Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up 0
Friday punditry!
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that the United States will set aside billions of dollars to pursue a vaccine for H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu.
The Obama administration has officially overreacted.
First comment on WaPo site:
Let me guess.
The WaPo editorial writers would rather US tax dollars be spent bombing Iran than defending America, right?
Seriously, are you all brain dead – or were you just dropped on your head as children?
Paul Krugman: Ok, I was right about the size of the stimulus. And don’t pester me with comments about what could and could not pass the Senate after 30 years of ‘govt spending is bad.’
What he needs, in short, is to do for economic policy what he’s already done for race relations and foreign policy — talk to Americans like adults.
Right now, the economy is a good news/bad news story.
On the one hand, during the second quarter, stocks turned in one of their best performances in years. On the other hand, it would take several more such quarters to bring the market back to where it was before last fall’s crash. And consumer confidence went down last month as job losses climbed sharply. The economy has shed nearly 3 million more jobs than the Obama administration originally forecast.
What to make of it all? Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said last month, “These early signs of improvement are encouraging, but the global economy is still operating well below potential and we still face very acute challenges.”
Challenge #1: jobs
Like the health care and the cap-and-trade proposals that have dominated center stage for months, another stimulus package would not be easy to move through Congress. In the June 12-15 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Americans said, by 58 percent to 35 percent, that keeping the federal budget deficit down was more important than “boosting the economy even though it may mean larger budget deficits now and in the future.”
Why doesn’t the president give himself a well-deserved treat and slow down a bit on health-care reform? Instead of going for a total overhaul, go for some smaller successes, or what business executives and gorillas call the “low-hanging fruit”? Pick half a dozen, get Congress to swallow them and see where we stand?
More on Sarah Palin’s Republican problem from the likes of Peter Wehner, Dan Schnur, and my favorite, Vin Weber:
…she has a core of supporters that will never desert her but can never elect her.
This is all, of course, good news for John McCain. Except that it reflects on his poor judgment to choose her.
Joe Conason: Franken’s party up, Palin’s party down.
Something about Sarah Palin riles people up.
Hint: it’s that she was not remotely qualified for the job she auditioned for.
Her charisma is such that she does not need to hold an office to command attention or wield influence.
See Vin Weber.
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