MONDAY,  JANUARY 5,  2009

REMARKABLE - AT 10:22 P.M. ET:  From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: 

Hamas must not be allowed to win its conflict with the Israel Defense Forces, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told a delegation of European foreign ministers in a closed conversation Monday.

The comment occurred even as Hamas, for the first time since the fighting began, sent representatives to Cairo to discuss a cease-fire. Following a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, Hamas officials said they had received an Egyptian proposal and would consider it.

COMMENT:  The left must be having fits - but the fact is that some key elements in the Arab world are, despite required public comments, rooting for the Israelis.  So are some Europeans, which is why the diplomacy is so slow motion.  There is a wide recognition that Hamas, supported by Iran, is a threat to the Mideast, and beyond.

TROUBLE FOR OBAMA - AT 6:51 P.M. ET:  It hasn't been a great two days for the president-elect.  Widely, and correctly, praised for running a smooth transition, he's had to pull Bill Richardson's nomination for secretary of commerce because Richardson had legal problems that Obama's vetting team should have detected.

Now, as reported here earlier, Obama has selected Leon Panetta, former Clinton chief of staff, to be director of Central Intelligence, even though Panetta has no intelligence background.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, an Obama ally, is none too pleased, and was apparently snubbed in making the appointment, as the Washington Independent reports:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who’s about to take the reins as chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, doesn’t appear to be too happy with Leon Panetta’s prospective appointment to head the CIA. Here’s what her office just sent me:

“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” said Senator Feinstein, who will chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 111th Congress.

“My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”

Not an auspicious sign for Panetta’s confirmation hearings.

Ouch.  Time to get on the phone, Mr. President-elect.  Senator Feinstein's office number is (202) 224-3841.

BULLETIN FROM BRITAIN - AT 6:33 P.M. ET:  We bring you this because of its extreme urgency.  Ofsted, Britain's main school-inspection agency, has made a major move, as the Guardian reports:

Ofsted is to launch a crackdown on "boring" teaching in response to concerns that children's behaviour is deteriorating because they are not being stimulated enough in class.

Inspectors will be told to give more finely tuned advice to struggling schools on what is going wrong in their lessons and why pupils are not paying attention, the chief inspector of schools, Christine Gilbert, said.

She told the Guardian the changes in the inspections would amount to a "crackdown" on boring teaching. "I think that it should do that. When I was a [local authority] director of education I wanted to know if there was a link between boredom and achievement. We did a piece of work on it and there was strong evidence that a lot of it was boredom."

COMMENT:  No, I'm not making that up.  Almost every week there's a new and brilliant insight from Britain's educators.  None of these ideas have anything to do with challenging their students or demanding high standards.  British education is turning into one huge excuse machine.  We've seen, in some of the educational "experiments" in large American cities, exactly where that leads. 

MINNESOTA STRANGE - AT 6:26 P.M. ET:  As expected, Minnesota's canvassing board declared Democratic unfunny comedian Al Franken the winner in the race for U.S. senator.  The board's count has Franken 225 votes ahead of incumbent Norm Coleman.  Coleman, though, is not surrendering:

Coleman, as expected, will file a formal election contest within the next 24 hours.

"This process isn't at the end; it is now just at the beginning," said Coleman counsel Tony Trimble in a statement following the state canvassing board meeting. "We will contest the results of the Canvassing Board -- otherwise, literally millions of Minnesotans will be disenfranchised."

COMMENT:  The question is whether the U.S. Senate will take note of the challenge, or seat Franken anyway. 

SCREECHING  HALT - AT 6:25 P.M. ET - From The Washington Post: 

The auto industry capped off 2008 with its worst sales in 15 years, as Americans continued to steer clear of dealerships in December, according to year-end sales figures released today.

Sales at General Motors, Toyota, Ford and Chrysler -- the U.S. market's four largest auto manufacturers -- fell sharply last month as companies sought help from Congress to avoid financial collapse. GM said sales fell 31 percent compared with the same month a year ago. Ford's sales plummeted 32 percent, and Toyota posted a 37 percent decline. Chrysler's sales dropped 53 percent in December.

COMMENT:  There are psychological factors at work here that get too little attention.  Are we talking ourselves into a depression?  These sales figures don't reflect the real economy, where 93 percent of Americans still have their jobs, and wages are reasonable.  They seem to reflect a fear of buying, which can make matters much worse than economic statistics indicate.

PANETTA TO THE DARK SIDE - AT 4:10 P.M. ET:  From The New York Times:  President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon E. Panetta, the former congressman and White House chief of staff, to take over the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that Mr. Obama criticized during the campaign for using interrogation methods he decried as torture, Democratic officials said Monday.

COMMENT:  Hmm.  Clinton's White House chief of staff, knows how to handle scandal, chaos and deception, CIA...yeah, that's a good fit.

THE MONEY TREE

Posted at 9:30 a.m. ET

The Obama economic plan begins to take shape amidst reports that Congress may delay action because the issues are too complex for quick action.  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama plans to include about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses in his economic recovery program, advisers said Sunday, as his team seeks to win over Congressional skeptics worried that he was too focused on government spending.

Tax cuts are good.  They actually work.  That fact, of course, will disturb the ideologues.

Although some tax cuts were always expected to be included in Mr. Obama’s economic package, his team disclosed the scope and some details of the plans on Sunday at a time when Republicans have begun voicing criticism of what they describe as an open-checkbook approach to spending. By focusing more attention on the tax cuts in the plan, Obama aides hope to frame it as a balanced, pragmatic approach. 

At least Republicans are being heard.  And apparently listened to.

Mr. Obama’s team argued Sunday that the short-term cost of its economic plan was not a priority in the face of the dire problems in the economy. “There is no short run, other than keeping the economy from absolutely tanking. That’s the only short run,” Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on “This Week.”

They actually let him out of the house.  Well, we know the new administration has some compassion for its own.

Mr. Obama’s advisers said Sunday that they were searching for a way to get that credit into Americans’ pockets quickly to help stimulate spending, but would not duplicate the rebate checks sent last year as part of an economic package signed by President Bush. Instead, they said, they were discussing making the credit retroactive to the 2008 tax year and adjusting withholding formulas so paychecks would start reflecting that right away.

These are reasonable ideas.  The president-elect has a solid economic team.  Maybe we'll get somewhere.

To encourage businesses to expand their work forces and operations, Mr. Obama wants a tax credit for each job created. During the campaign, he proposed $3,000 for each job. Advisers said he was now also trying to figure out a way to give incentives to businesses to resist cutting jobs, as so many have been doing.

One lesson the new group must learn from the Bush administration:  Those receiving funds must account for them.  We've seen the outrage, across the political spectrum, directed at banks that will not disclose what they've done with the bailout money they've received.  Not acceptable.

The Obama plan would also allow businesses to apply net operating losses from last year to offset tax liabilities from prior years, enabling them to claim refunds from the government now in hopes of encouraging capital investment, much as was done in a 2002 economic stimulus plan.

Okay.  Let's get some money back to the people.  And let's hope it's enough to stop the losses. 

January 5, 2009.      Permalink          

OBAMA EXAMINED

Posted at 8:15 a.m. ET

Related to our item, "The Anguished Left," just below:  Jennifer Rubin, at Pajamas Media, can be very tough on Barack Obama.  But here she lightens up, suggesting that there may be some good things on the horizon.  We certainly hope so, but we'll keep both eyes open.  It's remarkable, though, that two weeks before his inauguration, we actually know so little about our next president:

The contours of his agenda are still not crystal clear, but some of the blanks have been filled in over the last two months.

For starters, the fear of some on the Right — and the hope of those on the Left — that President-elect Obama was an ultra-dove, a sort of Manchurian candidate, has been largely discredited. His choice of a national security team filled with center-right figures and even a Bush administration defense secretary has shaken the Left. His plans for a gradual draw down of U.S. troops in Iraq and a prompt buildup in Afghanistan are virtually indistinguishable from McCain’s.

It will be great if she's right.  We reserve judgment.  He hasn't put his own stapler on the desk yet.

We have also learned that the media’s love affair with the president-elect is largely unrequited...

...The imbalance in his press relationship — devotion on one side and evasion, verging on testiness, on the other — may suggest rockier times lay ahead.

But he'll always have Chris Matthews. 

President-elect Obama also demonstrated a reticence to weigh in on big and contentious issues when the end game was far from certain. He stayed away from the Georgia Senate run-off race, refused comment on the Gaza incursion...

...What remains to be seen is whether this will be his presidential modus operandi — sort of a Zen-like indifference to storms raging about him — or whether he is just waiting to spring into action on January 20.

And...

We also confirmed, if there was any doubt remaining, that New Politics was a convenient campaign slogan and a hook for energizing the Democratic base, but not much more. The Clinton team is back in great numbers...

Yeah, and Chicago style politics is on display.  Not too much change to believe in.  Looks pretty routine thus far.

President-elect Obama also let it be known he’s not interested in continuing the culture wars. Rick Warren got an invite to the inauguration and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military may get a reprieve.

The panic has already begun.

How this will play out once Obama is sworn is still an open question. Will he be a wishy-washy, indecisive figure like Jimmy Carter or a savvy deal-maker like LBJ? Will he be more like George W. Bush on national security than either his supporters or opponents ever imagined?

Finally...

But, if the transition is any clue, he is unlikely to be a radical, rely on underqualified yes men, spend too much time with the press, involve himself in extraneous issues, or refight divisive cultural issues. That is not a bad recipe for success.

No it's not.  As we said, we reserve judgment.  And there have been a few unpleasant ripples, like the appointment of an environmental team that seems in the tank for the global-warming religion.  But, by and large, Mr. Obama has appeared to be on an even keel. 

Our position here is clear:  We will praise him when we think he's right, oppose him when we think he's wrong.  We want him to succeed, as long as the definition of success is reasonable.

January 5, 2009.      Permalink          

THE ANGUISHED LEFT - AT 6:58 A.M. ET:  The political left is starting to anguish over Barack Obama.  His latest sin, apparently, is that he hasn't rushed to Gaza to defend the peace-loving, devout fighters of Hamas against the America-loving, Pentagon-equipped imperialist forces of capitalist Israel, and their Christian lovers.  The UK's reliably left Guardian comments:

But evidence is mounting that Obama is already losing ground among key Arab and Muslim audiences that cannot understand why, given his promise of change, he has not spoken out. Arab commentators and editorialists say there is growing disappointment at Obama's detachment - and that his failure to distance himself from George Bush's strongly pro-Israeli stance is encouraging the belief that he either shares Bush's bias or simply does not care.

COMMENT:  Let's hope he shares Bush's bias.  Here we don't need change we can believe in.  My own fear, though, is that Obama may get sworn in, then make some grand opening gesture toward "peace" that would cut off an Israeli victory.  We'll see two weeks from tomorrow. 

NOT ONLY THE RACE CARD, BUT THE RACE BILLBOARD - AT 6:42 A.M. ET:  From AP: 

CHICAGO -- Illinois U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris plans to have a high-stakes showdown on Capitol Hill this week with Democratic leaders who continue to say he won't be seated in Congress.

Dozens of black leaders and ministers organized by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush gave Burris a rousing send-off Sunday at New Covenant Church on Chicago's South Side. Burris took the stage to a crescendo of drums, organ music and applause as hundreds of supporters cheered his appointment.

COMMENT:  There seems no end to the awfulness of this, or to Burris's ego.  This is racial politics at its worst.  This is the seat being vacated by the nation's first black president.  You'd think there'd be a little dignity here.  But ambition trumps dignity every time.

SUNDAY,  JANUARY 4,  2009

BEFORE WE WRITE THOSE CHECKS - AT 6 :49 P.M. ET:  From the Politico: 

President-elect Barack Obama’s plan for a swift, record-setting economic stimulus is encountering its first resistance, with congressional leaders saying it could take a while to pass.  For the first time, Republicans began proposing alternatives to Obama's broad framework for creating or saving 3 million jobs over two years.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” that perhaps the money for states should be a loan rather than a grant because it would “make them spend it more wisely.”

COMMENT:  McConnell is one of the sharpest men in the Senate; look for him to emerge as a main force in a Republican revival.  It's critical that the GOP be in the fight from day one, and not mope over the election results.

UNDER THE BUS, UNDER THE BUS - AT 6:19 P.M. ET:  From Jake Tapper at ABC News:  Sources tell ABC News that officials on the Obama Transition Team feel that before he was formally offered the job of commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was not forthcoming with them about the federal investigation that is looking into whether the governor steered a state contract towards a major financial contributor.

COMMENT:  Richardson goes under the bus, along with Rev. Wright, Gov. Blagojevich, grandma (the typical white person), Bill Ayers (who just lives in the neighborhood), Tony Rezko, Samantha Power and assorted others.  It's a big bus, with a lot of room underneath.

GAZA UPDATE - AT 6:11 P.M. ET:  From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: 

The international community, headed by the U.S. and Egypt, is giving Israel time to carry out the ground offensive in Gaza, so it will severely damage Hamas' regime. The rationale behind such a move is that a weakened Hamas would improve the chances of achieving a stable agreement in Gaza once the fighting subsides.

And so there is a degree of foot-dragging in the diplomatic efforts to reach a cease-fire. The most visible sign of this was the decision to postpone the United Nations Security Council discussion on Gaza planned for Monday.

COMMENT:  That sounds about right, from the press reports that we've monitored.  The usual angry statements are being made, but Israel is not being put under any extreme pressure.  The collusion of Egypt in this is fascinating, but not shocking.  This whole notion of Arab unity and concern for "our dear, brotherly Palestinians" has always been a bit of a crock.  Hamas is seen, in part at least, as a tool of Iran, and Iran doesn't win Miss Congeniality in the Arab world.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TO BILL RICHARDSON ON HIS WAY TO... - AT 3:55 P.M. ET:   From The New York Times: 

WASHINGTON — Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, one of the country’s most prominent Hispanic politicians and President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be commerce secretary, on Sunday dropped out of consideration for that post.  Mr. Richardson attributed his decision to the ongoing investigation of a company that has done business with New Mexico.

COMMENT:  We can't blame the president elect for this, although it was known at the time of Richardson's appointment that he was under investigation.  Again, someone close to Obama has legal or ethical problems, not exactly an advertisement for change we can believe in.  It's the image thing.  Now the question is how Obama appeases the Hispanic community. 

NEW SENATOR - AT 8:43 A.M. ET:   DENVER (AP) -- Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter on Saturday named Denver's public schools superintendent as his choice to fill a Senate vacancy that will be created by the promotion of Sen. Ken Salazar to interior secretary in the Obama administration.

COMMENT:  The guy appears decent, the guy appears capable.  The guy appears honest.  How did this happen?

GAZA UPDATE - AT 8:39 A.M. ET:  From The New York Times: 

GAZA — Israeli troops advanced into Gaza on Sunday under cover of heavy air, tank and artillery fire after opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas on Saturday night.  Witnesses said the Israeli forces had punched across Gaza, bisecting its northern and southern parts, and had taken over certain strategic areas, including what the military has described as rocket launching sites.

COMMENT:  There are some news reports that Hamas has softened its stand on a cease-fire.  One thing to watch here is whether the military action is over by the time Obama is inaugurated, which is two weeks from Tuesday.  He would have an easier time if the combat was finished and he would have to deal only with the diplomacy.  But Hillary will have her hands full. 

LIBERAL FASCISM?

Posted at 7:54 a.m. ET:

For those of us brought up on George Orwell, the idea of liberal fascism isn't new.  But some still don't take it very seriously.

Jonah Goldberg, who wrote a book called "Liberal Fascism," takes it very seriously indeed.  Here, in London's Daily Mail, he explains his thesis.  This is a cautionary tale.  You don't have to buy it all to realize that Goldberg gives us some worrisome signposts to watch for. 

For more than 70 years the Left has hurled the F-word at anyone who gets in its way - Stalin invented this tactic to de-legitimise socialist opponents, including Leon Trotsky, assassinated for leading a 'fascist coup'.

As early as 1946, George Orwell wrote that: "The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable.'"

Today, a better working definition of a fascist might simply be a conservative who's winning an argument. But what if fascism means something more than 'bad'. What if fascism was not, and is not, a Right-wing phenomenon at all?

Hmm.  This idea is surfacing.  Some believe that Hitler could more properly be called a leftist, in that "Nazi" was short for national socialism.

For instance, what were the motivating passions of fascism? For starters, there was the cult of unity. The Nazis mastered the spectacle of the crowd to project an aura of unity, equality and common purpose...

...Such spectacles were made possible by the cult of personality, the faith that a great leader would rise from among 'us' and bring everyone together.

And...

According to The New York Times, Barack Obama's own recruiters were trained not to talk about issues, but to 'testify' about how they 'came to Obama' the way one might normally talk about coming to Jesus.

But isn't unity good?  Shouldn't we all be singing from the same hymnal?

It's worth noting that in the Anglo-American tradition, unity is not, in fact, the highest political value. That's why we have constitutions, separation of powers and independent courts. The hero in the Anglo-American tradition is not the mob, but the man who stands up to it.

In other words, the individual - that accursed fellow who thinks for himself.

It's ironic how the Left is always ready to brand a conservative who steps off the politically correct reservation as a fascist, but sees nothing wrong with embracing concepts that fit neatly within the fascist wheelhouse.

And...

Italian Fascism and German National Socialism were both sold as a Third Way that would bypass all hard choices. 'Neither Right nor Left!' was a central fascist slogan...

...Economic growth and environmental regulations, socialised medicine and medical innovation, none of these things is at odds with one another so long as the right enlightened geniuses are in power.

And...

Nonetheless, it's also important to remember that fascist isn't necessarily synonymous with 'evil'. Militarism during the first third of the 20th Century was seen as the best means of organising society. Since then, liberals have been searching for a moral equivalent of war..

...But today, the desire to find a moral equivalent of war that will bind the individual to the State manifests itself in unlikely places. Consider the ever-increasing emphasis on 'the children.'

Ever since Plato, the idea of capturing the hearts and minds of children has fascinated social planners. Mussolini cast himself as a 'schoolmaster' to the nation, while in the Soviet Union a prize was given by the State in honour of a boy who informed against his mother and father. Late last year, a British energy company created a website to teach children how to become 'climate cops' and turn in their own parents.

Pretty chilling.  Coming soon to a university near you.

Even though we are greeted every day with countless stories of 'political correctness gone mad' we tend to dismiss them as solitary or silly.

But the reality is that they fit into a bigger picture, a coherent Left-wing agenda. The idea is that there can be no safe harbours from politics. If 'you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem'.

And it's up to the State and the social engineers to solve problems - whether you like it or not.

You have to be very careful with a thesis like that, but it is, as I've noted, a cautionary tale.  I'm always a little concerned when writers compare things to Nazism and Communism.  After all, even the despicable Nazi and Communist regimes did some things that, when correctly done in a democratic society, could contribute.  But Goldberg is right in warning us about the cult of "unity" or about those who believe that, if we surrender to the state, wonderful things will automatically happen. 

I'm particularly concerned about a forced intellectual conformity, often pushed along by simply ridiculing anyone who doesn't agree.  The global-warming "debate" is a clear example, where dissenters are simply laughed at rather than engaged.  Indeed, ridicule has become a powerful tool of the political left, and many people genuinely fear it.  Social ostracism is not fun.

Goldberg must be read carefully, but he's worth reading.

January 4, 2009.      Permalink