All Blog Posts from Coop's Corner
Time For Dems To Get Over Their Lieberman Blues
(CBS)
By now, it's clear that Lieberman is having the time of his political life dishing out payback after the left's support of Ned Lamont, his Democratic challenger in the 2006 Connecticut race for U.S. Senator. With his periodic Yoda-like warnings, Lieberman is driving his former colleagues up the wall - the latest instance being a threat to filibuster the bill over a provision for expanding Medicare to people between 55 and 64 (even though three months ago, Lieberman seemed to endorse the Medicare buy-in.)
This has led to all manner of public breast beating on the left. Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic, who has produced consistently excellent commentary on the health reform topic, laments that "Lieberman's opposition to the public option seems to reflect a determination to oppose--and, if at all possible, destroy--whatever elements of reform liberals hold most dear." For the Washington Post's Ezra Klein Lieberman is out to torture in order to "settle an old electoral score," adding that his obstruction is costing lives. As an example, Klein notes, "Lieberman was invited to participate in the process that led to the Medicare buy-in. His opposition would have killed it before liberals invested in the idea. Instead, he skipped the meetings and is forcing liberals to give up yet another compromise. Each time he does that, he increases the chances of the bill's failure that much more. And if there's a policy rationale here, it's not apparent to me, or to others who've interviewed him."
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Clinton's Human Rights Byword: Pragmatism
(AP)
And 61 years after the "world's leaders proclaimed a new framework of rights, laws, and institutions that could fulfill the vow of "never again," the events in Cambodia, Rwanda and any number of smaller "never agains" now mockingly mark the annual celebration of Human Rights Week.
But give her speech a good read before dismissing it as yet more rhetorical bloviation. There's that, of course. But Clinton also served notice on allies, enemies - and the myriad majority of nations that fall in between those two camps - that when it comes to furthering human rights, the U.S. intends to be pragmatically assertive. (She actually defined it as "principled pragmatism" but the meaning is identical. Reading between the lines, Clinton acknowledges that power politics will, by definition, limit the U.S.'s human rights agenda. when it comes to big countries that the State Department can't afford to publicly prod about human rights, like Russia and China, protests will take place behind closed doors. "In every instance, our aim will be to make a difference, not to prove a point," Clinton said. That doesn't mean we'll look the other way when bad behavior crosses the line. But you won't find either Clinton or her boss going out of their way to embarrass either in a prime time speech.
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Larry Summers Channels Paul Krugman
(CBS)
In fact, some leaks suggest that the president's State of the Union speech will make reducing the federal deficit in 2010 the major focus and "will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs." The administration, which apparently feels it's turned a corner, sent a message to undercut concerns that it's either-or. In fact, on CNN this morning, Summers did a middle age PhD's version of a victory dance for the cameras:
"A year ago, the question was would we have a depression? Today everyone agrees that the recession is over. And the questions are around how fast we'll recover. Experience is that it that these things -- that it takes significant time. First, GDP increases. We have seen that start to happen. Then firms ask the workers who are already with them to work more hours. That's starting to happen. Then, net job creation starts to happen.
We were losing 700,000 jobs a month when President Obama took office. Last month, we lost 11,000. So we are getting there. And most professional forecasters expect job growth by spring, and I think that's a reasonable judgment in an uncertain world.
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Where Pay Caps Fail
(AP)
So it was that White House pay czar Ken Feinberg issued a directive which would cap pay at $500,000 for the 26th through 100th top-paid employees at firms who received exceptional assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
As noted, I can't muster sympathy for the nimrods that got us into this predicament in the first place - not with the (official) unemployment rate hovering around 10%. But libertarians and conservatives aren't out of bounds when they express discomfort at the precedent. Do we really want Uncle Sam getting into the business of deciding pay scales? Yes, it is different this time because we're talking about billions of dollars in taxpayer infusions now propping up the likes of AIG, and Citigroup. I'll let the constitutional scholars out there parse that one.
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Sarah vs Al: The People Want This One
(AP)
Al Gore, who is making the rounds to hawk his latest book, gave the back of his hand to Sarah Palin when Andrea Mitchellasked him about the ex-Alaska governor's dismissal of "junk science" surrounding the Copenhagen climate change summit this week.
"Well, you know, the -- the global warming deniers persist in this air of unreality," Gore said. "After all, the entire north polar icecap, which has been there for most of the last 3 million years, is disappearing before our eyes. Forty percent is already gone. The rest is expected to go completely within the next decade. What do they think is causing this? The scientific community has worked very intensively for 20 years within this international process, and they now say the evidence is unequivocal."
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DeMint: GOP Establishment Is Too Left
(CBS/AP)
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody, DeMint (R-SC) said his party deserves a better slate of candidates than the ones put forward to run against the Democrats
"I need some new Republicans, people who believe in constitutional government, a balanced budget and liberty and so I'm out across the country recruiting new Republicans who I think if they get here will not only challenge the institutions of government but be willing to even challenge the Republican Party and our leadership if they feel like we're going in the wrong direction. I think just a handful of new Republicans in the senate could help change the direction."
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GOP Speechwriter To Party: We've Got A Bad Script
Are Republicans overplaying a losing hand? Former Bush (fils) speechwriter David Frum thinks the GOP is screwing up big time - the latest example being the losing battle over health care reform legislation. I doubt Frum will make himself popular with party regulars but he contends that that the Republicans' near-solid wall of opposition to any compromise with Democrats - he describes it as a "furious rejectionist frenzy" - has boomeranged.
"We're getting worse and less conservative results out of Washington than we could have negotiated, if we had negotiated," he writes, adding that the party has made a bad assumption.
"As is, we're betting heavily that a bad economy will collapse Democratic support without us having to lift a finger. Maybe that will happen. But existing party strategy has to be reckoned a terrible failure. Most Republicans will shrug off that news. If polls are right, rank-and-file Republicans feel little regard for the Washington party, and don't expect much from it. But it's the rank-and-file who are the problem here! Republican leaders do not dare try deals for fear of being branded sell-outs by a party base that wants war to the knife. So we got war. And we're losing. Even if we gain seats in 2010, the actions of this congressional session will not be reversed. Shrink Medicare after it has expanded? Hey- we said we'd never do that. I hear a lot of talk about the importance of "principle." But what's the principle that obliges us to be stupid?"
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"We're getting worse and less conservative results out of Washington than we could have negotiated, if we had negotiated," he writes, adding that the party has made a bad assumption.
"As is, we're betting heavily that a bad economy will collapse Democratic support without us having to lift a finger. Maybe that will happen. But existing party strategy has to be reckoned a terrible failure. Most Republicans will shrug off that news. If polls are right, rank-and-file Republicans feel little regard for the Washington party, and don't expect much from it. But it's the rank-and-file who are the problem here! Republican leaders do not dare try deals for fear of being branded sell-outs by a party base that wants war to the knife. So we got war. And we're losing. Even if we gain seats in 2010, the actions of this congressional session will not be reversed. Shrink Medicare after it has expanded? Hey- we said we'd never do that. I hear a lot of talk about the importance of "principle." But what's the principle that obliges us to be stupid?"
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Palin's People Speak!
Many readers sent private emails in response to my Tuesday night post about Sarah Palin's Washington Post op-ed. More than a few of you took issue with my attempt to connect Palin with the "dumbing down of America." Fair enough. I'll shut up. So let's hear directly from vox populi. This video interview was shot a couple of weeks ago when Palin visited Columbus, OH for a book signing. As they say, pictures speak a thousand words.
Stupid Is As Stupid Does: Sarah On Copenhagen
(AP)
In a byline op-ed appearing in the Washington Post's online edition late Tuesday, Palin basically dismissed the work of thousands of serious scientists and calls on President Obama to boycott the Copenhagen conference. I'm sure the White House is going to give her advice the consideration it is due.
Sarah the Scientist hardly wastes a breath, writing in her lead paragraph that the "radical environmental movement appears to face a tipping point." No it doesn't. And the fact that she has the chutzpah to smear the work of dedicated scientists as little more than political hacks and apparatchiks speaks volumes about the Sarah Palin we can expect to hear from as 2012 approaches. As for her oh so forgettable piece, Palin relies on a series of cut-and-paste half truths and out-of-context attacks to present her case. The rightwing press and lapdog sections of the blogosphere no doubt will scream themselves hoarse with celebration this evening. Saner minds will just shake their heads and wonder about the dumbing down of America.
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Got Outrage? More Fodder To Feed Your Inner Populist
(AP Graphics Bank)
That's not to say the haphazard rescue plan was a model of elegant forethought and skillful execution. Earlier this year Phillip Swagel of the Brookings Institution published "The Financial Crisis: An Inside View," which should be must=reading for anyone attempting to understand the government's response to last year's financial crisis.)
Now along come Lucian Bebchuk, Alma Cohen and Holger Spamann, three writers affiliated with Harvard Law School's corporate governance program, with a paper they aptly named "The Wages of Failure."
It's fodder to fuel another year's worth of tea parties.
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