After President Obama denounced Wall Street bonuses as "shameful" on Thursday, the way was clear for the rest of the political class to pour gasoline on the bonfire being prepared for the offending bankers. Senator Chris Dodd, former "friend" of mortgage banker Angelo Mozilo, ranted that the Treasury should somehow confiscate the bonuses.
Senator Claire McCaskill rolled out legislation to put a compensation cap of $400,000 on executives whose firms receive bailout money. She also proposes creating a court to restrain their "massive self-indulgences." The Senator from Missouri then spoke of "a bunch of idiots on Wall Street." Insofar as the Congress is blithely waving more than $800 billion of cats-and-dogs "stimulus" spending into the air, the American people can be forgiven for asking who are the greater fools.
UPDATE: It appears Jim Treacher has gotten his hands on Claire McCaskill's visual aid, which for some reason was kept under wraps during her Senate lecture.
By Joe Biden's definition, Obama has nominated two non-patriots to high Cabinet office. With Daschle, Mr. Geithner and tax-cheat Charles Rangel (D), and you're starting to have a Culture of Tax Corruption in the new government of Hope and Change. There will be more.
UPDATE: Turns out there is a method to Obama's madness (this from ScrappeFace):
“The president’s plan is simple but ingenious,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, “He targets wealthy individuals who filed inaccurate tax forms, cheating the government out of tens of thousands of dollars. Then he just nominates them for cabinet positions. They suddenly see the error of their ways, and they cut checks for the full amount owed, plus interest.”
At least in his new capacity - heading up Obama's new "middle-class task force" - Biden will have fewer opportunities to wreak havoc on foreign policy.
Inspired by Barack Obama's "Egg of Power", Iowahawk has unveiled LEADages, his "exclusive line of exotic motivational leadership proverbs from around the developing world."
One can easily picture Vice President Biden whispering these words of wisdom to President Obama:
"The power of the leader is like his loincloth: worn too tight it will ride up and chafe, worn too loose it will expose all his junk."
Now it appears Corker may be part of a potential new "Gang of 14" in the Senate, an arrangement that among other things would prevent a Senate filibuster of this steaming pile of legislative garbage, and all but assure that some awful permutation of the bill will hit Barack Obama's desk:
Senate Republicans and some Democrats aren’t happy that the $819 billion economic stimulus bill that the House passed Wednesday contains billions of dollars for programs that arguably won’t spark much job growth.
As a result, one moderate Democrat is looking to bring some of his colleagues together, as was done in the past on the issues of judicial appointments and energy policy, to find some common ground on how the stimulus bill might be improved, Fox has learned.
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who famously gathered Republicans and Democrats in a so-called “Gang of 14″ to avert a shutdown of the Senate over judicial nominations, is aiming for similar bipartisanship in the stimulus debate. Nelson told FOX News he has invited a group to his office Friday to see if more can be done to create jobs in the stimulus bill — such as a major boost in funding for infrastructure projects, which appeal to many of his colleagues.
“We need to focus this on getting people back to work quickly,” Nelson said.
The “Gang of 14″ compromise in 2006 displeased many conservatives. Republicans controlled both houses of Congress at the time, and those involved in the compromise group agreed to take some of the party’s power options off the table in exchange for Democratic promises not to filibuster Bush’s judicial nominees except under “extreme circumstances.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a moderate who was a member of the original “Gang” and a close friend of Nelson’s from their time on the Senate Armed Services Committee, got an invite, as has Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Nelson’s energy compromise group colleague.
Make no mistake - this is definitely not a bill that can be fixed by eliminating a few line items here and there. Those are tiny gestures in the right direction, but at $1+ trillion, this bill would be an outrage at half or even one-quarter of the price tag. Heck, at any price it's a sham, when you consider that Democrats are hard-pressed to demonstrate that even one new job would be created as a result of its passage.
To clarify the point of my post, it is merely to say that conservatives should keep a close eye on Corker. If the guy has it in him to cast a vote for Timothy Geithner, it is certainly feasible that he might consider voting for the stimulus bill, or participate in a 2008 version of the Gang of 14. But as his spokesperson indicated, they (Corker's staff) "were invited late yesterday to a meeting in Sen. Ben Nelson’s office and were surprised to learn by reading the news this morning that by accepting the invitation we had joined a gang. That’s not accurate and we did not attend the meeting.”
That's good to hear.
UPDATE #2: Here is Bob Corker on Fox News earlier this week, before the House vote. This was forwarded to me by the Corker spokesperson referenced in my first update:
In the West Wing, Mr. Obama is a bit of a wanderer. When Mr. Bush wanted to see a member of his staff, the aide was summoned to the Oval Office. But Mr. Obama tends to roam the halls; one day last week, he turned up in the office of his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, who was in the unfortunate position of having his feet up on the desk when the boss walked in.
“Wow, Gibbs,” the press secretary recalls the president saying. “Just got here and you already have your feet up.” Mr. Gibbs scrambled to stand up, surprising Mr. Obama, who is not yet accustomed to having people rise when he enters a room.
If Gibbs wants to redeem himself, next time he should try the acting annoyed bit.
In today's Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove writes that Rham Emanuel will have his hands full refereeing turf wars in the suddenly overcrowded West Wing:
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama criticized Washington for being "obsessed with the perpetual campaign." As president he is the first occupant of the Oval Office to give his director of political affairs -- who coordinates the president's involvement with his party and other campaign related activities -- an office in the West Wing.
Many Americans may assume that the president's entire staff is in the West Wing. It's not. The West Wing is actually a very small place, so the vast number of people who work "at the White House" actually have offices across the street at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB).
Under Mr. Obama, the political director won't be in the EEOB, where other presidents have placed him. He'll occupy a West Wing office usually given to the head of presidential personnel. That's a sign of the importance of politics for Team Obama.
This is one of many of Mr. Obama's changes to the management structure of the White House that will likely undermine his stated aims and create a more centralized and possibly incoherent policy process.
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