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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12,  2010

I'M WONDERFUL AND BLAMELESS – PART II – AT 7:54 P.M. ET:  President Obama, inspired by Nancy Pelosi (see post just below) has given his own, tough, brutal, self-assessment.  From NPR, which no longer employs Juan Williams:

While many back home may see him as having been knocked down a few pegs by the Republican midterm-election wave, President Obama assured reporters Friday that his effectiveness internationally was undiminished.

As Goebbels said, "Ignore the burning cities.  We're just providing heat for our people."

The president was asked whether he and America still had clout on the world stage:

I think what we’ve seen over the last several days as we’ve traveled through Asia is that people are eager to work with America, eager to engage with America on economic issues, on security issues, on a whole range of mutual interests.

What we've seen is that any request we make is turned down.

And that’s especially true in Asia, where we see such enormous potential. This is the fastest-growing part of the world. And we’ve got to be here and we’ve got to work. And I’m absolutely confident that my administration over the next two years is going to continue to make progress in ensuring that the United States has a presence here not just for the next couple of years but for decades to come.

Mr. Obama, the United States should have a presence in Asia for centuries, not decades. 

The Washington Post has a somewhat different take on the president's excellent Asian adventure:

Although no one has said that Obama was unable to reach agreement directly because of his midterm losses, neither Lee nor other leaders in Seoul for the Group of 20 summit appear eager to help him with his biggest concerns or ingratiate themselves with the American president, as they had a year ago.

COMMENT:  You know those Asians, they're great at math.  Expecially counting votes in American elections.

November 12, 2010       Permalink

I'M WONDERFUL AND BLAMELESS – PART I – AT 7:47 P.M. ET:  Nancy Pelosi has given a tough, brutal, self-assessment.  I'm sure we're all nodding our agreement.  From The Wall Street Journal:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has the “overwhelming support” of fellow Democrats in her bid to become minority leader in the next Congress, and says she’s not to blame for the Democrats’ mid-term debacle.

“We didn’t lose the election because of me,” Ms. Pelosi told National Public Radio in an interview that aired Friday morning. “Our members do not accept that.”

Instead, the California Democrat attributes the loss of at least 60 seats to high unemployment and “$100 million of outside, unidentified funding.”

It's also understood from informed sources that she feels BUSH (!!) was to blame, that Cheney financed the entire Republican campaign, and that Sarah Palin's hairdresser played a sinister if stylish role.

I wonder if Nancy also has a professional court jester and food taster.

The sad fact is that Nancy will probably be reelected, meaning we will once again have a Democratic leader for whom smiling is a case of will power over surgery.

November 12, 2010       Permalink

BROKE, AND DAMNED PROUD OF IT – AT 9:35 A.M. ET:  In a very astute column in the Washington Post, former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson writes of a looming crisis for the Obama administration...the financial wreckage in the nation's largest Democratic states:

Having experienced the revolt of red America, Democrats must now deal with the fiscal crisis of blue America...

...The states doing worst are the ones, such as California and New York, that had irresponsible budgets going into the recession. States that were fiscally responsible during good economic times, such as Indiana, have had a softer landing.

And...

What are the political effects of the blue-state budget crisis? In Washington, it will set up a conflict between desperate governors and the new Republican House. States will seek federal help and pressure their congressional delegations for support. But there is little chance that conservatives will add a new state bailout to all the bailouts that have come before. Any additional economic stimulus would probably be in the form of tax relief, perhaps a payroll tax holiday, not in cash payments to state governments.

And...

Most significantly, the blue-state financial misery continues and deepens the ideological crisis of American liberalism. Few politicians in traditionally liberal states now speak about the expanding promise of progressive government and the welfare state. New Jersey is already in conservative revolt. New York's Democratic governor-elect, Andrew Cuomo, campaigned on a promise of budget cuts without tax increases. The New York congressional delegation shifted significantly in a Republican direction. While California remains in denial - even after a budget crisis that has lasted for a decade - that could rapidly change as well...

...All these calculations change, of course, with a dramatically growing economy, providing states with additional revenue and the president with political breathing room. But absent that desired development, Obama's political challenges, and the backlash against liberal government, are only beginning.

COMMENT:  Very well stated.  But remember, Americans aren't rushing to embrace rigid conservatism.  As usual, they generally prefer the center right.  Republicans must maneuver carefully.  Reagan was a genius at espousing conservative principles in a human, decent way.  No ideology-spouting disciple was he.  We need the Reagan touch.

November 12, 2010      Permalink

REBIRTH, OR SLOW, PAINFUL DECLINE?  – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  A development in the news media may, or may not, be a guideline for the future.  From The New York Times:

Tina Brown is back in the world of print.

After a brief and interrupted dalliance, Newsweek, the 77-year-old magazine, and The Daily Beast, Ms. Brown’s two-year-old Web site, have decided to put their cultural differences aside and will join forces.

Ms. Brown confirmed the deal in a column posted Thursday night in which she said the agreement was finalized with a coffee mug toast Tuesday evening. “As for me, I shall now be in the editor-in-chief’s chair at both The Daily Beast and Newsweek,” she wrote.

And...

Newsweek, bled by an exodus of staff members, a rapidly declining readership and a flight of advertisers, is a shell of what it used to be: a member of the small prestigious club of weekly magazines that helped set the tone for news coverage.

And...

The deal to bring Ms. Brown on board will probably be seen as a test of whether both Newsweek and Ms. Brown can reclaim their former glory in the print galaxy.

Ms. Brown appears to believe at least part of that is true. She said early Thursday morning she hoped The Daliy Beast would help “power the resurgence of Newsweek.”

COMMENT:  Having come from journalism, I hate to see publications die.  But I'm afraid Newsweek is probably a goner, with TIME not far behind.  LIFE died because the picture magazine had become obsolete with the advent of color television and satellite news coverage.  The weekly newsmagazine has no vital role, with so much available on the internet. 

In addition, Newsweek started to tilt so far to the left that it lost credibility and a number of subscribers, including me.

Publications without a clear purpose can sometimes thrive at a times of great drama, like World War II, when almost anything about the war was gobbled up.  That situation does not prevail today.

While Tina Brown has had an illustrious career, the internet has its own set of stars, and it's almost unfair to expect her to make a hit when she now has hundreds of thousands of competitors.

The merger is an interesting idea.  We wish the team well, but we have our doubts.

November 12, 2010      Permalink

OBAMA AND THE 2012 MAP – AT 8:39 A.M. ET:  The 2012 campaign is underway.  Candidates are already visiting key states.  Soundings are being taken.  Bank accounts are being examined.  Egos are being stroked.  And questions about Sarah Palin are asked every three minutes.

But for President Obama, the hill has become steeper.  The Politico outlines the presidential dilemma:

Two years after his dramatic expansion of the electoral map paved the way to a landslide win, President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign appears likely to resemble the political trench warfare that marked the 2000 and 2004 presidential races.

Last week’s midterm elections saw the trio of conservative-leaning states Obama captured in 2008 — Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana — return to their Republican tendencies while more traditional swing states also broke sharply toward the GOP.

Perhaps most worrisome for Democrats, Rust Belt and Midwest states that had been trending toward the party even before Obama’s election saw Republicans pile up victories. In places such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where the president won with double-digit margins two years ago, the GOP captured offices up and down the ballot and demonstrated that they remain politically competitive in those states.

COMMENT:  The wind is at our back, but wind directions can change abruptly, and will change, unless we come up with a superb candidate.  I don't see any naturals on the horizon, and that is what is troubling.  Our job is now to sell our point of view, with a great salesman (or saleswoman) doing it.  Absent that, Barack Obama may well have four more years to gum things up.

November 12, 2010       Permalink

WE'VE SENT IN THE CLOWNS – AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  Sometimes President Obama says something that is so revealing that nothing more need be said.  The president got very testy during a news conference in Korea.  From The Politico:

The president complained several times during his news conference about the U.S. media’s coverage of the G-20 summit. He pushed back at the suggestion that he’s weaker on the world stage because of the midterm elections and argued that his fellow leaders are no tougher on him than they were a year ago when he was new to the scene and his poll numbers were high.

“I remember our first G-20, you guys writing the exact same stories you’re writing now. Don’t you remember that, Sheryl?” Obama snapped at the New York Times’ Sheryl Stolberg.

Asked by CBS’s Chip Reid what complaints he heard from other leaders during the summit, Obama shot back: “What about compliments?”

He appeared thin-skinned about the characterizations of his time at the summit, grumbling that nobody wrote about leaders setting the stage for financial regulatory reform at the last G-20 summit because it “wasn’t real sexy” and criticizing reporters’ “search for drama.”

COMMENT:  "What about compliments?"  Can you believe a president asked a question like that?  The man acts like an adolescent, needing a pat on the back from mommy. 

And Barack Obama is complaining about press coverage?  The press was essentially part of his 2008 campaign.

Two more years, folks.  Two more years.

November 12, 2010     Permalink

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2010

OH, NOW LOOK AT THIS.  Y'THINK THE GIRL IS RUNNING? – AT 8:35 P.M. ET:  Andrew Malcolm of the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog reports on a travel schedule.  A very interesting travel schedule:

Sarah Palin, her next book tour, according to publisher HarperCollins, is a 16-stop campaign starting later this month and spilling into December and designed to take advantage of early holiday gift-buying and -- who knows? -- maybe some exposure in politically significant places like Iowa.

In fact, Palin's book-signing trip for "America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag," has two stops in the early caucus state of Iowa -- Spirit Lake on Dec. 2 and Des Moines on Nov. 27, the busy Saturday after Thanksgiving.

And, oh look, the last stop on Dec. 3 is in the crucial GOP primary state of South Carolina where Palin just helped elect the state's first female governor, Republican Nikki Haley.

After an autumn spent successfully on various campaigns to "Fire Pelosi," this trip is shorter than last year's 35-city tour for the best-seller "Going Rogue." But given the title, this selling campaign is more focused on the American Heartland.

In addition to book chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders, the signing stops include an array of regular American shopping places Walmarts, Costcos and Sam's Clubs.

COMMENT:  Someone better explain to the Washington press corps what Walmart, Costo and Sam's Club are. They may think they're Southern colleges.

Sarah has dropped some broad hints recently that she'd like to run.  Her approval ratings are creeping up, but still below her negatives.  She's clearly working on that.  Hey, y'never know.

November 11, 2010      Permalink

INCREDIBLE – AT 8:24 P.M. ET:  It's as if we'd let Nazis romp all over Capitol Hill during World War II.  From Fox News:

An Al Qaeda leader, the head of a designated terror organization and a confessed jihadist-in-training are among a "Who's Who" of controversial figures who have participated in weekly prayer sessions on Capitol Hill since the 2001 terror attacks, an investigation by FoxNews.com reveals.

The Congressional Muslim Staff Association (CMSA) has held weekly Friday Jummah prayers for more than a decade, and guest preachers are often invited to lead the service. The group held prayers informally for about eight years before gaining official status in 2006 under the sponsorship of Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., one of two Muslims currently serving in Congress. The second Muslim congressman, Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., joined as co-sponsor after he was elected in 2008.

The list of characters in the story is a regular rogue's gallery.

It is unclear who else has attended these services, because there appears to be no public record of those CMSA has invited to Capitol Hill. The group’s website, included in the official congressional staff associations directory, displays an error message. And out of the more than 25 people associated with CMSA whom FoxNews.com contacted for this article — members, participants, guests, listed officers, congressional sponsors and Muslim advocacy groups — only one person was willing to speak.

“The U.S. Capitol ought to be one of the most transparent and public bodies, yet they get some public criticism about who they’re bringing in and they pull down their website," said Patrick Poole, an anti-terrorism consultant to law enforcement and the U.S. military who has written about CMSA for the conservative blog Pajamas Media.

"That’s not behavior conducive to people drawing public salaries and working in the halls of Congress,” Poole said.

COMMENT:  Fine reporting by Fox.  Let's see if the mainstream media pick up the story, or consider it "racism."  I'll bet on the latter.

November 11, 2010     Permalink

OBAMA DIVING AGAIN IN RASMUSSEN POLL – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen's daily tracking poll shows a sharp drop for President Obama:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20 (see trends).

The president continues to get strong reviews from Democrats. However, hardly any Republicans offer their approval and 52% of unaffiliated voters Strongly Disapprove.

That's strongly disapprove. Look at the "unaffiliated number."  If you add to it all those who only mildly disapprove, the figure must be staggering.  If Obama can't turn that around by 2012, it's back to community organizing.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) now believe the country is generally heading in the right direction...

...Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

COMMENT:  Usually, when the president is abroad, his numbers tend to go up.  With Obama, they're down.

Conventional wisdom has it that Obama, like Clinton, Reagan and Roosevelt before him, will emerge from a midterm defeat and win the next presidential election.  But I really wonder.  First, Reagan's midterm losses in 1982 were far, far lower than Obama's.  And Roosevelt and Clinton knew how to pivot.  Obama?  Not exactly a master of governing.

Great politics ahead.  The 2012 campaign is already underway.

November 11, 2011      Permalink

WE CAN'T WAIT – AT 9:01 A.M. ET:  We give you this news bulletin.  We're out of breath:

The Obama Administration is on the verge of making a decision about where to try alleged September 11 plotters including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.

"We have been working on it and I think we're close to the decision," Holder told reporters during a press availability in connection with a U.S.-Canada meeting at the Justice Department.

"I would hope that whatever the decision is, it would be one that would be judged on the merits," Holder said. "What is best for the case, and for justice in that case will be thing that will guide a decision."

It was nearly a year ago that Holder announced plans to charge five Guantanamo prisoners, including Mohammed, in civilian federal court in Manhattan. The White House nixed that plan in January after an outcry from local officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

During the spring, Holder said he expected the issue to be resolved within a matter of weeks, but no decision was announced and eventually Holder began telling reporters who inquired that he wouldn't want to put a timeline on it. So, the new statement is a change. Many observers, including some who favor a military commission trial for the five men, said they suspected the Obama administration intentionally put the issue on ice to avoid it becoming an issue of dispute in the midterm elections.

COMMENT:  How's that for speed?  This has taken a year, and we still don't have a decision.  And yet, Holder's Justice Department found time to accuse red-hot Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey of overspending on official trips while a U.S. attorney, to the whopping tune of $300 a year over three years.  Well, there goes the economy.

We hope that incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith of Texas, no softy, will give the Justice Department the intense oversight that he's promised.  Smith said a few days ago:

"Part of that checks and balances is in fact holding the administration accountable, is in fact insisting on more transparency, is insisting on more honesty, and getting the facts,” Smith said.  “Right now, because of the one party monopoly, the Administration has been able to dodge any kind of supervision, any kind of oversight
committee action, and they refuse to testify, and that is no longer acceptable.”

Right on.

November 11, 2011       Permalink

CHILDREN MUST BE CHILDREN – AT 8:45 A.M. ET:   Hey, do I qualify?  I have a Stop 'n Shop card:

DURHAM, NC (WTVD) -- Durham's city council is getting an earful over a controversial plan to allow Mexican immigrants to use a special Mexican ID card for Mexican citizens living outside Mexico.

If approved, Durham would be the first city in the country to accept the Matricula Consular. It's an identification card issued by the Government of Mexico through its consulate offices to Mexican citizens residing outside of Mexico regardless of their emigration status.

According to an opinion from the Durham City Attorney, "the official purpose of the card is to demonstrate that the holder is a Mexican citizen living outside of Mexico. It includes an official Government of Mexico issued ID number and bears a photograph and address of the Mexican National to whom it is issued."

If Durham approves the resolution, city officials and police officers would accept it as a legal form of ID and banks could also accept it for financial transactions.

COMMENT:  Yeah, Durham.  Home of Duke University, where three innocent lacrosse players almost got lynched, and where the so-called "women's center" actually cancelled an event about motherhood in March because the sponsor was pro-life.  It figures that Durham would want to be "the first" to go along with this sham.

What is it about college towns, like Durham and Cambridge? 

This is a corrupt scheme to get around the status of illegals.  Valid ID, almost by definition, should be issued by an American authority to those who qualify.  If we accept something like the Matricula Consular, we should insist that it contain the immigration or visitation status of the holder.  That's a minimum requirement.

November 11, 2011       Permalink

AMATEURS, AMATEURS, SEND THEM BACK TO THE FARM TEAM – AT 8:29 A.M. ET:  What is this stuff?  From The Politico:

SEOUL - President Barack Obama failed to reach agreement on two international deals to help spur the U.S. economy, unexpected setbacks on an Asia trip that was supposed to emphasize his stature abroad and change the subject from last week’s electoral drubbing.

Obama was unable to achieve a free trade agreement with South Korea, vowing to keep talking to get a better deal for U.S. auto makers. And after meeting with the leaders of Germany and China, he continued to meet resistance from the two countries about reducing their trade surpluses with the U.S. to give a boost to American manufacturing, putting the best face on a compromise that only calls for the goal of lowering them.

COMMENT:  Wait a second.  Don't I remember, from the time we had real presidents, that these deals were supposed to be sealed before the president arrived?  The president puts on a little act about negotiating, but the deals have already been made.  The president then puts on a freshly pressed suit and signs, creating a victory.

That's the way the pros do it, the kind who play big-league ball in big-league parks.

Then there are the amateurs, who are playing in big-league parks but can't quite make the standard.

Other nations read our election returns, and Mr. Obama is being treated like a guy who looks out the window of the White House and sees the moving van arriving.  Expect more rebuffs like this.  There's no fear of this chap in Tehran.

November 11, 2011     Permalink