Geihtners New Plan Like Old Plan

Seems to me what Obama/Geithner are going for is short term gain for the quickest way to unfreeze credit which greases the wheels of commerce as it is currently designed. Therefore, It is is more a political plan for recovery than a long term plan for economic reconstruction, and actually lessons the immediate political hazard for Obama. The overwhelming percentage of the public does not care much for long term reform and simply wants the good times to roll again. They may be outraged that people who caused the problem, are getting made whole again, but that will be a shallow concern compared with a higher DOW and a return to easy credit and more jobs.

The problem is, that it is setting the stage for another disaster likely worse than this one down the road, unless the business model is changed as the Krugman’s of the world are rightly demanding. Far be it from me to guess accurately what Obama is thinking, but maybe he figures he can reform an economic engine better and with help from congress, if it is actually running and not dead as now. Krugman wants the changes now, but he is not a politician and doesn’t factor in the reality of politics into the equation as a limiting factor on a presidents elbow room for passing legislation.

I will have hope if this plan is followed up with brisk new regulations and necessary structural changes to our econ model, that is if temporary economic improvement doesn’t once again breed complacency.

A layman’s take

Comrade Stuck Ponders the Conservative Mind

Question posed by Comrade Jake -- I struggle to understand their worldview at times, and so I find it interesting when it’s defended intelligently


Comrade Stuck responds

I’m convinced that much of their worldview is a contrived amalgam of contrarian ideas often taken to extreme to set them apart from so called liberals.

Why would they do this? The better question might be what is it that motivates your average wingnut, more than anything. I think it’s a need to control that comes from a kind of systemic innate permeating fear. And what do people who are always afraid about everything do to compensate? They need to control their external world, and if they can pull that off, then they can not be afraid.

We live in a democracy where people vote for their leadership and offer solutions to make people feel secure and well off. So any party or group that wants to strike at that deepest primal need of feeling safe and secure will likely get more people to vote for them. Some of these folks are sincere in their beliefs and longing for a more controlled and ordered society. But many are nothing more than huckster charlatans who covet power.

A large number of us see this onerous tactic for what it is, and will likely never buy in. But there are those who are at times susceptible, and give in to let these people into power, and they do things like wiretap, torture, subvert science and mold the constitution into all sorts of means to further control and to enhance their power.

Up until GWB/Cheney, the country had chosen mostly people on the right who don’t necessarily have this perverted worldview, at least to a significant degree. We made a mistake but luckily have woke up and threw the bastards out of power, but the damage and legacy remains of a party geared to this sort of crap, mostly derived from southern ideology, with leadership and punditry frantically trying to keep it alive. We must not let them and work relentlessly to kill the beast, or at least send it into political oblivion.

End of sanctimonious rant.

Comrade Stuck Disembles On the Douthat Choice

A stream of conciousness rant not meant as too serious.

It’s kind of amusing to me that people parse through these guys who right from the right, searching for a sensible conservative who understands the true meaning, like it was some mystical ancient belief system that needs to be carefully unwrapped from it’s former self, in a simple way we can understand.

I don’t think it’s at all complicated or mystical, it has just been thrown under the bus at least since Bush SR. was presnit. Conservatism by definition is efficient simplicity. But not without the epoxy of responsible to hold it together. Lower taxes, but not so low it threatens the economy and the viability of the government to function. Be ready for war, but don’t go looking for them. Only enough regulation to not overtly kill people with industry, and on and on. There are many nuances to these principles that an opposition party is needed to provide more protection and met needs of average citizens, comes the liberals/progressives.

The problem is, that the GOP has become infected with a virile strain of an atavistic ideological virus that covets authoritarianism and social Darwinism above all else. It has always been present in this country and has raised itself again as current the leadership of the Republican party.

People giving voice to how it should be is a good thing, I suppose. And who does that matters for an influential newspaper, but only action on the ground will change things. If Douthat, or whoever, uses such a position to agitate for a new way, and likely a new party for a decent and truly patriotic party from the right, then I will listen and care. Because we operate without a viable and responsible opposition party at our peril. If it’s just more careful noodling to not offend, then I won’t listen and won’t care.

Question For a Blog Crawl

Has Howard Fineman gone insane? Or is he just funnin’ us?
You decide.

A Turning Tide?

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.

Mysterious technocrats? Does he mean bobbleheads on Cable News? Or Malkin’s Magoo Crew?

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.

The American Establishment—Does he mean House Republicans? Chuck Norris? Glenn Beck?

And yet he is by temperament judicious, even judicial. He’d have made a fine judge. But we don’t need a judge. We need a blunt-spoken coach.

Last week Fineman et al were bitching that Obama needed to sweet talk talk us and the markets more about how ever thing is gonna be alright. Instead of all that pooh poohing blunt talk about how bad things are.

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 Establishment, or the Three Stooges of brain death.
Medicine, Howard, you need medicine!

Comrade Stuck Responds

Comrade Stuck offers his response to the recent GOP complaints that the left wished for Iraq to fail -- and now justifies their declarations that they Obama Fails/Limbaugh

On the subject of Iraq, for me it wasn’t a matter of wishing, I can honestly say, that from the day it was suggested by Bush, I have not had a single thought that it could succeed. I was happy that the invasion went fairly smoothly with a low casualty count for GI"S, and hoped we would then hi-tail it out of there before the shitted really started to fly. We didn’t, and it did. I came to my conclusion on the utter futility of such a mission from reading something called history, a neo con no no. 1400 hundred years of pretty much non-stop civil sectarian war, punctuated occasionally by failed foreign occupations and iron fisted dictators to keep the lid on, for a while.

That is not the same as "wishing" for Iraq to fail. And notwithstanding the current relative calm, I have no doubt, none, nada, zip, that the shit will fly again when we leave, whether that’s next year, or 10- years from now, or at anytime in between, for that matter.

I think wingnuts know this too, deep in their tiny black hearts. And why they are scrambling to hang their mistake around Obama’s neck.

Glenn Thrush – Politico

A group of 31 House Republicans have introduced a resolution "declaring victory in Iraq," which is bound to evoke images of "Mission Accomplished" and George W. Bush in a flight suit.

The intention of the resolution isn’t actually celebratory. It’s intended to set a political trap by declaring, six weeks into Obama’s presidency, that all responsibility for the six-year conflict, which was initiated by President Bush on flawed evidence and incompetently pursued for much of his presidency, is now Obama’s to lose.

From the article a quote from Ryan Crocker. which I think is true.

The notion that we have already achieved a "victory" in the conflict is disputed by most experts on the conflict, including Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker who recently told author Thomas Ricks, "The events for which the Iraq War will be remembered probably have not yet happened …"

Funouse Musing #108

The only thing that can possibly re-unite the disparate idjit factions of the GOP into a viable electable party is the same thing as last time. Losing elections and a growing hunger for power that becomes so great over time they are willing to sweep their disdain for one another under the rug and hold each others sweaty hand.

And even then, when that occurs years from now, they will be faced with overcoming a growing dem demography of increased minority voters and complete the huge task of wooing back moderate fiscal conservative New Englander’s who have had it up to here with the fundies and southern ideologues, and their hateful social constrictions.

This time, they will have to find and embrace an icon that is truly a compassionate conservative. I’ve never seen one, but then I’ve never seen a Unicorn either.

Of course, the wildcard is always the possibility that dems will fuck things up to such a degree, wingers could win as the default party of desperation. If that happens, there might not be much left to govern anyways.

FH Musing @107

Comrade Stuck offers a quip in response to George Lakoff 's article on The Obama Code

Remnants of the democrat politics by grace. Rise above those heathen wingnuts and ignore them and everything will work out fine. The American people will recognize their douchebaggery for what it is and choose us.

Though republicans themselves have pretty much screwed themselves with respect to their image with voters, dems like Lakoff miss the point entirely on why it is a good idea to at least call the right wing on their bullshit. I think many AMericans know Liimbaugh and his followers,( which is the bulk of the current GOP when you add in those who hate him but fear him more) are full of shit. The problem is, imo, many voters are more interested in the fact that liberals at least stand up to the wingers, regardless of the content of the argument. Call it the wimp factor they are gauging, and they don’t want wimps representing them.