Budget bonanza
President Barack Obama’s $3.55 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010 is a whopper. There’s $1.7 trillion in red ink in the plan — more than three times the previous record. It claims it would chop the deficit to $533 billion by 2013, largely through tax increases on the wealthy and businesses. Conceptually, the budget signals Obama’s plan to boldly project the federal government into health care, education and energy, among other things.
Republicans quickly hit the budget as wasteful and said tax increases Obama proposes are wrong for the country during a recession. Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire credited the administration for including the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the budget. But the White House also did some creative accounting with the war, Gregg said, counting as savings the war’s cost over several years even though Obama already has said combat troops will be leaving Iraq by August 2010.
Certainly, presidential budgets tend to be political documents. Congress routinely stashes them in the circular file and writes its own blueprint. Still, the budget reflects priorities. Obama’s is spending the country out of the recession and then some — making massive investments in health care, clean energies and education.
Republicans are in a weak position to criticize, considering the deficit spending during the Bush administration. But by most accounts, Obama’s proposed spending is in a different league altogether. ” If you begin to look at what’s happened over the last month and what’s being proposed in this budget, the president is beginning to make President Bush look like a piker,” House GOP Leader John Boehner said. For those keeping score, the stock market greeted Obama’s budget by losing another 88 points.
He said what?
From the Fair and Balanced Department: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was on the defensive after being caught on an open mike quietly uttering “Oh God” as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal prepared to give the Republican Party’s response to President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress.
Jindal obviously doesn’t cause a tingle to run up and down Matthews’ leg, as the cable network personality once confessed after an Obama speech. NBC says it will investigate.
The best come-back on Matthews’ apparent gaffe was on the New Orleans Times-Picayune Web site, where one post noted that Matthews makes the same remark about Obama, but in a completely different context.
Helping children
It’s a shame that a group that does so much for children is finding itself mired in financial controversy. The Oklahoma CASA Association is made up mostly of volunteers that act as advocates for abused and neglected children as their cases proceed through the court system. Anna Naukam, the association’s director, was fired in October, and now agency officials are challenging the legitimacy of large credit card debt issued to Naukam on the agency’s behalf. The Oklahoman’s Ann Kelley reported that the credit card statements were mailed to Naukam’s home. The state auditor and inspector’s office is involved, and we hope the problems will be resolved quickly. Nothing should distract from the good work of CASA volunteers.
Our green speaker
It’s easy being green these days, but if you’re a conservative Republican it’s not so easy being known as being green. Yet the man taking the lead on alternative energy at the state level is Republican House Speaker Chris Benge of Tulsa. He wants to make it easier for vehicles to run on natural gas instead of gasoline or diesel. He wants to reward people for using solar power and wind power. Conservatives and Republicans are widely represented in the alternative fuel movement. Benge, R-Tulsa, is pushing House Bill 1952, which offers incentives for increasing the number of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas. The bill also addresses the problem of the paucity of CNG fueling stations. Benge is also pushing initiatives creating incentives for wind power and solar power. The state will be better off for his efforts.
You’d be nervous, too
A tidbit Detroit’s Big Three automakers can’t be thrilled about: Of the eight people named to President Barack Obama’s auto industry task force, and the 10 senior policy aides who will help them, just two own American cars, the Detroit News reports.
Information wasn’t available for every task force member’s car, but Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, the panel’s co-chairs, own foreign-made vehicles. Geithner’s is a 2008 Acura TSX, the News reports, while Summers owns a 1995 Mazda Protege.
For those keeping score, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag owns a 2008 Honda Odyssey and a 2004 Volvo S60. Carol Browner, the White House global warming chief, doesn’t own a car right now but previously had a 1999 Saab 9-5 SE. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson owns a 2008 Toyota Prius and a Honda Odyssey.
Significant? Maybe not — except that as CEOs from GM, Ford and Chrysler seek empathy and federal dollars from Washington, no doubt they’d like it better if there was an Envoy or Explorer owner sitting on the other side of the conference table.
You’d be nervous, too
A tidbit Detroit’s Big Three automakers can’t be thrilled about: Of the eight people named to President Barack Obama’s auto industry task force, and the 10 senior policy aides who will help them, just two own American cars, the Detroit News reports.
Information wasn’t available for every task force member’s car, but Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, the panel’s co-chairs, own foreign-made vehicles. Geithner’s is a 2008 Acura TSX, the News reports, while Summers owns a 1995 Mazda Protege.
For those keeping score, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag owns a 2008 Honda Odyssey and a 2004 Volvo S60. Carol Browner, the White House global warming chief, doesn’t own a car right now but previously had a 1999 Saab 9-5 SE. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson owns a 2008 Toyota Prius and a Honda Odyssey.
Significant? Maybe not — except that as CEOs from GM, Ford and Chrysler seek empathy and federal dollars from Washington, no doubt they’d like it better if there was an Envoy or Explorer owner sitting on the other side of the conference table.
Netanyahu gets the nod
As was mostly expected, Israeli President Shimon Peres formally invited former prime minister and conservative party leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a coalition government, after recent parliamentary elections left the country’s right-wing parties with the best chance to form a ruling bloc.
Still to be seen is whether Netanyahu can convince close rival Tzipi Livni, who has been acting prime minister the past several weeks, to join a unity government. Livni’s Kadima Party actually won one more seat in parliament than Netanyahu’s Likud, but Netanyahu is forming the government because, with support of other conservative parties, he has a majority in Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset.
Livni was saying no deal on Friday, that Kadima’s ideology can’t mix with Likud’s. But the fact she is scheduled to meet Netanyahu on Sunday suggested it was possible should could change her mind. Watching carefully is the Obama administration, which was neutral publicly but privately must have hoped Livni would prevail, seeing Netanyahu as less likely to concede anything further to the Palestinians and Hamas in ongoing efforts to create a lasting Middle East peace.
Tinhorn tooting
Unlike many people, Bill Clinton never had to be told to toot his own horn. In the world of personal horn-tooting, the former president is his own Wynton Marsalis.
This was apparent in a recent interview Clinton gave NBC’s “Today” show. Questioned about the recession, Clinton suggested all would be well now if he had been in charge, adding rhetorically, “Did any of them seriously believe that if I had been president and my economic team had been in place the last eight years, that this would be taking place?” We must have missed all the unique and effective economic strategies offered by Team Clinton as the economy was slowing down.
At another point in the interview Clinton compared his presidency to Theodore Roosevelt’s. “We had — he had enormous success,” Clinton said. “The country was better off when he quit than when he started.” While it’s true the U.S. prospered economically during the Clinton years, the economy was slowing down as he left office. And we now know the Clinton administration’s limited responses to terrorist attacks emboldened the planners of 9/11, something that wouldn’t have happened on TR’s watch.
Party time’s over
It’s no secret that Angela Monson is one of the most well-known and respected women in the state’s Democratic Party. Good for her. But her position as the new chairman of the Oklahoma City School Board is nonpartisan, and she must avoid any appearance to the contrary. Oklahoma County’s Democratic Party was active in her election. She was even scheduled to be a “special guest” at a party-sponsored fundraising event this week. Monson was only sworn into the post on Monday; she hasn’t had time to set the tone for the board she now leads. The county party isn’t at fault for inviting Monson. Only she can make clear that she’ll keep party politics or her affiliation with any agenda-specific groups at arm’s length. She must do just that, in reality and perception.
Party time’s over
It’s no secret that Angela Monson is one of the most well-known and respected women in the state’s Democratic Party. Good for her. But her position as the new chairman of the Oklahoma City School Board is nonpartisan, and she must avoid any appearance to the contrary. Oklahoma County’s Democratic Party was active in her election. She was even scheduled to be a “special guest” at a party-sponsored fundraising event this week. Monson was only sworn into the post on Monday; she hasn’t had time to set the tone for the board she now leads. The county party isn’t at fault for inviting Monson. Only she can make clear that she’ll keep party politics or her affiliation with any agenda-specific groups at arm’s length. She must do just that, in reality and perception.
