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Angry Congress Lashes Out at Obama

The Prof

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The Washington Post, Woodward's workplace, this week:

1. The worm turns.

2. Thursday the Congressional Black Caucus killed Obama's #2 domestic priority, Financial Regulatory Reform.

3. It happened in Bawney Fwank's Financial Services Committee.

4. Ten CBC'ers sit there.

5. They frankly informed Fwank---no way.

6. They're obviously bothered by Obama's billions in bonuses and bailouts for the most bloated bigwigs and robber barons on Wall Street, the Too Bigs To Fail.

7. You've subsidized the CEO's, Mr President, is their perception, but what have you done for us?

8. You've left the little guy to get rolled over.

9. You've SOCIALIZED the losses of the elites while PRIVATIZING their gains.

10. Tim Geithner, celebrity tax cheat at Treasury and head of the IRS, is their target.

11. Geithner must go, grows the angry growl.

12. A government oversight report released this week recounted how the personification of Wall Street insider, Geithner, gave in to Goldman Sachs and guaranteed in-full obligations made by beggared AIG.

13. Not only that, the tax cheat tried to conceal it.

Geithner Singled Out In TARP Watchdog Neil Barofsky's Scathing Report On AIG Bailout

14. That was the last straw.

15. Huffington hoisted its headline: "Can Geithner Survive This?"

16. Indeed, the revenuer of record resorted to rants.

17. "What I can't take responsibility for is the legacy of crisis you (Republicans) have bequeathed to this country," shouted the troubled treasurer before the Joint Economic Committee.

18. The administration was dealt a depressing defeat on Fwank's fairway when Ron Paul's amendment passed, 43 to 26, calling on GAO to expand its oversight of the Fed.

19. Centerpiece of the president's plans for reforming finance is a fully fortified Fed.

20. The lisping steersman suddenly signaled surrender, canceling his Thursday proceeding and expressing sympathy for the CBC.

21. "You're talking about people whose constituents have been badly hammered by this," affirmed Fwank feelingly.

22. The CBC is not alone.

23. And Regulatory Reform is not the only rub.

24. Partisans from David Obey to Sharrod Brown have piped up most disputatiously in recent days, debates as disparate as foreign policy, climate accords, union affairs.

25. Cap and Trade was declared kaput by McCaskill, Brown, Lincoln, Byrd, Pryor, Dorgan...

26. Those silly statistics surrounding the stimulus were savaged as "ludicrous."

27. The failure to close Gitmo galls.

28. The unfathomable fate of Afghanistan foretells further faction and fracture.

29. Submission to Stupak's extremism pisses off progressives.

30. The Hispanic Caucus howls over hurdles set before homeys in the health care exchanges.

31. Unions are umbraged over taxes on cadillac coverages and the scrapping of card check.

32. Most importantly, the public option must be dispensed with if any piece is ever to pass.

33. Underlying all is the leitmotif of a White House more worried about social reworkings like health care and climate control than JOBS.

34. It's gotten so bad, the next shoe to drop is surely gonna be congressional and media calls for major shakeups in Obama's team.

35. Personal attorney Greg Craig was first, offered up for the embarrasment that's been Gitmo.

36. It looks like Geithner's next.

Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration.

Episodes in both houses of Congress exposed the raw nerves of lawmakers flooded with stories of unemployment and economic hardship back home. They also underscored the stiff headwinds that the administration faces as it pushes to enact sweeping changes to the financial regulatory system while also trying to create jobs for ordinary Americans.

President Obama's allies in the Congressional Black Caucus, exasperated by the administration's handling of the economy, unexpectedly blocked one his top priorities, using a legislative maneuver to postpone the approval of financial reform legislation by a key House committee.

Two buildings away, at a session of the Joint Economic Committee, Republicans escalated their attacks on Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, including a call for his resignation.

"Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed. Liberals are growing in that consensus as well," said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.). "For the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?"

Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.) took a different tack. "I don't think that you should be fired," he told Geithner. "I thought you should have never been hired."

Even Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a friend of the administration, suggested that Geithner had been inconsistent in addressing China's practice of keeping its currency low against the dollar.

And Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Wednesday on MSNBC that he thinks Geithner should step down, pointing to his handling of the aftermath of American International Group's meltdown.

Across Capitol Hill, senators signaled their opposition to rushing regulatory reform. While some Democrats voiced reservations about parts of the bill, Republicans went further, faulting Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) for pushing ahead before the roots of the crisis were understood.

Perhaps most troubling for the administration was that one of the few measures to succeed Thursday was an amendment by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) that would subject the Federal Reserve to unprecedented scrutiny. The amendment, which won bipartisan support in the House Financial Services Committee despite the reservations of administration officials, would allow the Government Accountability Office to audit all of the Fed's operations, including its decisions on interest rates and its transactions with foreign central banks.

Paul and allies in both parties -- more than 300 members of Congress have endorsed the measure -- are looking to increase oversight of an institution they consider partly to blame for the financial crisis. Federal officials and many private economists worry that the amendment could make future central bank policymakers reluctant to take unpopular steps to prevent inflation or support the economy for fear of second-guessing by Congress and government auditors.

The House committee had been set to vote to send the final piece of its regulatory reform package to the House floor after months of debate. That is, until the committee's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), told a shocked committee room that passage of the bill would be delayed until Dec. 1 because the Congressional Black Caucus wanted the administration to do more to help African American communities suffering in the economic decline.

Frank told committee members that black lawmakers were "frustrated by the response to the economic situation by the administration." He said the caucus had no issues with the legislation itself. "They want obviously to continue to have some bargaining power with the administration," he said after the hearing.

The caucus itself did not publicly detail its concerns Thursday, but one member, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), issued a statement: "The recession has created a unique systemic risk that threatens all parts of the African-American community, including the poor and the middle class."

The caucus began discussing its concerns with Frank and the administration several weeks ago. Frank hosted a meeting Monday night between caucus members, Geithner and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

"You're talking about people whose constituents have been badly hammered by this," Frank said. "Given the nature of this recession, there needs to be some more conversations."

Frank said the caucus had concerns about whether minorities were being fairly represented in helping carry out Treasury's bailout programs and other federal efforts to resolve the financial crisis. The government has contracted out much of the work to Wall Street firms.

Congressional aides said the caucus's concerns are similar to those of the Democratic Party's liberal wing. Caucus members are pushing for legislation that would directly lead to new jobs by providing tax benefits, for example, that would provide incentives for home renovations and funding for new infrastructure projects. They also want to extend health-care and unemployment benefits.

Meanwhile, Geithner was taking a beating as he urged Congress to pass regulatory reform as quickly as possible, arguing that delay would create uncertainty for businesses across the country. Lawmakers sharply criticized him for his role in the crisis during the tense Joint Economic Committee meeting. They were particularly critical of his involvement in the decision, as president of the New York Fed, to bail out AIG.

But Geithner pressed forward: "To ensure the vitality, the strength and the stability of our economy going forward, we must bring our system of financial regulation into the 21st century. Nobody in my job should ever be in the position again of having to come into a crisis like this without those basic authorities."

washingtonpost.com


The Prof
 
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Think Obama will have his Cronkite moment?

In answer to your query hell no. Obama's disciples are right now pawing over volumes of books with titles like "How to Blame Someone else for our Own Missteps." and one of his favorite go to manuals 'How to replace Failure with Bigger Lies to get You Off the Hook." and never forget go to in a pinch old stand by guide book "How to Blame any Failure on Bush."
 
"How to Blame any Failure on Bush."

That one has been used so many times the pages are falling out.

Harry Truman- "The buck stops here"
Barack Obama- "The buck stops in Crawford"
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnY6k1ybTHg"]YouTube- Obama The Cat gets confronted (cat girlfriend betrayal mashup/remix)[/ame]
 
That one has been used so many times the pages are falling out.

Harry Truman- "The buck stops here"
Barack Obama- "The buck stops in Crawford"

hilarious

and spot on

humor goes far in our biz

keep it up
 
not funny:

abc's stephy on the topic of geithner/wall street/jobs

stephy cites a poll (i didn't get the source, sorry, but i copied the numbers)---have you or someone living in your house lost his or her job?

17% in april, THIRTY PERCENT now

george will---it's bad, it's gonna get worse, it's gonna be here for awhile, the big irony is that ron paul is the big winner, the fed is made more transparent

robert reich (clinton's top economist!)---i agree, but geithner will stay, there's a disjunction between wall street and main, anger, calls for a scapegoat are natural, unemployment 10% for at least a year, the underemployed are disguised by the numbers, they're really above 17%

ABC'S UNDERLINE, TOPIC STATER---POPULIST REVOLT OVER JOBS

liz cheney---he said stimulus would stop unemployment at 8%, folks are frustrated having listened to his promises, the perception is washington has not addressed the economy and jobs, members of congress are complaining, they're tired of walking the plank while the president floats above

reich---the tax breaks in the stimulus were too temporary, we need more

will---IF THE STIMULUS IS A SUCCESS, WHY THE CALL FOR ANOTHER, bogus jobs and phantom districts, fundamental economics says you extend unemployment by extending benefits (me: that last sounds rather harsh, george)
 
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