Category: White House

Finally, Someone In the Obama Administration With Guts

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Unfortunately, it’s just Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood:

The Obama administration is urging Wisconsin’s incoming Republican governor, Scott Walker, to reconsider his opposition to high-speed rail in his state and threatened to rescind $810 million in federal stimulus grants for the project if the venture is killed.

In a letter (pdf) to Walker yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood discussed what he called a “difference of opinion about the value of a Midwest high-speed rail network” between the Obama administration and the incoming governor, emphasizing economic benefits that high-speed rail could bring to the region.

Walker, who is currently the county executive of Milwaukee County, campaigned heavily against a proposed high-speed line to link Milwaukee and Madison that would eventually be part of a Midwest network. Decrying the project as a waste of tax dollars, he has called for the cash to be redistributed to highway and bridge repairs in his state.

But LaHood said the stimulus grants must be spent on rail projects.

Additionally, LaHood is demanding $271 million back from New Jersey Transit for Governor Christie’s cancellation of the rail tunnel under the Hudson, and there are indications that the Feds will be demanding money back from Ohio when the new Republican governor there cancels their rail program.

Even more amusing is that Illinois is already applying for the money that the ‘Phant governors don’t want.

Good for Secretary LaHood, but I expect Obama to overrule him and give the money to Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey anyway, because he wants these loony tunes to like him.

It is interesting that the only one in Obama’s administration to do the right thing because it is the right thing is a Republican.

Oh For F%$#’s Sake, Pick a F%$#ing Fight!

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In the face of what are likely to be very large legislative losses tomorrow, the Obama administration is busy trying to find more ways to capitulate to Republicans in the vain hope that they will be nice:

With Republicans poised to gain ground in Tuesday’s elections, the White House is losing hope that Congress will approve its plan to raise taxes on the nation’s wealthiest families and is increasingly focusing on a new strategy that would preserve tax breaks for both the wealthy and the middle class.

According to people familiar with talks at the White House and among senior Democrats on Capitol Hill, breaking apart the Bush administration tax cuts is now being discussed as a more realistic goal. That strategy calls for permanent extension of cuts that benefit families earning less than $250,000 a year, and temporary extension of cuts on income above that amount.

The move would “decouple” the two sets of provisions, Democrats said, and focus the debate when tax cuts for the rich expired next year or the year after. Republicans would be forced to defend carve-outs for a tiny minority populated by millionaires, an unpopular position that would be difficult to advance without the cover of a broad-based tax cut for everyone, aides in both parties said.

“The concept of ‘decoupling’ is a hot topic right now,” said one senior Democratic aide.

And the Republicans will demand permanent tax cuts for the rich pigs, including the near total elimination of the inheritance tax, unless I miss my guess.

How many f%$#ing times do you have to lead with a compromise, and get a “no” before you realize that you cannot negotiate with the barbarians at the gate?

You want to pick a fight because you can, and because raising taxes on people making more than $¼ million a year is both good politics and good policy.

It allows you to set the agenda, choose the time and place of conflict, and it mobilizes your base.

This, “Can’t we all just get along/Kumbayah” crap has ill served the Obama administration, the Democratic Party, and the whole country.

The Mortgage Fraud Goes Max Bialystock*

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It turns out that some of the banksters have simultaneously sold mortgages to multiple people (see also here for the court fiuling):

In a complaint filed this month in Washington, D.C. federal court, Bank of America said the FDIC has wrongly denied claims by Ocala noteholders to recover from Colonial Bank and an Illinois lender also in receivership, Platinum Community Bank.

Bank of America accused executives at Taylor Bean, Colonial and Platinum of having fraudulently schemed to “double- and triple-pledge mortgages and steal assets” to hide their faltering conditions as the housing market declined.

So these banks, and a number of others, probably repeatedly sold the same mortgage to different trusts.

This is Max Bialystock level fraud. There is no gray area here, but predictably, the Obama administration is maintaining that somehow or other the problems are not systemic at the same time that they have convened a task force to see if laws were broken.

We have a system where banks simply ignored the law over what amounts to about a $30 dollar cost per loan transfer, MERS, we have banks destroying the chain of custody of the loans, and the solution of the Obama administration is to wave a wand and grant absolution.

That’s the message of these conflicting messages: There is a task force, but that is just politics, and all will be forgiven on November 3rd.

Un-dirtyword-believable.

*Just F%$#ing Google it.

What the Shrill One Says

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Paul Krugman, in discussing the response of the Obama administration to the foreclosure fraud crisis, a go slow and protect the bankster response, notes that it’s the same response that they have to every crisis:

As NAME ISSUE HERE has come to light, the Obama administration has resisted calls for a more forceful response, worried that added pressure might spook the banks and hobble the broader economy.

Whether it has been an excuse for inaction, such as financial reform, or the fraud perpetrated on desperate home owners with the HAMP, or the avoidance of the good for the mediocre, as with healthcare the administration seems to have a deep and abiding fear of effective action and good policy, even when it is good politics.

Not Feeling Hopey Changey

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The Obama administration has lifted the moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf.

Well, at least this means that Mary Landrieu has dropped her hold on Obama’s OMB chair, right?

Wrong.

It appears that she wants to be sure that the EPA and the Department of the Interior are sufficiently compliant:

“I am not going to release my hold on Jack Lew. Instead, I will take this time to look closely at how [Interior] is handling the issuing of permits and whether or not drilling activity in both shallow and deep water is resuming. When Congress reconvenes for the lame duck session next month, I will have had several weeks to evaluate if today’s lifting of the moratorium is actually putting people back to work,” Landrieu said in a prepared statement Tuesday after the Interior Department announced the lifting of the deepwater ban ahead of schedule.

You just got called a c*cks*ck*r by Mary F%$#ing Landrieu, and you are supposed to be the umpire, to mangle a Bull Durham moment.

What are you going to do now?

This is what happens when people know you have no guts.

What Atrios Said:

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When Atrios notes that Barack Obama had nearly complete freedom in designing the Home Affordable Modification Program. The money was allocated largely without strings, and he was free to do anything short of throwing it from a helicopter, or as he so pithily notes, “This program did not require President Snowe to sign off.

Still, as David Dayen at FDL notes, the program was designed to benefit banks and loan servicers, and in fact paid for the sort of foreclosure abuses and law-breaking at the expense of home owners in peril.

This is more than a policy failure, it is a deliberate betrayal of the basic ideals of liberalism, and an embrace of Bush/Cheney style crony capitalism.

If anything comes from the current foreclosure implosion, it will be in spite of the Obama administration, not because of it.

And the Obama Administration’s Response to the Widespread Foreclosure Fraud by the Banks Is…

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To take the side of the big banks who are ignoring the law, with Obama proxy David Axelrod on Face the Nation saying that he hopes that this, “moves rapidly and that this gets unwound very, very quickly,” meaning allowing the banks to continue breaking the law, while an “administration source is saying that, “the administration was also seeking the servicers’ help with modifying the home loans of millions of borrowers to help them avoid foreclosure.”

The translation here is that because the administration was perpetrating a fraud on homeowners on behalf of the banks with the HAMP, they couldn’t be expected to pursue them when they broke the law.

The most egregious quote is from Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David Stevens:

We believe freezing foreclosures for all banks in all states, whether we have reason to believe them to be in error or not, is simply not the prudent step to take in this fragile housing market

(emphasis mine)

So, even if the banks broke the law, it is the victims who have to pay for this, because the banks own Barack Hussein Obama.

I would suggest that you read Yves Smith here, here, and here. She touches all the bases, and does it better than I am.

Veto

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The White House has announced that Barack Obama is vetoing HR 3808, the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act, which created a South Dakota/Delaware credit card processing style race to the bottom, only this time with forged foreclosure paperwork.

They are actually claiming that it is a pocket veto, but they are also sending it back to Congress with a notice of disapproval, since the Senate is entering into pro forma sessions, making that whole “pocket veto” thing dicey, as you can only pocket veto a bill when Congress is in recess.

This is his second veto, his first was when he vetoed a stop-gap spending bill when the regular bill came in on time, so this is his first real veto, the last one was about cleaning up the bookkeeping.

I would note that there is an important lesson here: If you hold the White House’s feet to the fire, the Obama administration will do the right thing ……… at least occasionally.

It’s why the Fanboi who maintain that it’s all eleventy dimensional chess are so wrong.

Were it not for the firestorm that erupted in the past 72 hours or so, largely due to the efforts of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, not only would have Obama not vetoed it, but he probably would likely have seen it as an innocuous bill streamlining interstate commerce.

If there is not vigorous criticism from liberals directed toward the White House, then they will continue to follow the path of least resistance and do the wrong thing when they can.

Full statement from the White Houseafter the break:

Why President Obama is Not Signing H.R. 3808
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on October 07, 2010 at 01:15 PM EDT

Today, the White House announced that President Obama will not sign H.R. 3808, the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010, and will return the bill to the House of Representatives. The Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010 was designed to remove impediments to interstate commerce. While we share this goal, we believe it is necessary to have further deliberations about the intended and unintended impact of this bill on consumer protections, including those for mortgages, before this bill can be finalized.

Notarizations are important for a large range of documents, including financial documents. As the President has made clear, consumer financial protections are incredibly important, and he has made this one of his top priorities, including signing into law the strongest consumer protections in history in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. That is why we need to think through the intended and unintended consequences of this bill on consumer protections, especially in light of the recent developments with mortgage processors.

The authors of this bill no doubt had the best intentions in mind when trying to remove impediments to interstate commerce. We will work with them and other leaders in Congress to explore the best ways to achieve this goal going forward.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

Politics Trumping Science In the Obama Administration

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Yet another Bush policy that Obama has doubled down on.

In this case, we now have a report showing that the Obama administration actively suppressed science based reports from the NOAA during the BP oil spill:

The White House blocked government scientists from warning the American public of the potential environmental disaster caused by BP’s broken well in the Gulf of Mexico, a report released by the national commission investigating the oil spill said yesterday.

The report, produced by a panel appointed by Barack Obama to investigate the spill, said that about two weeks after the BP rig exploded scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asked the White House for permission to release their models showing their worst case scenarios for the spill.

The White House office of management and budget, which is a traditional clearing house for decisions, turned down the request, the report said, quoting interviews with administration officials.

The report, one of four released today by the commission, provides the most compelling evidence to date of direct attempts by the White House to spin the BP oil spill disaster.

I’ve been a cynic about Barack Obama since he started embracing gay bashers in late 2007, but his full court press to embrace and protect BP is something that has managed to disappoint me, and my expectations for him are remarkably low.

Rahm Leaves White House to Run for Mayor of Chicago

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It was made official yesterday.

My condolences to the people of Chicago. I don’t think that he’s done a good job wherever he has been.

He has a real history of failing up: For example, as head of the DCCC, he spent thousands to displace Christine Cegelis with the hapless Tammy Duckworth, and advised Democrats to be hawkish on Iraq in 2006, he was point man on NAFTA in 1994, etc.

I rather expect he won’t get the streets plowed in Chicago.

I would also note that if the LGBT political establishment is interested in getting some respect from Obama and his administration, working to make sure that Emanuel does not win the February mayoral primary would be a good place to start.

Rat Rahm Leaving Sinking Ship Obama White House

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Jake Tapper is reporting that Rahm Emanuel will be announcing his departure from the White House in the next week or so:

Although no final decision has been made because of family considerations, ABC News has learned that White House officials are preparing for Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to announce on Friday — as Congress adjourns for recess — that he is leaving his post to explore a run for mayor of Chicago.

White House officials expect that President Obama will also name an interim chief of staff, perhaps senior adviser Pete Rouse, at the announcement.

My thoughts, speaking from a position of complete ignorance regarding Chicago politics and a distant view of White House Kremlinology:

  • Richie Daley deciding not to run for reelection took everyone by surprise, which is why there might be a for Rahm to leave.
  • I get the feeling that Rahm may have been pushed, but it may just be people jockying for position now that they know that he is leaving.
  • He is not a shoe-in by any means, particularly if Obama is diminished by the election results. (The primary is in February)
  • This may be a part of the White House retooling its staff, there has been a lot of turnover, but the problems are pervasive enough that I would consider it to be rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. The problem is not senior staff, it is POTUS.

Still, I won’t miss him, and my condolences to the people of Chicago

Larry Summers to Resign After November Elections

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It looks like Obama needed to make some change, though it looks like they will be changes for the worse, because they are looking to replace him as director of Obama’s National Economic Council with someone who is even more of a wall street insider than Summers:

Administration officials are weighing whether to put a prominent corporate executive in the NEC director’s job to counter criticism that the administration is anti-business, one person familiar with White House discussions said. White House aides are also eager to name a woman to serve in a high-level position, two people said.…

Because appeasing whining bankers is job 1 at the White House, I guess, because we are all just little people.

… They also are concerned about finding someone with Summers’ experience and stature, one person said.

Well, if they want someone who can match Summers’ record of being right, and his record of moral rectitude, I might suggest Dick Cheney, Ben Stein, or Vlad Tepes.

As I have said many times, remember, the Cossacks work for the Czar, and I think that the basic problem here is top down, not bottom up.

Cloture Fails on DADT in Senate, Thanks Barry

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So the Republicans successfully filibustered the Defense authorization bill.

It’s not surprising given the full court press that we didn’t hear coming from the White House.

When one considers the fact that the Obama Department of Justice submitted a legal brief equating homosexuality with incest, his administration defied a judges order to provide health benefits for a same sex spouse, and his campaign had an anti gay bigot front a campaign concert, one begins to wonder whether is inaction on DADT is more than cowardice, or whether he actually has a problem with “th ghay”.

To paraphrase Kanye West, I’m beginning to wonder if “Barack Obama doesn’t care about gay people,” because it’s clear that the Obama administration antipathy to being seen as pro-LGBT at this point is both bad politics, it loses votes, and bad policy.

I Still Think That The Appointment of Elizabeth Warren is an Exercise in PR, Not Real Change, But …

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Both Felix Salmon and Barney Frank seem to think that this is the real deal, with Felix noting that, “she has the authority to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau up and running as quickly as she can,” and Representative Frank is saying that, “There’s no possibility she would take something like this unless she was fully empowered to do the job.”

Me, I’m with On the other side Yves Smith’s analysis, which says that this is all theater to create the illusion of Obama as a financial reformer:

  • While the bureau is organized under the Treasury, and before it is placed under the Federal Reserve, it has no rule making authority.
  • The organization is operating for an organization, the Federal Reserve that is not only, “subservient to the regulator that is in charge of looking out for the industry,” but is in large part owned by the industry. (look at the structure of the regional Fed banks, they are owned by the big banks)
  • This is an admission that she will not be appointed to the position, so she is already a bit of a lame duck, and will be completely one as soon as someone is nominated for the post.
  • She has admitted that she has no intention of serving as head of the CPFB, which means that she is even more of a lame duck.
  • Many of the organizational and personnel decisions will be deferred to whoever is the appointee.
  • Once a nominee is named, she becomes completely irrelevant.
  • Geithner and Summers still run the show, and are who Obama listens to.*

I’m with Ms. Smith’s last ‘graph:

Needless to say, it would be better if I were proven wrong, but it looks like Warren has made a Faustian bargain. I can only hope if that is the case that she moves quickly to cut her losses.

Simply put, how many times has the Obama administration taken the side of Main Street over Wall Street?

I’ll give you hint, it’s a non-positive integer.

She will be out in 6 months, and my guess is that she will discover that she cannot get her phone calls answered on November 3.

*But remember, the Cossacks work for the Czar.

Jimmy Carter: Still a Wanker

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It appears that Mr. Carter still cannot get over his hatred of Teddy Kennedy, so he’s going after a dead man, blaming Kennedy for killing his healthcare proposal.

Just as classy as ever, I see.

He still thinks that the Kennedy challenge in 1980 is what cost him the White House. It’s wasn’t.

What killed his chance for a 2nd term in 1980 was one James Earl Carter, was elected with much hope, but found to be a sanctimonious jerk.

I would note that this assessment does not include my opinion that Carter is a war criminal on par with Henry Kissinger because he and Zbigniew Brzezinsk decided to purchase a civil war in Afghanistan, knowing creating untold suffering in that nation and its neighbors.

Vote For Me You C@cksucking Losers Is Not a Good Campaign Slogan…

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But it is the apparent strategy of Barack Obama and His Stupid Minions™ for the mid terms.

Here’s the story, a group of activists lobby the Obama administration to put Jimmy Carter’s solar panels back on the White House. They do a tour with a panel, and get people to sign a petition, and the panel gets on Letterman.

Truth be told, this is precisely the sort of guerrilla theater agitprop that I hate, but you know, whatever floats their boat.

So, they get their meeting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and what what happens next is illustrative: They meet with a couple of low level drones, who try to filibuster the meeting by reading Washington Post articles to them about how pro-environment they are, and then they refuse to have their pictures taken with either the panel or for the presentation of the petition.

When asked why, their response is, “If reporters call and ask us, we will provide our rationale,” and then they, “pass out Xeroxed copies of a 2009 memorandum from Vice President Biden,” and end the meeting.

So, here is your pamphlet, now get the f%$# out.

You know, whoever decided on this response, because it is clear that the drones were just following orders, are as Ronald Reagan, Jr. said about Dick Cheney, “[Not] a mindful human being. That’s probably the nicest way I can put it.”

I Called It

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This is what the betrayal feels like to me, and I never believed in him.

Remember when I said that Obama would not recess appoint Elizabeth Warren, or use the law to allow her to be the interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, because that’s what the DFH’s* would want?

Well, I was right. The White House is now shopping its plan to the media, and ABC’s Jake Tapper has the scoop:

President Obama will announce this week that Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor who first proposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will be named to a special position reporting to both him and to the Treasury Department and tasked with heading the effort to get the new federal agency standing, a knowledgeable Democrat told ABC News.

So she will be a “special advisor”, not a recess appointment, nor the better alternative of an interim appointment.

So, she won’t have authority to:

  • Set budgets.
  • Hire staff.
  • Fire staff.
  • Explicitly write policy.
  • Direct investigations.

But I guess that she will be writing some really nice policy papers.

Matthew Yglesias nails what is going on:

With Warren, Obama showing real innovation in developing odd, satisfying to nobody compromises.

If this is what demoralizes your base. They follow this stuff closely, and the people who stuff envelopes and go door to door are the sorts who do follow this stuff closely, and it takes about 3 minutes to realize that this is a canard.

Honestly, appointing Warren is a no pain all gain alternative, because the American people hate the bankers, but they are afraid of offending people.

<Facepalm>

*Dirty F%$#ing Hippies.