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| Name: |
lotowner
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| Subject: |
Howard Fineman Article
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Date:
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3/11/2009 6:18:32 AM
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A Turning Tide?
Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes.
Surfer that he is, President Obama should know a riptide when he's in one. The center usually is the safest, most productive place in politics, but perhaps not now, not in a once-in-a-century economic crisis.
Swimming in the middle, he's denounced as a socialist by conservatives, criticized as a polite accommodationist by government-is-the-answer liberals, and increasingly, dismissed as being in over his head by technocrats.
Luckily for Obama, the public still likes and trusts him, at least judging by the latest polls, including NEWSWEEK's. But, in ways both large and small, what's left of the American establishment is taking his measure and, with surprising swiftness, they are finding him lacking.
Obama may be mistaking motion for progress, calling signals for a game plan. A busy, industrious overachiever, he likes to check off boxes on a long to-do list. A genial, amenable guy, he likes to appeal to every constituency, or at least not write off any. A beau ideal of Harvard Law, he can't wait to tackle extra-credit answers on the exam.
If the establishment still has power, it is a three-sided force, churning from inside the Beltway, from Manhattan-based media and from what remains of corporate America. Much of what they are saying is contradictory, but all of it is focused on the president:
The $787 billion stimulus, gargantuan as it was, was in fact too small and not aimed clearly enough at only immediate job-creation.
The $275 billion home-mortgage-refinancing plan, assembled by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, is too complex and indirect.
The president gave up the moral high ground on spending not so much with the "stim" but with the $400 billion supplemental spending bill, larded as it was with 9,000 earmarks.
The administration is throwing good money after bad in at least two cases—the sinkhole that is Citigroup (there are many healthy banks) and General Motors (they deserve what they get).
The failure to call for genuine sacrifice on the part of all Americans, despite the rhetorical claim that everyone would have to "give up" something.
A willingness to give too much leeway to Congress to handle crucial details, from the stim to the vague promise to "reform" medical care without stating what costs could be cut.
A 2010 budget that tries to do far too much, with way too rosy predictions on future revenues and growth of the economy. This led those who fear we are about to go over Niagara Falls to deride Obama as a paddler who'd rather redesign the canoe.
A treasury secretary who has been ridiculed on "Saturday Night Live" and compared to Doogie Howser, Barney Fife and Macaulay Culkin in "Home Alone"—and those are the nice ones.
A seeming paralysis in the face of the banking crisis: unwilling to nationalize banks, yet unable to figure out how to handle toxic assets in another way—by, say, setting up a "bad bank" catch basin.
A seeming reluctance to seek punishing prosecutions of the malefactors of the last 15 years—and even considering a plea bargain for Bernie Madoff, the poster thief who stole from charities and Nobel laureates and all the grandparents of Boca. Yes, prosecutors are in charge, but the president is entitled—some would say required—to demand harsh justice.
The president, known for his eloquence and attention to detail, seemingly unwilling or unable to patiently, carefully explain how the world works—or more important, how it failed. Using FDR's fireside chats as a model, Obama needs to explain the banking system in laymen's terms. An ongoing seminar would be great.
Obama is no socialist, but critics argue that now is not the time for costly, upfront spending on social engineering in health care, energy or education.
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| Name: |
lakngulf
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| Subject: |
Howard Fineman Article
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Date:
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3/11/2009 7:46:52 AM
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Bush and Paulson had no idea how their spending would help, other than pad the pockets of Paulson's buddies on Wall Street. Obama and Geitner have no ideal how their spending will help. The article's bullet points are on the mark.
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| Name: |
MartiniMan
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| Subject: |
Howard Fineman Article
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Date:
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3/11/2009 8:11:43 AM
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What they are seeing is a lack of real leadership from a community agitator who is the most unqualified person elected to the presidency in my lifetime. The fact is Obama is a vacuous neophyte that has surrounded himself with ideologues and partisans. Of course he never had a chance to control Reid and Pelosi. He's their lap dog and they are in charge. The guy can't talk without a teleprompter......and they used to abuse Bush about his malapropisms! At least he could answer a question without some aide whispering in his ear. Did you hear his call back to the NY Times about whether he was a socialist? It was the most painful 2 minutes of my life listening to him hem and haw and call Bush the real socialist. Its hard to take anything he says or thinks seriously.
Howard is sugar coating the poll numbers for the Messiah. His numbers are actually lower than Jimmy Cater at the same point in his failed presidency. And they will continue to drop as he says one thing and then makes mistake after mistake in the opposite direction from what he says. All the moronic moderates that took a chance on this rube were warned but chose not to believe us. Unfortunately we have to share in their misery as we slouch into France or England.
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