Archives for Politics & Prose
NYT: The strongly anti-Iraq-War Ron Paul told CNN just last week that it would “really confuse” his supporters if he endorsed Mr. McCain. In fact, Mr. Paul said, he liked Mr. Obama’s foreign policy more. (Mr. Paul has also been quoted saying he believes Mr. Obama will be the next President — not exactly helpful for his fellow Republican. Mr. Paul’s vote of confidence may not be that much of a boon to Mr. Obama either.)
Via the WSJ, a quote from an NYT article titled “A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith,” published a year ago yesterday: Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job. “If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”
Friggin brilliant. Obama Organizing Fellows.
The annual report by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) of think tank citations in the press found a 17 percent decline in media mentions in 2007 over 2006. “The decline was felt across the board among centrist, conservative and progressive think tanks.” Also, this is also the third year in a row of declining citations, and “The decline was most precipitous among citations in major newspapers (down 19 percent) as opposed to [TV & Radio] transcripts (down 6 percent).” They can’t explain the change. Any ideas?
A testament to the insincerity of politics: John Edward’s Twitter status hasn’t been updated in 4 months. Not even a “dropping out of race” tweet.
Hillary Clinton in her “big economic speech” earlier this week:
So we need a president who can restore our confidence, a president who is ready to confront complex economic problems with comprehensive solutions, a president who will act at the first signs of trouble, working with experts to identify the problem, with agencies to adapt regulations, with Congress to pass necessary legislation, working to prevent crises rather than just reacting too little too late. We need a president who is ready on day one to be Commander-in-Chief of our economy.I can see Gene one the ground, flopping like an epileptic and foaming at the mouth.
WaPo: “Some on the right agree that Obama does not entirely fit the liberal mold. Stuart Butler, at the Heritage Foundation, said Obama reminds him of the inner-city advocates Butler worked with in the 1980s on issues such as housing vouchers, who worried more about whether solutions were effective than what their ideological roots were.”
You must go right now and watch It’s Raining McCain. I don’t know what’s more petrifying, his disembodied head or when the lead girl washes her face with him.
Me on the Cato Daily Podcast
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Pentagon: Why post it online when we can mail it?
McClatchy reports that a Pentagon analysis of 600,000 Iraqi documents captured after the invasion found no operational ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. This is of great interest to journalists and citizens, so it’s a good thing the study was publicly released. No doubt your thinking you can go to the Pentagon’s website and download a copy, right? According to the NYT:[T]he report will not be posted on the Internet, as originally planned, and no one will conduct any briefings on its conclusions. Anyone wanting to read it will have to ask the United States Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., for a copy. Officials promise to send it by mail.
One of the themes in my forthcoming paper on online transparency is that although there are many laws that require government to disclose information to the public, few require that disclosure to be online. Because the internet is the way we disseminate information today, paper disclosure is not meaningful disclosure. The good news is the corollary to that idea, which is that if government doesn’t disclose online, third parties will. So it’s amazing to me that the Pentagon thinks it can stifle interest in a story by refusing to disclose online.
So, grab your copy at ABC News (PDF).
McClintock, Garrick seek online account of state spending - I’m quoted today in Capitol Weekly, California’s state politics newspaper.
Newsweek: “To help bridge the physical distance between father and daughters, Michelle recently bought two MacBook laptops, one for Barack and one for the kids, so they could have video chats over the Internet.”
Gene Healy’s attitudinal forebear
I’m reading my friend Gene Healy’s great new book, The Cult of the Presidency, and it reminds me why I like him so much. In describing founding-era Pennsylvania Senator William Maclay, Gene could be describing himself:The Maclay that emerges from the journal is a dyspeptic grouch, the sort of personality that too few people properly appreciate. Yet, as doctrinaire and exacting as Maclay could be, he was also funny and irreverent. He didn’t take himself overseriously, and thus found it impossible not to laugh at his self-important colleagues.
You can pre-order the book from Amazon, and stay tuned to Gene’s triumphant return to blogging on his new site designed by yours truly.
Clinton as executive
According to The Politico, just-filed financial reports show that “Hillary Rodham Clinton ended January with $7.6 million in debt—not including the $5 million personal loan she gave to her campaign in the run-up to the critical Super Tuesday elections.” Meanwhile, Barack Obama managed to raise $37 million in January and spend only $31 million. The New York Times characterizes Clinton’s spending as profligate:Nearly $100,000 went for party platters and groceries before the Iowa caucuses, even though the partying mood evaporated quickly. Rooms at the Bellagio luxury hotel in Las Vegas consumed more than $25,000; the Four Seasons, another $5,000. And top consultants collected about $5 million in January, a month of crucial expenses and tough fund-raising.
Also, the Clinton campaign recently had a top management shake-up. Campaign Manager Patti Solis-Doyle was fired, some say, because she kept from Clinton the true state of the campaign’s finances after the loss in Iowa. And we’ve seen how Bill Clinton has mucked things up as well. The Obama campaign staff, by contrast, has been disciplined and focused.
So, with all that in mind, I’d just like to point out that the only executive experience either of these two candidates has ever had has been running their campaigns. I think this says more about Clinton than Obama, but quite revealing nonetheless.
Yes, but the sign says differently
What is up with the signs elected officials insist on having at every official press conference? I think they mean to take control of the message, but do they really think a Kinko’s foam-core sign is going to do it? Following up on my earlier riff about the role of head of state, this is so undignified.
Did they learn nothing from “Mission Accomplished”?
Be Afraid of President McCain. No doubt old news to many readers of this space, this article by Matt Welch is worth flagging for those who haven’t read it, especially now that McCain will likely be the Republican nominee. For more wars is all I’ll say. Also, Welch’s new book, McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, is just out.
Obama for Head of State
Today I took an online political quiz that asked me a series of question about my views on current issues and then ranked the presidential candidates in order of compatibility with my views. Not surprisingly, Ron Paul came up first. Quite surprisingly, Mike Gravel came in second. But most surprisingly to me, however, is that Barack Obama came in last—even after Hillary Clinton.
After a moment’s thought, this isn’t that surprising. So why are many folks of my bent falling for this guy? It’s obviously because of his personality and because of what he represents, which is what he’s running on. But I can’t buy into all that fluff, can I? I think I can, and here’s why.
In their wisdom, the Founding Fathers made the President both the head of government and the head of state. In many other countries the head of state is a monarch or an elected president, while the head of government being the prime minister or some other functionary. The head of state has little power and is the living embodiment of the nation. The King of Spain or the President of Germany, for example.
This is salutary separation of roles that I wish we had. In England, for example, the Queen is owed respect, while the prime minister is just a public servant who is always accountable to the people. This is why they have their delicious Question Time and why British reporters don’t cow before the prime minister. In this country, however, it is difficult to be critical of the President as head of government without at the same time maligning the President as head of state. It’s also common for the President’s conduct as head of government to malign the role of President as head of state.
For almost 16 years the head of state in this country has been an embarrassment, and there hasn’t been a decent one in at least 20. I think one reason why some of us who are ideologically opposed to Barak Obama are nevertheless drawn to him is because we’d like to see him in the role of head of state. To the extent that we are a nation, Obama would be a wonderful living symbol of it. Not only as it is, but of its aspirations as well. Whatever your beliefs, you must admit he’s an inspiring and uplifting force.
So, given the alternatives, I don’t see why it would be so bad to have a President who is good at at least half his job.
I’ve created a new site called OpenRegulations.gov that is an alternative interface to the federal government’s Regulations.gov database. The notable improvement is that unlike the official offering, OpenRgulations.gov offers an RSS feed of Federal Register notices for each agency. I explain it in more detail here. Please spread the word!
Does Ron Paul have a tell?
This is a little wacky, but I don’t feel too bad since I’m talking about Ron Paul.Check out this video of Paul discussing his racist newsletters with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. At about 2:30, when paul is making the claim that he has no idea who wrote the newsletters, he repeatedly looks to his right, the viewer’s left. According to the Internets, that particular eye movement denotes lying.
But who knows? Maybe he was distracted by something off-screen, like some shining gold bullion or whatnot.
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This is the personal site of Jerry Brito, a lawyer and writer in Washington, D.C. He’s an academic researcher and the creator of Unclutterer and several other blogs. More »
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