Thursday Open Thread
Welcome to your Thursday open thread. It’s Thursday, is anything special going on? It’s quiet here.
Josh Marshall has a good analysis of the trouble Tim Pawlenty finds himself in after the NH debate. Pawlenty responded to Obama’s Afghanistan speech by saying Obama needed to say America will win and other nonsense to prove his toughness. Marshall explains that Pawlenty’s NH debate performance underscored a narrative about him (he’s not tough) and now he’s in a feedback loop.
This is turning into a good illustration of a recurring pattern, especially in presidential politics. Pawlenty’s big whiff in the New Hampshire debate wasn’t so damaging because of the thing itself, though it was plenty bad. The real problem was the on-going damage he shot that night like an arrow into the future. Saddled with the image of a cowardly or cowering figure, he now feels compelled to react to most every new situation with the most he-manish, over-the-top or high-noon sort of answer. But rather than erase that impression, it embeds it because it all comes off forced if not farcical, focusing our attention on his shortcoming rather than convincing anyone it doesn’t exist.
Now he’s stuck in a feedback loop like the one Al Gore got into back in 1999/2000. Rightly or wrongly, once critics pegged Gore as the guy who was ‘stiff’ and unlikeable, he spent the next year oscillating between ‘Al Gore’s so stiff jokes’ and painful faux likability moments. And just like that Pawlenty is now off on a media tour channeling some weird composite of Winston Churchill and Tony Soprano. And coming from such a soft guy, it only makes him seem more preposterous.
If Pawlenty manage to win the nomination (which I think is unlikely) he will struggle with this. He will be going against the president that got bin Laden.
“We have our differences on some of the trade [issues], and why do our companies go to China? In some ways they embarrass us because they’re more capitalist than we are. It’s easier for our own businesses to go China than it is to stay here! That aggravates me, but I blame ourselves for that.”
Can I make a request? If we are going to worship “capitalism” and “free markets” can we at least get the definition right? I know that’s too much to ask – honesty from politicians but I can keep dreaming.
Tags: Open Thread
Speaking of presidential politics, I just got published at The Globalist, if anybody cares to read it: http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=9128 “America as Number Two: We’d Try Harder.”
Actually, I think that Ron Paul was speaking quite precisely about the Chinese “out-capitalist-ing” us. Remember that the current capitalism all of the time crowd believes that capitalism involves lots of government support and subsidies to their favored businesses. Exactly like the Chinese do.
You can watch their collective freakout over the possible withdrawal of subsidies to the oil industry to see how this works. Or, even better, their collective freakout over reducing the Pentagon’s budget — which exists pretty much entirely to subsidize a bunch of industries that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
Biden’s debt-limit team is spending months negotiating for (and probably not getting) some fraction of the tax increases we could have had for free on January 1:
Biden debt talks hit impasse, Republicans walk out
Folks, we are headed for either default, or another ugly Dem capitulation. Republicans are negotiating for their political lives, for they know if they give in on taxes, this will be their last term in office. Democrats of course are under no such constraints from their ever-forgiving base.
On the plus side, with Cantor and Kyl leaving, the average IQ of the group just went up slightly.
A third option is that President Obama could use the Republican intransigence and naked politicking to mobilize the Democrats to confront the GOP.
(just kidding)
If the Repubs walked out then all Obama has to do is wait them out. Let their business allies take over from here, and they certainly will.
The takeaway is that these guys don’t like having the anvil thrown their way. They want someone else to take the heat. Obama doesn’t even need to give up his above it all approach for this one — just hand these fools off to the Chamber and wait.
It’s just been made clear who’s to blame that the talks broke down. We were also treated to the frantic goal moving (Medicare must be cut). I think the power’s in Obama’s hands right now.
That assumes that the Chamber can talk sense into the Republicans. I’m not as sure about that as I was a few weeks ago. Fucking shit up is all modern Republicans seem to care about.
The Chamber is not going to pressure Repubs to vote for tax increases. The Chamber will have more success convincing Dems to capitulate than Republicans. As with the public option, and the December tax cut extension, their resources are better spent on a handful of Dem defectors in the Senate. Obama is not going to veto a budget agreed to by both houses.
That assumes that the Chamber can talk sense into the Republicans.
This pretty much an indicator of how poorly a job anybody has done in articulating the world of hurt coming our way if we default on our debts. A world of hurt that will make the fall of Lehman look like childs play.
The Chamber does get this because they are among the first line of the wounded when we stop paying our bills.
Geithner should make a policy, the first checks that don’t get cut are for farm subsidies, oil subsidies, bank subsidies, etc. We won’t default on debt but the gravy train will stop.
Whitey Bulger was arrested last night in Los Angeles after being on the lam for 16 years. How many former FBI officials are hoping he has an “accident” while in jail so he doesn’t spill the beans on them?
connelly was convictd already – dont know if there are more fingers to be pointed
or if they r alive
Cool!
Apparently they are trying to get out in front of a few initiatives expected out west to legalize pot — and to get the Feds out of the way of bullying states about this.
Aoine – I’m sure there are a few more fingers to point. I wonder what’s going on in the old neighborhood today.
Markell is on MSNBC Morning Joe right now to proclaim that “We are not New Jersey” as a foil to the news about Chris Christie’s draconian budget passed with the help of state Democrats.
Markell says he thinks his approval rating is pretty good….[He certainly is correctt when he says that what we did in Delaware was far superior to other states as far as our public sector. We brought everyone to the table for negotiations and worked out a deal.]
Markell claims that it is tragic that teachers and firemen in other states have become public enemy number one. [But many of us clearly see that he is running with a State Education policy that will blame teachers for the failure of students in their schools….]
Markell gives the now-familiar specifics that he claims make Delaware attractive for employers. Education, quality of life, government responsiveness. He says it is less about this tax incentive and that credit than it is attitudinal – -whether we can convince others and convince ourselves that we will be successful.
[Attitude and behavior? – It can be said that one person’s will to believe is another person’s suspension of reality….]
Job creation? – Markell claims that his success in creating employment is his business “customer calls” – go and visit and ask “What can we do to facilitate their success. We in Delaware really understand business more than other states do….”
Chris Coons is up next.
Chris was awesome.
Anybody catch Markell on MSNBC’s Morning Joe?