Obama v. McCain: Round One

Short assessment: Obama clocked him.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: on the issues, there were no surprises. They repeated slogans, gave some boring details, and generally did their jobs. Most Americans don't listen to details, and probably tuned out after 20 minutes. And according to the ratings, fewer Americans watched this debate than watched the same Bush/Kerry debate in 2004.

Most Americans respond emotionally to the candidates, which helps explain why Obama doesn't have a more commanding lead. He has been, until now, unable to connect emotionally to more than 48% of the electorate.

But what we saw on Friday was staggering. McCain looked older, rattled and more frail than we have ever seen him. He has literally aged years in the past two weeks. According to my Mother, who is quite an emotional person, it's probably due to Palin's complete mental meltdown on Katie Couric a few days prior, and the ensuing blowback from Republican party stalwarts to have her removed from the ticket. See here.

I completely agree that Palin, and her dropping popularity are a problem, but I also think that the financial crisis has been quite humiliating for McCain. His reactions have been all over the place, and quite extreme, which is scary since what you want is cool level-headedness in the face of a crisis. He started with "the fundamentals of the economy are strong", to "I meant American workers", to we're headed for the Great Depression if I don't intervene, PERSONALLY. Talk about messianic? Is he kidding? For more on what happened in DC behind closed doors that would have lead to McCain being so out of it at the debate, see here.

The other interesting point, also raised by TPM, is that Obama made no mistakes at the debate, and that in and of itself is a huge victory. In 2004, Kerry would win every debate on the issues, and snap polls would support that, but then the Rove machine would take one or two of Kerry's gaffes during the debate, magnify and amplify them, and turn Kerry into the loser of the debate in the days that followed. But Obama seems to have that Bill Clinton quality, which INFURIATES his critics, that you can't quite grasp at anything to throw back at him. There were so many moments in the debate when Obama could have lost it and said something nasty, but it was McCain who could barely conceal his contempt. And so far, the Republicans haven't been able to embarrass Obama in any way, which must make them crazy.

So final verdict on Round One, which McCain should have been able to win with two arms tied behind his back, goes to Obama, for being cool, calm and collected.

Political Philosophy

McCain's false suspension of the campaign (all his field offices were operational, and the ads still on the air), in order to attend to negotiations on a three page bailout plan (which he hadn't read!) smacks of someone who is unhinged. By that I mean, in times of crisis, we need and want leaders who deliberate, get informed and then make executive decisions; not leaders who shoot from the hip (because they can't raise their arms over their heads) and mislead the public.

When Obama reached out to McCain to issue a joint, and therefore bipartisan, statement, it was the sign of someone truly willing to suspend politics in the face of a crisis. So McCain took the opportunity to inject partisan politics, said sure no problem, and then issued a unilateral statement instead. I know it is a cliche, but it was truly and breathtakingly Bushian in nature.

The debate will probably go on tonight, but the fact that McCain even suggested suspending or delaying it in the face of a crisis that he happens to know nothing about intellectually looks desperate, but also cowardly. It has completely backfired. The panic is evident because even though the debate is supposed to be about foreign policy, there is no way the economy won't come up, and he will look worse then Palin did on Katie Couric.

What McCain lacks is an ability to inspire. Anything. This has more to do with the fact that he has been a bureaucrat for 30 years than anything else. Critics of Obama like to say that all he does is inspire, and is incapable of anything else. Well if that's true, I'll still take it. What we need is a President capable of inspiring Americans to bring out the best in who they are, but more importantly, who can inspire the world to rally around American ideals. Why? Because hopefully, once they are inspired by our ideals, they will be inspired to buy our products. All I could think of when I saw Obama's impromptu rally in Berlin was, how many of the 240K specatators were going to buy our products after that rally? I saw a consumer base! And as someone who travels around the world selling American product, I'm here to tell you, we need that consumer base!

Nouns, Verbs, Prepositions and Objects

Please comment on this. Am I losing my mind? Is this really happening to American politics?

Keith Olbermann comments on Sarah Palin's geography comments.

THIS is why Sarah Palin is being kept away from the press

Holy shit. I mean, this woman doesn't even make sense. She's definitely speaking English, and she's definitely using words, but look at Katie Couric's face. It's like she's looking at someone having a stroke.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild

This woman is infuriating.  A lifelong Democrat, she has ditched Obama, not for one of the many reasons you hear about like experience, or racism, etc, but because she thinks he is an elitist.  Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the American 3rd wife of Evelyn de Rothschild, who lives in Ascot House in Buckinghamshire, has called Barack Obama an elitist.

Maybe it's me, but since when is being half-African, half-Mid-Western, raised on food stamps by your grandmother, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and making it to Harvard (without disclosing his race on the application, mind you), graduating summa cum laude, rejecting the big Wall Street Jobs and going to work with poor people in the south side of Chicago, considered ELITE?

An elitist would be someone who graduated at the bottom of his class at a school he got into because of legacy, then ditching his first wife after she was in a horrible accident, and marrying super wealthy.  No wonder Lynn and McCain get along so well.

Bailout Email

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

The Shock Doctrine

One of my favorite authors, Naomi Klein (NO LOGO, and THE SHOCK DOCTRINE), had a face off with libertarian commentator Andrew Sullivan.

Klein’s book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," outlines how crises, real or perceived, have been used by governments, especially the United States under George W. Bush, to strong-arm a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept.

But Andrew Sullivan of TheAtlantic.com disagreed with Klein that a few "demonized" companies were at fault when the real culprit behind the mortgage crisis has been:

"[The American people] have spent and borrowed more than they could actually support," Sullivan said. "…To some extent, the American people are responsible for the crisis they are currently in."

Klein quickly shot back her own rebuttal.

"The reason why this bubble was allowed to inflate is not because the American people demanded it, it was because it was spectacularly profitable for Wall Street," Klein said.

Boo ya!

Enough is Enough

This is going too far.

Not only does the bailout plan proposed by Paulson and the White House essentially privatize the profits, while nationalizing the losses; but there are to be no limits on the executive pay for the afflicated companies, which means that taxpayers could be paying huge payouts for failed corporate leadership!

Side note:  McCain likes to rail against corporate pay for failed CEOs, but last I checked, his gal pal Carly Fiorina got $46M when she was kicked out of HP.

BUT NOW, to make matters worse, two FOREIGN banks have succesfully lobbied to be a part of the bailout plan:  UBS and Barclays.  They want to offload the bad debt of their American divisions.

Guess who is vice chairman of UBS's American division, and their chief lobbyist in Washington:  PHIL GRAMM!  Just last night, McCain's spokespeople wouldn't rule out that he could eventually be Treasury Secretary!

HOW CAN ANYONE VOTE FOR FOUR MORE YEARS OF THIS?!?!

Note to McCain/Palin:  Thanks, but no thanks!

Quote of the Day

It's a tossup:

“There are no atheists in foxholes and no ideologues in financial crises.”

Ben Bernanke

"It's a big package, because it was a big problem."

George W. Bush

Candidates Responses to the Bailout Plan

Here is the text of Obama's statement:

“The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has led to a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression.

“But regardless of how we got here, the circumstances we face require decisive action because the jobs, savings, and economic security of millions of Americans are now at risk.

“We must work quickly in a bipartisan fashion to resolve this crisis and restore our financial sector so capital is flowing again and we can avert an even broader economic catastrophe. We also should recognize that economic recovery requires that we act, not just to address the crisis on Wall Street, but also the crisis on Main Street and around kitchen tables across America.

“But thus far, the Administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan.

“Even if the Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects some basic principles.

• No blank check. If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the magnitude of the taxpayer money involved, there can be no blank check.

• Rescue requires mutual responsibility. As taxpayers are asked to take extraordinary steps to protect our financial system, it is only appropriate to expect those institutions that benefit to help protect American homeowners and the American economy. We cannot underwrite continued irresponsibility, where CEOs cash in and our regulators look the other way. We cannot abet and reward the unconscionable practices that triggered this crisis. We have to end them.

• Taxpayers should be protected. This should not be a handout to Wall Street. It should be structured in a way that maximizes the ability of taxpayers to recoup their investment. Going forward, we need to make sure that the institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance.

• Help homeowners stay in their homes. This crisis started with homeowners and they bear the brunt of the nearly unprecedented collapse in housing prices. We cannot have a plan for Wall Street banks that does not help homeowners stay in their homes and help distressed communities.

• A global response. As I said on Friday, this is a global financial crisis and it requires a global solution. The United States must lead, but we must also insist that other nations, who have a huge stake in the outcome, join us in helping to secure the financial markets.

• Main Street, not just Wall Street. The American people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on Main Street as we do the emergency on Wall Street. That is why I call on Senator McCain, President Bush, Republicans and Democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families – a plan that would help folks cope with rising gas and food prices, save one million jobs through rebuilding our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, help homeowners stay in their homes, and provide retooling assistance to help ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built in America.

• Build a regulatory structure for the 21st Century. While there is not time in a week to remake our regulatory structure to prevent abuses in the future, we should commit ourselves to the kind of reforms I have been advocating for several years. We need new rules of the road for the 21st Century economy, together with the means and willingness to enforce them.

“The bottom line is that we must change the economic policies that led us down this dangerous path in the first place. For the last eight years, we’ve had an “on your own-anything goes” philosophy in Washington and on Wall Street that lavished tax cuts on the wealthy and big corporations; that viewed even common-sense regulation and oversight as unwise and unnecessary; and that shredded consumer protections and loosened the rules of the road. Ordinary Americans are now paying the price. The events of this week have rendered a final verdict on that failed philosophy, and it is a philosophy I will end as President of the United States,” said Senator Barack Obama.

Text of John McCain's reponse:

"We've heard a lot of words from Senator Obama over the course of this campaign," McCain said. "But maybe just this once he could spare us the lectures, and admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems. The crisis on Wall Street started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence peddling, and he was right square in the middle of it."

Good grief.  Not only is McCain's response so thin and vapid, but it's nonsensical, given that McCain's best friends, advisors, and campaign aides are ALL lobbyists.  And whereas Obama actually called for a bipartisan solution, McCain went on the attack. 

Chris Matthews Blows a Gasket

Chris Matthews destroys Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA).

Elephant in the Room

McCain’s attempt to hit a populist note in response to recent economic events is a joke. Lest anyone forget, the chief architect of the both the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (which allowed Enron to happen) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities, was Phil Gramm.

No wonder this is the greatest financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

Phil Gramm has stepped down as the McCain campaign co-chair, and chief economic advisor, but he still acompanies him everywhere, and still advises him on economic and financial matters. Granted, Bill Clinton signed those bills into law, and the Leach in Gramm-Leach-Bliley is now head of Republicans for Obama, but still...

So to have McCain rally around the excesses of corporate greed and the need for more stringent government oversight is insulting. Does he think we’re stupid?

Economic Fundamentals

What in the world is McCain talking about? On the day that 2 of the largest (remaining) investment banks collapsed, and THE largest insurance provider was desperate to avoid the same fate, McCain claimed the fundamentals of the economy was strong.

He then clarified:

“My opponents may disagree, but those fundamentals of America are strong…. Our workers have always been the strength of our economy, and they remain the strength of our economy today.”

He sort of sounded like that Miss Teen USA pageant contestant who just kept mumbling, “Iraq, everyhwere, like such as”.

Last I checked, economic fundamentals are generally made up of quantifiable things like interest rates, GDP growth, inflation, etc. It’s nice to know that McCain believes that workers, innovation and entrepreneurship are strong, ie the fundamentals of Capitalism. But in referring to our economy, what is talking about? Strong as compared to what and in what sense?

Sigh. Bush 44, indeed.

Lehman

This in no way diminishes the pain that employees and stockholders are experiencing, but it's an interesting piece of perspective, courtesy of NY Mag, meant to dispel the notion that a venerable 158-year-old institution has collapsed and nothing will ever be the same. The current incarnation of LB dates back to 1994.

The original great Jewish bank on Wall Street was Kuhn Loeb, founded in 1867. Together with J.P. Morgan, it was a major conduit between European capital and American industry at the turn of the century. When railroad baron E. H. Harriman went up against Morgan (a man whose control of U.S. banking no one has come close to matching), it was Kuhn Loeb’s Jacob Schiff whom he turned to. Kuhn Loeb was also John D. Rockefeller’s banker. After World War II, the conventional list of the top Wall Street banks consisted of Morgan Stanley, Kuhn Loeb, and Dillon Read.

But not for long. Dillon Read shrank until it was eventually swallowed up by SG Warburg, which itself was consumed by the Swiss giant UBS. And Kuhn Loeb merged with a smaller firm called … Lehman Brothers in 1977. Together, they formed Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb.

Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb had a run of about seven years before it blew up in a tornado of internal rivalry. Its top bankers, Pete Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, quit to form the mega private-equity fund Blackstone Group, and what was left of the once great Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, short of capital, was sold for a song to American Express in 1984. American Express merged Lehman Brothers with two other brokerages it had acquired to form Shearson Lehman Hutton. (E.F. Hutton, another venerable Wall Street firm, got scooped up after a scandal, involving the interest on brokerage deposits, so tawdry that it makes the Superman III plot of stealing leftover parts of pennies look like true financial genius.) Then American Express changed direction, decided that credit cards weren’t such a bad business after all, sold off pieces of its mini-empire, and in 1994 spun off what was left into a new Lehman Brothers under the current CEO, Richard Fuld.

Classic SNL

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

Still

Great new ad.

McCain/Palin: Deja Vu

Does the toxic combination of ignorance, decisiveness and lack of ideas remind anyone of anything?

Answer: The Bush Administration

This is manifest is most clearly in Palin's recent interview with Charlie Gibson in which she demonstrated an alarming lack of knowledge on US foreign affairs, combined with a willingness to bomb everyone.

And on the economy, McCain has no new ideas. None. No plan for tackling the budget, inflation, the national debt, nothing. Just that he wants to continue and deepen the Bush Tax Cuts, which have destroyed the middle class.

An important message on 9/11

Full Mental Shutdown

I can’t.

For all the Jews out there

Obama’s Rabbi
By Niko Koppel AND Sarah Wheaton

Who knew?

Even as Senator Barack Obama has tried to overcome skepticism by some Jewish voters, he has been keeping a little family secret. Turns out that a member of the Obama clan is a member of the tribe — and a rabbi at that.

Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., who heads a predominantly black congregation in Chicago, is a cousin of Michelle Obama, Mr. Obama’s wife. Rabbi Funnye is the son of Verdelle Robinson Funnye, the sister of Mrs. Obama’s grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr. The relationship was first reported in The Wall Street Journal without mentioning Rabbi Funnye by name.

As the first black member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and many mainstream Jewish organizations, Rabbi Funnye is well known in Chicago, primarily for his efforts to build bridges across racial and religious divides. He was also known to Mr. Obama: Though Rabbi Funnye, 56, is older than Mrs. Obama, 44, the cousins grew up in bordering neighborhoods and saw each other at family celebrations.

“I remember Michelle being very kind and loving, very considerate and a good person,” Mr. Funnye said.

Rabbi Funnye has contributed to the campaign and mentions the Democratic presidential nominee in sermons before his congregation at Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Congregation, which has 200 members. He is not, however, one of the 300 members of the newly formed group Rabbis for Obama (though Ethan Tucker, stepson of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut now backing Senator John McCain, is.)

Tax Implications

Interesting chart.

BREAKING DOWN THE NUMBERS
Here's how the average tax bill could change in 2009 if either John McCain's or Barack Obama's tax proposals were fully in place.

                                MCCAIN                 OBAMA
Income                         Avg. tax bill         Avg. tax bill
Over $2.9M                 -$269,364         +$701,885
$603K and up                 -$45,361                 +$115,974
$227K-$603K                 -$7,871                 +$12
$161K-$227K                 -$4,380                 -$2,789
$112K-$161K                 -$2,614                 -$2,204
$66K-$112K                 -$1,009                 -$1,290
$38K-$66K                 -$319                 -$1,042
$19K-$38K                 -$113                 -$892
Under $19K                 -$19                 -$567
Source:The Tax Policy Center

Obama’s plan really is targeted at the lower and middle classes, and young and old people living on limited means.

I'm back

I haven’t written in quite some time, but this election has me fired up again. I’m infuriated, frustrated, and am shocked that people are falling for the same old tricks. We’ve just been through 8 abysmal years of American History, and people are wanting more. Has there ever been a comparable stretch of such mediocrity in the White House?

The Spectacle of the Republican Convention

Now we have a man who is trying to claim the change message, when he’s been part of the problem for over 30 years!!! Does anyone see a problem with this? He has 139 lobbyists in his team. SERIOUSLY.

As Bob Herbert said:

Mr. McCain spoke at the end of a day in which stock market indexes plunged. The next morning the Labor Department gave us the grim news that another 84,000 jobs had been lost in August, and that the official unemployment rate had climbed to 6.1 percent — the highest in five years.

And McCain’s buddy Phil Gramm, the ultimate insider, STILL says we are a nation of whiners and is STILL an important part of McCain’s team. When the economy is in such a mess, why would we go with his team?

The image of Mitt Romney railing against Eastern elites?! He’s a mutli millionaire from Massachusetts? Am I missing something? And what’s wrong with Eastern Elites?! They pay for everything!

And there were NO policy proposals for change! NOTHING! It was just snide remarks, and one liners. Is this what we need in this country right now?