"A black sheriff?!": The Official Topic of Obama and New Era American Politics

[Phoenix Dark]

Everything we know about Obama suggests that he's all those things. From listening to as many view points as possible to being rather cautious, etc.

I'm not familiar with this idea that Biden is the cautious smart dude in the room

I've got this picture that Obama has the vision and then sends out Biden to do all the running around amongst the serfs.

So Obama is Moses to Biden's Aaron?

[Fresh Prince]

I don't read 'insider' talk like you and Cheebs but from their interactions on TV and judging their personality types I get that feeling.

[recursivelyenumerable]

So Obama is Moses to Biden's Aaron?

You misspelled "Aron"

[Dickie Dee]

Everything we know about Obama suggests that he's all those things. From listening to as many view points as possible to being rather cautious, etc.

I'm not familiar with this idea that Biden is the cautious smart dude in the room

I've got this picture that Obama has the vision and then sends out Biden to do all the running around amongst the serfs.

Or maybe Biden was in Washington for over 35 years, is well-liked and has built up alot of relationships that Obama hasn't...

[Phoenix Dark]

Everything we know about Obama suggests that he's all those things. From listening to as many view points as possible to being rather cautious, etc.

I'm not familiar with this idea that Biden is the cautious smart dude in the room

I've got this picture that Obama has the vision and then sends out Biden to do all the running around amongst the serfs.

Or maybe Biden was in Washington for over 35 years, is well-liked and has built up alot of relationships that Obama hasn't...

So Obama is Michael to Biden's Fredo. Washington being Las Vegas of course

[Phoenix Dark]

Obama with the ether 

CNN reporter: rah rah rah, Cuomo is actually doing stuff about AIG. How come you waited two days  before expressing any outrage?!

Obama: *long answer about trying to fix issue*

CNN reporter: Cuomo's doing stuff! Where was your outrage when you were being silent for two days!

Obama: I like to know what I'm taking about before speaking. Next

[Fresh Prince]

So Obama is Michael to Biden's Fredo. Washington being Las Vegas of course

See nerd humour, carrying the joke too far.

[Human Snorenado]

Shit press conference, someone should have grown some balls and attacked the Geithner plan for the crap it is.

[Human Snorenado]

At this point is there a viable alternative to the Geithner plan?

Take care of things hobo with a shotgun style.

Srsly tho... nationalize the banks.  I was encouraged today to actually see Timid Timmy ask the big bad Congresscritters for the ability to go in and take shit over if he had to.  I'm just personally opposed to anything that will result in more "heads the private sector (aka the idiots that did this shit in the first place) win, tails the tax payers lose" situations.

[TakingBackSunday]

I said viable.  I think nationalizing the banks is the way to go as well, but honestly i don't think it will happen until we get another grand-mal seizure in the credit markets.

This.

[Human Snorenado]

I said hobo with a shotgun!  That's viable, all you need is a bunch of hobos and shotguns.  Hobos are plentiful thanks to 2G2D and shotguns are relatively cheap.

[Van Cruncheon]

yeah, about the only good thing you can say about it is that it doesn't involve congress

[ToxicAdam]

Trial Balloon


:fiesta :fiesta


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obama-mum-on-proposal-to-apf-14735219.html

[Rman]

Mandark would like this snippet from The New Yorker.

Speaking of Paul Krugman, he was on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer last night, talking about the Geithner plan. In two and a half minutes, he clearly and concisely made the case against the plan. (Strangely, I found his television commentary to be far more lucid and less over-the-top than his columns on the subject have been.) His critique—which you can read the transcript of here—does an excellent job of explaining the plan’s potential flaws:

[T]his is a plan that treats a fairly minor symptom of the problem. You know, that maybe some of these toxic assets—I guess they’re now toxic legacy assets, whatever—are being under-priced in the market. And maybe there’s a problem there.
But the fact of the matter is that the banks made a huge bet. They made a bet that the housing bubble was nonexistent, that, you know, historically unprecedented levels of consumer debt were not a problem. They lost that bet. And this plan does almost nothing to rescue them from the consequences of that bad debt.

[The plan] is a very poorly targeted instrument. What you have is banks that have taken huge losses. And those are real losses. They’re not just because the markets aren’t working so well in toxic paper. And to get the markets, to get capital flowing, to get credit flowing to the real economy, you actually need to make the banks sound again… .

This is not going to do that. It’s going to help a little bit, maybe… . It’s a very sweet deal for the investors. And it’s going to push up the prices, but a lot of the benefits will go to financial institutions that are actually not in any trouble. A fair bit of the benefits will go to people who are not in the financial industry at all. Only a little bit of it is going to trickle to the really critically injured banks. So it’s just not — it’s a plan that kind of mistakes the nature of the problem that we face.

I’m not convinced by Krugman’s take, in part because, like Brad DeLong, I think risk aversion has played a major role in the undervaluing of assets, including mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, and that uncertainty about the continued impact of risk aversion on the value of those assets has made private capital and the banks themselves far more cautious than they normally would be. And I think the Geithner plan, while not ideal, has a reasonable chance of altering the risk-reward equation in a way that would significantly help the economy. I also think the risks and costs of nationalizing banks, which is the meaningful alternative to the plan, outweigh the benefits. (I also don’t think it would be politically possible right now to get Congress to commit the hundreds of billions—if not trillions of dollars—that would be required to take over even a couple big banks.) But I don’t think you’ll find a clearer, more serious critique of the plan’s underlying assumptions than the one Krugman offered

[siamesedreamer]

I said viable.  I think nationalizing the banks is the way to go as well, but honestly i don't think it will happen until we get another grand-mal seizure in the credit markets.

So, are you saying we will get another credit freeze up?

[Fragamemnon]

I said viable.  I think nationalizing the banks is the way to go as well, but honestly i don't think it will happen until we get another grand-mal seizure in the credit markets.

So, are you saying we will get another credit freeze up?

hamster huey and the  commericial real estate default kablooie

[Barry Egan]

I said viable.  I think nationalizing the banks is the way to go as well, but honestly i don't think it will happen until we get another grand-mal seizure in the credit markets.

So, are you saying we will get another credit freeze up?

hamster huey and the  commericial real estate default kablooie

wow, best semi-obscure reference evar.

[siamesedreamer]

Yeah, the commercial real estate bomb is on the horizon (or has it already started?). One thing I wonder is how much of an effect the administration's home stabilization efforts are currently having on round 2 of the housing debacle due that starts next year. Those resets haven't occured yet, but theoretically they should all be underwater and qualify for something maybe. 

[Fragamemnon]

I think a lot of the ARM reset problems in terms of deaults are either already either behind us/in process (worst case) or are going to be addressed this year via refinance activity, which is scheduled to be in the trillions of dollars due to low rates (this will probably not have much of an impact on house prices as there is a lot of inventory-both listed and unlisted "trapped" owners) to work through. There will be a portion of people who will need help since they can't afford the refi costs or don't qualify for one due to low equity, which is where the stabilization plan will come in. How the cramdown provision being gummed up in the Senate will also play a part as well.

I'm slowly warming up to the Geithner plan as a awful compromise between doing nothing and trying to do something that would most assuredly cost us way more money. It's worth the risk and can be done without it getting raped and mauled by a out of touch Senate.

[chronovore]

I kinda wish someone would turn his teleprompter off, just to see what he'd do 

It wouldn't be nearly as entertaining as if someone did the same thing to Dubya. That would just be "deer in rapidly approaching headlights" look.

[Brehvolution]

Now I know why Bush rarely did press conferences. I think Obama did pretty well considering the hot fiyah he was dealing with. But he needs to come off the podium and deck some of those fegs who are only there to try to make him squirm. He should totally ignore questions from the conservative media from here on out. They are not asking questions because they want an answer, they are fishing for ammo.

[Ganhyun]

Listened to some of the press conference on the radio this morning. Seemed like Obama dodged answering about the taxcut not being in the budget.


Also, this was on the news this morning,



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,510445,00.html

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/25/eu-president-us-economic-plan-a-way-to-hell/


lol. looks like not everyone in the EU likes our bailout plan.

[Fragamemnon]

The Czech PM is a total nut, an avowed Eurosceptic, climate change denier, and ron paul-style economic distinguished mentally-challenged fellow. He's EU President because of the way the position automatically rotates, not due to any election, and it's been a huge source of embarrassment for most of the member states.

[Fragamemnon]

Just get rid of the Senate period, it's just a place where states that don't have people living in them push their values and extract resources from states that do have people living in them.

[siamesedreamer]

I added in the Iraq/Afland war costs because Bush made them off-budget.

[Mandark]

The Czech PM is a total nut, an avowed Eurosceptic, climate change denier, and ron paul-style economic distinguished mentally-challenged fellow. He's EU President because of the way the position automatically rotates, not due to any election, and it's been a huge source of embarrassment for most of the member states.

Not only that, his party just suffered a vote of no confidence and have to give up power.

Agree on the Senate.  Wannabe House of Lords total.

[Human Snorenado]

While in a perfect world we'd get rid of the Senate, that's not gonna happen.  Nor is getting rid of the filibuster.

What Obama and testes-less Harry Reid SHOULD do, however, is make the Republicans filibuster.  Make 'em look stupid on national tv a couple of times.  No more of this just letting them threaten shit.  If health care is a couple of votes away, make them stand up and filibuster a plan that will drive down costs and insure millions more Americans.  See how that works for them in 2010 and 2012.

These are Democrats we're talking about, tho.  I'm just shocked every day that goes by where they don't ask the Republicans if it's ok for them to go to the bathroom, so making the GOP filibuster is probably out of the question.

[Mandark]

From what I've read, it would be near impossible to force an actual Mr. Thurmond goes to Washington moment.  Something about a single Senator being able to repeatedly reset the process by suggesting lack of a quorum yadda yadda.  Ye olde parliamentary maneuvers barf.

Even with a very clear electoral mandate for one party, the agenda can get hijacked by a single Senator, thanks to the supermajority requirement and crap like holds.  Ben Nelson got to grandstand about the stimulus bill, Robert Menendez held up the emergency spending bill because of his Cuba fetish, etc.

Now more idiocy:

Conrad also pressed some Bush-era budget maneuvers eliminated by Obama back into service: Instead of a 10-year budget that shows deficits steadily accumulating, for example, Conrad is proposing a five-year spending plan. And Conrad assumes that the alternative minimum tax will strike millions of middle-class families, generating billions of additional dollars in 2013 and 2014, though Congress has acted repeatedly to prevent that.

THAT DOESN'T ACTUALLY CUT THE DEFICITS!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

[Eric P]

there was some other party that was big on five year plans but i can't recall much about them

[Mandark]

there was some other party that was big on five year plans but i can't recall much about them

That's awesome, but totally needs a :hannity

[FlameOfCallandor]

[youtube=560,345] 94lW6Y4tBXs[/youtube]

[Dickie Dee]

While in a perfect world we'd get rid of the Senate, that's not gonna happen.  Nor is getting rid of the filibuster.

What Obama and testes-less Harry Reid SHOULD do, however, is make the Republicans filibuster.  Make 'em look stupid on national tv a couple of times.  No more of this just letting them threaten shit.  If health care is a couple of votes away, make them stand up and filibuster a plan that will drive down costs and insure millions more Americans.  See how that works for them in 2010 and 2012.

These are Democrats we're talking about, tho.  I'm just shocked every day that goes by where they don't ask the Republicans if it's ok for them to go to the bathroom, so making the GOP filibuster is probably out of the question.

I agree, the filibuster in theory is fine and worked fine for decades, but this ridiculous gentlemanly agreement that all you have to do is tap your foot twice in the Senate bathroom and suddenly 60 votes are needed instead of 50 is ridiculous.

It's a political tool to be used by the minority, but it should also come with it's appropriate political risks.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Nobody had a problem with the filibuster when Dubya was trying to suggest some far right wing justice selections.  When Republicans wanted to take filibustering away for it, a lot of Democrats, probably a couple people who posted in this thread, didn't want it taken away.

[Human Snorenado]

ARRRRGGGGGHHHH.  Obama's pick to run the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is a former Goldman-Sachs employee who helped pass Gramm-Leach-Bliley as an undersecretary for Summers.

Again, I HAVE FUCKING HAD IT WITH THESE RUBINITES IN MY MOTHERFUCKING GOVT!  This was not the shit that I signed up for when I campaigned tirelessly for you last year, Obama.  FIX IT.

Thank Christ Bernie Sanders is putting a hold on this guy.

T EXP- it's reasonable to filibuster or threaten a filibuster for the spectacularly unqualified and inept judges that Dubya nominated.  It's not for EVERY LITTLE THING the Dems want to do.  Elections have consequences.

[Fragamemnon]

Yeah I have to admit that the problem isn't the existence of Rubin-things, but the apparent ubiquity of them at every level of the government's interaction with markets.

No one's asking for a Socialism Wow! campaign, just get some people who aren't tied up into the great credit shitheap as a counterbalance to those that enabled it.

[Human Snorenado]

Honestly tho, appointing someone like this to a post like the CFTC is EXACTLY the sort of shit that pissed me off about Bush.  It's one thing to appoint someone who may be unqualified, but it's completely another to try to appoint someone who is fundamentally unsuited to carry out the duties of their position, like oh say an energy company lobbyist to be head of the EPA or any of the other legion of distinguished mentally-challenged Bush appointees.

[Fragamemnon]

On the flipside, where the hell do you find someone qualified to oversee the regulation of the kind of wacky shit that they trade on CFTC outside of the financial industry? One of the very real problems filling that slot is that the shit that goes through there is so incredible fucked up and convoluted to begin with-keep in mind that the CFTC is where we want to have an open derivatives market to get that shit outside of shadow banking.

Not defending the choice-it's GS, fucker of freedom, but I'd want a strong set of academics alongside the GS tool in this situation.

[siamesedreamer]

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/citi-bofa-said-to-buy-mortgage-securities-in-bulk/

Citi and BoA are now gobbling up toxic assets at distressed prices ahead of Geithner's bank plan implementation so they can sell them back to the government for a profit.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

obama sounds like a huge douche

[Dickie Dee]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

obama sounds like a huge douche

As much as I'd love him to say yes, what do you want him to say at this point?

He's been around the block, and I think he's smart enough to know the reasons why it'd be a good thing, but he's also smart enough to know it's not something he can accomplish at the moment.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

It's not that he said no.

It's that he laughed at the suggestion as if it were some nutty conspiracy theory and he insulted the people who asked the question.

[Mandark]

On the flipside, where the hell do you find someone qualified to oversee the regulation of the kind of wacky shit that they trade on CFTC outside of the financial industry?

Yep.

Saving/regulating the financial sector is going to be a bitch because basically everyone you could hire has experience in... the financial sector.  Not saying they'll be corrupt or outright underhanded.  But they're going to bring the biases that come from being in those business and social circles.

I get the sense that the military's the same way.  Practically everyone who can speak with authority on deployment, weapon systems, etc. is deeply steeped in that culture and it's really hard to change anything.

[Phoenix Dark]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/gop-budget-plan-fizzles-a_n_179660.html

lol

[Dickie Dee]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/gop-budget-plan-fizzles-a_n_179660.html

lol

QUESTION: ... House Republicans unveiled what they described today as their alternative to the president's budget. I wonder if anyone here has had a chance to brief you on that on -- if you're aware that it doesn't actually contain any numbers.

GIBBS: I did -- I -- it took me several minutes to read it. (LAUGHTER) I will note that ... there's one more picture of a windmill than there is of a chart of numbers. There's -- just for your knowledge, there's exactly one picture of a windmill.

[Phoenix Dark]

Seriously, it's like they've thrown some shit together to simply deny Obama's charge that they don't have a budget. The infighting sounds pretty petty

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'm pretty sure laughing at the Republicans is the same as laughing at distinguished mentally-challenged children.  For shame, evilbore

[Cheebs]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

obama sounds like a huge douche

He'd be political dead if he said anything else. What did you expect? He at least admits to actively doing weed for much of his life not the "tried it once didn't like it" line of most presidents.

[Phoenix Dark]

If you're having a bad day, I highly encourage you to spend some quality time with the Republican budget proposal. It's reads like what would happen if The Onion put together a budget. "Area Man Releases Proposal for 2010 Federal Spending Priorities." (Though, to paraphrase William F. Buckley, it turns out that I'd prefer a federal budget written by an area man than the first six names on the House Republican Leadership roster.)

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=03&year=2009&base_name=my_favorite_budget_ever#114041

Shame. They should have had Ginrich write it, he has ideas

[Dickie Dee]

Thinking Obama was gonna legalize your weed is like that lady who thought that Obama was gonna pay for her gas.

Maybe once some of this shit cools down, it'd be nice if he could do something about the DEA not respecting State laws, other than that I don't really expect much.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Obama will not legalize weed.  Period.

[Human Snorenado]

Fark is having fun with the GOP "budget".

[Phoenix Dark]

[ToxicAdam]

Has Bin Laden ever mentioned the name Obama yet? Seems like a relevant topic that the (dead) terrorist would mention.

[Dickie Dee]

Has Bin Laden ever mentioned the name Obama yet? Seems like a relevant topic that the (dead) terrorist would mention.

My guess is that they filmed a million of these, but never anticipated Barack Hussein Obama getting elected President and have nothing.

[Mandark]

Oddly enough, I don't think he's mentioned Obama but he did refer to "Vice President Biden".

I figure he (or whoever is putting the tapes out) doesn't want to start a popularity contest against our man.

[Cheebs]

He mentioned Biden before but not Obama? weird

[Dickie Dee]

He mentioned Biden before but not Obama? weird

CNN had the best parsing of his language:

Bin Laden message: Stop 'aggression' against Gaza Story Highlights

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has apparently released a new audio message calling for a jihad, or holy war, against Israel for its Gaza campaign.

Osama bin Laden, in an undated photo, apparently taped a message calling for jihad against Israel.

The 22-minute message contains "an invitation" from bin Laden to take part in "jihad to stop the aggression against Gaza."

The audio message was posted on a radical Islamist Web site that has posted other statements from bin Laden in the past.

CNN could not independently confirm the authenticity of the message, but the speaker's voice was similar to other recordings that bin Laden has made.

While not naming President-elect Barack Obama, bin Laden refers to the future of the United States in the face of the current global economic crisis.  Watch as experts discuss Osama message »

"[America is] now drowning in a global financial crisis," he said. "They're even begging all nations, small and large, for help. America is no longer feared by its enemies nor respected by its allies.

"The decline of the American power is one of the main reasons for Israel's rushed and barbaric aggression on Gaza in a desperate attempt to take advantage of the last days of [President] Bush's term in office."

He appears, however, to refer to Obama, saying "Bush leaves his successor with the worst inheritance ... two long guerrilla wars and no options. He either withdraws and faces military defeat, or carries on and drowns his nation in financial trouble."  Watch Obama comment on bin Laden's message »

The message also names Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

"Here is Biden, the vice president of the president-elect ... [he] says that the crisis is bigger than they expected and that the American economy, all of it, is open to collapse," bin Laden said.

On December 20, Biden said in an interview that the economy "is in much worse shape than we thought it was in."

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the message "demonstrates [bin Laden's] isolation and continued attempts to remain relevant at a time when al Qaeda's ideology, mission and agenda are being questioned and challenged throughout the world."

He noted that the message also appears to be "an effort to raise money as part of [al Qaeda's] ongoing propaganda campaign."

"The United States promotes an alternative, hopeful ideology while continuing to partner with over 90 countries to pursue terrorists wherever they are," Johndroe said.

The last time bin Laden released an audio message was in mid-May, timed to coincide with Israel's 60th anniversary. That message urged his followers to liberate Palestine.

Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza on December 27 to stop Hamas rocket strikes on southern Israel. The death toll in Gaza was nearing 1,000 on Wednesday, including more than 300 children, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The Israeli toll stood at 13, including three civilians, according to Israeli police and military officials.

Bin Laden, who is about 51, is the head of the al Qaeda terrorist network, which was responsible for the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States that killed 2,751 people.

He's been in hiding since the U.S. assault on Afghanistan that followed the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. government is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture.

President Bush, whose term ends next week, told CNN's Larry King on Tuesday that he remains optimistic that bin Laden would be found.

Asked by King, "Are we ever going to find bin Laden?" Bush replied: "Yes, of course, absolutely. We've got a lot of people out there looking for him, a lot of assets. You can't run forever."

The message is important to the incoming U.S. president because it signifies that bin Laden is still "out there," said Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana who served on both the congressional and the presidential September 11 commissions.

"It's a reminder of President-elect Obama's inheritance of some of the difficult problems out there that he has to confront," said Roemer, who is president of the Center for National Policy.


"Al Qaeda is trying to be relevant with this tape," Roemer said. "They seek competition with Hamas, Hezbollah, the ongoing battle between Israel and the Palestinians. ...

"This reminds us of what bin Laden said right after 9/11. He said it wasn't 19 Arab armies or 19 Arab states that attacked the United States. It was 19 post-graduate students. It reminds us how much the world has changed, and how many different threats are out there today."

[siamesedreamer]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/26/inside-the-ring-23718486/

Pretty interesting. I side here with Biden here a bit more. Why do we want to willingly drag ourselves into another nation-building effort given how Iraq went and recognizing Afghanistan's history? There's definately some hypocrisy on both sides of the argument though.

[ToxicAdam]

War on drugs

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/mexicos_drug_war.html
 

[Cheebs]

The Democrat in the NY-20 special election is currently leading in the two polls out today. hopefully it works out, but I am still unsure. Its a conservative district and republicans tend to turn out better in special elections than democrats.