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The Commentariat -- September 21
The Fall of Summers. It is fitting that September 21 marks the end of Summers. -- Karen Garcia
Buh-Bye, Larry. AP: "President Barack Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, plans to leave the White House at the end of the year, a move that comes as the administration struggles to show an anxious public it's making progress on the economy." CW: I assume that Julie Pace, the AP reporter on this story, added the last line for ironical impact: "... but [Summers] looks forward to returning to Harvard to teach and write about the economic fundamentals of job creation." The New York Times has the full official announcement.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Obama’s Wars,” by the journalist , depicts an administration deeply torn over the war in Afghanistan even as the president agreed to triple troop levels there amid suspicion that he was being boxed in by the military. Mr. Obama’s top White House adviser on Afghanistan and his special envoy for the region are described as believing the strategy will not work." Update: Washington Post story by Steve Luxenberg here. ...
... Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times reviews Woodward's book.
CW: when I need a Nobel Laureate to back up my observations, Paul Krugman is apt to come through, as he does here: "the [Obama] administration seems to go out of its way to alienate its supporters." ...
... Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post has the money quote on Jacob Lew's Senate committee testimony to which Krugman refers. Oh, and Nasiripour reminds us that Lew is "a former Citigroup executive." ...
... Not a Whole Lot of Shakin' up Going on. Alas, Andrew Leonard of Salon probably has it right on the End of Summers: "Obama replaced Romer with his longtime advisor, Austan Goolsbee, ensuring near perfect continuity with his original economic team. He replaced Orszag with former Clinton budget director Jacob Lew -- the very antithesis of a shakeup." ...
... Robert Reich: "After three decades of flat wages during which almost all the gains of growth have gone to the very top, the middle class no longer has the buying power to keep the economy going. It can’t send more spouses into paid work, can’t work more hours, can’t borrow any more. All the coping mechanisms are exhausted."
Republican strategist Mark McKinnon in the Daily Beast: President Obama has a "Velma Hart problem." Here's Hart on CNN:
Mark Thompson of Time: "... military paychecks were the key engine of income growth for many of the cities that saw their average pay grow the fastest last year. In fact, the 11 cities with the fastest income growth all boast major military installations that help drive their local economies.... What does it mean when the nation's cities with the fastest-growing payrolls are dedicated to fighting wars instead of cancer, building brigades instead of bridges, and training combat engineers instead of computer engineers?"
Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "Official and independent budget estimates show that letting tax rates spring back to pre-Bush levels for all taxpayers would bring the country within striking distance of meeting President Obama's goal of balancing the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015."
Jim Rutenberg & Kate Zernike of the New York Times: President Bill Clinton "... has emerged as one of the most important defenders of ’s Congressional majorities. Some candidates are asking for his help on the campaign trail, rather than the president’s. Even though Mr. Clinton insisted on Monday that he was only 'peripherally and fleetingly' back in politics, he has been headlining rallies and fund-raisers across the country to buck up the depressed party faithful."
Ben Smith & Keach Hagey of Politico: the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert "dueling" marches October 30 are a "practical" joke that may energize young voters.
Christine O'Donnell is clearly a criminal, and like any crook she should be prosecuted. Ms. O'Donnell has spent years embezzling money from her campaign to cover her personal expenses.... Thieves belong in jail not the United States Senate. -- Melanie Sloan, CREW director
Andy Barr of Politico: "The campaign watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a pair of complaints with the Federal Election Commission Monday accusing [Christine] O'Donnell of using more than $20,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses."
Flash Cookies. Tanzina Vega of the New York Times: "Since July, at least five class-action lawsuits filed in California have accused media companies like the Fox Entertainment Group and , and technology companies like Specific Media and Quantcast of surreptitiously using Flash cookies. More filings are expected as early as this week. The suits contend that the companies collected information on the Web sites that users visited and from the videos they watched, even though the users had set their Web browser privacy settings to reject cookies that could track them."
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