Trillion Dollar Baby

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/opinion/11dowd.html

Maureen Dowd is widely known as a left-leaning columnist at the New York Times as well as an early and ardent Obama supporter, both as a candidate and as a President. Given her past praises of Obama and the way she has defended him with such zeal, it's especially interesting to read her criticism of President Obama's Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and his approach to the bank bailout. What makes it all the more enjoyable is that I think she's right.

Tim Geithner's latest announcement about banking bailout efforts did not inspire much confidence. This is proven by the continued dropping in the stock market overall, and the banking sector in particular. Ms. Dowd attributes his lack of motivational success in part to his dry, nervous speaking. She also blames the failure on his inability to show real leadership in directing banking to act more in the public interest. She gives several examples of banks that have accepted government help, or bailouts only to squander significant amounts of money on retreats or employee getaways - all while refusing to make loans. According to Ms. Dowd (and affirmed by what I read and see everyplace else) there were caps on the salaries of the highest paid executives, but no such caps but on the pay of other bank employees. There was also no real mechanism put in place to curb wasteful (and offensive) spending. In fact, she points out that Mr. Geithner engages in a kind of protectionism, fighting to limit the amount of real oversight the government exercises with these bailout banks. She talks about his relationship with Wall Street and banking in a way that suggests his motivations are something close to nepotism.

My only real criticism is that she doesn't do enough to show how Tim Geithner is representing the interests and ultimately the policies of President Obama as well. Mr. Geithner may be an inartful speaker in articulating President Obama's bailout execution plan, but it's still President Obama's plan. Her inability or unwillingness to more directly connect President Obama to the poorly administered bank bailout may be an indicator that her bias for him could blind her in the same way that she criticized Bush loyalists for not holding him fully accountable.

On the other hand, we're not even halfway through the first 100 days, or the "honeymoon" period of this administration. If she's willing to point out such embarrassing flaws this early in President Obama's administration, she and other left-leaning columnists like her may actually be willing to hold this administration accountable in a way that Bush supporters could never do to president Bush. While this higher level of accountability may be uncomfortable for Obama, if it spurs him to perform well, it could be great for him politically and great for the country.

100 days - Starting the Job, From FDR to Obama

http://100days.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/get-out-of-the-white-house/

Lou Cannon wrote an interesting article in today's New York Times, about a President's ability (or inability) to maintain a sense of normalcy while in office, and how this sense of normalcy or balance can allow for personal happiness even while governing in troubled times. The article talked about FDR and how he maintained a "social hour" where he sat aside pressing presidential issues and engaged in pleasant conversation for a while. The writer also talked about Ronald Reagan's frequent visits to his ranch in California for horseback riding and relaxation. Mr. Cannon drew a strong comparison of the efforts of Reagan and FDR, and those of our current president Obama. The writer also talked about the efforts of FDR and Reagan to connect to everyday Americans with weekly radio addresses, and how President Obama carries the tradition forward with weekly postings on Youtube. He ends the article by pointing out that staying "normal" is no guarantee of a successful presidency; citing the low approval rating of George Bush even the article talked about FDR & he maintained a "social hour" where he set aside pressing presidential concerns though he appears to have enjoyed his time in office. He notes that while Obama's personal happiness and sense of normalcy doesn't insure success though it can't hurt.