TPMDC Morning Roundup
Obama Reaches Out To Iran In New Video
President Obama has posted this new video, reaching out to the people of Iran in celebration of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year:
"So on the occasion of your New Year, I want you, the people and leaders of Iran, to understand the future that we seek," Obama says. "It's a future with renewed exchanges among our people, and greater opportunities for partnership and commerce. It's a future where the old divisions are overcome, where you and all of your neighbors and the wider world can live in greater security and greater peace."
Obama's Day Ahead: Discussing Stimulus With Top State And Local Officials
President Obama and Vice President Biden are speaking at 12:35 p.m. ET today to representatives from the National Conference of State Legislatures, about oversight and transparency in the implementation of the stimulus program. At 2:15 p.m., Obama will be meeting with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ed Rendell and Mike Bloomberg. At 2:45 p.m. ET, the President and First Lady will attend a reception of the National Newspaper Publisher Association, where they will be presented a Newsmaker of the Year award.
Biden's Day Ahead
Vice President Biden will be swearing in Ron Kirk as U.S. Trade Representative at 12 p.m. ET. In the afternoon he will speak to the representatives of the National Conference of State Legislatures. And then afterwards he will be meeting with former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Obama Apologizes For Special Olympics Remark
President Obama last night called Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, to apologize for a remark he made on The Tonight Show -- that his bowling score was like the Special Olympics. Shriver said Obama's apology was very moving: "He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population."
Obama: We Need To Change Financial Laws
Appearing last night on The Tonight Show, President Obama said that the financial scandals show the need for new regulations. "Here's the dirty little secret, though," Obama explained. "Most of the stuff that got us into trouble was perfectly legal. And that is a sign of how much we've got to change our laws -- right?"
Senate Republicans Could Slow Or Block Bonus Tax
CQ reports that the bonus tax could face serious Republican opposition in the Senate. Although Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has worked with Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to draft a bonus tax bill that is a bit different from the House version, others such as Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) are not on board. As Gregg said: "it's a bill of attainder, it's blatantly unconstitutional, it sets a precedent just if it even gets to the Senate of pettiness that's hard to equal."
Devaney: Stimulus Oversight "Huge"
The Washington Post profiles Earl Devaney, the former Interior Department inspector general who has been appointed by President Obama to manage oversight of the stimulus program. "This is huge," said Devaney. "I've been involved in building and fixing things in the past, but quite frankly I've never built something this big."
Romney: Obama "Learning On The Fly"
Appearing last night on Larry King Live, Mitt Romney criticized President Obama's ability to handle the economy: "This is a president who is learning on the fly. He's never turned anything around before. He hasn't had the experience of leading a nation or a business or a state in trouble. And the first rule I can tell him is focus, focus, focus."
Josh
Elana
Matt
Eric
Some one needs to tell Obama that it is time to pull in Paul Volker and have him take over the banking crisis.
March 20, 2009 9:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lighten up people! It was a joke and a self-deprecating one at that.
March 20, 2009 9:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have to say I disagree a little bit. It was a stupid thing to say and Obama did the right thing. We all do and say stupid things at times and the best thing to do is own it, apologize, and move on, just like Obama did. I also suspect that most of us on this site would have been completely outraged if Bush had said something like that and would not be saying that everyone should lighten up.
March 20, 2009 9:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
It was insensitive and completely moronic. I'm disappointed he said it.
March 20, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are saying about his remark what he was saying about his bowling. He has apologized.
March 20, 2009 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ha, good call, I always thought 'moron' was just synonymous for 'stupid.' Thanks for pointing it out.
March 20, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Me too. Unfortunately, these things sometimes happen when you are doing interviews and town halls jammed into a two day period. I'm glad he immediately appologized though. I'm sure he felt bad about the slip up as well.
I also thought he screwed up a bit in the first townhall. No harm, no foul, but he shouldn't have made the comparison of aig to a suicide bomber. That I thought was a mistake as well.
You can always sit here and pick apart a couple of gaffes as opposed to focusing on all the good things that he has said and done. The good far outweighs the bad by leaps and bounds. He is not perfect, no matter how much we all wish that he was.
Forgive and forget.
March 20, 2009 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it really necessary for these posts to be hidden behind a "read more" wall?
March 20, 2009 9:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
OK, honestly, where do we stop with this "tax the bonus", torches and pitchfork BS. . .Do people realize that all this will do is make these larger firms even more unsustainable in the medium term because people will start up other firms to do what they do and be able to attract all the people who won't get paid. My point is that this does nothing to solve the problem. Yeah Josh goes on about his Brown U and other Ivy League buddies who he is obviously envious about; DK goes on with his populist BS and doesn't realize that even a going concern with 100s of billion of dollars in assets still needs to be managed by competent people as the business model is retooled to make it a viable business. I don't see anyone worryng about how much should a good loan restructurer really be making to make sure that the "people's assets" are well taken care of or how much should the legal and compliance folks make at these places who will ensure that there is a good regulatory safety net going forward. Trust me, competent folks who do those jobs at senior levels will not work under these conditions. There are and will be other jobs out there without these constraints. If you guys and gals think that's smart asset management and a way to run a business, god bless.
So where does the mob go next? Do we attack Mary Schapiro, the new head of the SEC who walked away from FINRA, the securities industry self regulator during all this mess, who walked away with a $7 million plus severence package? Do we turn our attention to an industry like professional sports and cap athlete's wages due to the public money used to sustain those businesses (and not to mention the statutory exemption that Major League Baseball has from the federal anti-trust laws?). Better yet, join up with your populist colleagues on the right and have a tea bag party with Michelle Malkin.
March 20, 2009 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right, we can't possibly do without the very people who were running a giant Ponzi scheme, so we need to keep paying them protection money. Simon Johnson - who personally supervised the unwinding of many similar frauds in the third-word countries whose financial chicanery we used to look down our noses at- says you're full of crap.
What a museum-quality specimen of the mental and ethical rot at the heart of the "moderate" wing of the Democratic Party. Which is co-responsible with the Republicans for the shithole this country has fallen into, because it's long since been bought and paid for by the financial "wizards" who gambled away the life savings of millions and still expect to be handsomely paid by the taxpayers for their fraud and failure.
March 20, 2009 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
So tell me, how do we manage the assets? That's where your WATB stuff falls short. And I'm sorry, to compare straightening out the finance capitals of the world to the corruption problems of a 3rd world country shows you really don't get it and should stay far away from what's goin' on in this 'hood.
March 20, 2009 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lavishly rewarding stupidity and incompetence doesn't work in any "hood."
March 20, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/opinion/20johnson.html?ref=opinion
March 20, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
So just let them go. Give them the money. They're the only ones who can manage the economy.
Bah. Generation after generation, the Lords of Finance take their cut from my ancestors, my children, my children's children. Torches and pitchforks! Hell Yes!
Working under those conditions? I'm heartbroken for them. So are my friends and members of my family who've lost their jobs, their retirement savings, and are facing foreclosure.
March 20, 2009 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
If taxpayer dollars are used to reward incompetence with lavish bonuses, the bailout simply subsidizes failure. The ones responsible for the collapse shouldn't be retained and rewarded, they should be fired or, better yet, put in prison.
March 20, 2009 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Congress Passes New Law: AIG Execs 'Have to Be Our Butlers'
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=6624
March 20, 2009 9:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have to say that it's really rich to have Republicans outraged over the constitutionality of taxing bonuses after their ardent support of the Bush administration's unconstitutional actions over the last eight years. Pot, let me introduce you to Kettle.
March 20, 2009 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, that's not surprising. You know according to republicans the constitution does not protect the civil rights of individuals. Never has and never will. The whole purpose of the constitution is to protect the money of the super rich and to steal from the poor to give the super rich more money, so the super rich can keep giving campaign donations to the republicans. No civil rights are protected which plays to the rest of the wingnut base to take away civil rights and interfere in people's personal lives. There is no other purpose other than for money.
March 20, 2009 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gee I wonder what Romney's chances are in the next election considering he is one of those tone deaf CEO who got paid tens of millions of dollars to help nobody but himself. In typical Repub fashion Mitty offers no solutions
March 20, 2009 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
What, "Focus, focus, focus" isn't good enough for you? I'm amazed at Romney's genius here.
March 20, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Its the same genius he applied to his brilliant and incisive, management of his campaign, which, anyone can see, far outshone Obama's.
March 20, 2009 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Iranian response to Obama's message, via AlJazeera:
March 20, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm, not bad really. Not bad at all. I actually heard on npr some brit during the bbc news hour that there is a ton of diplomatic activity going on behind the scenes and has been for quite some time. It really looks promising; however, nothing is going to happen before the iranian elections, I think in june. However, the prospects look very bright and the video from obama was well received and a smart move.
Incidentally, I don't get the "repair past mistakes"? What could they be referring to? That one doesn't make sense.
March 20, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
We engineered the 1953 Iranian Coup d'etat that overthrew their democratically-elected PM Mosaddeq in Operation Ajax (no tinfoil here, CIA acknowledges it). Mosaddeq moved to nationalize Iranian oil, so we replaced him with a pro-Western Shah (Pahlavi).
The Shah was a tool of America, and his close ties to Washington and drive to rapidly Westernize Iran helped form the resentment necessary to provoke the 1979 Iranian Revolution, in which Iran became a harshly conservative Islamic Republic.
The Iranian peoples' perception of the Shah as an American puppet is also what set off the hostage crisis. As one of the hostage-takers said at the time, "You have no right to complain, because you took our whole country hostage in 1953."
After that, we imposed sanctions and froze Iranian assets.
We gave material support to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War in 1982.
And of course, in 1988, the US Navy shot down an Iranian commercial flight, in Iranian airspace, and killed 290 civilians (66 children).
After that we put a total embargo on dealings with Iran.
Finally, for all of this, we included them in our Axis of Evil.
In 2000, Madeline Albright did informally apologize for US involvement in the 1953 coup, and for the loss of innocent life from shooting down the Iranian plane. The US government has never issued an official apology, however.
Not that Iran would be all puppies and happy children without the influence of Western imperialism, but really, this is a monster of our making and it's time Americans recognized that.
March 20, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, it wasn't snark. I remember all those things. The problem is the term "repair." Those issues are really not repairable. They are history and done. I can see a request for an apology or something like that, but not repair tied in with the term mistakes. I guess maybe I am parsing words, but I don't see how to repair all that stuff that you described.
I agree iran is a "monster" to a certain extent of our own making. I think monster is a little strong. They are basically doing what any other country would be doing with that history and in an attempt to defend themselves in light of all the war rhetoric from the king over the last 8 years.
March 20, 2009 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Also, I find it very, very interesting that there was such a rapid response. That is very telling and indicates that the iranians want to play ball, almost desperately. You would have thought that they would have screwed around for a couple of days at least, not fire off an immediate response. Very interesting development.
March 20, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
They've wanted to play ball for a long time. They were a big help in the initial phase of the Afghan war, and clearly wanted to be seen (correctly) as having a substantial convergence of interests with us in fighting al Qaeda and other Sunni extremists. And of course, their reward for good behavior was to be declared a member of the Axis of Evil by the Bushies.
Thank God that adults are once again in charge of our foreign policy. Obama's Nowruz video was an excellent gesture.
March 20, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not really confident that there's a monolithic "they" in Iran. Their government is composed of competing factions of sane people, batshit insane peple and people who will kow-tow to whoever has the most power but tend to grovel before the insane ones a little more quickly and persistantly.
Okay, wait, I lost my train of thought. Which of our two countries was I talking about again?
March 20, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
True to a certain extent. I actually believe that the power rests with the military and the mullahs. Achmananajinad or whatever his name is really has no power. He's says batshit insane things, but other than that he is harmless. If we ignore the crazy rhetoric and get down to brass tacks, we should be able to make a deal. Also, I recall some smack downs of achman by the mullahs, indicating that they were annoyed with him and who has the real power.
Now, concerning the two countries, I would submit that the iranians are not nearly insane or out to lunch as the current republican party. Don't insult the iranians. We're making progress.
March 20, 2009 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ahmajinihad (or whatever) and Bush always struck me as two peas from the same pod, the differences being that Cheney let Bush have more power than Kahameni allowed Ahamajinaloofa, and Ahamajenidoodad wasn't a draft dodger.
March 20, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
And achman can speak in complete sentences and has a brain. He may say crazy things, but he's not an idiot like the king. Most of his insane statements are for domestic political consumption by the lunatic fringe in iran. There's a method to his madness, where the king was just mad.
March 20, 2009 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is what I find surprising about this exchange. As you pointed out, they helped us big time in afghanistan and were a virtual ally to get rid of the taliban. Also, they wanted to cooperate in getting rid of al queda. They extended their hand to cooperate and it got chopped off by the king and his lunatic "advisors." They were threatened with bombing and war after offering cooperation and friendship.
In the face of that public humiliation, they still are eagar to play ball. That I find fascinating and hopeful. I would have expected an fu, which would be understood and expected. Instead, we got a very promising response.
March 20, 2009 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama spent two years campaigning for President and Romney thinks Obama doesn't know how to focus, focus, focus?
March 20, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, and Bush DIDN'T "learn on the fly"? Hell, he never learned. He learned nothing in eight LONG years. Romney's comment was laughable. Every president learns on the fly. There's no college degree to teach you how to be president...even Yale and Harvard couldn't help the Chimp.
March 20, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink