The Commentariat -- February 2, 2015
Internal links removed.
President Obama discusses his proposed budget. Gee, he sounds like Krugman!:
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "President Obama will propose a 10-year budget on Monday that stabilizes the federal deficit but does not seek balance, instead focusing on policies to address income inequality as he adds nearly $6 trillion to the debt. The budget -- $4 trillion in fiscal 2016 -- would hit corporations that park profits overseas, raise taxes on the richest of the rich and increase the incomes of the middle class through new spending and tax credits. Mr. Obama will challenge the Republican Congress to answer his emphasis on wage stagnation...." ...
... Steven Mufson & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The massive document is a blueprint for what Obama has been calling 'middle-class economics,' but congressional Republicans are likely to view it merely as the president's opening bid in a contentious process designed to forge a tax and spending plan for the new fiscal year." ...
... Juliet Eilperin & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "President Obama's budget request set for release Monday includes plans for a six-year, $478 billion public works program that would be paid for with a one-time 14 percent tax on overseas corporate profits." ...
... Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "The battle over the budget that President Obama will submit Monday is emerging as a proxy for the 2016 presidential election debate on national security, an area that for now appears to be Obama's and Democrats' greatest vulnerability. The president will ask Congress to break through its own spending caps -- commonly referred to as 'sequestration' -- and allocate about $561 billion for Pentagon expenditures, about $38 billion more than is currently allowed under the law." ...
... Paul Krugman slams Bowles, Simpson & their coterie of "craven & irresponsible" ninnies. "So it's important to understand who's really irresponsible here. In today's economic and political environment, long-termism is a cop-out, a dodge, a way to avoid sticking your neck out. And it's refreshing to see signs that Mr. Obama is willing to break with the long-termers and focus on the here and now." ...
... CW: Remember that it was Obama himself who appointed Bowles & Simpson to head up the Catfood Commission. Around that time or shortly thereafter, I (among others) begged Krugman to sit Obama down & explain some sense into him. Krugman said he had tried. I know Krugman & other reporters meet with Obama off-the-record fairly often. It would appear Obama is finally listening. It took long enough. I should add, I guess, that I still think the Summers School of Economics is the White House's guiding hand. So maybe Krugman has convinced Summers. ...
... Matt Yglesias of Vox: "... It would be an overstatement to call it a liberal dream budget -- left-wing Democrats could dream up plenty more -- [but] for the first time it's really Obama's dream budget. This is the end of the 'grand bargain' era, and instead an opportunity for Obama to lay out his priorities for the long term -- from transportation infrastructure to transforming child care. Rather than position himself in advance of a potential compromise, he wants to outline his vision for a future that will extend well beyond the life of his administration." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... it is possible that nothing in [Paul] Ryan's long and distinguished career in the field of shamelessness has ever exceeded his comments in yesterday's New York Times on the Obama budget. Ryan's complaint is that Obama's economic policies have exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor.... Notably, Ryan opposed every single one of these changes [which would have reduced inequality]: the higher taxes for the rich, and the lower taxes and more generous transfers to middle- and working-class Americans. In addition to opposing all of Obama's inequality-reducing policies, Ryan advocated, along with Mitt Romney, a tax reform plan that would have necessarily increased taxes for the non-rich in order to finance tax cuts for the rich...." ...
... CW: Democrats need to learn to say this, & they need to learn to say it forcefully. So far, effectively countering Republican lies is a skill few Democrats have learned. ...
... Conservative Reihan Salam, in Slate, nails the upper middle class. CW: See also John Judis's post, linked under Presidential Race. The upper middle class very much influences Judis's middle-class voters, voters who can reasonably aspire to moving on up to the next rung & who watch the teevee where upper-middle-class pundits like David Brooks explain why Republicans are awfully reasonable.
Justin Sink of the Hill: "President Obama defended his campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in an interview airing Monday, saying the U.S. was 'doing exactly what we should be doing' to fight the terror network. Obama said critics of his strategy would have the U.S. redeploy tens of thousands of U.S. troops, but that ultimately such an effort would prove ineffective without local support." ...
... Oh, here's a critic now. Kristina Wong of the Hill: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is considering a 2016 presidential bid, said on Sunday it would require 10,000 American 'boots on the ground' to stop the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria. Coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria won't destroy the group, but do help in some regard, Graham said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.'"
Marin Kogan of New York: Ron "Klain is leaving the temporary gig [as Ebola response "czar"] less than four months [after taking it on] to pretty good reviews. The pundits, to the extent to which they've commented on it at all, have generally copped to being too alarmist about the threat to the United States, and that the government response was better than they'd initially feared it would be. Republicans, meanwhile, haven't turned him into a partisan punching bag, which is as good as a compliment by today's standards of Congressional-executive branch interaction."
Michael Gordon & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "... after a series of striking reversals that Ukraine's forces have suffered in recent weeks, the Obama administration is taking a fresh look at the question of military aid."
Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times: Federal judges have accused California of turning a blind eye to an "epidemic" of prosecutorial misconduct. "A 2010 report by the Northern California Innocence Project cited 707 cases in which state courts found prosecutorial misconduct over 11 years. Only six of the prosecutors were disciplined, and the courts upheld 80% of the convictions in spite of the improprieties, the study found.... [A] January hearing in Pasadena, posted online under new 9th Circuit policies, provided a rare and critical examination of a murder case in which prosecutors presented false evidence but were never investigated or disciplined.... 'I understand why they do that,' [9th Circuit Judge Kim] Wardlaw said. 'They are elected judges. They are not going to be reversing these things.'"
This Is Slightly Heartening. Timothy Jost in Balkanization: "The thirty [amicus] briefs [favoring the government in King v. Burwell] were filed by an extraordinary assemblage of states and state legislators, members of Congress, leading legal scholars, academics from a variety of other disciplines offering a wide range of perspectives, insurers, providers, and patients and their advocates. By contrast the twenty-one amicus briefs filed last month by the challengers are far more limited in scope. The challengers submitted briefs signed by a few Republican Congressmen, seven states, and a handful of conservative and libertarian legal scholars. The rest of their amici were right-wing advocacy groups." Via Greg Sargent.
When he called Code Pink protesters "low-life scum" during a Senate committee hearing last week, Sen. John McCain was protecting Henry Kissinger. McCain says he isn't sorry. Just thought you'd like to know.
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. CW: I missed Steve M.'s excellent takedown of Mark Halperin, but it's not too late to read it & laugh. Nice addition by Steve's commenter Rick Massimo, too. ...
... Driftglass has a report on the lovely Andrew Sullivan/Tyler Cowan romance.
Presidential Race
John Judis of the National Journal: Middle-class Americans are trending Republican. "If Republicans are smart, they will nominate for president someone in the mold of George W. Bush in 2000 or the numerous GOP Senate candidates who won last year -- a politician who runs from the center-right, soft-pedals social issues, including immigration, critiques government without calling for abolishing the income tax and Social Security, and displays a good ol' boy empathy for the less well-to-do. Such a candidate would cater to the Republican advantage among the middle class without alienating the white working class."
"How Yet Resolves the Governor of the Town?" Philip Rucker & Ann Gearan of the Washington Post: "Republican presidential hopefuls are busy auditioning on the world stage ahead of the 2016 campaign, trying to bolster their résumés and develop expertise as their party seizes on foreign affairs as a key theme in its effort to reclaim the White House." ...
... CW: Sorry, but I find it downright comical that Chris Christie's idea of expanding his international policy creds includes going to a soccer match in London & watching "Henry V" at the Globe Theatre. I guess the fact that the theatre is named the "Globe" & that soccer teams play in the "World" Cup gave him the idea that a stop in London would pretty much cover everything he needed to know. ...
... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: Londoners have no idea who Chris Christie is. Eventually, Barbaro found one guy who volunteered that he recognized Senator Christie. ...
... Steve M. is not seeing President Christie. CW: If Steve's analysis of Christie's Iowa polling is any indication, Senator Crisco had better skip the Iowa caucuses. Steve: "... he has the highest negative rating in the potential field, because the only person whose negatives are higher is a loudmouthed fraud who's never going to run, Donald Trump (68%)." And you thought Iowa Republicans might be stupid. Obviously, not entirely. ...
... Let Them Catch Measles. Philip Rucker: "The morning after President Obama urged all parents to get their kids vaccinated against measles, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie broke with the president and said the government must 'balance' public health interests with parental choice.... Christie's comments came after a laboratory tour at MedImmune, a biologics company that makes vaccines in Cambridge[, England]." ...
... CW: That's funny. Christie sure didn't want to "balance" personal choice when he quarantined Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox against her will & after she tested negative for the virus. The only consistency in Republican policies is public pandering. You might think that standing outside a vaccine-making lab to pander to anti-vaccine parents after touring a vaccine-making plant is kind of (a) rude & (b) anti-business. But, as cited in the Barbaro piece, Christie notes that he isn't running for anything in England. I suspect there will be no Sir Christopher.
Jeb Bush looks like he's running for president. So now we know what the Bush family means by 'no child left behind.' -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) at the annual Alfalfa Club dinner Saturday
Michael Kruse of Politico in Politico Magazine: “Sitting recently on his brick back patio [in Clearwater, Florida,], Michael Schiavo called Jeb Bush a vindictive, untrustworthy coward.... Michael Schiavo was the husband of Terri Schiavo, the brain-dead woman from the Tampa Bay area who ended up at the center of one of the most contentious, drawn-out conflicts in the history of America's culture wars. The fight over her death lasted almost a decade.... 'Trying to write laws that clearly are outside the constitutionality of his state, trying to override the entire judicial system, that's very, very dangerous,' said Arthur Caplan, a New York University bioethicist who edited a book about the Schiavo case. 'When you're willing to do that, you're willing to break the back of the country.'"...
... CW: Although the story is balanced with comments from supporters of Jeb in this matter, it is, in toto, quite negative in its conclusion. This is a bit of a surprise, coming from a Politico writer. Thanks to contributor Bonnie for the lead. P.S. Welcome to frontrunner status, Jebbie.
David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post writes a straight report on the "self-certified" history of Rand Paul's opthamology career. Rand Paul declined to be interviewed. ...
... CW: Among the items which caught my eye, & which Fahrenthold never directly mentions, is the letter from Paul reproduced at the top of the story. In it, Mr. Libertarian seems to suggest that opthamologists should collude to up the price of cataract surgery. I'm not up on my antitrust law, but last time I looked, such convenient arrangements were illegal under federal law. Looks as if young Dr. Paul was not all that into the free market. P.S. Welcome to first-runner-up in Iowa status, Randy. ...
... (BTW, in the story a former professor of Paul's says he remembers Paul as "'Randy,' a "very nondescript ... very quiet" guy. We had it right all along, L'il Randy.)
Eric Bradner of CNN: "Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee ... called homosexuality part of a lifestyle, like drinking and swearing." ...
... Hudson Hongo of Gawker: "Predictably, Huckabee's comments were poorly received, with most media outlets using some variation on CNN's 'Huckabee Compares Being Gay to Drinking, Swearing.' Of course, Huckabee's dumb point about the gay 'lifestyle' was slightly different from -- while no less insulting than -- what that headline suggests, but it was understandably tough to parse all the stuff about drunk opera fans and Muslim dogs."
Beyond the Beltway
Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "Police in Davis, California are investigating an act of vandalism after fraternity members attending UC Davis woke up Saturday morning to discover Nazi swastikas spray painted on their frat house, CBS 13 is reporting."
Caroline Bankoff of New York: "In case you somehow forgot, [New York City] Mayor [Bill] de Blasio dropped the Staten Island Zoo's groundhog on Groundhog Day last year, and then the groundhog died. (Was it murder? Was there a cover-up? These questions remain hotly contested.) The zoo has since decided to bar mayors from holding groundhogs during the annual weather forecasting ritual."
How to get to work in Detroit: Walk 21 miles a day. As Digby notes, James Robertson, who makes the daily commute, is just one of those 47 percent of lazy moochers. CW: I had to walk five miles last week, partly in the dark, & I thought it was horrible. Also, it took me more than two hours.
Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. Daniel Politi of Slate: "In the latest episode of babies and handguns, a three-year-old in Albuquerque shot his mom and dad on Saturday afternoon. The boy apparently managed to get a handgun out of his mother's purse and pull the trigger while Justin Reynolds and his pregnant girlfriend Monique Villescas were getting ready to order a pizza. The boy pulled the trigger and fired a bullet that hit his father's buttock, exited through his hip and then struck the boy's pregnant mother in the right shoulder, reports NBC's local affiliate KOB. Both parents are recovering.... Reynolds says he's just glad the bullet did not hit Villescas' two-year-old daughter who was sitting next to her mother when the shot was fired." CW: Yeah, me too.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Martin Fackler of the New York Times: "When Islamic State militants posted a video over the weekend showing the grisly killing of a Japanese journalist, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted with outrage, promising 'to make the terrorists pay the price.' Such vows of retribution may be common in the West when leaders face extremist violence, but they have been unheard of in confrontation-averse Japan -- until now. The prime minister's call for revenge after the killings of the journalist, Kenji Goto, and another hostage, Haruna Yukawa, raised eyebrows even in the military establishment, adding to a growing awareness here that the crisis could be a watershed for this long pacifist country."
Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post: "On Monday, [Dominique Strass-Kahn,] the man many thought would one day be president of France, will stand trial in the city of Lille in northern France. He's faced with charges he helped procure sex workers for sex parties from Paris to Brussels to Washington. Dubbed the Carlton affair because it involves the Hotel Carlton in Lille, the case stars luxury hotel managers, freemasons, Viagra, purple carpet and even a brothel owner called 'Dodo the Pimp' (Dodo la Saumure). In a charging document that runs 240 pages, French authorities said Strauss-Kahn may have helped organize the affairs, during which female attendants were allegedly paid to have sex with businessmen." ...
... Here's the Guardian story, by Angelique Chrisafis.
... Jonathan Blitzer of the New Yorker on Nisman & the case he had developed.
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Reader Comments (5)
If London is becoming the go-to place for establishing a presidential candidate's "international policy creds" I'm thinking the U.K. may want to rethink its quarantine policy and not just limit it to dogs.
I agree, MAG. I noticed that the London "All You Can Eat" restaurants added the disclaimer "Within Reason, Of Course" to their signs this week.
Really. Now that Mitt's gone and Jeb should be toast as soon as people learn about his remarkable abuse of power in the Schiavo case (thanks for the Politico story; in Charles Pierce's "Idiot America," he chronicles the pain the rabid right brought upon Schiavo's caregivers), it'll be like a Delta House reunion out there on the hustings. Who wants to bet that Michele Bachmann doesn't reconsider and throw her husband's leather Teddy cap into the ring?
After reading Krugman I suddenly remembered what Leon Panetta was saying when he was out and about hawking his book. What's called for today, he said, was the kind of sustained leadership (I thought the adjective here interesting, implying, perhaps, that Obama was lacking that qualification) a far-sighted, goal oriented kind of mindset–-the kind that did all that reconstruction after WWII with the building of highways. railroads, etc. What he seemed to forget is that today's Republicans would have voted against the European Recovery Program, the highway program, and all the rest just as they are going to vote against all of Obama's new programs.Here was have a body of legislators who cling onto the Bowles/Simpson ideology like a stubborn burr but refuse to take care of what needs to be done NOW. We can never expect , as long as this kind of Congress is with us, to achieve a common good like we had in years past when we had a philosophy of government in which brute partisanship was limited in order to achieve that common good.
Michael Tomasky, writing about Panetta's thinking here said that Panetta's idea of politics is "essentially instrumental and technocratic. That's the outlook required to be able to hop from from Congress to the budget office to the White house to the CIA to the Pentagon and succeed at each (and become an eminence). Washington will always need such people, but these days it needs much more than that."
Oh, for those kinds of people who have "more than that!"
RE: Japan's revenge: It will be interesting to see what they do. Our fundamental strategy towards them has been containment. I think we still treat them as an enemy country (some say like children). From what I understand is that the continued presence of US troops in Japan is not just because Japan is strategically indispensable, but because it is viewed with the deepest distrust. I think the no military mandate is still in effect although it's being fought by some segments of the population. So–-given that how will Japan retaliate?
A wee mention here of the Huck-a-bee: There are many politicians that get under my skin and there are a few politicians that are dipwads, but don't generate that Grrrrr–Ick factor. Huckabee does both. It's that folksy, gosh durn pose that gets me every time–-those dimples, that faux "I'm just a good ole boy" kind of crap. He's a big phony who spouts a lot of baloney and I am so looking forward to someone on that contender roster to reveal the sting that's in the bonnet of Huck's bee.
PD:
I'm with you on Huckabee.
Chucklehead Huckabee is a throwback to a previous generation twice-removed: The generations of Huey Long, Eugene Talmadge, George Wallace, who all presented themselves as common people and who all sold their own brand of snake oil--government largesse, states's rights, outright racism, ole' time religion--to their variously naive publics.
Maybe one of the factors that makes Huckabee so annoying to the sophisticated--that is, people like us-- today is that is that he is so obviously an man out of time, whose only appeal to his various publics is attractiver incarnations of desperate nostalgia.
The other factor, of course, is that he is selling hate, dressed up as folksy wisdom dispensed by a kind uncle.
The danger he presents is that it's too easy to dismiss his simple-mindedness. Dangerous because simple sells.