State of Change

Sebelius Record Suggests She'd Be Sound HHS Pick

By John Nichols

There has been a good deal of campaigning to get former Vermont Governor Howard Dean nominated for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, as well as Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, have endorsed the idea, and there is a grassroots movement to promote Dean.

Advocacy on behalf of Cabinet picks is important, and good.

But, aside from his appealing independence -- which should never be underestimated -- there is little reason to assume that Dean would be a dramatically better HHS pick than the apparent favorite of the Obama team: Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Indeed, Sebelius has significant experience as a former state insurance commissioner that Dean lacks.

Read More »

February 19, 2009

Republicans May Reject Stimulus Money

By Ari Berman

After only three Republicans in Congress voted for President Obama's stimulus bill, new data from the White House projects that the stimulus will create more jobs in Republican districts than in Democratic ones, according to Sean Quinn's crunching of the numbers. Quinn says GOP Congressmen will net an average of 418 more jobs per district over a two-year period. Oh, the irony! Maybe that's why Republicans are now touting projects they publicly opposed.

Four Republican governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Florida's Charlie Crist, Connecticut's Jodi Rell and Vermont's Jim Douglas, supported the stimulus, leading The New Yorker's Rick Hertzberg to remark that "a Republican governor, you might say, is sort of like a Republican congressman--except with actual responsibilities."

True enough, except not all Republican governors take those responsibilities equally seriously. At least four prominent GOP govs--Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, South Carolina's Mark Sanford, Mississippi's Haley Barbour and, fittingly, Wasilla's own Sarah Palin--say they may refuse federal funding at a time when their states are in deep economic crisis.

Read More »

February 19, 2009

Finally, Some Bailout for Homeowners

By John Nichols

More than four months after the federal government claimed it was moving to address a mortgage crisis that threatened to take away the homes of millions of American families, steps are being taken to do just that.

All that was required was the exit of a president (George Bush) and a treasury secretary (Hank Paulson) who, in the best interpretation, were too economically inept to do what was needed, and, in the worst interpretation, used the crisis to steer hundreds of billions of dollars into the accounts of their buddies on Wall Street.

Whatever the cause of the delay, President Obama on Wednesday offered the response that was needed -- or, at the very least, a piece of the response that was needed.

Read More »

February 18, 2009

UPDATED: GOP Senators Spending Keeps Minn. Seat Vacant

By John Nichols

Senate Republicans appear to have developed a strategy for maintaining their ability to stall -- or, at the least, dramatically alter -- Obama administration initiatives.

Individual GOP senators are paying big bucks in what looks increasingly like an effort to keep the Senate's 100th seat -- representing Minnesota -- vacant for as long as possible.

In effect, key Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are paying $10,000 a piece to maintain their power to obstruct Congress.

Read More »

February 17, 2009

Morning Yo-Yo

By Leslie Savan

It's early in the morning of America's economic collapse, and Joe Scarborough is trying to get to the bottom of it all by shouting, once again and several times over, "Erin Burnett, international superstar!"

Now that's a stimulus package--woogah-woogah, hubba-hubba-hubba!

Forget O'Reilly, Hannity, or even Fox and Friends. MSNBC's Morning Joe is the most entertaining expression of how far behind the curve the Obama election has left the mainstream media, whose cable personalities multiplied like toadstools in the damp darkness of the Bush presidency. Unable to adjust to the new sunlit era or match the president's suave wonkiness, they crawl back to what's familiar.

Read More »

February 17, 2009

How Much Damage Does Burris Do to Harry Reid?

By John Nichols

It is certainly no secret to anyone who has been among grassroots Democrats and progressive activists in recent weeks – an experience this writer has enjoyed as a speaker at Jefferson-Jackson Day dinners, Peace Action parties, symposiums of "Obama and the Left" and various and sundry gatherings of activists in recent weeks – that the anger with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is palpable.

The common question used to be: When is Harry Reid going to start fighting back?

The common question now, after the majority leader compromised away much of what was good about the stimulus package, is: How much longer are we going to have to put up with Harry Reid?

Read More »

February 16, 2009

Mr. President, They're Just Not That Into You

By Ari Melber

That was quick.

Less than a month into his presidency, Barack Obama has found that no one is really buying bipartisanship. His base hates it, as the blogs will tell you. His allies in Congress resent it, as Sen. Schumer signaled on Sunday morning. And while media outlets still prioritize a bipartisan process over actual policy substance, like this weird Washington Post editorial, even centrist pundits are souring on Obama's bipartisan bouquets. Time's Joe Klein, a fan of bipartisanship, has concluded that bipartisanship is currently impossible because there are no good faith partners in Washington:

Obama should now understand that the Republicans are not reliable partners--at least, not for the moment. Most are stuck in the contentious past, rutted in Reaganism, intent on taking a Hooverist course on the economy... The President's default position, after the stimulus fight and the Gregg fiasco, should be to appoint Democrats to significant domestic policy positions...

I don't happen to think Sen. Gregg's indecision qualifies as a fiasco, but it does add a personal flavor to the Republicans' political posture. Here's the bottom line: They're just not that into Obama.

Read More »

February 16, 2009

Lindsey Graham's Forward March to Socialism

By John Nichols

Newsweek hit the racks last week with a cover story headlined: "We Are All Socialists Now."

The headline was more provocative than the story, which was longer on one liners ("This is not to say that berets will be all the rage this spring, or that Obama has promised a croissant in every toaster oven...") than it was on history or serious assessment of the nation's current circumstance.

That didn't stop the GOP's Yahoo Caucus in the House from going all Palin on the subject.

Read More »

February 16, 2009

Now We Have To Focus on Job Creation

By John Nichols

There has been, and will continue to be, so much spin and posturing with regard to the tepid "stimulus" package that is today finishing the torturous dumbing-down process that began the minute it left the office of House Appropriations Committee chair David Obey -- the true progressive populist hero of the current fight -- that it is easy to lose sight of what Washington should be doing.

Obey wrote a sound job-creation and economic-renewal bill, and got it passed in reasonable form by the House, where the Wisconsin Democrat's close alliance with Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept things on track.

Unfortunately, Obey wasn't able to shore up Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who, in his search of bipartisan compromise, allowed a handful of Republican senators to transform the legislation into a tax restructuring package with some social spending tacked on.

Read More »

February 13, 2009

Obama's Bipartisan Utopia Mugged By Reality

By Ari Berman

Barack Obama's fantasy of a bipartisan utopia inside the Beltway has been mugged by reality, to borrow a popular neoconservative expression, and not a moment too soon.

It wasn't for lack of trying--Obama repeatedly wooed House Republicans only to have them vote unanimously against his stimulus bill. He loaded up the legislation with tax cuts and cut popular spending provisions and still only three Senate Republicans voted aye. He named a conservative Republican as his Commerce Secretary--the third Republican in his cabinet--only for Judd Gregg to turn around and cite irreconcilable ideological differences, withdrawing without even giving the White House a proper heads up.

The Obama team has finally learned their lesson. Remember when President Bush said "we can't negotiate with terrorists?" Well, the same goes for much of the GOP. (No, I'm not comparing the Republican Party to Al Qaeda, simply pointing out that most of the Republicans that remain in Congress represent conservative states and conservative districts and thus have little incentive to cooperate with Obama, although it does turn out that Texas Republican Pete Sessions recently compared his caucus to the Taliban.) As Rahm Emanuel admitted last night, "There's an insatiable appetite for the notion of bipartisanship here and we allowed that to get ahead of ourselves."

Read More »

February 13, 2009