notes from Blue-Bottle

Cracker Jack racers Timmy Geithner, Larry Summers, and Biggy Obama have decided to put a new set of tires on America’s Free Market Hot Rod in their latest attempt to get it out of the muddy ditch it slid into on its most recent lap around the Global Economic Racetrack. As you may recall, America’s Free Market Hot Rod enjoyed a wild high speed ride for several laps providing thrills and excitement to spectators and bettors alike. 

Despite the calls of several experienced racers to slow the hot rod down and take a closer look at track conditions, America’s Free Market Hot Rod team team leader Wally Street insisted all was fine and that we should let that baby run. “The smell of burning petrol, smells like success,” Wally said. “Drive baby, drive.”

It was shortly after these reassurances that the Free Market Hot Rod went into a skid, fish-tailing wildly before finally sliding into the muddy ditch where it has sat spinning its wheels ever since.

One group of mechanics have insisted that the only way to get the hot rod out of the ditch is to call in the Nationalization Tow Company but that would mean the Free Market team and Wally Street would have to concede defeat in the Global Economic Race. Instead, America’s team, led by Biggy Obama, insists that with the specially designed new Trillion Dollar Traction Tires, the Free Market Hot Rod will be able to lift itself out of the ditch and get right back on the track. 

When the new strategy was announced yesterday, Wally Street, owner of Street Enterprises, the parent company for Traction Tires Inc., shouted “Yeah baby!” Street Enterprises also manages the Global Economic Racetrack. Calls for investigation on why the track wasn’t better maintained have been largely ignored since a riot took place at the concession stand where Street Enterprise employees were refusing to serve beer to customers unless they were paid a 30% tip on each sale.

I’m starting to get a little nervous about the Obama administration’s response to the financial crisis. First of all, I’m a fan of Paul Krugman and follow his blog pretty religiously so my take on the subject leans heavily towards the opinion and advice of that particular Nobel Laureate Economist. That said, I’m not above considering other view points. 

Currently the Krugman camp is saying that the Geithner bailout plan is seriously flawed and Krugman provides all kinds of pretty straightforward reasons why. 
(See: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/more-on-the-bank-plan/) 

The Geithner camp has a very detailed and convoluted defense of why the Obama plan will work. Basically, though, their plan is to provide 97% of the funds needed to buy up the “troubled assets” that are choking the financial system. (As long as these assets remain on the balance sheets of the large banks like Citi and B of A, those banks are basically insolvent.) The other 3% of funds for purchasing this toxic waste is supposed to come from the “private sector”. The private sector in this case are several big hedge funds. Not only are the hedge funds being asked to pony up 3%, they’re going to manage the program as well. 

So in a sense the U.S. Gov’t is going to be virtually the sole investor in a giant hedge fund of what is currently considered bad paper. The hope is that this bad paper is really worth more than everyone really thinks. That’s serious HOPE, and even with Mr. Hope himself at the wheel I’m not sure I want to get in and ride.

It’s pretty clear that Obama is still relying heavily on Wall Street to get us out of the mess they created. That goes along with his m.o. of calling upon the ‘best and brightest’ to advise him, however, these days the best and the brightest are (1) mostly at sea and (2) seriously divided on how to solve the problem. Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner are Obama’s chief advisers right now. These guys are both champions of Wall Street and are unlikely to get solidly behind any plan that includes gov’t takeover of some of the large banks which the other best brightest are advocating.

So to me the problem is in the personalities. I think Larry Summers especially is poison. Summers helped bring down the financial system through his advocacy of deregulating Wall Street during the Clinton administration. Then after being kicked out of the Harvard University Presidency, he went to work for, you guessed it, a hedge fund.

When originally named as chief economic adviser, most centrist pundits agreed that Summers had the smarts and experience to serve well. Here was a supply-side guy that could temper any overly liberal influence on the young prez. (Even Krugman was happy that the guy had real credibility as an financier.) But Summers gaffed in a big way last week over the AIG bonuses. He is known for being impolitic. (Ask any female graduate student studying math or science.) And his pedigree vis a vis the current crisis is just too foul to ignore. Like Rev. Wright, that other Obama mentor, Summers should be cut loose.

Obama has a way looking like he’s on the ropes but then coming through looking like a champ. I hope that’s the case with his plan for getting us through this crisis. I just wish Larry Summers wasn’t in his corner shouting in his ear.

jfg news service reports that mike score, lead singer for the band ‘flock of seagulls’ has been added to the terror suspect list by the outgoing bush administration. michael chertoff, director of homeland security is quoted as saying, “with the recent attack on flight 1459 out of la guardia, we can take no chances with anything related to seagulls.” Chertoff went on to point out that, “flock of seagulls is from britain which is also the home to many muslim extremists.”

mike score could only be heard saying, “and i ra-a-an, i ran so far awa-a-ay…”

not much posting going on due to the following other sidelines:

celia

company picnic

No more online electoral maps to study, no more campaign leaks to analyze, no more hand-wringing about possible results.  Suddenly a great hole has opened in the landscape of my roiling thoughts.  Or is it simply a calm that became unfamiliar?

I’m so happy about the results of the election, and the clear signal our nation sent out to the world, that it’s difficult to describe without rehashing all the current chattering in the news outlets.  Suffice to say, America is back.  The American I learned to love as a kid, the America that embodied promise, opportunity, and care for humanity I believe has reared its head again and rejected the modern conservatism philosophy of everyman for himself, politics as war, and disingenuous marketing.

The road ahead is bound to be difficult, and an Obama administration is sure to disappoint many who have placed their hopes in it, but the alternative and what we’ve experienced for the past 8 years is devastating in comparsion.

An Obama administration will govern in good faith.  When was the last we could look forward to that?

I just came back from the NH Democratic Headquarters in Lebanon NH where volunteers were placing “get out the vote” calls to what were mostly known democratic supporters.  This was my second stint as a volunteer.  Saturday I spent a few hours making “persuasion” calls to all kinds of folks.

Today’s calls were more pleasant, only a couple angry refusals.  Saturday’s were far more interesting however.  Several people I contacted were undecided for weird reasons like: “I’ve heard that Obama is not even a citizen and if he gets elected he’ll be impeached anyway,” or “Obama and Barney Frank made millions off of fannie mae and freddie mac and now the taxpayers have to bail them out.”

I spoke mostly with women in their 40s and 50s.  They seemed to be the ones home on Saturday afternoon.  Even the ones who supported Obama were afraid that something terrible would happen to him or his wife if he got elected.  One woman said her husband was a lifelong republican but was going to vote for Obama because he was disgusted with the threatening innuendos perpetrated by the McCain campaign.

Most surprising to me were the people who said they weren’t going to vote under any circumstance.  We know that voter turnout is terrible in this country but when you actually get to speak with someone about their reasons (politicians are all liars!) it’s depressing.

It’s become cliche that this election is “the most important in a lifetime” but I believe it truly is.  If Obama loses, I think we will suffer a huge cultural setback.  I believe our country will become more deeply divided and that our safety and security will become more threatened from both foreign and domestic sources.  If Obama wins, I do not expect miracles or even great things, but I believe that his election will send a strong message around the world that America is ready to grow up; that America is ready to get back to working at acheiving the ideals of freedom and democracy, fairness and justice for all people.

Let’s hope (and make some calls while we’re at it).

I’ve been hopeful for an Obama victory for awhile now and over the past few days I’ve started to become optimistic.  It ain’t over ’til it’s over but things are swinging in the direction of the democrats.  There’s a lot of power in momentum as far as elections are concerned.  There are many who base their decision on not wanting to pick a loser.  McCain-Palin is looking more and more like the losing ticket these days, though I’m still preparing myself for the terrible possibility.

The possibility of an Obama presidency with a democratic congress is awe-inspiring.  Most of my voting life has been spent sucking it up. Reagan, Bush I, Slick Willy, W.  The last 28 years has been hard on progressives.  We’ve watched the U.S. become meaner and more selfish, arrogant and self-congratulatory.  The future has looked especially narrow and brutal for the past eight years.  I don’t expect miracles from an Obama presidency but I hope for great things.  I look forward to a government that cares about the people it governs in practical ways, not just through ideological slogans.  I look forward to a government that is careful and deliberate in its foreign policy, not one that acts solely to extend its own power.  I look forward to a politically involved and progressive youth, concerned about the future of their country and their planet.  Despite the economic catastrophe we’re being left with in the wake of the Bush administration, we have much to look forward to.

And still, within the calm sea of my personal optimism, a storm.  There are many who will never accept a black man as their leader, and of those many there are a few who won’t quit in trying to destroy him.  There will be division.  There will be hate.  And there will no doubt be blood.  But in the words of Haile Selassie:

“We [...] will fight if necessary and we know that we shall win as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.”

John Murtha, Congressman from Pennsylvania made the following unfortunate comment about his state:

“there is no question that Western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”

Here’s how John McCain responded to that:

Nice try John.

Samuel (Joe the Plumber) Wurzelbacher is getting all sorts of attention as a result of John McCain’s characterization of him as a loser under Obama’s tax plan.  Sometimes when the light shines on you, it reveals more than you like.

In a phone interview with Katie Couric, Joe/Sam compared Obama’s answer to his question about taxes as tap-dancing like Sammy Davis Jr.

First of all, Obama did not “tap-dance” around the question.  The video clearly shows Obama answering his question, and even telling him that, yes his taxes may increase if his revenue goes over $250K.

So the “tap-dancing” reference was purely gratuitous.  That it mentioned Sammy Davis Jr. was unfortunate.  Does the comment make Mr. Wurzelbacher a racist?  In and of itself, no.  Is the comment offensive?  In and of itself, no.  But in the context of a white man talking over the phone to a white woman about the first black man nominated for president it is in my mind racist and offensive.  That Katie Couric and the other CBS news minions in the background saw fit to laugh at the joke I find shameful.

If white people want to tell racially infused jokes to each other, that’s fine with me.  For a news anchor on a nationally televised program to be a willing party to the same is unacceptable. As Mr. Wurzelbacher continues his little tap-dance for the media, it’s worth watching not only how he responds to the attention but how the attention-givers respond to him.

The more we learn about this guy Wurzelbacher, the more shady he looks: tax cheat (has a lien against him for over $1k in taxes), poser (works as a plumber but after six years on the job hasn’t bothered to get a license or get registered with the state), provacateur (calls Obama’s plan socialism and mis-characterizes his own wealth–he asked the question as someone who would own a $250K profit business but than presents himself on FOX news as a middle class guy with a 2-year old truck).

Next we’ll find out that he’s got a glass eye.