Holman W. Jenkins, OnlineWSJ.com

 

His friends advise Barack Obama to launch a "New" New Deal. Maybe that's because the old New Deal is sinking fast.

 

Mr. Obama's one deeply false note during the campaign was his harping on "deregulation" as if that were the source of current troubles. His real problem is the crack-up of the world FDR built.

 

Fannie Mae was a New Deal creation, subsidizing the securitization of mortgage debt. FDR's successors piled on the subsidies for housing debt and incentives directed at low-income borrowers. Kaboom.

 

Then there's the UAW, born in 1935. For decades the UAW steadily traded away domestic auto market-share to imports and transplants to keep its aging membership toiling away toward their golden pensions and collecting wages and benefits twice those of their competitors. It worked for a while . . . Read article.

 

Those who voted for President-Elect Obama and his cry for “change” in Washington, DC, are likely to be disappointed.

 

His transition team is headed by John Podesta, a former Clinton White House advisor and fixer; his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is a former Clintonoid.

 

Obama’s new White House Counsel is the notorious leftist Greg Craig. One of Craig’s clients was John Hinckley, the attempted assassin of President Ronald Reagan. In 1998, Craig defended Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal and also represented Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the father of Elian Gonzalez who was eventually taken back to Cuba where he is being raised as a Communist. Craig also represented former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan during the Oil-for-Food Program scandal. Craig served as director of policy planning for Bill Clinton and became Obama’s top foreign policy advisor this year.

 

Leading the Defense Department review team is Michele A. Flournoy, who served at the Pentagon during the Clinton Administration.

 

John P. White is also on the Defense team. He served as deputy secretary of defense from 1995-1997 and also served in the Carter Administration. Read article.

 

David Lightman, Miami Herald.com

 

Senate Democrats are inching close to the magic number of 60, the number of votes that are needed to cut off debate under the chamber's rules.

 

Victories by Al Franken in the still-undecided Minnesota race and Jim Martin in Georgia's runoff Dec. 2 would give the Democrats a nominal filibuster-proof majority, which neither party has had in 32 years. Democrats now hold 58 seats in the new 100-member Senate, with those two yet to be decided.

 

While having 60 members would help Democrats overcome procedural hurdles, however, it hardly assures a smooth path for President-elect Barack Obama's initiatives, because Senate Democrats are by no means of one mind on many policy issues.

 

''There's been too much made about it,'' Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said of the 60-vote majority. ''There's nothing monolithic about the senators in either'' party.

 

That's one reason that 60 is no guarantee of success. Another is the nature of the Senate; it's a collegial, clubby place in which members succeed by building coalitions around specific legislation, and bipartisan coalitions enhance chances of success. Read article.

Tom Fitton, FrontPageMag.com

 

Barack Obama's personnel decisions as President-Elect are crushing any hopes that his administration will bring a new spirit of integrity and honesty to Washington. First there was the selection of Clinton attack dog Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff. Then there was the selection of another Clinton crony, John Podesta, to co-chair Obama's transition team. And now Barack Obama has tapped Valerie Jarrett to partner with Podesta in handling the transition.

 

Who is Valerie Jarrett? Characterized as "the other side of Barack Obama's brain" by CBS News, Jarrett first met the Obamas seventeen years ago when she offered Michelle Obama a job. Since that time Jarrett has served as a very close advisor to both Obamas. While some have speculated that Jarrett is interested in taking Obama's place in the U.S. Senate, the New York Times reported that it is more likely she will become a senior White House adviser. And that is terrible news.

 

Judicial Watch recently obtained documents linking Valerie Jarrett to a series of real estate scandals, including several housing projects operated by convicted felon and former Obama fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

 

According to the documents, which we obtained from the Illinois Secretary of State, Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers and Obama financial backers Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Allison Davis. (You may recall that Davis is also Obama's former boss.) Read article.

 

Jennifer Rubin, Commentary Magazine.com

 

Okay, it is starting to be a little bit too much. Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, Rahm Emanuel, Eric Holder, Mona Sutphen, and Greg Craig, to name just a few. What is this, a Clinton class reunion? I get that the Obama team needs experience. I get that some of these people are moderates and pragmatists, which is good if you want to keep the country from going over a cliff. And as far as Secretray of State goes, most of the other mentioned alternatives are far, far worse than Hillary. (Don’t get me wrong — conservatives are hoping Bill’s complications can be minimized so that Obama doesn’t have to go to the “B” list.) But isn’t this all sort of a bait and switch?

 

We were promised new faces, a new page, a new . . . well . . . everything. What we’re getting is the Clintons’ third term. That would be all right, I suppose — if the President-elect had not built his entire campaign on the premise that we had to throw the rascals out.

 

Some conservatives are delighted. Others are bemused. And the Left is not happy. The biggest downside that I see is that some may conclude they’ve been conned. Oh, he really didn’t mean all that stuff about change. Ah, it’s the same old crew. The proof will be in how they all perform, but I sympathize with those who thought they were buying something other than the Clinton Restoration. Read article.

 

Ed Lasky, PajamasMedia.com

 

President-elect Obama has been highly critical of the foreign policy approach of the current president. What might he do to project and protect his image as being a “change” agent?

 

One place he may go for help is an influential non-governmental organization (these are popular in the liberal sphere): the International Crisis Group (ICG).

 

The ICG is formally based in Brussels but has offices around the world (Washington, D.C., of course, is a major office). These offices are prominent in various “hot spots” in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East since the stated mission of the group is “conflict resolution.” Indeed, the group might be considered a proto-State Department. It has a roster of foreign policy analysts who travel throughout the world, meeting with political and other leaders to try to bring about “change.”

 

This group also has ties to Barack Obama. One of its major donors is prominent Obama supporter George Soros, who received a “Founders Award” from the ICG. Read article.

Thomas Sowell, Townhall.com

 

Among the many new "rights" being conjured out of thin air, a new one seems to be a "right" to win.

 

Americans have long had the right to put their candidates and their ideas to a vote. Now there seems to be a sense that your rights have been trampled on if you don't win.

 

Hillary Clinton's supporters were not merely disappointed, but outraged, when she lost the Democrats' nomination to Barack Obama. Some took it as a sign that, while racial barriers had come down, the "glass ceiling" holding down women was still in place.

 

Apparently, if you don't win, somebody has put up a barrier or a ceiling. The more obvious explanation of the nomination outcome was that Obama ran a better campaign than Hillary. There is not the slightest reason to doubt that she would have been the nominee if the votes in the primaries had come out her way. Read article.

 

William Maclean, Reuters.com

 

Barack Obama's pledge to work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020 is a "huge signal" of encouragement to countries negotiating a new climate pact, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Wednesday.

 

The U.S. president-elect said on Tuesday the United States would engage vigorously in climate change talks when he is president, and he pledged to work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020, despite the financial crisis.

 

"I think that will have a very positive influence on the negotiations," Yvo de Boer, who heads the Secretariat, told Reuters in Algeria. "He indicated that he intends to show national and international leadership.

 

"I think that that statement will be seen as a huge signal of encouragement to the international community," he said in an interview on the sidelines of an African environment conference. Read article.

 

Humberto Fontova, American Thinker.com

 

Among the throng of Clinton regime retreads recruited for the Obama administration we find Gregory Craig. Craig served as Obama's advisor on Latin American during the campaign, and was appointed last week as chief White House Counsel.

 

The MSM has mentioned Craig's role as Bill Clinton's impeachment lawyer, but mostly has omitted mention of Craig's role as chief facilitator for Fidel Castro's shanghaiing of Elian Gonzalez.

 

Officially Craig served as attorney for Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. This humble man worked as a hotel doorman in a nation where the average monthly salary is $16. The high-rolling Gregory Craig worked for Washington D.C.'s elite firm, Williams & Connolly, one of America's highest-priced law firms.

 

Upon accepting the case, Gregory Craig had flown to Cuba for a meeting with Fidel Castro. Craig's remuneration, we learned shortly after his return, came from a "voluntary fund" set up by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and "administered" by the National Council of Churches. The same reporters and pundits, who routinely erupt with snide snorts midway through any statement by a Republican press secretary, reported this item with a straight face. Read article.

 

Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Ret.,Gulf1.com

 

At a time like this, it is both instructive and refreshing to remind oneself of U.S. National Heritage. Many on the political left would rather we forget, never have known, or would prefer that we know only the darker aspects of our heritage.

 

One cannot help but wonder if Obama knows? Unfortunately, he spent 20 years being pumped full of ill will, among other things, "God Damn America" by his hate-America Pastor. So, it is questionable, like Obama's certificate of live birth, unless the Supreme Court rules otherwise, whether or not we will ever know where Obama was born, and whether or not he is a "Manchurian" President.

 

The following are Obama's words regarding the symbols of the Nation:

 

"As I've said about the flag pin, I don't want to be perceived as taking sides," "There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all. It should be swapped for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.' If that were our anthem, then I might salute it."

 

If Obama knew the story which one has to doubt, he is unpatriotic to have declined to wear a flag pin, stand at attention at the singing of the National Anthem and/or recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

One hopes that at the Inauguration he will have the courtesy to stand with his hand over his heart. Read article.

 

Bud White, NoQuarterUSA.net.blog

 

The headline on the MSN homepage (via MSNBC) declares, “Dem sources: Clinton to help wife get State job.”

 

This headline refers to the fact that President Clinton is disclosing his financial records and those of his charitable work. But the sexist opportunity was too good for MSNBC to pass up. President Clinton is not helping his wife “get a job,” he’s merely presenting financial documents to Obama’s transition team. Ostensibly, all potential cabinet members and their spouses are also going through this process now. The big difference, however, is that the Obama team made Clinton’s financial records a campaign issue.

 

Can you imagine the headline turned the other way? I don’t recall seeing, “Liddy Dole to help husband get job” or “Mary Matalin to help James Carville get job.” Read article.

 

Jim Geraghty, NRO.com

 

One of the chapters of the new president’s life that has gone nearly completely unexamined is his participation in the Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a working group of three dozen political leaders and clergy Putnam led from 1995 to 2000.

 

To hear the Saguaro participants, American society was a half-step away from Mad Max: “We are fast building two kinds of walled societies: gated communities and prisons”; “our civic infrastructure collapsed.” Television is described as “a death ray for civic life.” At times the report almost veers into self-parody. “Periodically, throughout our history, we have had an unemployment crisis. Now, amid unparalleled prosperity, we have an employment crisis.” We are told, with a straight face, that an illustration of the national breakdown is that “the number of times per year that Americans entertain friends at home has dropped by 45 percent since the mid-1970s.”

 

For epic problems like the Dinner Party Crisis, the scale of the proposed solutions is vast, as well: “We need nothing less than a sustained, broad-based social movement to restore civic virtue and civic participation in America.” The report’s authors declare that “massive changes in citizens’ attitudes and behavior will be necessary.” What’s more, “Every institution must make building social capital a principal goal or core value.”

 

Really? Read article.

 

Newt Gingrich & Peter Ferrara, Online WSJ.com

 

President-elect Barack Obama is right: America needs a real and meaningful middle-class tax cut. Unfortunately, despite the rhetoric, that is not what his proposals offer.

 

Mr. Obama's tax plan includes creating or expanding nine or more federal income tax credits mostly focused on low- and moderate-income earners, with an estimated cost of $1.3 trillion over 10 years. These tax credits are provided for certain social purposes, such as child care, health care, education, housing and retirement. Buried amid these is Mr. Obama's purported tax cut for the middle class.

 

For the bottom 40% of income earners, who pay no federal income taxes on net today, these refundable income tax credits will not reduce tax liability but instead result in new checks from the federal government for the targeted social purposes. That's not a tax cut. It's welfare. Read article.

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