Legal Commentary

Jobs Or Deficit, Or Neither

By Big Tent Democrat

“The public didn’t sense that everyone in the White House was waking up thinking about how to create jobs,” said John Podesta, the former Clinton White House chief of staff and president of the Center for American Progress who directed Obama’s transition. “It seemed like they were waking up every day thinking about how to pass more bills."

Via Atrios, this Peter Baker NYTimes Magazine story is depressing:

The path from crisis to anemic recovery was marked by turmoil inside the White House. The economic team fractured repeatedly over philosophy (should jobs or deficits take priority?

How about neither. No significant progress on unemployment and a record deficit! Capped off with The Deal! Just terrible. More . . .

Geithner has the President's confidence:

With Geithner as its anchor, a new economic team is being built around Bill Clinton-era figures like William Daley, Gene Sperling and Jack Lew, a group assembled to joust with Republicans instead of one another. Rather than responding to crises or putting into motion grand macroeconomic theories, they will focus on pushing the recovery into higher gear while at the same time figuring out how to reduce the deficit — two goals that some see as incompatible in the short term.

Geithner is a corrupt incompetent. It is a travesty that he remains in place and more powerful than ever.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 19, 2011 (boomark / email).