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Friday, November 21, 2008 |
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Intelligence Is As Intelligence Does |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
3:20 PM |
David Brooks seems awfully impressed with what he terms the "valedictocracy" filling the ranks of the Obama administration.
But as someone who shares Michelle Obama's almae matres of Princeton and Harvard, let me just say that Brooks' invocation of everyone's academic credentials, without more, is hardly reassuring. Wasn't it the "best and the brightest" who set up the situation leading to the Vietnam debacle?
Of course, one always hopes that the most intelligent people are the ones who will be leading this country. Where Brooks and the like go wrong is in necessarily equating intelligence with academic credentials. Trust me -- there are plenty of Princeton and Harvard summas I wouldn't trust to come in out of the rain without an umbrella. Book smarts and life smarts (otherwise known as common sense) don't always come in the same package.
And remember: Jimmy Carter was a graduate of the elite US Naval Academy (Annapolis). Ronald Reagan was a graduate of Eureka College. Now you tell me: Who was the smarter man, and the better President?
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Friday, November 21, 2008 |
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McCain Econ Advisor Says He Was Wrong on the Bailout |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
1:50 PM |
Not to sound cocky, but I've said again and again I thought John McCain lost the election the day he decided to support the $700 billion financial bailout. It was a turning point for me and, I think, many other conservatives who felt betrayed once again by the maverick.
Now the guy who advised McCain to do it agrees it was a bad move.
"We also make mistakes," Doug Holtz-Eakin said yesterday at the Heritage Foundation. “There’s no doubt about it--20/20 hindsight. I think the key strategic policy error of the entire campaign, that is mine, is believing that the bailout bill would help.”
Even worse, Holtz-Eakin said their campaign supported throwing $700 billion tax dollars to Wall Street because they thought was good politics. Not because it even had a whiff of being good policy.
“Financial markets were falling apart,” Holtz-Eakin said. “We were in a terrible position as a campaign in trying to figure out whether to continue to just take hits--which we were--or to try to do something about it when the bailout bill was stalled. We elected to go do something about it. It didn’t pay off as a campaign largely because getting that bill through was not helpful.” “That was the key strategic error that we really made,” Holtz-Eakin explained. “Had we stayed away from Washington, stayed away from being identified with that bill – which was ultimately against the John McCain brand-- that’s not a bill he normally would support-- we would have been better served in the long run, I believe. But, that financial market meltdown combined with bad strategic decisions, I think, was a real crippling combination of events.” H/T to the Business and Media Institute for covering the event.
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Friday, November 21, 2008 |
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David Cameron, Moderate Hero? |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
1:13 PM |
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With the help of Adam Brickley, I'm out with a new column today that dispells the recent myths (being spread by moderates) about British Conservative Leader David Cameron. Here's a taste:
"In their minds, Cameron is the crusading moderator who wrested control of the Conservative Party from…well…conservatives -- dragged it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century -- and now stands ready to become Prime Minister in the 2009 Election. They are right on two counts: the first being that Cameron is a moderate and the second being that he is a political genius.
Indeed, there is much we can learn from Mr. Cameron, and even as a staunch conservative I think that elements of his template could be the keys to future Republican victories. However, the idea that he would be on board with their reverse-RINO-hunt is complete and utter rubbish -- and it shows great ignorance of how Cameron has revitalized British conservatism. If we really want to implement the Cameron model, we must first understand the details of what he did…and what he did differs starkly with the ideas currently being floated by angry moderates hungry for conservative blood."
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Friday, November 21, 2008 |
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Driving Us Crazy: Double Standard on Past Presidents... |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
9:01 AM |
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On one hand, I agree with the notion that we need to move past Ronald Reagan. It is, after all, about the future. (It's not that we shouldn't remember Reagan, of course, but we also shouldn't use him as a crutch.)
... On the other hand, it strikes me as interesting that while we are being told not to dare mention Ronald Reagan, the media is simultaneously comparing Barack Obama to FDR and Abraham Lincoln (If I hear the words "Team of Rivals" one more time...).
I mean, yes, the 1980s were a long time ago -- but so were the 1940s and the 1860s!
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Thursday, November 20, 2008 |
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Ideological Ends, Pragmatic Means |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
10:10 PM |
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This AP piece just points out what should be obvious to everyone by now -- that Barack "Change you can believe in" Obama has been filling the top ranks of his administration with Clinton era and/or beltway insiders.
What should, of course, be obvious is that such a move is probably necessary for a relative novice like President-elect Obama. If he chose to surround himself with people who are as lacking in national experience as he is, the results would resemble . . . well, the Carter administration.
Obama is a true ideological believer when it comes to the ends he wants to pursue, but he's a hard core pragmatist about the means for achieving them. If a certain frisson of excitement is lost among his liberal base when they learn that the West Wing will be filled with a bunch of retreads, no doubt he figures that's a trade-off everyone will be willing to make, so long as the results are worth it. And make no mistake -- he's committed to making sure the results are worth it, at least for those on the left.
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Thursday, November 20, 2008 |
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Welcome to the Big Leagues |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
1:51 PM |
Everybody says that it's not the campaigning -- it's the governing -- that's the hard part, and now our President-elect is learning that fact even before he takes over.
Apparently, his "folks" are outraged that Hillary Clinton's peeps are leaking and stoking State speculation. Hey, be grateful that they're doing it now, thereby providing you with a glimpse of what it will be like if you actually install her in the building.
My sense is that Obama believes it's better to remove his potential 2012 rival from the Senate and put her in his Cabinet. Well, in exchange for that, he shouldn't be fooled into thinking that she'll sit back quietly and take his direction. With Hillary as Secretary of State, Obama will have to choose either essentially to outsource his whole foreign policy to his one-time rival (and if so, what was the justification for not simply letting her win the primary election?) or this is just a small taste of the banquet of leaks the Clintons have in store for him.
And of course, don't even think about the PR hit that will result from his now "withdrawing" the job that the Clintonistas have led the country to believe is Hillary's for the asking.
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Thursday, November 20, 2008 |
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Stealing Minnesota |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
11:31 AM |
According to The Skepticians blog, Al Franken intends to challenge ballots such as this one (they say this ballot is from Plymouth, MN).
Clearly, this person's clear intent was to vote for Coleman ... could you disagree???
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