Well it's been 48 hours since President Barack Obama took the oath of office. Wait a minute. Actually he had to take it twice out of an "abundance of caution". Could Mr. Gibb have squeezed those words out just one more time during his first press briefing today? I don't thnk so. Mr Gibbs performance today was sub par I haveto say. I realize that when confronted with a slobbering pack of pit bulls one's first reflex is to protect one's self but I expected more today. I wanted someone who spoke with honesty and transparency about the issues while still engendering hope and furthering Obama's message of change unapologetically. Instead we got a Leftist version of "say nothing" Ari Fleischer or Scott Mclellan take your pick. Dear God , he wasn't as bad as Scott in his first day however. At least Dana Perino and Tony Snow had a kind of easy affability to them. Anyway it was the guys first day, I can't be too hard on him right?
Well on to more important things. Like the Middle East. I spent the weekend researching the possible picks for Mid East Envoy. I was relieved by Obama's pick of Senator George Mitchell. It sends a good message to the Arab world that Obama is taking a different tack from "he who must not be named" thats a little HAHA for you Potter fans out there. Anyway I was deathly afarid that Obama might pick Dennis Ross who is clearly experienced but who has openly stated after serving his term that he worked for Israel's interests while advising the President. as everyone knows Israel has every right to protect itself but the job of Mid East Envoy must be more even handed if we are going to broker some kind of peace deal. I remain convinced that the latest Israeli incursioninto Gaza was strategically planned well in advance of the rocket attacks from Gaza and that the attacks only provided a more opportune time to advance their agenda. I don't believe that they were trying to retake Gaza. I simply think they were trying to hurt Hamas as badly as they could in the time they had allotted. Wasn' it nice how they finished their operations just in time for Obama'a inauguration. Wouldn't want to put the new president in an awkward position now would we? The sheer disproportionate size of the response in response to the rocket attacks as well as the timing are my reasoning behind this theory. The timing was perfect in that we have a lameduck president on his way out who was so Pro Israel they knew he would never question their response. The incoming president was an unknown quantity and Israel didn't want to take any chances. I can see how they reached this decision but It saddens me that their primary motivation was fear rather than well considered decisions that had a future peace agreement in mind. As things stand we are probably about to enter the next intifada which could take years to bring from a full boil down to a simmer. In any case the George Mitchell appointment was for me the biggest news of the day though it didn't receive the coverage of other stories.
Next up we've got the ever worsening economic crisis. It was clear from listening to Timothy Geitner's hearing yesterday that team Obama is not ready to roll out their economic plan. Geitner played footsie around the "bad bank good bank" idea that has been put forward by some. To try and give you an idea of what this concept is I found this excerpt from
Benchmarking & Restructuring Claims Services
Speech by Peggy Berton,
President of CNA Global Resource Managers
presented at a conference sponsored by
Global Business Research Ltd.
The concept behind the term "Good Bank Bad Bank" harks all the way back to depression days. In the 1930's, as bank after bank began to fail in the wake of stock market crash of 1929, the US government rode in on a white horse and acquired the failing bank's devalued assets. This allowed the still viable part of the bank to go forward with those of its assets which still retained their value, and with fresh funds. It then was able to satisfy its depositors, while shedding its underperforming portion, like a snake shedding its skin. With the government left literally holding the almost empty bag.
This concept became even further refined during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980's. Once again, with government assistance and approval, savings institutions were allowed to extricate themselves from the consequences of their own poor business judgment and some bad breaks in the economy. The rationale and driving force behind the governments providing a safety net to banks was twofold: first, to protect the depositors and second, to help break what could be a catastrophic death spiral in the US economy.
So that's what it is. Anyway yesterday they were trying to pin down Geitner on his ideas to save the economy. He only hinted that this might be one of the tools in his toolbox. So I gues its still wait and see.
Today was big signal day. Shutting down Gitmo was must have raised a cry of hurrahs from us lefties. We have been waiting for this for years. Its hard for the right to understand this stance. They think we are endangering American lives by closing down Gitmo. I can only speak for myself but I want democracy to be the envy of the world. That is only going to happen when we live up to the values we say we believe. I believe in the rule of law and that our justice sysetm tough flawed is the best in the world. How can we really exercise our soft power and onvice the world about the good of a democratic system when we are doing the exact opposite in secret prisons around the world. Yes the so called war on terror is unlike any we have faced but if they get us to lose our character of basic decency they will be well on their way to beating us. This is a war of ideas not only of weapons. We must live up to the high ideals set forth in our constitution or we are wasting our time. When we do that we give the world hope for a better future such as we saw with the election of President Obama. I really don't think I can say it any better than JOhn Mccain did: taken from USA Today
politically the country was pretty evenly divided on this issue so Obama may have shaved off a few independents but we'll have to see.
Obama sent a strong message today with the executive order to close Gitmo and the return to the army field manual and Geneva conventions with regards to torture . We have begun the process of repairing the terrible damage done to our reputation across the world during the last eight years.
So much to talk about today. Caroline Kennedy dropped out of the Senate appointment race. I have to be honest and say that I followed it only a little. But to me it seemed as if she leaned a bit to much on her name. I personally am glad because I don't think she had the stomach for it. I do hope however that the appointment will be a woman which I think it will though Mr. Cuomo seems to be moving up in the race. Another case of we shall see I guess.
As of an hour ago the AP is reporting that Obama is restating his commitment to abortion rights. Man this is one heck of a day in politics. I guesss he just wants to start putting all his cards on the table to prepare the American people for what is coming. Anyway more later, hands are tired of typing.
