Joan Walsh: Obama is "Dead wrong, or deeply cynical" - spending freeze now is "felony stupid"

[highplainsdem]

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joan_walsh/politics/2010/01/25/faux_freeze/

Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010 00:26 EST

Dead wrong, or deeply cynical

Either Obama is dooming the economy to placate deficit hawks, or he's pretending to freeze non-defense spending Video

By Joan Walsh



Shhhhh!

Don't tell Republicans about Monday night's Rachel Maddow Show, where progressive economist Jared Bernstein, who works for Vice President Joe Biden, reassured Maddow that the controversial "spending freeze" the Obama administration just leaked wouldn't apply to many important social programs, at all. (You can watch it below.)

Maddow made the same point Robert Reich and Andrew Leonard did on Salon: Imposing a spending freeze during economic hard times is felony stupid. It's Roosevelt in '37. Bernstein quickly reassured Maddow she'd gotten her facts wrong: The administration will cut some programs, Bernstein said, but they'll increase funding for others. The freeze wouldn't apply to health care programs, the already passed stimulus, and certainly not to the package of middle class assistance programs Obama and Biden released the same day, Bernstein insisted.

But wasn't just the Maddow show; apparently Obama advisors briefed the liberal blogosphere to reassure folks that this freeze won't hurt at all. As Marc Ambinder explains:


"The freeze is irrelevant to health care because Medicare, Medicaid and taxes are all mandatory. So too are many of the programs for the neediest, such as unemployment insurance and Pell Grants. And many of the other programs were plussed up recently so the White House is freezing them at a very high level. A second stimulus package wouldn't be included either."


So who do they think they're fooling? If they're telling the truth, and dozens of social programs will be exempt from the freeze, or even increased -- hey, we can even pass a second stimulus! -- then why is Obama selling what he's doing as a freeze? To win Republican support? Not gonna happen. To make Evan Bayh happy? (The freeze is exactly what Bayh recommended to Bloomberg's Al Hunt on Friday.) Who cares?

And do they think all Republicans are stupid and/or completely cut off from the liberal blogosphere, so they won't learn that this is just a pretend freeze, that will let Democrats grow social spending for their priorities? Bernstein said it would let Obama cut "wasteful spending" and thwart the lobbyists who defend every imaginable government program. Really? If everyone knows the freeze isn't real, and it's just about proving your program is important to the recovery or health care or some other protected priority, it will be a lobbyists' free for all anyway.

This charade is almost worse than if Obama was dead serious about an across the board freeze. Both Michael Lind, on Salon, and Matt Yglesias at Think Progress have suggested that Obama is trying to win over Republicans by picking a fight with the left (um, doesn't he already have one?) and the denunciations by people like Maddow and Robert Reich play perfectly into their trap. If they're right, Obama's having his Sister Soulja moment--and tonight the role of "Sister" will be played by folks like Maddow and Reich, who supported him. Nice!

-snip-

[bridgit]

1. She's right

[rockymountaindem]

2. Let's take Bernstein at his word for a minute

Obama says he's going to freeze discretionary spending, but structures things in such a way that he really doesn't freeze anything, but just says he does in order to try and score points. What's the worst that could happen?

[ibegurpard]

4. then why even do it?

you piss off your allies... you don't fool your enemies...what's the upside?

[rockymountaindem]

5. Maybe we fool the enemies without incurring any real damage to programs that matter?

Regardless, it does seem to me like they're just grasping at straws when what we really need is more investment in infrastructure and tax credits for hiring.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Later on, way down the road, we'll find out that the Brown thing took

the Obama people totally by surprise & after that it was all panic & wild shit mistakes trying to recover.

[Bolo Boffin]

6. Joe Wilson is doing vocal warmups right now.

There's too many ways to make this look like Obama's waffling on a freeze.

[Change has come]

11. What?

[Bolo Boffin]

13. There are too many ways to make this look bad for Obama.

Republicans are getting ready to have a field day with this.

[flyarm]

7. This Fed Chief Brought to You by Enron

This Fed Chief Brought to You by Enron
By: emptywheel Monday January 25, 2010 7:59 am

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/01/25/this-fed-chief-brought-to-you-by-enron/

Just wanted to throw two tidbits into the debate on Ben Bernanke’s reconfirmation. First, this quote, which needs no explanation.

In the event that Bernanke isn’t confirmed, several sources say, Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Donald Kohn likely would be elevated to acting chair of the U.S. central bank. Bernanke would be entitled to stay on the board until his term as a Fed governor expires in 2020, but the sources said Bernanke could instead return to a professorship at Princeton University.

Possible successors to Bernanke include three people currently advising Obama on the economy, former Fed chief Paul Volcker, Larry Summers and Christina Romer.

Kohn was traveling in Europe at the end of the week on Fed business, but strategy on the Bernanke confirmation was being led by former Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson, who is viewed as an effective advocate for the banking chief on Capitol Hill.

read the rest at the link



edit to add...



see the comments by :


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JasonLeopold January 25th, 2010 at 10:40 am
15

Feb 22, 2001: Enron chairman Ken Lay and Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson met with energy task force executive director Andrew Lundquist to discuss energy policy.

April 17, 2001: Enron chairman Ken Lay and Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson met with Vice President Cheney for 30 minutes to discuss energy matters, including the California energy crisis.

April 20, 2001: Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson sent an e-mail to White House economic advisor Robert McNally.

May 23, 2001: White House economic advisor Robert McNally met with Enron lobbyists Linda Robertson and Richard Shapiro.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. Perhaps they made him an offer he could not refuse.

I'm speculating here, but this need to freeze might come from Chinese, EU, or other external pressures. The U.S. has a gigantic amount of money held by foreign banks that becomes waste paper if we collapse. Perhaps the spigot of foreign loans is coming to an end in light of U.S. inability to regulate banks. Perhaps Breton Woods is unraveling.

[truedelphi]

9. he has been dead wrong as far as the Real People in the USA ever since

Day One.

Actually, you can trace how dead wrong he was all the way back to November 2008, when he told "Sixty Minutes" how he appreciated that "Hank" (ie Paulson) was working really hard. Sort of a "Good job Brownie," moment that was.

Then came his appointments of Rahm, Geithner and his approval of Bernanke. Then he made all his Monsanto clone appointments, like Taylor and Velsick

So this is not shocking for any of us who have been following him.

And he is NOT DEAD WRONG if you are your usual "loyal" Democrat, who is always willing to blame anyone but Obama.

And he is NOT DEAD WRONG if you are of the upper one percent of this nation.

[amborin]

10. "the freeze" = = "change you can believe in"

[defendandprotect]

12. Agree -- !!