was and how Sasha and Malia, when they reached the age for dating, would be surrounded by men with guns. The political performance on a talk show, once a rarity, is now a semiregular event--although Letterman noted with bitterness that George W. Bush never came on the Late Show. Nothing Obama said was particularly new or different, but if you're not used to watching Obama at length, you had to be impressed, I think, by his sheer confidence. Television is kind to the tall and thin, and that's Obama, who exuded a quiet comfort if not the sheer enjoyment that marked some of the other famed Letterman appearances like those of Bob Dole or John McCain, who Letterman also slobbered over, as well as Al Gore who famously smashed an ashtray on the show, complete with goggles, to show the idiocy of government regulations governing such things.
Sep 21 2009, 8:51AM
Where's the Anger?
There's a smart piece in The Washington Post this morning about the effort in Congress to contain some of the more outlandish banking fees being imposed on customers. In particular, overdraft fees, which everyone knows to be high, are targeted. In this case, these are fees banks impose after all but encouraging people to overspend and not telling them that they're overdrawn. It's amazing that we've gotten to this point--trillions in bailouts, an economic collapse brought about in no small measure because of the irresponsible behavior of banks, and this is the kind of de minimus regulation that's being considered? I'm sure there's still a populist streak in American life although it seems most animated when it comes to Obama's birth certificate or hatred of Dick Cheney. But in terms of sustained anger and the actors who helped create and perpetuate the crisis that we find ourselves in, it seems sorely lacking. Have there been any protests on the Washington mall about bank lending practices from housing to student loans? Is anybody proposing a boycott of, say, Bank of America?
Sep 18 2009, 5:14PM
Why the Left Should Miss Irving Kristol
It was sad to hear that Irving Kristol passed away this afternoon. The founding father of neoconservatism leaves behind an extraordinary legacy as a promoter of ideas, as a mentor to so many on the right, and as a father and husband. At a time when neoconservatism is so wildly resented on the left, it's worth remembering the noble tradition that Kristol founded most notably through The Public Interest, the small journal he introduced to the world in 1965 with Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Daniel Bell. Later, Nathan Glazer would replace Bell. The journal brought appropriate skepticism and rigor to the prevailing faith in government that held sway at the apex of the Johnson administration and Nelson Rockefeller's big government rule in New York. The magazine asked important questions about whether programs really worked and what were the limits of public action. If you were a serious student of public policy you could disagree with the magazine but you couldn't ignore it. Whether it was James Q. Wilson on crime or Nathan Glazer on affirmative action, the magazine was essential reading and Kristol himself. I remember being recently out of college, working in public policy and being enamored of this essay on the twentieth anniversary of the magazine's founding and the appropriate skepticism the magazine brought to bear on what seemed to be deep seated panics of the time--a fear of "automation," for instance or the "urban crisis." Other journals and institutions would try to reform liberalism from within--The Washington Monthly and The New Republic, where I worked. The now much-dismissed Democratic Leadership Council comes to mind, too. But the first broad strokes of a serious criticism of modern liberalism were painted by Kristol. You don't need to agree with everything he wrote--or certainly with where his disciples took the country--to admire his work on this sad day.
Sep 18 2009, 8:59AM
Michelle's Delicious Legacy
I'm not sure what Michelle Obama's most lasting legacy will be. Will she be associated with a cause like Nancy Reagan's just-say-no, antidrug campaign or more broadly iconic like Jackie Kennedy? As the first African-American First Lady, probably the latter. But the marriage of her office and the moment makes me think her interest in what and how we eat may be as enduring as anything else.
Known already for fulfilling the dreams of foodies everywhere by planting a vegetable garden at the White House, the First Lady attended the opening of the first farmers market near the White House yesterday. I was going to go but when I saw the Tweets of fellow foodies about how long the lines were and the security required to get in---perhaps the first marriage of magnetometers and heirloom tomatoes--I decided to forego standing in a throng to see the First Lady. Besides, I'd already spent too much on Gerber Daisies and Emmanthaler Swiss at Whole Foods anyway.
Obviously, lots of Americans were rethinking how they ate before the Obamas came to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue but Michelle is giving the cause a push in a profound way--not just through notoriety, I think, although that certainly adds rocket fuel to the pursuits of Michael Pollan and Alice Waters and The Atlantic's own Food Channel.
But the First Lady is giving what could be seen as an elite and effete movement a more populist cast. She made it a point to promote the double Food Stamps policy of local DC farmers markets whereby government recipients get twice the value of the stamps putting that
Thai eggplant within reach. By being a Chicagoan who loves burgers and fries--and isn't shy about letting interviewers know it--she's less precious than say, Alice Waters, who one has to love but who I basically wanted to deck after seeing her "60 Minutes" interview in which she pooh-poohed the idea the farmers market food is too expensive--and then proceeded to poach an egg in extra virgin olive oil in the giant fireplace in her kitchen. If the First Lady makes eating well a middle-class and working-class virtue she will have done a lot for all of us. Taking the elitism out of this movement would be a welcome thing.
Known already for fulfilling the dreams of foodies everywhere by planting a vegetable garden at the White House, the First Lady attended the opening of the first farmers market near the White House yesterday. I was going to go but when I saw the Tweets of fellow foodies about how long the lines were and the security required to get in---perhaps the first marriage of magnetometers and heirloom tomatoes--I decided to forego standing in a throng to see the First Lady. Besides, I'd already spent too much on Gerber Daisies and Emmanthaler Swiss at Whole Foods anyway.
Obviously, lots of Americans were rethinking how they ate before the Obamas came to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue but Michelle is giving the cause a push in a profound way--not just through notoriety, I think, although that certainly adds rocket fuel to the pursuits of Michael Pollan and Alice Waters and The Atlantic's own Food Channel.
But the First Lady is giving what could be seen as an elite and effete movement a more populist cast. She made it a point to promote the double Food Stamps policy of local DC farmers markets whereby government recipients get twice the value of the stamps putting that
Thai eggplant within reach. By being a Chicagoan who loves burgers and fries--and isn't shy about letting interviewers know it--she's less precious than say, Alice Waters, who one has to love but who I basically wanted to deck after seeing her "60 Minutes" interview in which she pooh-poohed the idea the farmers market food is too expensive--and then proceeded to poach an egg in extra virgin olive oil in the giant fireplace in her kitchen. If the First Lady makes eating well a middle-class and working-class virtue she will have done a lot for all of us. Taking the elitism out of this movement would be a welcome thing.
Sep 17 2009, 4:10PM
"Imma Let You Finish But Canada Had Best Health Care"
Is the Baucus bill picking up steam? Eh, not so much. But it showed a little more signs of life today when self-styled moderates including hypercentrist Joe Lieberman and the most courted Senator in Washington, Olympia Snowe were among a group to praise Baucus's efforts. Yesterday, Snowe seemed to criticize them. So today's slight praise of the bill seemed to add to the feeling that there was something that might get built upon. Of course, it's not enough to appease most Democrats who think the bill is a big sell out to insurance interests. Last night, Keith Olbermann was fairly apoplectic over the bill. Since the measure has no public option and is cheaper than other packages, it's considered a big bust. But maybe there's at least the beginning of a conversation to be had here. Meanwhile, the president held a big rally in College Park, Maryland this morning to tout the bill. But the crowd, filled with Democratic supporters of the president and folks shipped in by health care groups, booed Baucus and one sign lampooned Kanye West: "Thanks Obama and Imma let you finish but Canada had the best health care of all time." Such are the pressures from left and right on the president as he tries to hold all Democrats together and peel off a couple of Republicans.
Still betting that nothing passes or a very stripped down bill that makes Baucus look liberal. But we'll see.
Still betting that nothing passes or a very stripped down bill that makes Baucus look liberal. But we'll see.
Sep 17 2009, 10:20AM
The Politics of Missile Shields
President Obama's apparent decision to scrap plans for a missile shield based in Poland and the Czech Republic is significant in and of itself. The plan's been controversial both here and in Eastern Europe and especially in Russia even though the defensive plan was aimed at rogue missiles from Iran. But it feels more like the end of a generation long missile-shield era. Anyone who was around in the 80s remembers the Reagan administration's intense ambitions for a missile shield the protect against intercontinental ballistic missiles fired from the old Soviet Union. Such a plan, based on satellite lasers, seemed fantastic at the time and still does. But it had enough power as an idea to help propel the startling arms reductions of the late 80s. And, indeed, technology caught up with Reagan's vision enough that the program continued not only in the first Bush administration but under Bill Clinton, too. Don Rumsfeld, who had killed the anti-ballistic missile program as Secretary of Defense under President Ford, was a huge advocate of its expansion when he was Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush.
This latest move will be hotly debated but a couple of things seem certain. For conservatives, who have made missile shields a centerpiece of their defense vision for a generation, this can only make them hate Obama more. More details will emerge later today, but can anyone doubt the apoplexy building at The Weekly Standard?
This latest move will be hotly debated but a couple of things seem certain. For conservatives, who have made missile shields a centerpiece of their defense vision for a generation, this can only make them hate Obama more. More details will emerge later today, but can anyone doubt the apoplexy building at The Weekly Standard?
Sep 16 2009, 10:53AM
Baucus Caucus? Not So Much
Sen. Max Baucus has introduced his own health care bill. This is important because he chairs the Senate Finance Committee and because he's pledged to come up with a bill that could attract Republican support. But no Republicans have embraced the measure since it came out this morning, and the ranking member of the committee, Chuck Grassley, distanced himself from it. So does this mean the possibility of a bill that some Republicans support is dead? Who knows?
Sep 15 2009, 11:55AM
Joe Wilson And The Half Apology
One of the ironies of the CIA leak case was the way the White House half apologized for the president's 2003 State of the Union address claiming that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium in Africa. After former Ambassador Joe Wilson wrote his scathing op-ed in which he claimed that he had been dispatched to the African country of Niger to investigate such claims--and found them lacking--the White House did something bizarre. They could have said that Wilson was mistaken and that the White House stood by those claims. Indeed, British intelligence never backed off of them. Or they could have said that Wilson was right, thanked him for his government service and vowed to listen more closely. Instead they chose a course that was the worst of all worlds, they conceded that the line should not have been in the State of the Union speech, not because it wasn't true, but because it had not been proven true enough to merit inclusion in the president's most important speech. White House and other administration officials trashed Wilson privately and, famously, outed his wife, a CIA official, which launched an investigation that entangled everyone from Bob Woodward to Robert Novak to myself to the vice president.
Sep 11 2009, 11:53AM
Obama's First 9/11 As President
Eight years ago, Barack Obama was a state senator from Illinois. Now the world wrought by 9/11--an America with two wars to prosecute--is his. He's the president we've had since 9/11 who isn't named Bush.
Obama's world is so fluid. If someone had told you in the fall of 2006, when Americans were dying in Iraq and the Democratic wave began, that three years later Iraq would be relatively calm and we'd be talking about defeat in Afghanistan you'd have been amazed. Three years ago, the left loved to tweak George W. Bush about not finding Bin Laden. Now, they don't bug Obama about the same failure to fine a 6'5" man with supposed dialysis needs.
Obama's world is so fluid. If someone had told you in the fall of 2006, when Americans were dying in Iraq and the Democratic wave began, that three years later Iraq would be relatively calm and we'd be talking about defeat in Afghanistan you'd have been amazed. Three years ago, the left loved to tweak George W. Bush about not finding Bin Laden. Now, they don't bug Obama about the same failure to fine a 6'5" man with supposed dialysis needs.
Sep 9 2009, 9:53PM
Did It Work?
Did the speech work? Did it reset the debate? I don't know and I don't think we'll know for awhile. But I thought it missed a few things that might have made it better:
Hope. There wasn't a vision of a world where you don't have to wrestle with your insurer to get reimbursed, where you can leave your job without losing your insurance, where you can get it. There was a lot of reassurance but I thought the hope element was undersold.
It Won't Cost You a Dime. Can it be true that the plan preserves everything people like in the current system, fixes what's wrong and adds nothing to the deficit? People smarter than me say it's possible. I'm not sure people are gonna buy it.
Too much in the room. I thought it was much more focused on the 535 elected officials in the room than any joint speech I'd seen. It kind of felt more like a Roosevelt Room talk than a speech to the country. A lot of process.
That said, the Kennedy riff was powerful and the portrayal of Kennedy as bipartisan leader was pretty brilliant. The line about government bureaucrats and insurance bureaucrats was a good conflation. Was it enough? I don't know. I don't think we'll know for awhile.
On a personal note, Tony Lee, the conservative writer, makes the point that we got to see another Joe Wilson give the White House hell. La plus ca change....
Hope. There wasn't a vision of a world where you don't have to wrestle with your insurer to get reimbursed, where you can leave your job without losing your insurance, where you can get it. There was a lot of reassurance but I thought the hope element was undersold.
It Won't Cost You a Dime. Can it be true that the plan preserves everything people like in the current system, fixes what's wrong and adds nothing to the deficit? People smarter than me say it's possible. I'm not sure people are gonna buy it.
Too much in the room. I thought it was much more focused on the 535 elected officials in the room than any joint speech I'd seen. It kind of felt more like a Roosevelt Room talk than a speech to the country. A lot of process.
That said, the Kennedy riff was powerful and the portrayal of Kennedy as bipartisan leader was pretty brilliant. The line about government bureaucrats and insurance bureaucrats was a good conflation. Was it enough? I don't know. I don't think we'll know for awhile.
On a personal note, Tony Lee, the conservative writer, makes the point that we got to see another Joe Wilson give the White House hell. La plus ca change....
Sep 2 2009, 3:54PM
What Obama's Speech Needs To Do
Is Jon Favreau, the chief presidential speechwriter, going to get a break? The White House has announced that the president will address a joint session of Congress on September 9. A primetime, joint session speech is about the biggest thing a president can do rhetorically and so the pressure will be on to come up with something that's at once inspiring and clarifying. I say inspiring in the sense that Obama needs to bring back hope when it comes to health care, the idea that it's possible to have a future in which people with insurance don't worry about losing it and the uninsured can be insured, where bankruptcy need not look as a possibility over every serious illness. The debate so far has all been about problems, not hope and possibility. He also needs to clarify what he wants, what he would not tolerate and what his plan really stands for. It'll be easy enough to shoot down "death panels" and some of the more ludicrous criticisms of the health care plans in play. What will be harder to do is to explain the public option--if he chooses to even continue to defend it--or to explain how universal care could be achieved without it.
Aug 25 2009, 6:23AM
Bernanke or Bust
Was there really a choice about reappointing Ben Bernanke to chair the Fed? President Obama's team leaked the announcement last night and the two will stand together before the cameras this morning at the high school on Martha's Vineyard just before the markets open in New York. Obama could have pushed the Fed to the left with an Alan Blinder, a top Fed official in the Clinton years, or made a diversity appointment. But Bernanke has what passes for market confidence these days and whatever you think of the last year of financial crisis management from the former Princeton professor, he certainly took the Fed in new directions--remaking the institution with a series of aggressive actions that either saved the world, if you look at it optimistically, or set the stage for the hyperinflation to come, if you're a pessimist. Either way, how could Obama not pick the quiet man of action? The timing of the announcement was a surprise since the White House had vowed no news would be made on the presidential vacation. But the choice itself couldn't be less surprising.
Aug 18 2009, 1:25PM
Bob Novak, Valerie Plame, and Me
There were things to admire about Robert Novak, who died today at 78. He was a hard-working reporter long after the age when most journalists have left the field. He was not afraid to be unpopular, which is a deeply impressive quality. He had a loving family. His friends, some of whom I count as friendly acquaintances, say he was actually a nice guy or not as unnice as he seemed. I feel for him, suffering through a brain tumor, which seems like as bad a way to go as any.
But there was a lot in Novak not to like, a mean gruff manner visible to anyone on TV, a stiletto pen that seemed more about destroying than illuminating. I disagreed with his politics but it wasn't his politics which were infuriating. It was his arch, cutting style that made him one of the journalists I wanted to avoid becoming. It was his behavior in the CIA leak case that made me think still less of him.
But there was a lot in Novak not to like, a mean gruff manner visible to anyone on TV, a stiletto pen that seemed more about destroying than illuminating. I disagreed with his politics but it wasn't his politics which were infuriating. It was his arch, cutting style that made him one of the journalists I wanted to avoid becoming. It was his behavior in the CIA leak case that made me think still less of him.
Aug 7 2009, 4:40PM
Why The Brawls of August Are Good
There's lots of lamenting on the left about all the teabaggers showing up and town hall meetings on health care being held by returning members. The right's all atwitter about organized labor and the left sending people to these meetings. I'm not sure any of it is really bad. Obviously, death threats, demonization and the like are not good for civil discourse. No one gains from shouting. In a perfect world each town meeting would be a civilized discussion of the merits of different approaches to health care. But that's not the world we live in. The more likely alternative is no interest, sparsely attended meetings or just one side showing up.
Aug 6 2009, 1:05PM
Republicans for Sotomayor
We're still a couple of hours shy of the vote that will confirm Sonia Sotomayor as the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. At the moment it looks like eight Republicans will support her: Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Mel Martinez of Florida, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Kit Bond of Missouri. George Voinovich of Ohio is said to be up in the air, according to the National Review's online edition.
In some ways this is predictable, You figured that the Maine Senators, the most left leaning in the GOP Conference, would go with Sotomayor. Lindsey Graham was not a shocker although I was surprised that he actually did support her. I'm surprised that Orin Hatch, who supported a lot of Democratic judicial nominees over the years, didn't come over, but he's also dropped out of the health care talks which suggests that he's getting some pressure from the right.
In some ways this is predictable, You figured that the Maine Senators, the most left leaning in the GOP Conference, would go with Sotomayor. Lindsey Graham was not a shocker although I was surprised that he actually did support her. I'm surprised that Orin Hatch, who supported a lot of Democratic judicial nominees over the years, didn't come over, but he's also dropped out of the health care talks which suggests that he's getting some pressure from the right.
Aug 5 2009, 6:24PM
The Tragedy of Bill Jefferson
There's something comic and familiar, of course, about a Louisiana politician going to jail. We've come to expect colorful rogues in jumpsuit orange. There's something more tragic to the fall of William Jefferson. Maybe because he was the state's first African American congressman since Reconstruction or maybe it's because he's a Harvard-trained lawyer. A lot of excitement greeted his election. After all, he took over the seat once held by House Majority Leader Hale Boggs and his wife, Lindy Boggs, the mother of ABCNews's Cokie Roberts and venerable lobbyist Tommy Boggs. Jefferson's arrival in Congress in 1991 was another sign of the rise of biracial politics in the South even if the district had been made still blacker to all but ensure the election of an African American.
The conviction on 11 of 16 counts wasn't shocking. After all, $90,000 worth of cash in one's freezer is always tough to defend. But that doesn't make the whole episode so disspiriting in a way that it wouldn't be if it were someone else.
The hopeful sign here is the 2nd district itself. Surprising almost everyone, the longtime Democratic district elected a Republican, Joseph Cao, who is of Vietnamese origin. He's the first native of Vietnam to serve in Congress, a sign that just as corruption remains endemic in American politics so does fluidity and surprise.
The conviction on 11 of 16 counts wasn't shocking. After all, $90,000 worth of cash in one's freezer is always tough to defend. But that doesn't make the whole episode so disspiriting in a way that it wouldn't be if it were someone else.
The hopeful sign here is the 2nd district itself. Surprising almost everyone, the longtime Democratic district elected a Republican, Joseph Cao, who is of Vietnamese origin. He's the first native of Vietnam to serve in Congress, a sign that just as corruption remains endemic in American politics so does fluidity and surprise.
Aug 5 2009, 5:45PM
The Enduring Clintons
When you think of what just happened in Pyonyang, it's extraordinary. A former president was dispatched to rescue the employees of his former vice president. Meanwhile, his wife, the secretary of state, who lost to the current president, played an integral role in setting up the entire mission even as she jets off to Africa where the president himself just visited. Try substituting Nixon/Agnew, Bush/Quayle, Roosevelt/Wallace, or any other combination of president and vice president and it's impossible to picture. Such is the unique position of the Clintons in the world today, the Secretary of State married to a free-floating global ambassador.
Aug 4 2009, 5:30PM
Good News for Cap and Traders
The very busy folks at Media Matters Action are promoting a new report that says the president's energy bill would only cost Americans 23 cents a day--far less than critics of the bill have charged. The report comes from the administration itself, specifically the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. So critics will probably continue to carp no matter what but it does add grist for those who are arguing that the bill is not a jobs destroyer. So far the summer has not been a great one for climate change activists on the left. The G-8 failed to come to a significant agreement and the president's measure remains in trouble. That said, the issue isn't going away. Today there were reports that ocean temperatures had risen to their highest levels in recorded history.
Aug 4 2009, 3:02PM
What Bill Said To Kim Jong Il
Through the placement of a special listening device in Pyonyang, The Atlantic was able to overhear President Clinton speaking with Korean Strongman Kim Jong Il at their meeting today.
"Hey, man, I hear you like movies. That is awesome. I am told that you are a huge fan of James Bond. I love that guy, man. Have you ever seen the In Like Flint movies with James Coburn or Austin Powers? You remind me of that Dr. Evil dude, but in a good way. That is some good stuff....Who is your favorite Bond girl? So torn between Ursula Andress and Halle Berry.
"But enough chit chat. You know I have enormous respect for the Korean people. Hot Springs and Seoul are actually sister cities. And your love of Bulgoki finds a place in the hearts of Arkansans who love barbecue. You ever see Margaret Cho? Very funny. So know, I come here out of respect and admiration.
"Hey, man, I hear you like movies. That is awesome. I am told that you are a huge fan of James Bond. I love that guy, man. Have you ever seen the In Like Flint movies with James Coburn or Austin Powers? You remind me of that Dr. Evil dude, but in a good way. That is some good stuff....Who is your favorite Bond girl? So torn between Ursula Andress and Halle Berry.
"But enough chit chat. You know I have enormous respect for the Korean people. Hot Springs and Seoul are actually sister cities. And your love of Bulgoki finds a place in the hearts of Arkansans who love barbecue. You ever see Margaret Cho? Very funny. So know, I come here out of respect and admiration.
Aug 3 2009, 5:09PM
Deadline, What Deadline?
Late on Monday, Sen. Mike Enzi, not exactly a household name but an important figure in the health care debate, said that he didn't feel obligated to meet a September 15 deadline to pass a healthcare bill. The Wyoming Republican is just the latest to balk at the idea of a deadline. Recall that the White House wanted a health care bill before Congress left for its August recess. That got rolled back and the middle of September has been the latest line in the sand. But the truth is that all of these deadlines are pretty useless.
Jul 30 2009, 4:59PM
Alternative Theories on Obama's Poll Decline
The Washington elites are abuzz over Obama's poll decline. Of course, polls are mercurial, everchanging and go up and down. Nevertheless they do reflect a reality of public perception at a particular moment and they create their own dynamic. New research from the folks at Pew suggests that the economy, health care and Obama's comments on the Henry Louis Gates arrest have helped push his numbers down. All those things certainly make sense. While everybody wants health care reform in the abstract, people are bound to be disappointed when it comes to specifics. And the economy continues to suffer despite an uptick in the financial markets. The Gates episode seems to have hurt Obama most with non-Hispanic whites who may more naturally side with the police that Obama claims acted "stupidly" before walking his comments back.
Jul 29 2009, 5:05PM
Food Safety Fail
With all the talk of how we eat--from Michael Pollan's bestsellers to Michelle Obama's victory garden to the Food channel here at The Atlantic--it's worth noting that Congress missed an opportunity today to pass a law that would strengthen food safety, at least according to the bill's supporters. The Food Safety Enhancement Act went down to defeat this afternoon, mostly because of Republican voters but also an odd coalition of conservative and liberal Democrats.
The website Gastronomalies notes that the penalties for violations of existing food safety laws would have been upped considerably under the bill. The downside of the measure was that it did nothing to regulate some of the more gruesome practices of factory farms--stun baths, chickens so fattened and immobilized they have heart attacks, cows in their own feces, and all the other horror messes documented in the film Food Inc and books like Fast Food Nation.
The website Gastronomalies notes that the penalties for violations of existing food safety laws would have been upped considerably under the bill. The downside of the measure was that it did nothing to regulate some of the more gruesome practices of factory farms--stun baths, chickens so fattened and immobilized they have heart attacks, cows in their own feces, and all the other horror messes documented in the film Food Inc and books like Fast Food Nation.
Jul 29 2009, 2:45PM
What to Watch in the Health Care Debate
Amidst all the crazy health care negotiations, one thing to keep your eye on is this: Will the Senate Finance Committee come to dominate the process. Multiple congressional committees are working on health care, all with their own ideas. But the Senate Finance Committee is probably the most important to watch because its chairman, Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat, has vowed to produce a bipartisan bill. Other bills incorporate Republican amendments but that's not quite the same thing. Anyway, I bring all this up today because Baucus announced this afternoon that they have a bill that keeps the cost under $1 trillion and is all paid for--mostly through Medicare cuts. It eschews the so-called public option that Democrats and the administration consider so essential to reducing costs and getting insurance to the uninsured.
Jul 29 2009, 11:52AM
The Irrelevance of Iraq
While traveling in Turkey this morning, Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested that Iraq troop withdrawal could be accelerated. Some 5,000 American troops could come home because violence levels in the country were generally down and Iraqi security forces were doing well on their own. Two brigades, or about 10,000 troops, are to be withdrawn from Iraq by this year and Gates said it was possible one more brigade, or 5,000 troops, could come home, too. What's amazing is how little this orderly withdrawal seems to be benefiting the Obama administration. Of course, with an economy still in turmoil and a renewed commitment to Afghanistan and a push for universal health care, the fate of 5,000 troops coming home early is bound to get lost in the shuffle. Still, this is a case where the administration is doing what it said it would do and it's all going pretty well--not withstanding the spasms of violence that continue to plague Iraq.
Jul 16 2009, 4:00PM
Bork on Sotomayor and Himself
Robert Bork, who was rejected by the Senate in 1987, is still kind of, um, bitter. The almost comic video from Newsmax.com features an interview in which he says that Sonia Sotomayor doesn't follow the law and that her "wise Latina" line should have been disqualifying. I thank my friends at Talkingpointsmemo.com for the heads up. Here's the video:
I have a few thoughts about Bork, some sympathetic and some not so much. First, I think the now generation-long conservative gripe about his not getting on the Supreme Court has a lot of merit. The Ted Kennedy attack on Bork was pretty outrageous, arguing that the Justice wanted a return to segregated lunch counters among other past evils. Bork was and is a critic of the Warren Court in the mold of Antonin Scalia--although he was to the right of Scalia on issues like flag burning. But his views were utterly lampooned by the Democrats. When his nomination went down, Republicans were outraged. His would-be successor, Douglas Ginsburg, had to withdraw his nomination after his marijuana use came to light. He's still on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. After that fiasco, an exhausted Senate confirmed Anthony Kennedy 97-0.
So Bork has some reason to be bitter but he's been milking it for years now. For someone who says he doesn't want judges to litigate and wants politics left to the politicians, he's still shocked that politics somehow tainted his nomination. But the Senate is a political body and just as it struck down two of President Nixon's Supreme Court nominees it knocked down Bork. In the Borkian view, which he repeats on the video, the Supreme Court was once a serent place but because the Warren Court was so whacked out. (Miranda rights! Brown v. Board!) it injected itself into the political sphere and thus its fights got more extreme. There's something to that. Even pro-choice liberals like Ruth Bader Ginsburg have questioned the court's decision in Roe.
But the fact is that presidential court nominees have gotten pretty respectful hearings. Certainly John Roberts and Sam Alito did.
I have a few thoughts about Bork, some sympathetic and some not so much. First, I think the now generation-long conservative gripe about his not getting on the Supreme Court has a lot of merit. The Ted Kennedy attack on Bork was pretty outrageous, arguing that the Justice wanted a return to segregated lunch counters among other past evils. Bork was and is a critic of the Warren Court in the mold of Antonin Scalia--although he was to the right of Scalia on issues like flag burning. But his views were utterly lampooned by the Democrats. When his nomination went down, Republicans were outraged. His would-be successor, Douglas Ginsburg, had to withdraw his nomination after his marijuana use came to light. He's still on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. After that fiasco, an exhausted Senate confirmed Anthony Kennedy 97-0.
So Bork has some reason to be bitter but he's been milking it for years now. For someone who says he doesn't want judges to litigate and wants politics left to the politicians, he's still shocked that politics somehow tainted his nomination. But the Senate is a political body and just as it struck down two of President Nixon's Supreme Court nominees it knocked down Bork. In the Borkian view, which he repeats on the video, the Supreme Court was once a serent place but because the Warren Court was so whacked out. (Miranda rights! Brown v. Board!) it injected itself into the political sphere and thus its fights got more extreme. There's something to that. Even pro-choice liberals like Ruth Bader Ginsburg have questioned the court's decision in Roe.
But the fact is that presidential court nominees have gotten pretty respectful hearings. Certainly John Roberts and Sam Alito did.
Jul 16 2009, 11:03AM
Is The Holder-White House Fight For Real?
I won't claim to be sourced on the whole White House v. Department of Justice fight about whether to launch a criminal investigation into torture during the Bush era. Recent news reports have suggested that Attorney General Eric Holder is considering such an investigation and that the White House, which had inveighed against it, would prefer it not go forward. Newsweek's excellent piece by former colleague and friend, Dan Klaidman, portrayed Holder as an independent spirit who is deeply troubled by the facts surrounding the treatment of detainees and is inclined to launch a full-scale investigation to the chagrin of a president who has said that he'd rather look forward. The White House is said to be alarmed by Holder's independence but are they really?
Jul 15 2009, 2:44PM
Scalia, Sotmayor And The Protestant Rebellion That Wasn't
A few commentators haven noted that if Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed, she'll be the sixth Catholic to sit on the court. There will be two Jews and one Protestant. That this is a total non-issue says so much about the country, how it's changed and our notions of diversity. Anti-Catholicism was a mainstay of American life for so long. One need only recall the 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy and his assurances that he wouldn't take orders from the Pope and contrast it with that of John F. Kerry who, in 2004, had to address windsurfing more than his religion. So it's remarkable that today this is not an issue. No Protestant group lobbied for another WASP on the court. It just worked out that six Catholics wound up on the bench, not by design but by the organic choices of multiple presidents.
Jul 15 2009, 6:38AM
The Health-Care Surtax And Its Discontents
Democrats in the House of Representatives released their version of a health-care bill yesterday. While it marks just one phase in the complex legislative process, it's still a signal moment and one that poses opportunities and risks for the Obama administration. On one hand, it's really happening--a bill that could greatly expand health insurance coverage to milllions of Americans who don't have it. On the other hand, the ideal of near-universal insurance comes with a price tag and with a way to pay for it. The House Democrats went with a surtax on the wealthy, as much as a 5.4 percent tax on families making more than $350,000 a year. There's a common sense aspect to this: You want health care. You need the money. It's got to come from somewhere. Why not those who are able to afford it?
Jul 14 2009, 5:53AM
Exit Steve Rattner
I know and like Steve Rattner, which doesn't make me especially unique. The New York financier is well known in Washington and New York, where he started the Quadrangle Group investment firm after years at Lazard Freres and other firms. His wife, Maureen White, was a finance director of the Democratic National Committee, and the two are well connected in politics in both cities. The Rattners are close to the Clintons, and Steve was an outspoken supporter of Chuck Schumer in his 1998 Senate bid and for New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. For what it's worth, I hosted a panel with Katie Couric, Brian Williams and George Stephanopoulos at Quadrangle's annual Foursquare conference this past year and spoke on another occasion in front of his group.
Like a lot of people, I was surprised to hear yesterday that Rattner was giving up his role as Obama's chief auto adviser so quickly after the General Motors restructuring. The New York Times has an account. Mickey Kaus offers a number of theories over here at Slate.
One issue seems to be an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into the practices of investment firms, like Quadrangle, seeking new business especially managing pension funds. Some other investment firms like the private-equity giant, the Carlyle Group, have paid fines. The Times also quotes an adminstration official noting that Rattner's work was largely over.
I guess for me there are two interesting aspects of the story. The first is how thorny it's been for Treasury to bring in people to help fix the financial mess. They've had to grant waivers over various lobbying restrictions, and they've been at pains to find people with the expertise to fix the mess that we're in but who were not themselves part of the mess. That's a small applicant pool. Leaving aside the merits of the Cuomo investigation, it's likely to make that pool even smaller.
Like a lot of people, I was surprised to hear yesterday that Rattner was giving up his role as Obama's chief auto adviser so quickly after the General Motors restructuring. The New York Times has an account. Mickey Kaus offers a number of theories over here at Slate.
One issue seems to be an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into the practices of investment firms, like Quadrangle, seeking new business especially managing pension funds. Some other investment firms like the private-equity giant, the Carlyle Group, have paid fines. The Times also quotes an adminstration official noting that Rattner's work was largely over.
I guess for me there are two interesting aspects of the story. The first is how thorny it's been for Treasury to bring in people to help fix the financial mess. They've had to grant waivers over various lobbying restrictions, and they've been at pains to find people with the expertise to fix the mess that we're in but who were not themselves part of the mess. That's a small applicant pool. Leaving aside the merits of the Cuomo investigation, it's likely to make that pool even smaller.
Jul 13 2009, 1:45PM
Lindsey Graham's Swing Shtick
You have to like Lindsey Graham's air of reasonableness. My colleague, Chris Good, notes that the senior senator from South Carolina put on a good performance this morning, saying publicly that he might vote to confirm Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. Amidst all the preening by the Senate Judiciary Committee members, Graham's hiccups of honesty--saying Sotomayor would be confirmed barring a meltdown--seemed refreshing even if they were obviously true. It's a good week, though, to read Geoff Earle's 2005 piece in The Washington Monthly on Graham, who is less moderate than he appears to be. Graham earned a reputation as a thoughtful moderate during the Clinton impeachment hearings, but in fact he'd signed on to a resolution calling for an impeachment inquiry--months before the Lewinsky scandal came to light. (The measure was introduced by Bob Barr, the former Republican congressman who would become the Libertarian Party candidate for president in 2008.) Earle notes that while Graham was a consistent voice against torture--a position stemming from his role as an Air Force attorney--he was never a tough voice against Rumsfeld at the time of Abu Ghraib.
Jul 11 2009, 3:20PM
The Obama Speech Newt and Rove (And America) Could Love
You don't have to be a conservative Republican to think President Obama gave an extraordinary speech in Ghana today. But conservative reaction to the address has already been favorable. Newt Gingrich wrote on Twitter that "The Obama speech in ghana is a very positive speech about importance of self government and responsibility of Africans for their own future." Karl Rove noted that Obama praised George W. Bush's increase of HIV/AIDS assistance to Africa. The speech, which was the highlight of the president's one-day visit to Africa, had obvious emotional import from the start--the first African-American president, the son of a Kenyan, comes to the country where so many slaves began their journey to North America. (After his speech, Obama visited the famed gate of no-return where so many slaves departed Africa for the West.)
Jul 10 2009, 4:30PM
The Jockeying For Obama's Old Senate Seat
The jockeying to replace Roland Burris as the next United States Senator from Illinois continues. Earlier this week, Democrats were bummed to hear that the state's attorney general, Lisa Madigan, was going to decline to run for the seat being held by Burris and that used to be held by a fellow named Barack Obama. Republicans were doubly encouraged to hear that Mark Kirk, a relatively moderate and popular Republican congressman from the state, was likely to get in the race. Now, Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post is reporting that Kirk is not going to get in the race after all. Why does this matter? Because the race for a seat vacated by a president is important.
Jul 10 2009, 12:02PM
Winning the Sotomayor Witness Game
Generally, the witnesses in a Supreme Court confirmation hearing take a backseat to the nominee himself. Sure, there was Anita Hill and all of the drama surrounding Clarence Thomas's extraordinary confirmation hearings. But can you remember anything about those who testified for or against Sam Alito or Ruth Bader Ginsburg? I couldn't. In general, it's the interplay between the senators and the nominees themselves that attracts attention. But this time it could be different. Both sides have tapped big guns for and against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic and only the third female associate justice in the history of the Supreme Court. I'd give a slight edge to the GOP, for sheer cleverness in designing their witness list. Here's why.
Jul 9 2009, 10:59AM
Even With Sen. Franken, Employee Free Choice Act Is Stuck
The arrival of Al Franken is encouraging supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act, but the bill remains stuck in the Senate. Franken has signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill and announced as much to cheers at an AFL-CIO event in his honor on Tuesday night. But the problem that's plagued the bill for months still remains: 60 Democrats don't support it and the Republicans are determined to filibuster the measure, which has united the business community like nothing else in recent memory. Among those Democratic Senate votes still trying to be nailed down are Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Arlen Specter, Jim Webb and Mark Warner of Virginia, Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Dianne Feinstein has been less than enthusiastic about the proposal, which is sometimes called Card Check. No Republicans are backing the bill. Chuck Schumer of New York and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are trying to find a compromise that can get the 60 votes. With Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy in ailing health, the proposition is even dicier.
Jul 8 2009, 3:38PM
Sotomayor's Allies
Emily Bazelon has a great and revealing interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the upcoming edition of The New York Times Magazine. Most of it centers on the role of women on the court, all of which is interesting. The full-throated endorsement of Sonia Sotomayor is itself interesting, the gentle ribbing of Breyer and Scalia as aggressive questioners on the Court and her deep affection for the late Chief Justice WIlliam Rehnquist and her thoughts on his growing sensitivity to feminist causes all make for good reading on the Sotomayor hearings. It's hard to believe that the interview wasn't timed to help Sotomayor not that she needs much help.
I spoke with a Democratic Senator just after Sotomayor made her first round of courtesy calls to Judiciary Committee members. He's not someone who would oppose Sotomayor in any event but he said something which was quite interesting: Sotomayor was incredibly charming, collegial. For him, it helped put to rest the idea that she was somehow uncollegial. "She'll be really potent in conference," the Senator told me, referring to the sessions where the Justices hammer out how they'll vote.
Sotomayor will rightfully get questioned about the New Haven Firefighters case where the Court reversed the Second Circuit ruling and struck down the Connecticut city's aggressive affirmative action plan. She'll get knocked around a bit for her "wise Latina" comments. But she seems heading to an incredibly smooth hearing next week. I'll be especially interested to watch Orin Hatch who was a vocal advocate for Steven Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Will he be on board for Sotomayor. I'm sure conservative stalwarts like Jon Kyl and Jeff Sessions will vote against her. There's a reflexive wing in both parties. (Bill Bradley voted against David Souter.) But Hatch is the swing vote I'll watch. And even if he decides to lay down a marker against her, it'll be a pretty easy set of hearings.
I spoke with a Democratic Senator just after Sotomayor made her first round of courtesy calls to Judiciary Committee members. He's not someone who would oppose Sotomayor in any event but he said something which was quite interesting: Sotomayor was incredibly charming, collegial. For him, it helped put to rest the idea that she was somehow uncollegial. "She'll be really potent in conference," the Senator told me, referring to the sessions where the Justices hammer out how they'll vote.
Sotomayor will rightfully get questioned about the New Haven Firefighters case where the Court reversed the Second Circuit ruling and struck down the Connecticut city's aggressive affirmative action plan. She'll get knocked around a bit for her "wise Latina" comments. But she seems heading to an incredibly smooth hearing next week. I'll be especially interested to watch Orin Hatch who was a vocal advocate for Steven Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Will he be on board for Sotomayor. I'm sure conservative stalwarts like Jon Kyl and Jeff Sessions will vote against her. There's a reflexive wing in both parties. (Bill Bradley voted against David Souter.) But Hatch is the swing vote I'll watch. And even if he decides to lay down a marker against her, it'll be a pretty easy set of hearings.
Jul 7 2009, 9:06AM
One Man's Case For Sanford And Palin
Just when the Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin moments seem to be at a close, Stanley Fish, offers a defense of the two beleaguered Republican governors in the New York Times. His point is that their rambling, televised speeches--both so criticized--represented genuine, authentic moments without guile or cunning. Palin was hurting; Sanford was in love. "So what's the bottom line story?," Fish, a literary theorist and legal scholar, notes "Simple. Sanford is in love. Palin is in pain. Sometimes what it seems to be is what it is." Fish acknowledges that he'd never in his right mind vote for Sanford or Palin but he saves his scorn for the pundits and critics who tried to discern deeper meaning in the statements of the two governors. Was Palin really running for president in '12? Was this how Sanford thought he'd resurrect his national ambition? It was clear amidst their rambling, unstructured statements, Fish observes, that there was no master plan.
Jul 6 2009, 2:27PM
How To Think About McNamara
My colleauge, Marc Ambinder, has a smart take on Robert McNamara here. It's a safe bet that Robert McNamara's death won't get the coverage afforded Farrah Fawcett or even Ed McMahon. The former Defense Secretary and Vietnam War architect led a life as big as the 20th century, from whiz kid at the Ford Motor Company through Vietnam and then on to the World Bank. His regrets and agony over Vietnam became legend in his later years and his work for liberal causes like the nuclear freeze movement of the 1980s made him an ally of those who used to protest outside his office at the Pentagon. Mickey Kaus asked in the New Republic more than 20 years ago whether any single American had done more damage than McNamara.
Jul 6 2009, 11:40AM
Palin: Could She Take it Back?
Could Sarah Palin rescind her intent to resign? My friend and colleague, Josh Marshall, raises that intriguing possibility here. He notes that Larry Craig indicated that he intended to resign his office and then never did. (The arrested Idaho Republican did decline to run for reelection in 2008.) Could Palin, facing a bewildering array of criticism, decide at the last minute that she wants to stick around? It's unlikely, as Josh acknowledges, but it's no more erratic than Ross Perot who dropped out of the 1992 presidential race only to reenter it later. And it's no odder than the behavior of Marc Sanford in South Carolina.
It's hard to see how it would behoove Palin to suddenly take back her offer of resignation. She'd have to explain why she was so adamant about it. And Alaska Republicans would be even more sick of her. But it does have the advantage of letting her serve out her term. And she could claim, as Perot did, that she was responding to popular demand. Perot cited the public for his getting in the race the first time in 1992 and then again when he returned to the race that fall. The odd billionaire wound up with 19 percent of the popular vote, the highest garnered for a third party since 1912 and Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Mosse run for the presidency. So if the public was willing to forgive such lunacy then who's to say they wouldn't do it this time? Can I take a crack at her opening remarks?
"Gosh, the elites of this country say that you can't change your mind and rethink a major decision that has consequences for Alaska and all Americans. But they don't seem to understand what average people here in Wasilla and across the country know and that is that the freedom--yes, the freedom--to change your mind is the opposite of the so-called, quote Big Brother mentality. And what about our troops fighting for that freedom? Aren't they doing a great job? So as I made plans with Todd and everyone to start this next chapter in our lives we heard from lots of ordinary citizens who said it would be great if you helped promote freedom from outside government but why not stay in because we need more people like you? And ya know what? I listened to those people through their email and their Twitter Tweets and their Facebook and ya know what? I understood what they said. And so I've decided to make a personal sacrifice and stay on as governor where I can serve the peoples of this great state."
It's hard to see how it would behoove Palin to suddenly take back her offer of resignation. She'd have to explain why she was so adamant about it. And Alaska Republicans would be even more sick of her. But it does have the advantage of letting her serve out her term. And she could claim, as Perot did, that she was responding to popular demand. Perot cited the public for his getting in the race the first time in 1992 and then again when he returned to the race that fall. The odd billionaire wound up with 19 percent of the popular vote, the highest garnered for a third party since 1912 and Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Mosse run for the presidency. So if the public was willing to forgive such lunacy then who's to say they wouldn't do it this time? Can I take a crack at her opening remarks?
"Gosh, the elites of this country say that you can't change your mind and rethink a major decision that has consequences for Alaska and all Americans. But they don't seem to understand what average people here in Wasilla and across the country know and that is that the freedom--yes, the freedom--to change your mind is the opposite of the so-called, quote Big Brother mentality. And what about our troops fighting for that freedom? Aren't they doing a great job? So as I made plans with Todd and everyone to start this next chapter in our lives we heard from lots of ordinary citizens who said it would be great if you helped promote freedom from outside government but why not stay in because we need more people like you? And ya know what? I listened to those people through their email and their Twitter Tweets and their Facebook and ya know what? I understood what they said. And so I've decided to make a personal sacrifice and stay on as governor where I can serve the peoples of this great state."
Jul 4 2009, 7:54PM
The Palin Thing Is Still Wacko
A day later, the Palin speech is still one of the most bizarre events in politics that one can remember. (Mark Sanford's cri de coeur is a close second.) It's still unclear if she's out of politics for good and if she's not whether she has irreparably harmed her chances of running for higher office.
Jul 3 2009, 5:27PM
Three Theories of Palin's Resignation
Sarah Palin's stunning announcement that she'd not only decline to seek reelection as Alaska's Governor in 2010 but that she'd resign her term later this month caught everyone by surprise. After all, can you think of another presidential candidate who resigned their office to seek the presidency? Jimmy Carter and Mitt Romney had left their governorships when they sought the White House. Bill Clinton remained as Arkansas governor when he sought the presidency. George McClellan was fired by Lincoln before he ran for the presidency in 1864. The last person I can think of who left government service to run for the presidency was Dwight Eisenhower who gave up his NATO command in the Spring of 1952 and garnered the GOP presidendtial nomination a couple of months later. That's far different from cutting out of elective office 18 months before you're scheduled to leave.
Okay, so why would Palin do this on a Friday before a holday, traditionally a day for dumping bad news? A couple of theories:
1. She has more bad news to report. There's something going on with her family again. There's more to come with the state's finance. Whatever. There's no good reason for her to suddenly up and quit the governorship, her one claim on elective experience.
2. She wants the money. Palin is probably turning down tons of lucrative speaking offers, corporate boards and others ways of getting righ while she bides her time waiting for the presidency. Maybe she just cant say no to the money any longer?
3. She's totally impulsive. Assuming this wasn't a well calculated, move maybe she's just being utterly impulsive. She got sick of the job, sick of dealing with declining revenue, sick of having to stay close to Juneau and Wasilla when she really wants to be in Manchester and Des Moines.
I can't explain why Palin who abandon the people of Alaska before she finishes her first term as governor. But I suspect not that many Alaskans will be complaining.
Okay, so why would Palin do this on a Friday before a holday, traditionally a day for dumping bad news? A couple of theories:
1. She has more bad news to report. There's something going on with her family again. There's more to come with the state's finance. Whatever. There's no good reason for her to suddenly up and quit the governorship, her one claim on elective experience.
2. She wants the money. Palin is probably turning down tons of lucrative speaking offers, corporate boards and others ways of getting righ while she bides her time waiting for the presidency. Maybe she just cant say no to the money any longer?
3. She's totally impulsive. Assuming this wasn't a well calculated, move maybe she's just being utterly impulsive. She got sick of the job, sick of dealing with declining revenue, sick of having to stay close to Juneau and Wasilla when she really wants to be in Manchester and Des Moines.
I can't explain why Palin who abandon the people of Alaska before she finishes her first term as governor. But I suspect not that many Alaskans will be complaining.
Jul 1 2009, 5:21PM
Reagan, Palin And That Vanity Fair Palin Story
Lots of buzz today about my my friend Todd Purdum's story on Sarah Palin in the new issue of Vanity Fair. The story's a good reminder of the still enduring role of the monthly magazine in the age of blogs and Twitter. By going over ground that was not exactly unfamiliar--the contempt that McCain staffers felt toward their charge, the governor of Alaska--Purdum was able to find the new in the well-trod, the headline amidst what seemed to be an old story. The level of vitriol and consternation expressed toward Palin is remarkable and so is the extent to which the senior officials of the McCain campaign were continually amazed by her lack of knowledge and her audacity. She tried to make her own concession speech on election night, something that veep candidates never do, and after refusing to take no for an answer from top McCain aides, had to be told no by the Arizona Senator himself.
Jul 1 2009, 2:09PM
Your Thoughts On Truman, Obama And Gays In the Military
Yesterday, I noted that the Obama administration could learn a thing or two from Harry Truman's 1948 executive order integrating the military. Readers rightly noted that I left out some important variables. First, Truman didn't rush to integrate. He took office in 1945 and waited until 1948 to do the deed. Second, Obama needs congressional approval to overturn the don't-ask-don't-tell policy, and I implied that it was his prerogative alone. That's not quite right.
On the first point, I don't think it diminishes Truman's political courage or risk taking to note that he waited until 1948 to integrate the military, a far harder task than faces Obama given the virulence of Jim Crow. It's true that there were political benefits to the integration order that helped Truman win the votes of blacks who had migrated north to states where they weren't largely prevented from voting, such as Illinois. But overall it was a gamble of astonishing proportions in an election year and far riskier than anything Obama is thus far avoiding. Truman's position helped lead to the Strom Thurmond/segregationist walkout from the party. No Democrat in Congress is going to bolt over this.
On the first point, I don't think it diminishes Truman's political courage or risk taking to note that he waited until 1948 to integrate the military, a far harder task than faces Obama given the virulence of Jim Crow. It's true that there were political benefits to the integration order that helped Truman win the votes of blacks who had migrated north to states where they weren't largely prevented from voting, such as Illinois. But overall it was a gamble of astonishing proportions in an election year and far riskier than anything Obama is thus far avoiding. Truman's position helped lead to the Strom Thurmond/segregationist walkout from the party. No Democrat in Congress is going to bolt over this.
Jun 30 2009, 8:14PM
Senator Franken: Part Hillary, Part Teddy, Not Liddy
What can we expect from Sen. Al Franken? My colleague, Jay Newton-Small at Time, makes some predictions about his impact here. All true, I say. But I'd add a few other points. First, you can fully expect Franken to follow the Hillary model for how to be a celebrity Senator. (It's also the Obama model, to a lesser degree.) That is, keep your head down. Don't do a lot of TV, at first. Go genuflect to Robert Byrd and sit in his ornate Capitol office and let the giant of West Virginia ramble on about the Romans and talk about the minutiae of Senate rules. In other words, don't act like you're a celebrity senator deserving of more airtime than Mark Begich or Tom Udall. Franken will do his homework, study hard and pay attention to constituent services just like Clinton did when she came to the Senate in 2001. Anyone who expects Air America appearances, books, or showboating at hearings will probably be disappointed.
Jun 30 2009, 10:55AM
Clinton, Truman, Obama and Gays in the Military
President Obama tried to reassure gay leaders last night that he was still with them on eliminating the military's don't-ask-don't-tell policy. His press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that it would be gone by the time that Obama sees reelection. At this point, I take them at their word, but what's interesting is that two Democratic presidents have now stumbled on this issue, showing the gap between campaign promises and what's at least perceived to be political reality. A third Democratic president offers a better way.
Jun 29 2009, 11:23AM
After New Haven, Affirmative Action Is Not Back
Affirmative action had been fading from American political life for the past two decades. Yes, there have been occasionally controversial Supreme Court decisions and a few legislative battles but for the most part it's not dominated the life of Washington or conversation nationally. California is an exception here where the Ward Connerly-led efforts to overturn affiramtive action in higher education prevailed. But if you think back to the landmark Bakke decision of the 70s, affirmative action has nowhere near the potency it once did. Early in the Reagan administration there was thought to repealing Executive Order 11246, the Kennedy-era dictum that became the basis of federal affirmative action programs. But it was never repealed and for the most part the basic structures of affirmative action have remained in place in Washington and thus the country. Affirmative action has become a part of daily life in thousands of corporate HR offices and in government ones, too. It's not as aggressive as many would like and it hasn't faded away as others would wish.
Jun 26 2009, 9:25AM
What Barack Obama Owes Michael Jackson
They were born three years and 24 days apart. And a more than an ocean separated the only child of a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother and the Gary, Indiana kid who was the seventh of nine children. It would be wrong to read too much political meaning into the career of Michael Jackson and that of Barack Obama. (No one is thinking tonite that Hillary Clinton owes a debt of gratitude to Farrah Fawcett.) But it would be myopic to say that Jackson had a huge cultural impact and no political impact, either.
Jun 25 2009, 1:26PM
Clarence Thomas, Outcast? Or President?
Today, the Supreme Court issued its second 8-1 decision with Clarence Thomas providing as the lone dissenting voice. Last week, it was the court's ruling in a case on the Voting Rights Act. Today, the court ruled that Arizona public school officials violated a 13-year-old girl's constitutional rights when they stripped searched her in a search for prescription strength drugs. The majority ruled that, had the search been for illicit drugs or something else that might have cause more imminent harm, then the search might have been justified, but not in a mad search for something like Tylenol. As it happens, no pills were found on the girl. Officials acted on a tip from another student.
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