But a sense of desperation on so many levels is ever pervasive as evidenced alone by the President-Elect's appointments. In today's interview with Rahm Emmanuel, Mr. Obama's chief of staff, easily swatted away questions of Mr. Timothy Geithner's appointment to Treasury. The wake of ruin from the past eight years, Republicans are truly emasculated. Despite the nominee not paying his taxes completely, Republican politicians still heartily endorse him. Mr. Emmanuel said to David Gregory that it was a mistake, a flap, and that he is still the man for the job. The man to run the IRS didn't pay his taxes... Remember those days when nominees were tossed for having illegal immigrates under employment? Those days are over. The question was easily swatted away and because of the absence of any Republican dissent, why get combative? Mr. Gregory certainly did not.
While we're on appointments, the hearings for Mrs. Clinton (State Dept.) and Mr. Holder (Justice Dept.), to the chagrin of the press, did not produce the fireworks most thought were coming. Democratic politicians, as everyone knows, have a reputation of when being in a position of power on an issue, usually cower and let the other side get it's way. Are the Republicans the new Democrats? They could have used all that pent up hatred of all things Clinton (recall impeachment) and hammered these two nominees. Nothing close came to fruition.
As with all political discussions these days, Mr. Gregory outlined the 2008 bailout numbers (see below) and with the Obama stimulus package included, our last year's tab in $2 trillion.
Eight Hundred, twenty-five billion dollars of which is being proposed by the Obama Administration (It's officially too early to use this phrase, but so what - we're three days out) and most economists on both sides of the aisle agree that it is necessary as Mr. Emmanuel pointed. However, it's not enough. Mr. Emmanuel stated that it would create 3 million jobs, but that's not enough either. What we societally haven't yet to comprehend is the dynamic of derivatives and how they have created a black hole of debt. Solvency is going to cost a lot more than $2 trillion. As much as we need change, we're doing everything to keep things the same.
And what tepid objection has been put forth by Rep. John Boehner of Ohio with regard to the stimulus was appropriately addressed by Mr. Emmanuel when he said to David Gregory that "I find it ironic, since one of the questions and the criticism about the deficit spending is coming from people who actually in a period of time in the last eight years were responsible for policies that left America farther behind in, in, in the sense of deep, deep red."
With that said, the today's panel (NBC's Tom Brokaw, The New York Times' David Brooks, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, PBS's Tavis Smiley and NBC's Chuck Todd) agreed that what we're facing is unprecedented and as Mr. Brooks said, Mr. Obama is 'guessing' but he has to, the best that he can. In fact, David Brooks made a few good points today, maybe because he seemed quite humbled by the dinner he had with the President-Elect earlier in the week.
Mr. Brooks said that through Mr. Obama, we're seeing an independence from ideology. Eloquent in its brevity, but the truth is that this independence is simply a byproduct of the wilderness that we've been thrust into as a country. The Emancipation Proclamation placed this country at the edge of the Wilderness - looking through it, past it. We are at the edge of the Wilderness again, be it for much less noble reasons this time, but the comparisons between Lincoln and Obama are more than appropriate. They both have a way of capturing the moment, using their 'emotional intelligence' as Ms. Goodwin put it to see past the trees.
Well, we're at the frontier so pack up only what you can carry as the start of the journey is just three days out.
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