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The same establishment that got us into this mess?
Forgive my derisive.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188565?GT1=43002
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.
Howard Fineman
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Mar 10, 2009 | Updated: 8:37 a.m. ET Mar 10, 2009
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.
They have some reasons to be concerned. I trace them to a central trait of the president's character: he's not really an in-your-face guy. By recent standards—and that includes Bill Clinton as well as George Bush—Obama for the most part is seeking to govern from the left, looking to solidify and rely on his own party more than woo Republicans. 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.
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 cons uency, 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.
But there is only one question on this great test of American fate: can he lead us away from plunging into another Depression?
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 en led—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.
Other than all that, in the eyes of the big shots, he is doing fine. The American people remain on his side, but he has to be careful that the gathering judgment of the Bigs doesn't trickle down to the rest of us.
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/188565
The same establishment that got us into this mess?
Forgive my derisive
laughing at the le does not change the fact people are starting to see the pres as who is is
Eh, McCain would be in the same boat. It's Chinatown.
the establishment? you mean the "welfare for the rich" recipients?
Beat me to it.The same establishment that got us into this mess?
Forgive my derisive
If by people, you mean politicians. And not the majority of the population.
Or did you mean you and your three friends?
too early to tell, this problem culminated for years under Bush. Obama's been in office for 2 months?
and this is coming from a guy who voted McCain.
ducks and "mumble" on the same page?
Wow, Ducks started this thread?
Why am I surprised?
You mean they are finally starting to realize the obvious?the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it
How many times have I said that he has no executive experience?
from the looks of the republican party, obama's got eight years to make his mark. a month and a half in, he gets a pass.
Godbless him.
Herbert Hoover had a lot of executive experience.
head had lots of executive experience, dubya had an ...
ing fat lot of good their executive experience did the world.
The same establishment that got us into this mess?
Forgive my derisive
translation:
lobbyists, and big business that have lined our pockets for years are getting pissed and nervous because they are losing their clout with this president.
don't give up the fight Obama.
people who blame this mess on obama are stupid.
this crisis would be exactly the same with any human becoming president in 2008.
and it will take a while until things get better, regardless of the policy.
funny I'm hearing from plenty of "expert" economists and analysts who are saying Obama is doing fine (but that it's not gonna get better for months, possibly years)...
notice this guy doesn't actually tell us who these people who are supposedly doubting him are...my guess would be, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. LOL
I agree. It started after congress was controlled by democrats. Thing is, it will continue to get worse with a democrat president.
But it wasn't anything they actually did....
Mistakes were made during the depression. It looks like democrats are not willing to learn form them.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
Will president Obama be Hoover the second?
But it wasn't anything they actually did....
Mistakes were made that created the depression. It looks like republicans have been doomed to repeat them.
Really?
Republicans tried to fix this market bubble long before it popped!
Really? They did a of a good job!
"Republicans tried to fix this market bubble long before it popped"
lie
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