February 10-11, 2009
Feb 10 03:07 Doing an AP Doubletake Feb 10 18:49 Helluva Job Timmie Feb 11 02:00 Like Father, Like Son? Feb 11 13:07 President Obama Defending the Indefensible Feb 11 13:48 Geithner's TARP Announcement Is A Flop
Prior Months: Jan
Doing an AP Doubletake
The old saying that it isn't news to find out that a dog bit a man, that it's only news when a man bites a dog seems oddly appropriate in discussing this AP article . Here's what makes it newsworthy:
President Barack Obama had it both ways Monday when he promoted his stimulus plan in Indiana. He bragged about getting Congress to produce a package with no pork, yet boasted it will do good things for a Hoosier highway and a downtown overpass, just the kind of local projects lawmakers lard into big spending bills.This is typical Obama chutzpah. President Obama is perfectly willing to tell people whatever they're hoping to hear. What President Obama says frequently doesn't connect with reality.
Obama's sales pitch on the enormous package he wants Congress to make law has sizzle as well as steak. He's projecting job creation numbers that may be impossible to verify and glossing over some ethical problems that bedeviled his team.
Here's a set of questions I'd like President Obama to answer:
- What's the difference between coding into law the building of a highway and airdropping an earmark mandating the building of that same highway?
- What set of economic principles are you using when putting this bill together?
- Did Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid use these principles or did they just appropriate tons of money for piles of political payoffs and pork-barrel projects?
- Considering the fact that the banking crisis poses a greater threat to the economy than does spending, why didn't you tackle TARP II first?
- President Obama, you've said that the policies of the past eight years have put us in this crisis. Is it your belief that tax cuts caused this recession or is it your belief that the Fannie/Freddie crisis is the reason for the flailing economy? Explain why you believe what you believe.
These are the types of questions that the Agenda Media should ask but won't. Is that because they're too busy genuflecting in his presence?
Check out this part of the AP article:
OBAMA: "I've appointed hundreds of people, all of whom are outstanding Americans who are doing a great job. There are a couple who had problems before they came into my administration, in terms of their taxes...I made a mistake...I don't want to send the signal that there are two sets of rules."Exposing President Obama's hypocrisies isn't something that we expect from the AP. Nonetheless, it's intellectually dishonest to not highlight when they do what reporters are supposed to do.
He added: "Everybody will acknowledge that we have set up the highest standard ever for lobbyists not working in the administration."
THE FACTS: Two of his appointees, former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle for secretary of health and human services and Nancy Killefer as his chief compliance officer, dropped out after reports they had not paid a portion of their taxes.
Obama previously acknowledged he "screwed up" in making it seem to Americans that there is one set of tax compliance rules for VIPs and another set for everyone else. Yet his choice for treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, hung in and achieved the post despite having belatedly paid $34,000 to the IRS, an agency Geithner now oversees.
That could leave the perception that there is one set of rules for Geithner and another set for everyone else.
On lobbyists, Obama has in fact established tough new rules barring them from working for his administration. But the ban is not absolute.
William J. Lynn III, tapped to be the No. 2 official at the Defense Department, recently lobbied for military contractor Raytheon. William Corr, chosen as deputy secretary at Health and Human Services, has lobbied as an anti-tobacco advocate. And Geithner's choice for chief of staff, Mark Patterson, is an ex-lobbyist from Goldman Sachs.
Posted Tuesday, February 10, 2009 3:13 AM
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Helluva Job Timmie
It isn't news when the stock market drops. It is news, though, when the Dow drops almost 400 points the day after President Obama's lackluster news conference performance and hours after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined the Obama administration's plan to save the banks.
This part of CNBC's article jumped off the page at me:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 300 points after Treasury Secretary Tim Geither revealed details of the bank-bailout plan. Earlier, the blue-chip index was down less than 100 points.I've said in other posts that I don't have much confidence in the Obama administration's economic policies.
This paragraph from this article will likely give the Obama administration additional heartburn:
Financial stocks led the market lower, reflecting Wall Street's growing concerns about the government's ability to restore the health of the banking industry. Traders and investors said the lack of specifics from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on how the government would direct more than $1 trillion in public and private support was troubling.Though I'm sure the Obama administration, led by renowned wordsmith Robert Gibbs, will try spinning this, people are worried about the Obama administration's ability to right America's economic ship.
Support for the stimulus bill is still low. People still prefer a stimulus package that focuses more on multi-year tax cuts than on pork-barrel spending. The headwind that President Obama is running into is that people remember the Bush tax cuts creating jobs and starting the latest recovery.
President Obama can talk all he wants about "the failed policies of the last eight years" but people remember that the economy tanked when the banking system failed.
This post , from the Huffington Post of all places, will likely give Obama administration officials heartburn, too:
Administration officials were greeted with sarcasm and laughter Monday night when they briefed lawmakers and congressional staff on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's new financial-sector bailout project, according to people who were in the room.TRANSLATION: Legislators don't trust this administration. Mainstreet people don't trust the Obama/Pelosi/Reid stimulus package. Legislators, Wall Street and main street alike don't trust TARP II or Tim Geithner.
The laughter was at its height when Obama officials explained that the White House planned to guarantee a wide swath of toxic assets, which they referred to as "legacy assets", but wouldn't be asking Congress for money. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), a bailout opponent in the fall, asked the officials to give Congress the total dollar figure for which they were on the hook. The officials said that they couldn't provide a number, a response met by chuckling that was bipartisan, but tilted toward the GOP side. By guaranteeing the assets, Geithner hopes he can persuade the private sector to purchase a portion of them.
Here's another thing that will give the Obama administration heartburn:
Some market watchers remain skeptical over the benefits of the plan and legendary investor Jim Rogers told CNBC it could even make things worse . The bailout will plunge the US further into debt and it is designed by the same people who failed to forecast the crisis in the first place, Rogers said.What makes us think that Tim Geithner knows what he's doing? We've heard Obama administration apologists tell us that we had to confirm Geithner because he was the only man on earth that could right the wrongs of the banking system. Let's remember that this is the man who helped put the original TARP plan together, then didn't commit himself to being a watchdog for where that money disappeared to.
The Obama administration said early and often that they'd be a transparent administration. Thus far, it doesn't sound like they're willing to pay more than a token amount of attention to transparency.
That shouldn't surprise anyone. They haven't been trustworthy on their other promises either.
Treasury Secretary Geithner especially deserves this:
Helluva job, Timmie.
Posted Tuesday, February 10, 2009 6:51 PM
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Like Father, Like Son?
Nancy Pelosi hasn't hidden her disdain for Republicans gumming up the works in Washington, DC by offering appealing alternatives to the Democrats' agenda. It looks like that might be happening in St. Paul, too.
Tuesday night, I got word from a loyal reader of LFR that the DFL was going to propose a rule change that would drastically limit debate on legislation. This loyal reader forwarded this information to me:
A normal meeting of the House Rules and Legislative Administration Committee is uneventful, but Wednesday may prove otherwise. At noon, the committee will discuss the proposed Permanent Rules of the House for 2009 and 2010. Included in these proposed rules is an attempt to silence opposition that has House Republicans extremely concerned.This rule, if passed, would allow Tony Sertich to limit debate time, time that they'd use to ram their radical agenda down our throats and limit GOP amendments. This wording is vague enough to even allow the DFL to all but silence the GOP.
Proposed Rules Would Establish Time Limit for Consideration
House Democrats are proposing a change to House Permanent Rules that reads as follows:
2.42 TIME LIMIT FOR CONSIDERATION.
The Committee on Rules and Legislative Administration may establish and shall announce parameters for floor consideration of a bill, resolution, or other matter before the House.
Most importantly, it wouldn't give GOP legislators the ability to express their constituents' priorities in the form of amendments to important legislation.
What's more is that this meeting isn't being telecast or streamed via the internet. I learned in 2007 that the state legislature doesn't transcribe the hearings or floor sessions. That means that the only 'record' of this meeting will be the accounts of people in the room. Let's just say that I'm not surprised that Rep. Sertich's hearings don't specialize in transparency.
They stream video of many committee hearings and all floor sessions, which is how the Lady Logician and I liveblogged the Transportation Bill debate and the override debate last year.
This past fall, President Obama frequently talked about a new era of bipartisanship. Then he told Speaker Pelosi to write the legislation that carried out his agenda. The point I'm making is that transparency and bipartisanship aren't priorities with Democrats. Acquiring power and stifling the opposition's voice are their highest priorities.
That's true whether we're talking about DC Democrats or the DFL in St. Paul.
Following Wednesday's meeting, the next big battle on the rules will be the House Permanent Rules debate during the floor session. With Tony Sertich and the Democrats trying to ram their agenda through, I'm expecting this year's House Permanent Rules debate to be more spirited than the 2007 debate. That year, it took two floor sessions to get the rules passed.
UPDATE: I just got an email from my Capitol contact. They will tape the audio of the meeting and that audio will be posted on the Legislature's website. It just won't be livestreamed.
Posted Wednesday, February 11, 2009 9:21 AM
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President Obama Defending the Indefensible
When President Obama held his Monday night press conference, he made a point to say that the bill didn't contain earmarks. Technically, he was telling the truth. In effect, though, nothing could be further from the truth. The stimulus bill is nothing but pork. This article is proof that there's alot of pork in this bill:
The federal government is preparing to spend millions to purchase a fleet of small electric vehicles that critics compare to golf carts.Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on updating the federal fleet to green cars is bad enough. Spending $300,000,000 on cars and NEVs is inexcusable.
The $838 billion economic stimulus bill that passed the Senate yesterday contains $300 million for the government to purchase a fleet of "green" cars. But the money won't just go to buy fuel-efficient hybrids such as the Ford Escape or Chevy Volt.
The cash also can be used to purchase "neighborhood electric vehicles." The NEVs, which resemble streamlined golf carts, scoot at up to 25 mph, operate on battery power and can be plugged into 110-volt outlets for charging.
By pushing this bill as it's written, President Obama is defending the indefensible. Many of the things that aren't pork in this bill will have limited impact of lifting the economy out of recession.
If President Obama's focus was on passing legislation that lifted the economy out of recession, this legislation's pricetag would be much cheaper. Instead, he's focused on paying off as many Democratic allies as possible with this legislation.
President Obama can tout the fact that there aren't any earmarks in this bill but he knows that he'd be laughed at if he claimed that there isn't any pork in the legislation.
If President Obama wants to defend the indefensible, we should prepare to cite specific items in this legislation that tell voters how President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid are wasting money and paying off their political allies with their money.
Posted Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:08 PM
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Geithner's TARP Announcement Is A Flop
The only man in America who can fix our flagging economy and fix our banking system failed miserably yesterday. His performance was so bad that Rasmussen polling indicates a drop in consumer confidence :
Following Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's presentation of the White House financial rescue plan, the Rasmussen Consumer Index fell a point-and-a-half to 56.6. That's another all-time record low, surpassing the mark set ten days ago. During 2008, record lows for consumer confidence were recorded on a regular basis. The Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, is down three points from a week ago and two points from a month ago.Larry Kudlow thinks it isn't all about Geithner , though he doesn't excuse him either:
The New York Times reports that the plan "is far bigger than anyone predicted and envisions a far greater government role in markets and banks than at any time since the 1930s."
On Tuesday morning, stocks opened down about 75 points in the wake of Obama's pessimism. But stocks really started to tumble when Tim Geithner stepped to the microphone. He totally bombed in his debut.I wasn't one of the people who thought President Obama's performance went particularly well. I thought it was long-winded and way too heavy on the fearmongering. In short, President Obama's pitch perfect tone of the campaign didn't accompany him to the East Room that night.
Geithner had no real plan to deal with the problem of unmarketable toxic assets on bank balance sheets. He offered no new architectural structure, no good way to remove the toxic assets, no clear pricing or funding proposals, and no meat on the bones.
According to Merriam-Webster, a "plan" is "a detailed formulation of a program of action; a method for achieving an end." But Mr. Geithner had none of this. As a result, stocks plunged about 250 points. Prominent investment strategist Ed Yardeni described Geithner as an empty suit with an empty plan.
People from Wall Street to Main Street were waiting to hear the voice of competence and confidence, that things would be alright. Instead they got ultimatums and pessimism.
Had Tim Geithner presented a specific credible plan, he could've offset his boss's lackluster performance. Instead of putting the fire out, Mr. Geithner brought a tank of white gas to his presentation. With his words, he sprinkled that white gas around liberally. Finishing his much-anticipated speach without laying out a specific plan was the economic equivalent of lighting a match and throwing it onto the gas-soaked floor.
If Geithner and the rest of the Obama administration's team don't come up with something that people have confidence in, Democrats will be staring into the eyes of an electoral bloodbath in 2010.
Coupling Rasmussen's polling with the flood of anecdotal evidence and the rest of bad economic news, it isn't a stretch to say that the American people don't trust the Obama administration's economic team.
When President Obama was elected, the American people thought they were getting a competent president. Thus far, they aren't getting what they voted for. People like Larry Kudlow and Ed Yardeni are noticing. They aren't getting into the mood of putting their money at risk.
That's the worst possible reaction to the Obama-Geithner press blitz that Mssrs. Axelrod and Emanuel could've expected.
Posted Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:50 PM
Comment 1 by Walter Hanson at 11-Feb-09 06:59 PM
He did badly, but will any of the reporters who weren't called on dare say it because they want a chance in the future to ask Obama a question at future press conferences.
Nobody made a big deal of the fact that a liberal talk show host was seated in the front row or that Obama called on from somebody from the Huffington post yet these are the people who tracked down and exposed the person who asked the aggressive question on gays or that conservative talk show hosts getting private off the record Oval office meetings once in a while.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 11-Feb-09 08:02 PM
Walter, At this point, it isn't all that important that people report it. It's like the gas crisis last spring & early summer. Each time they filled up, THEY were the reporter.
Similarly, people know when their job disappears or when their dollar doesn't stretch as far as it once did. They know when banks fail.
