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Obama Has His "Brownie Moment"
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Obama’s embrace of Geithner on 60 Minutes came off like Bush patting Michael Brown on the back after Katrina—typical of the no-we-can’t mantra at the White House right now.
President Obama just had his “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” moment. In an appearance on 60 Minutes, Obama was asked what he’d say to embattled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner if he offered his resignation. Obama said he would say, “Sorry, buddy, you’ve still got the job.”
Never before has a political appointee with so much promise and potential fallen so far so fast. Republicans were initially thrilled with the selection of Geithner. Shortly after Obama’s inauguration, a Bush administration official told me, “If you liked the first bailout, you’re going to love the next one. Geithner was one of the chief architects.” But his support among Republicans, Democrats, Wall Street types, and the general public stands at the statistically precise figure of less than zero.
Will Obama continue to paint every American who realizes prosperity with the same broad brush of greed? Will he continue to place his political health ahead of the nation’s mental health?
The problem for Obama isn’t Geithner’s lack of popularity—it’s his lack of success. So far, he hasn’t done anything that has inspired confidence in the financial markets. So far, he hasn’t made any public appearances that have inspired confidence. And so far, he has failed to form a productive or even functional relationship with Republicans or Democrats in Congress.
The notion that he’s rattling around at Treasury without any help is bogus. He has skilled political and communications counselors around him, and you can bet your last dollar that the White House political and message machines are knee-deep in Geithner’s message operation.
So it’s surprising, then, that the messages coming from the Obama administration over the last week have underscored a central theme completely at odds with his rousing campaign theme, “Yes, we can.” The Obama White House message of late seems to be “No, we can’t.”
First, there was nothing they could do about those AIG bonuses. Then, there was nothing Obama could do to quell the public anger—in fact, he told us, he was angry, too. And now, there’s nothing Obama can do about the exploding federal deficit except make it bigger by passing his wacky budget. I wonder what the White House will say if the labor-backed tours of AIG executives’ homes in Fairfield, Connecticut, take a turn for the worse. What will he do if the populist rage he refused to quell or failed to tamp town turns more sinister? Will he continue to stoke the flames of class warfare? Will he continue to paint every American who realizes a degree of prosperity with the same broad brush of greed and corruption? Will he continue to place his political health ahead of the nation’s mental health?
Obama has a misplaced understanding of what it means to take responsibility for a nation’s despair and the consequences of a crisis. CNN’s Jessica Yellin summed it up well: “Each time he takes responsibility, it’s followed with a ‘but.’”
He says things like: “If you want to blame someone you can blame me, but don’t forget, I inherited this mess.” But that “but” is what gets in the way of actually giving the public a sense that there’s something Obama can do to absorb and fix the crisis. When Obama declared last week that “we didn’t write those contracts” with AIG, he made his economic team look like a feeble band of forensic accountants sniffing around mysterious documents looking for hidden truths in the fine print. In reality, the smoking gun was hidden in plain sight. The media has been reporting on the AIG bonuses for weeks, and we now know that the provision that allowed the bonuses was requested by Obama’s Treasury department.
At his best, Obama inspired millions of Americans that our politics could be different and better than at any other point in our nation’s history. He won by railing against the shortcomings of the Clinton and Bush eras and promising something better. He asked the American people to join him on his historic journey to change Washington—to change “business as usual” and to rise above partisan bickering to bring about real change.
First, there was nothing they could do about those AIG bonuses. And now, there’s nothing Obama can do about the exploding deficit except make it bigger by passing his wacky budget.
In his inaugural address, Obama said of the economic crisis: “These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land—a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.” Unfortunately, Obama’s recent media blitz did more to heighten our nagging fears than inspire confidence in the team he’s picked to turn the tide against the decline he warned of a few short weeks ago.
Nicolle Wallace served as a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign from May to November 2008. She served President George W. Bush as an assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House, as well as communications director for President Bush's 2004 campaign.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
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Nicolle Wallace served as a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign from May to November 2008. She served President George W. Bush as an assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House, as well as communications director for President Bush's 2004 campaign.
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Nicolle Wallace served as a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign from May to November 2008. She served President George W. Bush as an assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House, as well as communications director for President Bush's 2004 campaign.
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Nicolle Wallace served as a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign from May to November 2008. She served President George W. Bush as an assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House, as well as communications director for President Bush's 2004 campaign.
Talk about a stretch! This republican numb-nut just compared Barack Obama to W! Earth to Nicolle ...Bush is the worst President since Hoover. Now, what was your point?
Every post by this woman drips with sour grapes. She was on the losing team and just can't seem to get over it.
I read this authors articles for entertainment. If only I had a ticket to the neverland she lives in. It might be a nice break from reality.
The problem with the Republican party (and its advisors) is a severe lack of basic comprehension.
Michael Brown had already failed when Bush made his tone-deaf, idiotic comment. Republican partisan-hacks, such as this esteemed author, fail to realize there is no result yet with the economy. Through his campaign and in his early career, Obama has succeeded wildly and deserves the benefit of the doubt. If Geithners policies succeed wildly, then whats left of these partisan hacks will, hopefully, go away completely.
The number of ways GOP strategists have tried to claim that Obama has failed in the first 50 days alone show that they are more interested in messages than results and, given the importance of the times, that they put party before country.
(As an aside, I am not a big fan of Obamas economic policies so far, but because I am not a partisan hack I am able to give a sober, rational analysis.
this woman is crazy so why pay any attention to her
Is this really the same Nicolle Wallace who can't campaign her way out of a paper bag...and then almost cried about it on TV when she lost?
Why does the DB give this flack the time of day? I don't even read this crap. "Brownie moment?" Puh-leeze...
I LOVE it whenever this woman writes a new piece ...
It's just so hilarious I can't help but use it as my comedy piece for the day ...
Wait till people START DYING on Geithner's call before you start comparing Obama's defense of him to what that other moron did with his officials whilst in office ...
Please get this necon stooge off the stage. She and the other loser McCain mouthpieces (Tucker Bounds, back in kindergarten, Nancy Pfoutenhaufer, perhaps the most amusingly frigid white-bread tool on earth) lost all credibility during their constant shilling for their losing candidate and don't deserve a forum other than perhaps Drudge, which is the perfect forum for hyper-partisan culture war nonsense. If you're going to give her a venue to spew Rethug talking points, and least make her write about something interesting in exchange, such as her behind-the-scenes war with Sarah Palin. Now that would be interesting reading. This is just right-wing claptrap from a WASP-y loser with no self-awareness and a tarnished resume.
BTW, how about Bush come out and take responsibility for a SINGLE thing he did wrong during HIS presidency ( amongst ALL the NUMEROUS things he bungled ... )
If the "BUT" annoys you so much, i will allow Bush to also use it when taking his responsibility ...
He can say, " I take responsibility for going into Iraq and causing thousands of Americans to lose their lives over FALSE evidence BUT I am a MORON ... "
OK
I know I'm taking the bait.
These pieces are written
By Ms. Wallace
For the sole purpose
Of stirring controversy
But
It really does work.
I wish there was gainful employment
Available to her.
But given her previous
Employers
And the Gargantuan
Burnt out disaster
That they've left behind
Alas
Ms. Wallace has been reduced to
Cackeling as she blogs
About watching others
Try to put the pieces
Back together.
Nicole Wallace
How can you not be embarrassed by your own shallow comments and behavior -
You spent six months of 2008 being Sarah Palin's bagman -
Nothing you say or do will ever be treated seriously by thinking people
Read Christopher Buckley in this very same blog and understand that GOTCHA is gone - GAFFES are goofs and we live in serious times for serious people --
If you cannot make a serious comment - stop commenting
You look like the fool you showed yourself to be when the McCain campaign made you the bad guy
Doesn't get much better than the way Ritarita put it. Thank you for that.
Tina Brown has her ways to snipe at President Obama.
"Respecting" freedom of speech she always allows loons to be featured here.
First it was Mrs. Button. Now it's this Wallace nut job.
I remember Tina's comments on Morning Joe where she said she no longer believes in Geniuses.
She'd rather have the world led by people like her and Wallace.
We get your sous-entendres very well.
What is this Nicolle Wallace credibility? She wanted us to trust her when she implied Mr. Obama was a Muslim with a preacher's problem,
an alien terrorist who hates America, a Marxist, a Pop Star or a Ghetto negro. Now she wants us to believe she, in her perfection or elevation, is helping us with slander.
We got your number Tina. We know you. Let's see how my freedom of speech works here.
Vive la difference.
Deltablue.
I am politically neutral. Not an independent. I do not trust any politician.
For self-preservation, I will not remain silent when extremists take the stage.
Obama should be asked what it means when he says he's "taking responsibility".
I suspect it means something very different to him than it does to most people.
My guess is that Congress is finally waking up to the fact that it is "responsible" for delivering on all Obama's promises.
There's a saying, "When everyone is responsible, no one is responsible." We are finding out that when Obama is responsible, everyone else is responsible.
Nicole Wallace,
How can you not be embarrassed by your own shallow comments and behavior -
*****************************************
Like these comments aren't shallow?
Give. Me. An. Effin. Break.
With no disclosure of Nicole Wallace's role as a lead McCain campaign adviser (that is, someone who spent over a year of her life in mortal political combat with Barack Obama), the Daily Beast publishes in a national forum her thoughts on...Barack Obama?
This is like Karl Rove being presented on news shows as a "political analyst."
Why is the Daily Beast allowing itself to be used as a forum for political hackery?
It's really not necessary to respond in a substantive way to a political hit-job like Wallace's article. But if one were to do so, one could point out that Obama and Geithner have been in charge of economic policy for just over TWO MONTHS. I think it will take longer than a few months to repair eight years of economic mismanagement, Ms. Wallace.
Has this woman not had her 15 minutes of fame? She is a hack whose thinking is so shallow it would be laughable were it not so outright pathetic. I guess we can only surmise that poor Nicolle is so underqualfied even Dubya and old Turd Blossom couldn't fine her a post-White House job--hence she writes--incessantly--for The Beast.
I hate it when a seductive headline sucks me in to reading absolutely foolish drivel, so why do keep letting it happen?
Tina Brown loves controversy, so she thinks it's a neat trick to give space to this sort of ridiculous "comment." Tina Brown loves Tina Brown and any attention she gets, the better. But this is one of the lows of this sad website. If she can't come up with more legitimate writers than Nicolle (what kind of spelling is that? Were her parents illiterate?) Wallace, then she should fold up and disappear, as did Talk Magazine and her CNBC gig. Tina's days are over.
I actually registered just to comment on this article. Partisan hackery at its best. A quick run-through of Ms. Wallace's bio makes it clear to anyone that she speaks from a deep bias. A quick run-through of her recent articles, "Obama flees Washington", "Obama's very bad week", "Obama's most blatant hypocrisy", "Don't lecture us Mr. President", and now this gem lays plain to the rest of us that she has no journalistic integrity. I read the Daily Beast to get an interesting mix of news, pop culture, and world events. If articles and authors like these continue to headline here, I will quickly be finding somewhere else to go. Is sensationalism really worth it, Ms. Brown?
Both the current financial crisis and Hurricane Katrina were caused by the Bush Administration, of which Nicole Wallace is a part. The Republicans, like Wallace, are shameless in shirking responsibility for their role in BOTH crises.
Why do we care about what Nicole Wallace thinks about anything? She's never achieved anything worthwhile and helped set women back decades by promoting the pathologically idiotic Sarah Palin. Why is the Daily Beast giving her a platform? If you want the conservative perspective, choose a conservative with a brain who has something useful to say.
Geitner IS problematic, but there are two major problems with this argument.
1. This is another attempt by an unethical conservative to make Obama, who has been in office for three months, responsible for the Bush Administrations mistakes of nearly ten years.
2. It is profoundly offensive to compare Geitner or Obama's actions to the vicious neglect we saw with Katrina. Wallace has no interest in what happened to poor people during Katrina, but she is more than happy to exploit their suffering in the interest of an illogical argument. I find this unethical and disgusting.
A ridiculous comparison. No wonder the McCain campaign was a disaster. "Brownie" had simply no qualifications to be in charge of FEMA except he was a Bush friend. Geithner was the head of the NY Fed. and is extremely qualified individual who has inherited a disaster from the very same administration she has the gall to compare him with. FIRE MS.WALLACE as she is no more qualified to write a column than Brownie would in his own defense.
I will give credence to Nicolle and other Bushites when they have rehabilitated themselves and paid extreme and severe repentance for the supreme incompetence, partisan, and willful ignorance they employed while ruining our country to the very brink. I can only guess at the extreme arrogance with which they are capable of criticizing our current president while closing their eyes and plugging their nose to the unbelievable stench that they have left in their wake. How anyone in her position can criticize ANYONE'S efforts in trying to dig us out of this hellhole is beyond me.
I keep hearing Republicans complain that Obama is doing too much and that he is taking advantage of a crisis to push forward his agenda. I don't have a problem with either of these concerns. First, the country is F${@$# in a big way -- and we have to hook up multiple life machines and perform life saving operations for all of our county's failing organs. Second, he was voted for his agenda, and his opponents are being outmaneuvered, out-classed, and out-smarted.Republicans are like the boy who cries wolf - only the damn wolf has already slaughtered most of the sheep and the wolf as of 1/20/09 is safely ensconced in his den. WTF???
Obama isn't perfect and I'm sure he will stumble and even fall multiple times in his efforts to fix the mess we are in, but I am comforted by the thought that we are finally rid of Bush, that McCain is not the one trying to handle our countries issues, and that we have a president who values intellect and reason. I shudder to think what McCain and his team might have come up with if he had won the presidency. Of course, since he and no Republican has come forward with a viable plan the American people can get behind, I'd guess we'd all be well and truly screwed.
Why can't any member of the GOP say something constructive? Why can't any of them including Nicole do anything except critize the current administration?.
Tom Brokaw said today on Meet the Press, a major difference between The Great Depression and now is that key Republicans stepped up to support the president. I do not see that happening which is incredibly sad. Hopefully, someone in the GOP will soon find some gumption somewhere and say something constructive rather than their usual negativity. Everyone needs to step up to help our country in this time of crises in the financial markets.
Thank you.
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