From the NY Times opinion page.
"Summers, who, according to insiders, was the dominant voice in the administration’s economic policies, announced on Tuesday that he’s returning in January to Harvard (a place that, for him, may not be any less stressful than the White House); Axelrod, the man at the nexus of the Obama campaign in 2008, will leave Washington to start planning the president’s re-election campaign of 2012; and Emanuel, the hard-driving chief of staff, is playing it coy but is widely expected to depart and run for mayor of Chicago following the surprise announcement that Richard M. Daley will not seek another term."
...
"Apparently yes men and women, unwilling to challenge Obama’s basic assumptions or deliver inconvenient truths, are in high demand,” adds Jennifer Rubin at Commentary. “This peek at the White House’s circle-the-wagons mentality suggests that Obama is not one to reassess, clean house, and chart a new course after the midterms. It might take him out of his comfort zone. That’s bad news for the country, but music to the ears of the 2012 GOP presidential contenders."
...
"“The announced departure of Lawrence Summers as the president’s top economic adviser is welcome news … I expected the president to have kind words for a man who deserved none if he were to be fired. But Obama’s effusive praise on Tuesday went well beyond the requirements of professional pink-slip courtesy and suggests that he is still in denial over the role of key Democrats like Summers in getting us into this mess … Obama had absolutely nothing to do with the causes of the financial meltdown, but he wasted two precious years being misled by Summers and Geithner as to how to respond to it.”
Why did the guy who promised to change the whole system bring in the guys who are most wedded to the system?” asked Cenk Uygur at Huffington Post. “Why is Barack Obama obsessed with appeasing the establishment? Was he being completely disingenuous when he ran on change? How could he possibly have thought that Larry Summers or the corporate executive who might replace him would bring us real change?"
...
"When it comes to the biggest open mouth in the White House, Rahm Emanuel’s, the press is in a bit of a tizzy. “White House aides are preparing for the possibility that Rahm Emanuel may step down as chief of staff as soon as early October,” reported Time’s Michael Scherer. Not so, says Fox News: “The White House Monday dismissed as ‘ludicrous’ a report that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel plans to leave his post after becoming frustrated with the Obama administration.” The Times’s Jeff Zeleny has a timetable: “So when will those boxes be packed? The best guess from many inside the West Wing is two weeks — or less.” Well, that doesn’t give progressive bloggers much time to think of fond farewells, does it?"
I think Obama is finding out the same thing Clinton did: to get anything done, you're going to have to learn to compromise and move to the right a little.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Two More Rats to Leave Sinking Ship
From CBS News.
"...David Axelrod, the president's closest advisor, will move to Chicago next spring.
Axelrod is expected to reassume his role as campaign manager in Mr. Obama's 2012 reelection bid. A potential, if not likely, replacement for Axelrod is current White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The dominoes don't stop there. Rahm Emanuel, the president's Chief of Staff, may leave the White House as soon as next month."
It looks like Obama will be down to his B-team for the next 2 years.
"...David Axelrod, the president's closest advisor, will move to Chicago next spring.
Axelrod is expected to reassume his role as campaign manager in Mr. Obama's 2012 reelection bid. A potential, if not likely, replacement for Axelrod is current White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The dominoes don't stop there. Rahm Emanuel, the president's Chief of Staff, may leave the White House as soon as next month."
It looks like Obama will be down to his B-team for the next 2 years.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Obama's Top Economic Advisor Leaving
From the Washington Post. One more rat leaving a sinking ship. The damage has been done, so there's no need for ANY of the economic team to hang around.
"President Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, will step down as director of the National Economic Council after the November elections and return to a teaching post at Harvard University, the White House announced Tuesday.
The departure of Summers, 55, will complete the turnover of three of Obama's four top economic advisers as the administration struggles with the political fallout of a stubbornly weak economy."
"President Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, will step down as director of the National Economic Council after the November elections and return to a teaching post at Harvard University, the White House announced Tuesday.
The departure of Summers, 55, will complete the turnover of three of Obama's four top economic advisers as the administration struggles with the political fallout of a stubbornly weak economy."
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
President Boo-Hoo
From Fox News.
"Finally, we know what President Obama’s initials stand for! He’s the Boo –HooO president! OK, that’s a little cheesy, but seriously, have we ever had a whinier leader of the free world? Most recently, and quite ungrammatically (it was not scripted into the First Teleprompter), he whined that his opponents “talk about me like a dog”. This doesn’t even make much sense, but is consistent with the woe-is-me tone of this president, who has complained about attacks from the right and the left, and couched nearly every major address with an extreme whine about taking over the White House during tough times. Just for the record, he did want the presidency, right?"
...
"Most recently he has hit the stump, slipping into campaign mode with the ease of someone putting on worn slippers. He has visited cities hard-hit by the recession, and promised to turn around the economy. With the excitement of a life-long celibate discovering sex, he is focused on job creation – just in time for the elections. He’s all for infrastructure investment and lower taxes on the middle class and developing clean industries. But he is not – repeat NOT –in favor of helping out the “special interests.”
One wonders, who are those “special interests”? Obama never really identifies those blackguards, but he does give clues. In Ohio, Obama chastised those who, over the past decade, “cut regulations for special interests,” and in the same speech derides Representative John Boehner for wanting to “cut more rules for corporations”. It’s pretty clear that it is American corporations who are so undeserving of his assistance."
...
"The truth is that these are hard times. We are in a dreadful recession because public policy encouraged heavy lending to non-credit worthy borrowers in order to fulfill a wrong-headed goal of broadening home ownership. This stupidity was compounded by a reckless use of leverage by those on Wall Street who bundled and bought mortgage securities in ways that made them prone to failure. President Obama is right; there are villains aplenty in the narrative of the past few years, and victims galore. He is wrong, though, to channel his community organizer inner self and turn the country against the business community. Small or large, it is companies that will end our unemployment crisis – not the federal government."
"Finally, we know what President Obama’s initials stand for! He’s the Boo –HooO president! OK, that’s a little cheesy, but seriously, have we ever had a whinier leader of the free world? Most recently, and quite ungrammatically (it was not scripted into the First Teleprompter), he whined that his opponents “talk about me like a dog”. This doesn’t even make much sense, but is consistent with the woe-is-me tone of this president, who has complained about attacks from the right and the left, and couched nearly every major address with an extreme whine about taking over the White House during tough times. Just for the record, he did want the presidency, right?"
...
"Most recently he has hit the stump, slipping into campaign mode with the ease of someone putting on worn slippers. He has visited cities hard-hit by the recession, and promised to turn around the economy. With the excitement of a life-long celibate discovering sex, he is focused on job creation – just in time for the elections. He’s all for infrastructure investment and lower taxes on the middle class and developing clean industries. But he is not – repeat NOT –in favor of helping out the “special interests.”
One wonders, who are those “special interests”? Obama never really identifies those blackguards, but he does give clues. In Ohio, Obama chastised those who, over the past decade, “cut regulations for special interests,” and in the same speech derides Representative John Boehner for wanting to “cut more rules for corporations”. It’s pretty clear that it is American corporations who are so undeserving of his assistance."
...
"The truth is that these are hard times. We are in a dreadful recession because public policy encouraged heavy lending to non-credit worthy borrowers in order to fulfill a wrong-headed goal of broadening home ownership. This stupidity was compounded by a reckless use of leverage by those on Wall Street who bundled and bought mortgage securities in ways that made them prone to failure. President Obama is right; there are villains aplenty in the narrative of the past few years, and victims galore. He is wrong, though, to channel his community organizer inner self and turn the country against the business community. Small or large, it is companies that will end our unemployment crisis – not the federal government."
Friday, September 3, 2010
Wall St. to Obama: The Love Affair's Over
From Daily Finance.
"Corporate profits are booming again but President Obama's popularity is sinking fast. The list of financial and business titans claiming that Democratic policies are impeding the economic recovery and hurting US competitiveness, meanwhile, gets longer by the day.
Of course, much of the business sector has always harped about government interference. But now even high profile investors and executives who were once ardent supporters of President Obama are changing their tune. Investors should take note of the fast-defecting business community, since the upcoming Congressional elections could have a major impact on markets in the intermediate term."
...
"The growing discontent on Wall Street seems to echo that coming from business executives earlier in the summer. Once seen as an Obama ally and a key player in shaping things like energy policy, GE (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt lashed out at the President earlier this summer and accused the administration of creating a sour economic climate."
...
"Investors would be wise to put their partisan biases aside and observe the major shifts. It is telling that so much of the criticism seems to be coming from onetime supporters rather than ideologues who perpetually have an axe to grind."
"Corporate profits are booming again but President Obama's popularity is sinking fast. The list of financial and business titans claiming that Democratic policies are impeding the economic recovery and hurting US competitiveness, meanwhile, gets longer by the day.
Of course, much of the business sector has always harped about government interference. But now even high profile investors and executives who were once ardent supporters of President Obama are changing their tune. Investors should take note of the fast-defecting business community, since the upcoming Congressional elections could have a major impact on markets in the intermediate term."
...
"The growing discontent on Wall Street seems to echo that coming from business executives earlier in the summer. Once seen as an Obama ally and a key player in shaping things like energy policy, GE (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt lashed out at the President earlier this summer and accused the administration of creating a sour economic climate."
...
"Investors would be wise to put their partisan biases aside and observe the major shifts. It is telling that so much of the criticism seems to be coming from onetime supporters rather than ideologues who perpetually have an axe to grind."
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