fingers crossed . . .

There is a good chance that Dana Milbank makes a good point.

Gingrich himself remains so unpopular that his own chances of beating Obama seem dim: His 29 percent favorability rating is about where it was before he was dumped as speaker by his House colleagues in 1998. But by making Romney as unpopular as he is, he has made Obama look good by comparison. Obama’s favorable rating is up to 53 percent from 48 percent in December.

Gingrich has long regarded himself as a “transformational figure” in world history, and now he’s about to prove it: For the second time in his career, he is about to save the reelection bid of a foundering Democratic president.

time to get tough . . .

Jonathan Bernstein in The New Republic thinks it is time to get tough . . . He has a suggestion for President Obama . . .

Throughout 1903, the Senate minority was blocking several nominations put forth by the White House. President Roosevelt should have been able to wait for that Congressional session to adjourn and make his recess appointments before the next session was scheduled to begin, by Constitutional mandate, on December 7 of that year. However, House Speaker Joe Cannon refused to go along, keeping the House in session throughout the break.

In response, the Senate leadership concocted a plan. On the big day of December 7, the Senate convened, adjourned, and immediately began an entirely new session. As The New York Times report had it the next day:

The conclusion has been reached that between the time of the falling of President pro tempore Frye’s gavel signifying the conclusion of the extraordinary session and the calling to order of the Senate in the regular session of Congress, an appreciable lapse of time occurred. In this time the appointments technically were made. … There was but one fall of the gavel, but one stroke, and but one sound.

And in that instant, Roosevelt made 168 military promotions that normally would have to have been approved by the Senate, as well as “about 25 civilian appointees.”

Was it legal? No one knows with certainty, as it wasn’t adjudicated in the courts.

more numbers to add . . .

59% surveyed in the most recent New York Times / CBS poll say that jobs (32%) and the economy (27%) are the most important problem facing the country - the budge deficit is a very distant third (8%). I hope to see the President continue to hammer his theme of jobs, jobs, jobs. We need people to be able to return to work - we need jobs.

this adds up . . .

Some folks don't think union busting is class warfare; however, taxing millionaires may be . . . I think this quote from President Obama adds up. . .

"Either we have to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share, or we have to ask seniors to pay more for medicare, or gut education," he continued. "This is not class warfare. It's Math."

thinking out loud . . .

I continue to be deeply disappointed in this administration's overall accomplishments. I continue to completely support this administration and will have no hesitation voting in 2012 for the President and, to the extent possible, in attempting to lessen influence of Boehner and cohorts.

hair on fire?

Okay, I did not watch the President last night. I'm finding little enthusiasm for politics in my psyche lately. It's bad enough to hear the 5 minute news summaries in the a.m. on KUHA though I do miss listening to AlJazeera reports on KPFT - my timing on driving to work . . . So I have little stomach for the ongoing chatter from D.C. while the country continues to be pummeled by lack of available work with liveable salary. However, is it possible we may be turning a corner of sorts - will the dialogue actually become about jobs and people needing work and less about deficit cutting (which mostly seems to mean cutting social security, medicate, medicaid, etc.)? Maybe a ray of sunshine falls with purpose on Paul Krugman's keyboard?

First things first: I was favorably surprised by the new Obama jobs plan, which is significantly bolder and better than I expected. It’s not nearly as bold as the plan I’d want in an ideal world. But if it actually became law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment.

Of course, it isn’t likely to become law, thanks to G.O.P. opposition. Nor is anything else likely to happen that will do much to help the 14 million Americans out of work. And that is both a tragedy and an outrage.
...

The good news in all this is that by going bigger and bolder than expected, Mr. Obama may finally have set the stage for a political debate about job creation. For, in the end, nothing will be done until the American people demand action.

comparisons can be odious, but . . .

If we compare Presidents Obama and Bush effects on the national deficit according to Ezra Klein this is what we see.

excellent speech

President Obama's speech this morning was forward-looking, laying out the issues and how he seeks to deal with them.

Bravo.

political punch indeed . . .

Sources: Obama Plays Peacemaker in French-Chinese Smackdown Over Tax Havens

According to sources inside the room, President Obama just played peacemaker in a spat between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China.

. . .

"I'd suggest we'd still be in there had he not done this," the senior Obama administration official said.

asking questions . . .

Will children win with Obama?

When asked whether he would seek ratification of the CRC in the Presidential Youth Debate, Obama expressed, at least, some support for that goal: "It's important that the United States return to its position as a respected global leader and promoter of Human Rights. It's embarrassing to find ourselves in the company of Somalia, a lawless land. I will review this and other treaties and ensure that the United States resumes its global leadership in Human Rights."

Here is additional information about the CRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child).

gift that keeps giving

According to my reading of Marc Ambinder's "A Target-Rich Environment", Cheney and Limbaugh are part of the team keeping President Obama's numbers on the higher side:

One of the reasons why Barack Obama's political team is so confident . . . is that even while some of Obama's signature policies are viewed with healthy skepticism, Republicans are still splashing around in a fetid wading pool.

what an awful mess . . .

Okay, I've promised myself to give the President the benefit of the doubt for a full six months, and I will continue this course because I realize I am not in a position to fairly judge day by day decisions until either there is a pattern (as there was early with W - a pattern of deceit and incompetence for the most part) or enough decisions have been made that it appears there is no real overall goal. Economics is not my strong suit. But, here is the person whose judgment I've learned to trust saying that under President Obama the Treasury has decided that what we have is nothing but a confidence problem. This bothers me.

The Geithner plan has now been leaked in detail. It’s exactly the plan that was widely analyzed — and found wanting — a couple of weeks ago. The zombie ideas have won.

The Obama administration is now completely wedded to the idea that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the financial system — that what we’re facing is the equivalent of a run on an essentially sound bank. As Tim Duy put it, there are no bad assets, only misunderstood assets. And if we get investors to understand that toxic waste is really, truly worth much more than anyone is willing to pay for it, all our problems will be solved.

I'm not freaking out yet, but I must admit that I'm watching the calendar.

60 minutes this sunday . . . no football game

According to Taegan Goddard's Political Wire President Obama will appear on 60 Minutes this coming Sunday>

signing statement

The White House today issued the first signing statement by President Barack Obama.

recommendation . . .

Something well worth reading over at Talking Points Memo. You'll need to follow a couple of links there to get the full story.

I do not think this issue has been raised anywhere in our news coverage or here at my blog. But I wanted to briefly enter into this debate about President Obama's decision to make Chas Freeman chair of the National Intelligence Council, a somewhat out of the way Intelligence Community panel which has the key role of overseeing the production of National Intelligence Estimates.
Indulge me for a moment for a bit of background for those not familiar with this controversy; because it's important. Freeman is firmly in the Realist school of foreign policy. He was a former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and is close to the Saudis. The real rub, the basis of the whole controversy, however, is that he has been far more critical of Israeli policy than is generally allowed within acceptable debate in Washington. That is the crux of it. And because of that he's become the target of a spirited campaign to get his appointment rescinded.

my vote counts . . .

WASHINGTON — President Obama will announce Monday that he is reversing Bush administration limits on federal financing for embryonic stem cell research as part of a pledge to separate science and politics, White House officials said Friday.

new kid still popular . . .

President Obama's personal ratings remain high.

New York, March 5, 2008 – With the recent announcement of President Obama’s plans for a home foreclosure relief plan and proposed plans to increase taxes on affluent individuals and to spend money on health care, education and energy, the Diageo/Hotline Poll of 803 registered voters conducted by FD from February 28 – March 2, 2009, finds that majorities of voters support his proposals.

flecks of grey

President Obama, according to The New York Times is going gray after just 44 days in office.

the new Détente?

Perhaps President Bush's plans for a missile defense system in Europe may bear some fruit after all?

oopsie indeed

Via Digby article from Yahoo news explains a lot:

WASHINGTON – Sen. Judd Gregg, President Barack Obama's former nominee for commerce secretary, won taxpayer money for redevelopment of a shuttered Air Force base where he and his brother had invested in commercial property, an Associated Press investigation found.

Gregg, R-N.H., has personally invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cyrus Gregg's office projects at the Pease International Tradeport, a Portsmouth business park built at the defunct Pease Air Force Base, once home to nuclear bombers. Judd Gregg has collected at least $240,017 to $651,801 from his investments there, Senate records show, while helping to arrange at least $66 million in federal aid for the former base.

Gregg said he violated no laws or Senate rules. In a conference call with New Hampshire reporters on Friday, he said most of the federal money he steered to Pease had been requested by the National Guard or the city of Portsmouth.

"None of these in any way have benefited me personally," Gregg said.

But the senator's mixture of personal and professional business would have been difficult to square with President Barack Obama's campaign promise to impose greater transparency and integrity over federal budget earmarks — funding for lawmakers' pet projects. Gregg said that during his consideration for the Cabinet job, the White House did not know about his Pease earmarks, although the administration knew about his investments at Pease.

Of course, we all believe him when he also says that withdrawal of his name to be Commerce Secretary is completely unrelated to his earmark which just happened to line his and his brother's pockets. Judd, we hardly knew ya......