Krugman's 'Obama problem'

Seems a lot of people who shouldn't have an Obama problem have one these days.

Krugman identifies his "Obama problem" in a post that provides almost identical quotes about the federal budget from John Boehner in March of 2009 and Obama this week:

John Boehner, March 2009:

It’s time for government to tighten their belts and show the American people that we ‘get’ it

Barack Obama, yesterday:

“At a time when so many families are tightening their belts, he’s going to make sure that the government continues to tighten its own,” Obama said.“

We’ll never know how differently the politics would have played if Obama, instead of systematically echoing and giving credibility to all the arguments of the people who want to destroy him, had actually stood up for a different economic philosophy. But we do know how his actual strategy has worked, and it hasn’t been a success.

No, it hasn't. Read the rest of this post...

Poll Fix: Senate races in CA, PA, NV and MO

Over the past couple days, there have been a slew of polls from key Senate races. So, here's a poll fix.

California Senate:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds Boxer with 49% support versus Fiorina’s 42%. Four percent (4%) favor another candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

Pennsylvania Senate:

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey are locked in a 43 - 43 percent tie in their race for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Nevada Senate via Jon Ralston:

The Reid folks surely are not going to count their chickens, but they could not have hatched a better scenario than what is unfolding. That was confirmed Tuesday by a Rasmussen Reports poll showing a dead heat (Angle, 46 percent; Reid, 43 percent). And with Rasmussen considered the pollster most favorable to Republican candidates, there are those who will conclude Reid actually is ahead.

Missouri Senate:

The Missouri Senate race has squeezed to a near tie but remains largely the same way it’s been for months with Republican Roy Blunt barely ahead of Democrat Robin Carnahan.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Show Me State finds Blunt with 47% support and Carnahan earning 45% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) remain undecided.

Blunt has a right wing/teabagger opponent, Chuck Purgason, in the GOP primary on August 3rd. Rasmussen didn't poll that race. Read the rest of this post...

WellCare restarts contributions — Boehner schedules a room

Three crisp hundreds on the nightstand:

Remember WellCare, the Tampa-based insurer that was accused of “bilking taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars by using fraudulent practices that were integral to the company’s profit-making,” says a St. Petersburg Times editorial? “ . . . [T]he Justice Department has announced a preliminary settlement of a paltry $137.5 million to satisfy its whistle-blower claims.” . . .

WellCare’s PAC stopped making political contributions in the fall of 2007, after the Justice Department raided its headquarters. But now WellCare’s PAC is back in business, sending $2,500 to the Freedom Project, House Minority Leader John Boehner’s personal “Leadership PAC.” [my emphasis]

I wonder what the guys at the DoJ got?

Ken Silverstein posts this stuff all the time. A good man to keep on the radar.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Strong majority of public has doubts about financial reform

What part of "the public saved the banking industry yet they are being screwed" has been missed by Washington? Probably the campaign contribution part but still. It's so obvious to everyone outside of the Beltway bubble. Bloomberg:

Almost four out of five Americans surveyed in a Bloomberg National Poll this month say they have just a little or no confidence that the measure being championed by congressional Democrats will prevent or significantly soften a future crisis. More than three-quarters say they don’t have much or any confidence the proposal will make their savings and financial assets more secure.

A plurality -- 47 percent -- says the bill will do more to protect the financial industry than consumers; 38 percent say consumers would benefit more.

“Banks and the government are making out, not the ordinary person,” says Lenore Critzer, a 70-year-old retiree and poll participant who lives in Nelson, Ohio, about 40 miles from Cleveland. “We’re going to have another crisis and worse.”

Read the rest of this post...

The economic case for extending unemployment insurance

From Larry Summers:

The lapse in extended unemployment insurance benefits at the end of May has resulted in 2.5 million jobless Americans exhausting their assistance. If we do not reinstate benefits by the end of the month, this number will grow to 3.2 million. These losses are exacting an enormous human toll on families who count on these benefits as they continue to search for jobs.

Read the rest of this post...

BP experiences a few more delays

Who ever would have guessed? The new cap is not yet in operation and the relief wells are currently on hold. As we've come to expect with BP the news details are sketchy. For some reason this cloudy response continues to be tolerated which may have something to do with the public having less and less faith in Obama's decision making. People are tired of being kept in the dark after countless failures.

After days of progress on the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, BP said Wednesday that delays have temporarily stopped work beneath the water on both a stopgap solution and a permanent fix to the gusher.

BP was vague about the reasons for pushing back tests of a new cap meant to trap oil in the well and why it stopped, for up to 48 hours, drilling on a relief well aimed at plugging the gusher for good from underground.

Kent Wells, a senior vice president at the oil giant, said at a morning news briefing that it was the government's call late Tuesday to re-evaluate plans for testing the new cap over the leak. That plan was put on hold for 24 hours.

With oil still gushing freely into the Gulf, Wells said BP and federal officials will re-evaluate the best path forward after the 24 hours.

Read the rest of this post...

GOP Whip Cantor says stimulus has not created jobs - it has, to the tune of several million, per CBO

Cantor via ThinkProgress:

[W]e have seen the stimulus dollars that have been spent have not produced jobs. The stimulus was designed to lower the unemployment rate, to keep it from going over 8 percent. We know nationally now, it still hovers around 10 percent; here in our area, it’s 7 1/2 percent. So, obviously, government spending money doesn’t create jobs.

Cantor is too smart to know that what he just said isn't true. First off, CBO already said the stimulus created and/or saved millions of jobs. Second, the fact that unemployment remains at 10% does not mean the stimulus did not create jobs. Unemployment might have been at 12% without the stimulus, for example. Did the stimulus create enough jobs? No. Simply because it wasn't big enough. But to suggest it hasn't created any is a lie.

The fact that the GOP House Whip is still saying that the stimulus hasn't created any jobs, well, it's bad. The White House should come down on Cantor like a ton of bricks. Tell him to come to the White House tomorrow, and you'll have the cameras there, and he can explain to the American people exactly how the stimulus hasn't created any jobs, when CBO says it's created millions, when other GOP members of Congress have held press conferences with companies whose jobs have been saved/created by the stimulus.

Do what the GOP would do. Burn Cantor so bad that neither he, nor any other Republican, dare use this talking point ever again. Read the rest of this post...

Report on major oil spill has already been written -- and ignored

Yesterday, I wrote a post about Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu who is one of the biggest cheerleaders for the oil industry. That's no small feat. She wants more drilling now. That oil spill destroying the Gulf of Mexico doesn't seem to faze her.

Landrieu and other elected officials have protected the oil industry. And, the oil industry hasn't had to be responsible. We know that now. But, our leaders have clearly failed us. This could have been prevented or mitigated. Because, what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico has a precedent: The Exxon Valdez disaster. What lessons were learned? None:

But the full story of the Exxon Valdez wreck is far more complex, and it offers striking parallels to today's events in the Gulf of Mexico -- including a central role played by a consortium led by British Petroleum, now known as BP.

A commission that investigated the Alaska spill found that oil companies cut corners to maximize profits. Systems intended to prevent disaster failed, and no backups were in place. Regulators were too close to the oil industry and approved woefully inadequate accident response and cleanup plans.

History is repeating, say officials who investigated the Valdez, because the lessons of two decades ago remain unheeded.

"It's disappointing," said 84-year-old Walt Parker, chairman of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission, which made dozens of recommendations for preventing a recurrence. "It's almost as though we had never written the report."

Marine experts predict that the many panels investigating the Deepwater Horizon blowout -- including a presidential commission that began work this week in New Orleans -- will produce reports with numerous findings that could have been cut and pasted from the 20-year-old report written by Parker's commission or another body that examined the Valdez accident. They also fear those findings may have no more impact than the Valdez conclusions have.

With leaders like Landrieu protecting the oil industry, it's probably true that nothing will change. They just want more drilling without regard for the consequences. Read the rest of this post...

NOAA hoarding data away from researchers but BP receives it immediately

To be fair to NOAA, Tony Hayward is the president, after all. More from Dan Froomkin at the Huffington Post:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hoarding vast amounts of raw data that independent marine researchers say could help both the public and scientists better understand the extent of the damage being caused by the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In most cases, NOAA insists on putting the data through a ponderous, many-weeks-long vetting process before making it public.

In other cases, NOAA actually intended to keep the data secret indefinitely. But officials told the Huffington Post on Tuesday that they have now decided to release it -- though when remains unclear.

BP, incidentally, gets to see all this data right away.

Read the rest of this post...

Bastille Day (my small contribution)

My small contribution, on Bastille Day, à la Résistance. This is one of the best political anthems I've ever heard. It's stirring, even if you know not an ounce of French. Damien Saez wrote this in 2002, as a response to the election that saw Jean-Marie Le Pen, the super-rightwing racist, place second in the French national elections.

But the song is universal — it works for all who believe in the rights of man, and in resistance. The inactive and disconsolate need not apply.

First the clip, then my meager translation, for those who wish to follow along.

Sons of France
Damien Saez

"40% of voters 18-25 years old didn't vote. Unimaginable!"

I saw, with tears in my eyes, this morning in the news
20% for the horror, 20% for the fear.
Drunk with unawareness, all of them sons of France
In the land of Enlightenment, suicidal forgetfulness.

No-no-no no no
No-no-no no no

We are, we are . . . the land of the Rights of Man
We are, we are . . . the nation of Tolerance
We are, we are . . . the land of Enlightenment
We are, we are . . . at the hour of Résistance

For all the dreams we had, for those that we will dream
For the fist that we have lifted, and the fist that we will make
We march for utopia, we march for a better we,
Allons marchons together, enfants de la patrie.
Sons of France!

. . .

Behind us there are shadows, traitors and their plots
The banners that they fly, their anthems and their shouts.
And then there is you, my brother — you, who believes no more
And there are all our prayers, and our lost causes too.

Shame on our country, shame on our patrie
Shame on us, the young, shame on the tyranny
Shame on our country — look, the old enemy!
Allons marchons together, enfants de la patrie.

We are, we are . . . the land of the Rights of Man
We are, we are . . . the nation of Tolerance
We are, we are . . . the land of Enlightenment
We are, we are . . . at the hour of Résistance !

An alternate version, from an all-live performance:



Powerful stuff. À la Résistance !

GP Read the rest of this post...

As House leaders head to White House, Pelosi calls Gibbs 'politically inept'

This morning, eight House Demcoratic leaders are heading to the White House to meet with President Obama. Among the attendees are Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and the Chair of the DCCC, Chris Van Hollen. They're going to be talking about the legislative agenda, but as I said in the open thread, they really need to talk about the upcoming elections. This meeting plays out against the backdrop of the comments from Robert Gibbs that Democrats could lose the House this fall.

Apparently, those comments didn't sit well with the House Democratic caucus -- and the Speaker:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) slammed White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs during Tuesday night’s House Democratic Caucus meeting for saying Sunday that Democrats could lose control of the House in November.

Several Democratic sources in the room described a testy scenario that started with Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (N.J.) criticizing Gibbs for saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there is “no doubt there’s enough seats in play” to allow for a House GOP takeover in 2012. Things heated up as Pelosi jumped in and blasted Gibbs for making “politically inept” comments, according to one source.

“It was bad,” another source said. “She was like: ‘I don’t appreciate it. I don’t know who this guy is. I’ve never met him before. And he’s saying that we’re going to lose the House.’”

The House has delivered on the Obama agenda. House Democrats have fought harder for the agenda than Obama's White House has.

Gibbs and the White House crew should be trying to figure out how to win in the fall, not giving ammo to the GOPers.

I have no doubt that some politicos think it might be easier for Obama to run for reelection if the GOPers control the House. But, we didn't elect Obama so he can run for reelection. We elected him to enact an agenda. It's been hard enough with Democrats in control. Nothing will happen if the GOPers have real power. Nothing. And, the White House will spend all of its time responding to subpoenas from Darrell Issa. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

As Chris already noted from Paris, it's Bastille Day.

Yesterday, Obama met with Senate Democratic leaders. The Senate intends to focus on passing several bills related to the economy, including the Wall Street reform conference report and an extension of unemployment benefits. Today, he's meeting with top Democrats on the House side to talk about their agenda before the August recess. The House has already accomplished much of Obama's agenda. They should be talking about how to keep the House under Democratic control in the November elections, too.

This morning, Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo are on trial in DC Superior Court facing charges of “Failure to Obey a Lawful Order." The charges stem from their civil disobedience on March 18 and April 20 -- handcuffing themselves to the White House fence to protest the President's failure to act on the repeal of DADT.

Never a dull moment.... Read the rest of this post...

Study: UK Conservative budget 'has increased chance of double-dip recession'

Of course it did. The Tories haven't even finished yet either. They're now talking about "injecting the free market" or some nonsense that really means "privatize" the National Health Service. What this always does is help a few select people cash in and the government no longer carries the numbers on their books so they can happily talk about the money saved. Sure, the government may save but the actual consumers will be crushed again with higher charges. Great savings there, boys. So the higher costs will be a great help for those suffering because of yet another recession. How much more savings can an already beaten down public take?

George Osborne's budget has increased the likelihood of a double-dip recession, the government's tax and spending watchdog told a powerful group of MPs today.

Cuts in public spending and higher taxes will have cut the forecast for growth and "logically increased the possibility of a double dip", said Geoffrey Dicks, one of three officials at the Office for Budget Responsibility, at the first meeting of the Treasury select committee in the new parliament.

The admission will be a blow to the chancellor who has denied his drastic austerity package increases the risk of the economy falling back into recession.

Read the rest of this post...

It's Bastille Day

A great ending to an excellent movie (Danton) about the French Revolution. The little boy reads The Rights of Man to Robespierre on the day Robespierre had Danton executed. Thomas Paine lived about ten minutes away from where I live today. He also was lucky to survive "the terror" because he voted against executing the king. Paine was sent to prison in the Luxembourg (today it's the Senat) and survived only because the chalk line that was supposed to be in front of his door (indicating he was to be executed) was incorrectly placed inside the doorway when it was open. When the door was closed, the line was hidden. That mistake provided him with an extra day which was enough for someone to save him. If you have the opportunity to see the movie Danton, it's definitely worth viewing. Read the rest of this post...