The Commentariat -- January 24

CW: John Heilemann of New York magazine has another inside-the-White-House-dynamic story, and this one certainly has the White House's blessing, unlike the Peter Baker insider story I linked yesterday. Heilemann obviously talked mostly to insiders still inside; Baker talked to former top staffers. Although the stories aren't parallel because their emphases is different, there is still a remarkable contrast between the two pictures presented -- the what-was vs. the what-is. To me, neither looks very good. ...

     ... Commenting on Heilemann's piece, & specifically on a comment by Dan Pfeiffer -- the White House Communications Director -- the Blue Texan of Firedoglake observes, "it sure sounds like Obama’s happiest when he’s punching hippies, because the loudest objections to the tax-cuts-for- billionaires cave were from the left. But more significantly, Pfeiffer gives lie to 'moving to the center' because he admits Obama’s always been there."

Andrew Bachevich in The Atlantic: "In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower famously identified the military-industrial complex, warning that the growing fusion between corporations and the armed forces posed a threat to democracy. Judged 50 years later, Ike’s frightening prophecy actually understates the scope of our modern system — and the dangers of the perpetual march to war it has put us on."

"The Myth of Homegrown Islamic Terrorism in the U.S." Romesh Ratnesar of Time: "In the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., tragedy, you might think that such high-profile alarm would center on the shortcomings of America's mental-health system or the inadequacy of the country's gun laws. You would be mistaken.... Instead, some members of the political class remain fixated on what they regard as a greater national emergency: the purported rise of 'homegrown' Islamic terrorists.... Those who beat the drums about the homegrown terrorism threat often gloss over one salient fact: for all the publicity that surrounds cases of domestic jihad, not a single civilian has been killed by an Islamic terrorist on U.S. soil since Sept. 11."

In his column, Paul Krugman expands on an earlier blogpost in which he derided President Obama's new "competitiveness" mantra & his choice of GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to "replace" Paul Volcker. In a comment, I expanded on Krugman's theses; you can find my comment here (#15).

Your Tax Dollars at Work -- Defending Creeps Who May Be Crooks. Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending the mortgage finance companies and their former top executives in civil lawsuits accusing them of fraud. The cost was a closely guarded secret until last week, when the companies and their regulator produced an accounting at the request of Congress.... Taxpayers have paid $24.2 million to law firms defending three of Fannie’s former top executives: Franklin D. Raines, its former chief executive; Timothy Howard, its former chief financial officer; and Leanne Spencer, the former controller."

Your Tax Dollars at Work -- Detaining Journalist Jane Hamsher & David House. Michael Whitney of Firedoglake reports on the frightening acts of officers at Quantico who detained Hamsher & House, who had come to visit Bradley Manning. Hamsher's car was towed & searched. ...

... Juan Cole has an excellent post on Manning's incarceration & Hamsher & House's detention. Cole contrasts Manning's treatment with President Obama's support of the Tunisian uprising -- which came about largely as a result of WikiLeaks documents, which Manning is charged with passing to WikiLeaks. ...

... "The Social Network." Matthew Lee of the AP: "Even as it struggles to contain damage caused by WikiLeaks' release of classified internal documents, the [State] Department is reaching out across the Internet. It's bypassing traditional news outlets to connect directly and in real time with overseas audiences in the throes of unrest and upheaval. American diplomacy isn't a newcomer to Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Twitter, but it has stepped up online efforts as those networks play a growing role in events around the world."

Steve Kornacki, in a Salon post titled "The Most Cowardly Act of a Retiring Politician," faults Sens. Joe Lieberman & Kay Bailey Huchison for asserting they would have won re-election if only they had decided to run.

Prima Donna, Exit Left. Bill Carter & Brian Stelter of the New York Times: "MSNBC never had any doubt about what it was getting when it made Keith Olbermann the face of the network in 2003: a highly talented broadcaster, a distinctive and outspoken voice and a mercurial personality with a track record of attacking his superiors and making early exits." CW: I suppose we shall have to consider this the definitive word on the breakup of MSNBC & Olbermann; it is the New York Times, after all. ...

... CW: Niall Stanage, writing in Salon, expresses my sentiments exactly: "The smugness, the narcissism, the never-ending parade of yes-man guests: Goodnight and good riddance!" A number of my friends were totally bummed by Olbermann's exit, & I think they were a little mad at me for kissing him good-bye without a tear. But they're coming around.

Looking for a New Way to Dump on the Needy. N.C. Aizenman of the Washington Post: "Republican efforts to repeal or limit the reach of the new health-care law took a new direction last week when Arizona lawmakers approved a novel and controversial attempt to cut Medicaid for 280,000 of the state's poor. The bill, requested and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R), empowers her to make a formal request ... for a federal waiver to avoid complying with provisions ... that prohibit states from tightening their eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Twenty-nine Republican governors, including Brewer, have signed a letter calling on President Obama and congressional leaders to remove the provision from the law."

"The Palestine Papers." Suzanne Milne & Ian Black of the Guardian: "The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Middle East conflict has revealed that Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to accept Israel's annexation of all but one of the settlements built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem. This unprecedented proposal was one of a string of concessions that will cause shockwaves among Palestinians and in the wider Arab world." The Guardian will publish many of the papers, which they obtained from Al-Jazeera, throughout the coming days. CW: the initial consensus is that the revelations make the Palestinians look weak, but -- admittedly not know what forthcoming documents will reveal -- I think these first revelations look very bad for Israel, & I expect many Israeli citizens will see their leaders as bullies, too. We'll see. ...

... Tony Karon of Time, who knows a lot more about it than I, writes, "The major impact of the 'Palestine Papers' ... will be on the administration of President Abbas.... The possibility that a two-state solution can be agreed to by the parties themselves has just become a little more remote. And that leaves the matter of ending the occupation and realizing Palestinian rights back in the lap of the international community." ...

... David Dayan of Firedoglake: "The Israelis look bad on this one for essentially having no interest in the peace process no matter what they could receive from the Palestinians. And the Palestinians look really bad to their hardliners for being willing to give up so much for a homeland. Ultimately, this will not help efforts at reconciliation."

... Update: the Guardian has a page of links to news related to the leaked Palestine Papers. ...

... In today's news: "Yasser Abed-Rabbo, a senior PLO leader, attacked al-Jazeera and its Qatari owners over what he called 'a distortion of the truth' designed to create confusion. Speaking in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, he called the leak 'a propaganda game through the media in order to brainwash Palestinian citizens'." ...

... AND the Guardian reports more reactions to the leak, including this one: "Martin Indyk, Clinton's national security adviser on the Israeli-Palestinian question and a former US ambassador to Israel, said: 'My reading is there's nothing more here on Jerusalem than [Yasser] Arafat agreed to in Camp David....'"

News Items

AP: Justice Antonin "Scalia adopted a professorial, occasionally playful tone on Monday while addressing members of Congress and staff behind closed doors at an event organized by GOP Rep. Michelle [sic.] Bachmann and the Tea Party Caucus." New York Times item here.

New York Times: "After a senior Palestinian official angrily denounced Al Jazeera on Monday for publishing more than 1,600 leaked Palestinian records of peace negotiations, a small group of protesters tried to break in to the network’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah."

Chicago Tribune: "Rahm Emanuel should not appear on the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot, according to a ruling issued by a state appellate court today. In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate panel said Emanuel does not meet the residency requirement of having lived in Chicago for a year prior to the election. The judges reversed a decision by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, which had unanimously agreed that Emanuel was eligible to run for mayor." Here's the pdf of the ruling. ...

... Chicago Sun-Times Update: "Emanuel, speaking to reporters..., said he is confident he will win an appeal and return to the ballot." ...

... Tribune Update: "Attorneys for Rahm Emanuel late today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to prevent Chicago elections officials from printing ballots for the Feb. 22 mayor's election without his name. Emanuel's legal team also said they will ask the state's highest court on Tuesday to hear their appeal of a decision by an appellate court today to knock him off the ballot on the grounds he doesn't meet residency requirements."

AP: "A $21.7 billion development fund backed by celebrities and hailed as an alternative to the bureaucracy of the United Nations sees as much as two-thirds of some grants eaten up by corruption, The Associated Press has learned. Much of the money is accounted for with forged documents or improper bookkeeping, indicating it was pocketed, investigators for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria say. Donated prescription drugs wind up being sold on the black market."

Washington Post: "Jared Loughner, 22, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in a Phoenix courtroom at 1:30 p.m. Arizona time (3:30 p.m. [ET]...). It will be the second court appearance for Loughner...."

     ... AP Update: Loughner "pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he tried to kill Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides.... Loughner, 22, faces federal charges of trying to assassinate Giffords and attempting to murder two of her aides. He will later face state charges dealing with other victims." New York Times story here.

State of the Union -- Prognostications

CW: As usual, there has been a lot of hoohah, some of which I've ignored, about what the President will say in his State of the Union Address. As this year's address date approaches -- Tuesday -- I guess we'll have to pay some attention to the prognostications, warnings & last-minute advice. We'll start with what the guy who actually knows what's in the address has to say:

Jack Calmes & Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "President Obama will outline an agenda for 'winning the future' in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, striking a theme of national unity and renewal as he stresses the need for government spending in key areas and an attack on the budget deficit. Mr. Obama previewed the themes in a video e-mailed Saturday evening to supporters who had helped in his election campaign. But the video made plain that his speech would be geared more broadly toward the political center, to independent voters and business owners and executives alienated by the expansion of government and the partisan legislative fights of the past two years."

Julie Pace of the AP: "Heading quickly into re-election mode, Obama is expected to use Tuesday's prime-time speech to promote spending on innovation while also promising to reduce the national debt and cooperate with emboldened Republicans."

Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal: "In his video address, Mr. Obama echoed the famous pledge to end the era of big government that was delivered by President Bill Clinton after Republicans swept to power on Capitol Hill in 1995."

Peter Wallsten & Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post: interest groups lobby for a favorable mention in the address.

The New York Times publishes opinions from a host of policy wonks (click here for the master link) on what each would like to hear in the SOTU address. Contributors are Elliott Abrams, Tom Daschle, Andrew Revkin, Alice Rivlin, Michelle Rhee, Jon Cowan & Jim Kessler, Robert Reich, & Dan Savage. (author-specific links).

"Sputnik II." Howard Fineman, January 21: in his State of the Union address, President Obama will model JFK & "rather than focus on new government programs..., will highlight targeted tax cuts, spending restraint and the need to rebuild our technological and educational base for the long term. The president may have no choice but to face stubbornly high unemployment and foreclosure rates throughout his term. So, as he has done on other issues, he will widen the lens, and suggest that we are at an historic -- and hopeful -- pivot point."

See also Robert Reich & Paul Krugman, linked in Sunday's Commentariat, who touch on the State of the Union address.

Just Like Junior High. Jennifer Steinhauer & Carl Hulse of the New York Times, January 22: "... on Capitol Hill, the talk for the last few days has been all about the seating for the president’s [State of the Union] speech and just who will be next to whom. Ever since Senator Mark Udall, Democrat of Colorado, pushed for lawmakers of both parties to mix it up rather than sit among their own in the House chamber as if the other side has cooties, there has been a mad scramble among lawmakers for just the right partner."

The Washington Post has a slideshow of photos & very brief sketches of State of the Union addresses going back to FDR.

The Commentariat -- January 23

Art by Barry Blitt for the New York Times.Frank Rich: "True Grit' has unalloyed faith in values antithetical to those of the 21st century America so deftly skewered in 'The Social Network.'” Rich was the Times film critic some while back, & in this column he returns to his forte. ...

Keith Olberman. New Yorker artwork.... CW: Rich has put in the mood to take a more cinematic look at the news, & Peter J. Boyer of the New Yorker obliges in his comment on Keith Olbermann's divorce from MSNBC: "His critics (and even some of his friends) had always imagined a Howard Beale ending for Keith Olbermann, and in his MSNBC farewell Olbermann more or less obliged." ...

... Here's Boyer's June 2008 profile of Olbermann, also in the New Yorker. ...

... Paul Farhi of the Washington Post on the difficult Mr. Olbermann.

CW: here's a new low for the odious Mitch McConnell -- on Fox "News," he likens President Obama to communist leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Politico liveblog: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Tuesday's State of the Union will serve as President Barack Obama's 'trust-but-verify' moment on whether he's serious about reducing federal spending." The term "trust but verify" is one that good Republicans know the demigod Ronald Reagan applied to Gorbachev in arms treaty negotiations. There was nothing wrong with the Reagan policy; there's plenty wrong with using the same terminology when referring to the President of the United States.

** Constitutional law scholar Jonathan Turley in a Washington Post op-ed on celebrity justices: "If justices come to personify political movements, the law appears to be merely an extension of the personalities -- and the politics -- on the bench.... Monday's [Michele] Bachmann-convened summit featuring Scalia magnifies this problem.... The principle of judicial neutrality should not be compromised for a legal seminar." This is really a must-read, start to finish.

Spy Story. Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Duane R. Clarridge parted company with the Central Intelligence Agency more than two decades ago, but from poolside at his home near San Diego, he still runs a network of spies.... Over the past two years, he has fielded operatives in ... Pakistan and ... Afghanistan. Since the United States military cut off his funding in May, he has relied on like-minded private donors to pay his agents to continue gathering information about militant fighters, Taliban leaders and the secrets of Kabul’s ruling class.... For all of the can-you-top-this qualities to Mr. Clarridge’s operation, it is a startling demonstration of how private citizens can exploit the chaos of combat zones and rivalries inside the American government to carry out their own agenda."

Glenn Greenwald reports on Amnesty International's efforts to assure better treatment for alleged WikeLeaks leaker Bradley Manning, who is imprisoned in Quantico. Then he adds this: "... the ACLU has obtained new documents which shed more harsh light on the 190 War on Terror detainees who died in American custody. Specifically, many of these documents ... show that at least 25 to 30 of those cases were 'unjustified homicides,' i.e., murder."

Peter Baker has a long, informative article in the New York Times Magazine about President Obama & his economic team's search for jobs. The article includes a lot of insider-bickering dirt, too. Bottom line, tho -- no great ideas. Best quote, among many -- this one about Larry Summers:

He’s much better at telling you why you’re stupid than creating a system that can produce usable policy solutions. -- Anonymous Insider, of course

The President must not be seduced into believing — and must not allow the public to be similarly seduced into thinking — that the well-being of American business is synonymous with the well-being of Americans. -- Robert Reich ...

... Paul Krugman on Obama's "competitiveness" meme (mostly a crock), Jeffrey Immelt (ditto), & Robert Reich (above, gets it right).

Ken Auletta of the New Yorker: "Was Eric Schmidt pushed [out as Google CEO] or did he jump? Both." The backstory -- New York Times, January 21: "Google made the biggest management shake-up in a decade on Thursday, handing the reins of the company to one of its co-founders in an effort to rediscover its start-up roots.... Larry Page, its 38-year-old co-founder, would take over as chief executive from Eric E. Schmidt, a technology industry veteran who was brought in a decade ago to provide adult supervision, as Silicon Valley calls it. Mr. Schmidt, 55, will remain executive chairman of the company...."

CW: if you want to know what life will be like for women seeking abortions after state legislatures -- & likely the Supreme Court -- chip away at abortion rights, here's an example: Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times reports on an appalling clinic in Philadelphia, run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell, that responsible agencies failed to investigate for more than 16 years despite multiple deaths, lawsuits & complaints. Here's a more detailed report by Marie McCollough of the Philadelphia Inquirer. ...

... A pdf of the complete grand jury report is here. The Inquirer warns that it contains grusome pictures. The pictures aren't nearly as bad as the testimony.

... Philadelphia Inquirer Editors: "Antiabortion forces will likely use this horrific case to call for further restrictions on the medical procedure. But Gosnell is charged with acts that violated abortion laws already on the books. What's needed, beyond prosecuting Gosnell, is to ensure all women have access to safe and high-quality medical care that is regulated diligently."

What Could Possibly Be Wrong with This? Tim Hoover of the Denver Post: "Less than two weeks on the job, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler says the $68,500 a year salary doesn't pay enough. That's why Gessler, a Republican, says he is going to be moonlighting as a lawyer for his old law firm -- a firm known for representing clients on elections and campaign law issues, the very areas Gessler is now charged with policing as secretary of state." CW: glaring conflict-of-interest aside, didn't the little snake check on what the AG's salary was before he ran for office? ...

... BUT, local politics being what it is, Ben Smith finds a story to top Gessler's crassness: Gabrielle Giffords' 2010 general election challenger, Republican Tea Party candidate Jesse Kelly -- you know, the guy who ran a campaign event in which he invited supporters to join him in shooting a "fully automatic M-16" to "Get on target for November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office" -- is working behind the scenes to "find out how the seat would be filled if Giffords couldn’t serve."