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The Commentariat -- January 28

President Obama on the situation in Egypt:

... Los Angeles Times: "President Obama said he urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to deliver on promised political, social and economic reforms Friday, saying that 'this moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise.'” Washington Post story here. More news items re: Egypt below.

Nancy Youssef of McClatchy News: "Investigators have concluded that Army commanders ignored advice not to send [Bradley Manning] to Iraq.... Investigators are now considering whether they should recommend disciplinary action against at least three officers in Manning's chain of command.... It's the second time in just over a year that Army practices have come under intense internal scrutiny after a major security failing. A similar probe after [Maj. Nidal Hassan] an Army psychiatrist, allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas ... also focused on how superiors failed to take action despite [warning] signs."

New York Times Editors: "President Obama is smart to extend an olive branch to American businesses. Our economic success depends on businesses investing, growing and creating new jobs.... But Mr. Obama should keep in mind that the interests of corporations and their bosses are not necessarily always aligned with those of the country. All he needs to do is look at the pile of uninvested cash on which nonfinancial businesses are sitting — nearly $2 trillion — while the national unemployment rate remains above 9 percent." ...

... CW: I'd call this a related story. Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post: "In an attempt to patch up the relationship between the president and the nation's top donors, Jim Messina, the 2012 reelection campaign manager and former Obama deputy chief of staff, will headline a Democratic Party event next week at the Park Avenue apartment of Jane Hartley and Ralph Schlosstein, the Obama fundraising flagship in New York. The conciliatory mission, along with the selection of Julianna Smoot, the outgoing White House social secretary as Messina's campaign deputy, signals an intention to rebuild the big-donor establishment that President Obama obliterated." ...

... Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "President Obama on Tuesday added his name to the long list of politicians who have called for an overhaul of those rules [and exceptions in the corporate tax code], so that companies of all kinds pay the federal government a roughly equal share of their annual profits.... But recent efforts to rationalize the code all have failed, and some members of both parties express skepticism that this time will be different. The problem, in a nutshell, is that the popular step of lowering taxes for industries like trucking requires the unpopular step of raising taxes for industries like biotech. The very idea is already drawing howls from the corporate sector."

** Jim Fallows' annotated State of the Union speech is a pain to follow, but it's the best analysis around.

Paul Krugman continues his rebuttal to Republican economic mythology: "American conservatives have long had their own private Europe of the imagination — a place of economic stagnation and terrible health care, a collapsing society groaning under the weight of Big Government. The fact that Europe isn’t actually like that — did you know that adults in their prime working years are more likely to be employed in Europe than they are in the United States? — hasn’t deterred them. So we shouldn’t be surprised by similar tall tales about European debt problems." ...

... CW: Krugman commenter Roger Strassburg, #8, who writes from Germany, provides a very informative picture of German "socialism" today: "Many Americans -- including some NYT columnists -- don't realize how much the social welfare systems in Europe have been cut back in recent decades -- particularly in the most recent one." Read his entire comment.

The best press secretaries were very deft at serving both their boss the president, the White House, the administration, and the press. It's a tricky job. I'm sure I wouldn't be any good at it. -- Jay Carney, Obama press-secretary designate, speaking in 2006

David Dayan of Firedoglake takes a big ol' swipe at Jay Carney, President Obama's press secretary-designate. It's a worthwhile lesson in how shit MSM journalism happens.

CW: I know I've linked to two other stories on this, but I'm gonna keep at it. Daniel Stone of Newsweek (I forgot there still is a Newsweek): "in the next two weeks, the White House will unveil a new gun-control effort in which it will urge Congress to strengthen current laws, which now allow some mentally unstable people, such as alleged Arizona shooter Jared Loughner, to obtain certain assault weapons, in some cases without even a background check." ...

... Oh, Vice President Biden knows how to be politic:

... Here's the full interview, which is substantive:

Ezra Klein makes an excellent point about Harry Reid's opposition to filibuster reform: "Both parties are more committed to being able to obstruct than they are to being able to govern. That fundamental preference, as much as any particular rule, is why the Senate is dysfunctional." ...

... OR, as commenter Liam writes in response to a Greg Sargent post (where I think Sargent draws the wrong conclusion & several commenters draw the right one): "'When Harry Met Mitch.' If Mitch starts to act out the Meg Ryan restaurant scene, run for your lives." ...

... Jay Newton-Small of Time identifies the link between the murder of Judge John Roll in Tucson with Senate ossification & Republican obstructionism. But, she notes, "Judges are not expressly part of this gentlemen's agreement [on non-filibuster rules reform], but Democrats next week plan to use 13 nominations that were passed unanimously by the Judiciary Committee as a test drive of this new comity."

Ben Pershing of the Washington Post: "Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) ... told the Arab television network Alhurra that the GOP won in November because many Americans don't want a black president.

"Everybody Knows Everybody." Dan Mihalopoulos & Hunter Clauss in the New York Times: "Every step in the process of determining whether a politician’s name will appear on the ballot — from the Chicago election board to the state’s top court — is steeped in the baroque swirl of connections between local power brokers. For [Rahm] Emanuel, some of those ties could create the perception that he was favored as much as he was harmed during his roller-coaster fight to be a candidate in the Feb. 22 election."

How to Conduct a Witch Hunt. AP: Darrell Issa "is demanding details of every request for federal records made by citizens, journalists, companies and others during the last five years under the Freedom of Information Act.... Some federal agencies receive tens of thousands of information requests each year."

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The decisions of [Sen. Ronald] Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) not to join the Tea Party Caucus underscore the fissures within the Republican Party as it seeks to build an effective governing coalition in Washington while satisfying an emboldened conservative base outside the Beltway. And for the tea party, the new Congress presents a test of whether the movement's activist momentum can continue within the rhythms and business of governing.

Thom Hartmann: "... we have 3 Supreme Court Justices headlining political fundraising events for organizations and corporations that benefited directly from the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision last year. This is judicial corruption at it's worst, and these men should be impeached or prosecuted."

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "A wave of political unrest threatening Middle Eastern governments grew ominously larger Thursday as new protests shook impoverished Yemen and Egyptian authorities braced for massive anti-government demonstrations set to begin Friday.... While the Obama administration continued to show symbolic support for the protesters' pro-democracy aspirations, administration officials and security experts acknowledged a deepening uncertainty about how the protest movement will play out.... With few exceptions, the countries have been under autocratic rule for decades, and are virtually devoid of the traditions, experience and political infrastructure on which to build stable new governments." ...

... Jack Shenker & Haroon Siddique of the Guardian: "The Egyptian dissident Mohamed ElBaradei warned President Hosni Mubarak today that his regime is on its last legs.... The Nobel peace prize winner's comments to the Guardian represented his strongest intervention against the country's authoritarian government since he announced his intention to return to Egypt to join the protest." ...

... Matt Spetalnick and David Alexander of Reuters: in his YouTube interview, "President Barack Obama called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday to make 'absolutely critical' reforms, ratcheting up pressure on a key U.S. ally in the face of street protests seeking his ouster. Weighing in for the first time after three days of Egyptian unrest, Obama was careful to avoid any sign of abandoning Mubarak but made clear his sympathy for demonstrators he said were expressing 'pent-up frustrations' over the lack of meaningful change. Obama and his aides are performing a delicate balancing act as political upheaval rocks the Middle East..., catching his administration off-guard and showing the limits of U.S. influence." ...

... WikiLeaks. Again. Mark Landler & Andrew Lehren of the New York Times: "... a trove of dispatches made public by ... WikiLeaks ... paint a vivid picture of the delicate dealings between the United States and Egypt, its staunchest Arab ally. They show in detail how diplomats repeatedly raised concerns with Egyptian officials about jailed dissidents and bloggers, and kept tabs on reports of torture by the police. But they also reveal that relations with Mr. Mubarak warmed up because President Obama played down the public 'name and shame' approach of the Bush administration. A cable prepared for a visit by Gen. David H. Petraeus in 2009 said the United States, while blunt in private, now avoided 'the public confrontations that had become routine over the past several years.'”

... Jon Stewart explains the relationship between the U.S. & Egypt as well as anyone:

Judy Lin of the AP: "Rush Limbaugh's imitation of the Chinese language during a recent speech made by Chinese President Hu Jintao has stirred a backlash among Asian-American lawmakers in California and nationally. California state Sen. Leland Yee, a Democrat from San Francisco, is leading a fight in demanding an apology from the radio talk show host.... In recent days, the state lawmaker has rallied civil rights groups in a boycott of companies like Pro Flowers, Sleep Train and Domino's Pizza that advertise on Limbaugh's national talk radio show." ...

... CW: Stephen Colbert did a funny bit on Rush's imitation a few days back, which included footage of Rush's version of Chinese, but I found Rush so offensive I didn't -- and won't -- embed it. You can watch the Colbert segment here.

News Items

Delaware News Journal: "Homicide victim John P. Wheeler III, a former Pentagon official and presidential aide whose body was discovered Dec. 31 in a Wilmington landfill, was beaten to death in an assault, the Delaware medical examiner’s office announced today."

Washington Post: "The Egyptian capital descended into near anarchy Friday night, as the government sent riot police, and then the army, to quell protests by tens of thousands of demonstrators determined to push President Hosni Mubarak from office. By the end of the day-long battle, the protesters were still standing and the police were nowhere to be seen. Mubarak - who had not spoken publicly since the protests began Tuesday - made a televised speech after midnight, announcing that he had asked his Cabinet to resign." ...

... New York Times: "Hours of struggle for a bridge [in Cairo] defined the day’s events throughout Egypt as people shed their fear of the government, a few halting steps at a time.... Night fell, and the protesters finally took the bridge." ...

... New York Times: "As street protests raged across Egypt on Friday, with the future of the Arab world seeming to hang in the balance, rapt viewers across the region — and the globe — watched it unfold on Al Jazeera, which kept up an almost continuous live feed despite the Egyptian government’s repeated efforts to block broadcasts." ...

... New York Times: "After days of protests in the Arab world that have toppled one president and shaken many others, demonstrators calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak poured from mosques in Cairo after noon prayers on Friday, clashing with police who fired tear-gas and water-cannons, according to news reports and images broadcast on television." Note: story has been repeatedly updated: "President Hosni Mubarak ordered the military into the streets to back up police struggling to contain one of the most serious challenges to his long and autocratic rule." ...

... New York Times: in Alexandria, "after more than two hours of brutal, pitched battle, of tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets crossing paths with protesters’ paving stones..., the two sides shook hands. Riot cops and kheffiyeh-wearing youngsters smiled and shared water bottles as piles of tires still burned. The chairs and bottles stopped raining down from apartment building balconies." ...

... The BBC has video of Secretary Clinton's statement here. ...

... New York Times Update: "Egypt has cut off nearly all Internet traffic into and out of the country in the largest blackout of its kind, according to firms that monitor international data flows. Cellphone networks were also disrupted." ...

... Washington Post: "The decision by Egyptian officials to virtually shut down Internet access to the country Friday marked an audacious escalation in the battle between authoritarian governments and tech-savvy protesters. It was also a direct challenge to the Obama administration's attempts to promote Internet freedom."

The Royal We. Washington Post: "Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) will not run for president in 2012 but has left the door open to running for governor of the Hoosier State. 'In the choice between seeking national office and serving Indiana in some capacity, we choose Indiana,' Pence said in a letter to supporters first reported Thursday by the Indianapolis Star. 'We will not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.' Pence has been publicly pondering whether to run for the governor's office or for president for several months. In recent weeks, he has received considerable encouragement for a White House bid."

Financial Crisis Inquiry

I'll probably bring this post forward a few times as new analysis comes in. Today I've added the post by Shahien Nasiripour.

The main page for the commission's 633-page report is here.

The Republican members of the commission wrote a dissenting report, the summary of which is here (pdf).

Sewell Chan of the New York Times: "The blow-by-blow chronicle of regulatory negligence and Wall Street recklessness released Thursday by a Congressional commission amounts to a scathing warning to the government about ways to prevent a recurrence of the 2008 financial crisis. Drawing on millions of e-mails, testimony and other documents, the final report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission delves deeply into the actions — and negligence — of officials at regulatory agencies, investment banks, credit rating companies and mortgage lenders."

Zachary Goldfarb & Brady Dennis report on the report for the Washington Post.

Marcy Gordon & Daniel Wagner report for the AP.

CW: his hour-&-10-min. press conference might bore you to tears, but I'm planning to watch a bit of it:

Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post: "Wall Street firms that sold mortgage-backed securities appear to have violated federal securities laws by misleading investors on the quality of the underlying mortgages, a bipartisan panel created by Congress to investigate the root causes of the financial crisis concluded. Banks that sold home loan bonds often didn't disclose key details that would have helped investors accurately judge the quality of the investments. For example, investors were rarely told whether the mortgages failed to meet the banks' own standards."

Darrell Issa Gets into It. Robert Schmidt & Phil Mattingly of Bloomberg: "Adding to the turmoil [of the divided Commission], Representative Darrell Issa this week demanded thousands of pages of documents from the FCIC as his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ramps up an investigation into allegations of overspending, partisanship and conflicts of interest. The California Republican’s staff also sent letters to former commission employees, asking them to preserve documents."

Sewell Chan of the New York Times, January 25: "The 2008 financial crisis was an 'avoidable' disaster caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street, according to the conclusions of a Congressional inquiry. The government commission that investigated the financial crisis casts a wide net of blame, faulting two administrations [Clinton & Bush II], the Federal Reserve and other regulators for permitting a calamitous concoction: shoddy mortgage lending, the excessive packaging and sale of loans to investors, and risky bets on securities backed by the loans. ...

... January 26. The commission's dissenters issued their reports Wednesday.

"Backdoor Bailout." Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post: "Goldman Sachs collected $2.9 billion from the American International Group as payout on a speculative trade it placed for the benefit of its own account, receiving the bulk of those funds after AIG received an enormous taxpayer rescue, according to the final report of an investigative panel appointed by Congress. The fact that a significant slice of the proceeds secured by Goldman through the AIG bailout landed in its own account -- as opposed to those of its clients or business partners -- has not been previously disclosed. These details ... are among the more eye-catching revelations in the report to be released Thursday by the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission."

CW Note: the Commission's report isn't out yet. We'll have much more on it when it's released to the public. I think maybe Chan has an exclusive here (not sure about that).