×
- Skepticism continues to build over whether the economic stimulus package being worked out by president-elect Barack Obama will really be enough to reverse the economic downturn and like Ezra, I worry that Obama's clear commitment to being open to ideas has yet to manifest itself as something more than a generic price tag. That being said, this process of Congress, experts and the president haggling out the details is healthy, and understandably feels a bit foreign after eight years dominated by a hand-in-glove relationship between the White House and Congress. But that doesn't excuse press coverage that characterizes the debate as little more than bickering between Democrats.
- As expected, Rod Blagojevich has been impeached by the Illinois House, and remains characteristically stubborn, refusing to resign. Meanwhile, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that Roland Burris does not need the certification of the secretary of state in order to be seated as a U.S. Senator. This tosses the decision back to the guy who least wants the responsibility, Harry Reid.
- Lost among the complications with filling Senate seats in Illinois, New York and Minnesota is Delaware, which will have a vacancy effective January 15. Sean Scallon uses this as a starting point for arguing at The American Conservative that this should be a call for eliminating the 17th Amendment, which cleared the way for popularly electing Senators. While I understand why the Founding Fathers believed Senators should be elected by state legislators, the argument for continuing that tradition today is far weaker than simply arguing for abolishing appointments altogether, and holding special elections instead.
- Do we need a "car czar?" Private equity investor Steve Rattner is the leading candidate for a new position that would entail supervising "the overhaul of the American auto industry, help automakers restructure, and would likely be able to use the threat of forcing a company into bankruptcy to exact concessions."
- Frankly, the fact that the U.S. Air Force needed to develop a flow chart for responding to bloggers critical of their operations makes me less inclined to see the utility maintaining it as a separate military branch and more disposed towards Robert Farley's argument for abolishing it.
- Change Congress might be a worthwhile effort, but explain to me how a strike to "not to donate to any federal candidate unless they support legislation making congressional elections citizen-funded, not special-interest funded" will induce candidates to stop taking money from special interests. The bottleneck for changing the funding sources of candidates has always been Congress, who always write the law with an eye towards what will benefit them when they need to run for reelection.
- Sean Hannity, finally freed from the confinements of his ineffectual liberal sidekick, now plans on hosting a "Great American Panel." The first will feature Michelle Bachman and Meat Loaf. How did I miss did Fox News' metamorphosis from a right-wing clearing house to a 24-hour excursion into the avant-garde?
--Mori Dinauer
