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- The House GOP called Barack Obama's bluff today, unveiling their "alternative budget proposal" [PDF] to prove they can do more than simply oppose the President's agenda. Contract with America it ain't. I was pleasantly surprised to see MSNBC's First Read describe the plan as "A GOP budget with no hard numbers" because that's precisely what it is. Apparently the details are forthcoming but what we do know is this: 1) there are no deficit projections 2) it proposes large tax cuts for the wealthy 3) it recycles a 16-year old attack on health care reform 4) it has lots of meaningless charts that describe goals, not process and 5) it slashes from the budget funding for foreign aid, green jobs growth, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Americorps, Title X Family Planning, ACORN, and replacing the recently-passed omnibus spending bill with a spending freeze for the rest of 2009. In other words, it's a conservative wet dream. I'm speechless.
- Back in the real world, Timothy Geithner was back on Capitol Hill elaborating on the administration's plans for revamping regulation of the financial sector, Steny Hoyer was giving a lecture on the historical use of the budget reconciliation process, Nouriel Roubini defended the PPIP, and Olympia Snowe touted the success of the stimulus in Maine (she did vote for it, after all).
- This tendency of elite media figures to insert themselves into the political process and describe the back-and-forth between government and the fourth estate in sports metaphors is not new but it is highly disturbing. Fortunately, Obama himself knows that the press -- the cable networks in particular -- likes to focus on the imaginary drama of the daily (sometimes hourly) news cycle, and isn't particularly interested in playing along. Of course, that won't halt the tiring onslaught of recycled memes from the campaign describing Obama as the next Al Gore (he's sooooo boring!), leader of a party in disarray, or simply "overexposed" (i.e. the "celebrity" attack from last summer).
- Increasingly it seems as though conservative hyperventilation comes in two, not necessarily distinct, forms: wild-eyed paranoia or outright and proud ignorance on substantive policy issues. A casual perusal of the 'tubes finds Michele Bachmann introducing legislation to ensure the dollar remains independent from a not-remotely-real "global currency"; Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) parleying his admitted ignorance of climate change into a prediction that humanity can simply "adapt to it"; an increasingly complex and less plausible unified theory behind the "birther" conspiracy; and the truly baffling obsession with the fact that Barack Obama, like most public figures, uses a teleprompter (apparently to hide the fact that's he's just not all that bright).
- So it looks like Bill Kristol and Bob Kagan are getting the band back together. "The Foreign Policy Initiative" -- PNAC 2.0 -- will tackle a misguided tendency towards isolationism, support our allies, protect human rights and freedom, build a strong military, and foster international economic engagement. Frankly, Iiked it better when neocons didn't hide their intentions behind generic foreign policy boilerplate and openly advocated for regime change through military force and seizing our "unipolar moment."
- Remainders: Obama headlines his first fundraisers as president; Niall Ferguson describes the "trilemma" facing conservative politicians around the world; the DoD stumbles over the GWOT; the FBI fast tracks prosecutions of white-collar criminals; Republicans are suddenly very interested in what Michelle Obama is doing; the Obama Justice Department tries to arrest the recent slide toward the right; self-financed candidates could make a big splash in 2010; and the administration has a new FOIA policy.
--Mori Dinauer
