I don't know about you all, but I am still trying to come to grips with the Obama administration.
On the one hand, we immediately have more transparency, a lifting of the global gag rule, SCHIP expansion, a head of the National Labor Relations Board that understands that the purpose of the law was to provide a mechanism for the formation of unions, and it looks as if the Ledbetter Act will be signed into law.
On the other hand, we have all those very-Clinton era cabinet appointments and Obama's earnest insistence on reaching out to Republicans who gleefully reject any attempt at cooperation. He gave in on aid to states for family planning, loaded the stimulus with tax cuts, and still got nothing from them.
I want to feel positive about him, but I still hold onto those fears we've all been carrying that middle-of-the-road, only the most obvious is all we're going to get, and anything that truly offends Boehner will be left out. In other words, four more years of don't ask, don't tell.
If the Clinton years taught us anything, no matter how middle-of-the-road you are, the right-wingers will fuck you every chance you get. That's all their in it for. As Dick Armey said today (amongst other things), "Don't let politics define anything. Politics is silly, it's inane. Take what amusements you can from them but don't take them seriously." I think this just about sums up a certain brand of politics that currently dominates the GOP. The economy tanking is no big deal, they certainly haven't given it any thought or they might be realizing that it was their policies that caused it. This is the crowd that "seriously" advances the argument that it was not deregulation of the banking industry that lead to the housing crisis, but rather a fourty-year-old law that barred banks from discriminating against black people.
That Obama sits at a table drinking beers with these people, unfortunately, doesn't cause me to hope he will convert them, but rather they are setting him up just like they have every other Dem politician that comes into their sights.
As I say though, always happy to be proved wrong.
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The NYT reports on the bonuses paid out by the Wall Street banks, all of whom are now operating with government subsidies. The fact that taxpayer dollars to make some of the richest people in the country (Wall Street bank executives) even richer, is a very important piece of information for the public to know, as the Obama administration crafts a plan that will give even more tax dollars to banks.
--Dean Baker
ps - good luck outpacing those bastards at the OG. whose idea was it to start that blog, anyway?
Some jerk.
Okay, I am mostly with you. And while I know what I am about to say will have a "she drank the kool-aid" vibe to it, I just want to assure you that I *do* have a healthy skepticism about Obama. And, believe, me, I am still plenty bitter about the Clinton years.
Absolutely agreed that cutting the Medicaid Family Planning State Option was shitty. Period. I could maybe--maybe--entertain an argument that there could be a better time/place to address that than the stimulus bill...but it's hard to see that as anything other than shameful caving to the right wing. Boo!
But the "reaching out" that doesn't involve bending over--i.e. going to Capitol Hill to meet with House Republicans, the happy hour--don't strike me as inherently wrong or as signs of weakness. In my mind it just makes the Republicans look like even bigger assholes. I don't know. Maybe I have no idea what I am talking about.
But the other thing about the "Obama went to Capitol Hill to meet with Republicans and then not one of them voted for the stimulus bill" is that (a) it wasn't Obama's bill to begin with and (b) it was already too late--too close to the vote + the Republicans were all pissy about the face that Pelosi didn't "confer with them" as the bill was moving forward. To which I mostly say, yeah, whatever...but my point is that I don't really see the outcome of the vote as a failure on Obama's part.
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