The Week in Review

MANIFESTO

Jason Linkins tells us all we need to know regarding the national politics front:

First, why stick with flawed nominees like William Lynn for deputy defense secretary, Tim Geitner for Treasury Secretary, or Tom Daschle for Secretary of Health and Human Services? Obama campaigned against "Washington D. C. politics as usual" and now he appears to be standing firmly behind two nominees who either do not know how to file a tax return or are tax cheats. While Lynn's nomination does not approach the conflict of interest we saw with former VP Cheney serving as CEO of Halliburton, implementing an Executive Order restricting lobbying's influence on government and then following it with a waiver somehow seems even more disingenuous. Speaking of lobbying, I assure you we have just begun to see Daschle's problems because both he and his wife have cashed in big time at the lobby bar. Lucky for us that Bill Richardson had the decency to withdraw from consideration for his post. Too bad Dakota Tom won't do the same.

I don't know what makes Lynn or Daschle or Geithner so damned necessary to my future well being, either.

Second, since the collapse of the financial world has come on the heels of eight years of Republican rule (and if you want to lay some blame at Clinton's feet, you would have to acknowledge that blame would be directed at his actions that were GOP-like such as regulatory relaxation), why does the Obama administration believe it needs to dilute the stimulus bill by including more of the same failed policies? While I don't think the Dems need to throw their victory in the GOP's face, the truth is they don't need GOP votes. Yes, they will need a few votes in the Senate, but the Dems don't need to sell the farm to grab a couple of those. I just don't remember the GOP being that concerned about the Dem's feelings at the beginning of the Bush presidency, but maybe I have a faulty memory.

This passage pretty much echoes my frustrations concerning President Post-Partisan's role in all of this. I.e., Lynn, Daschle and Geithner can't be indispensable, and it's hard to believe that Republicans (who literally would pass bills in the dark of night when they were in the majority) need to be appeased in order to get an economic stimulus package passed.