| Thursday, June 05, 2008 |
| The pivot |
There's a thing in politics that you might call "the pivot." It's when you're on what might be an unpopular side of an issue, and then, as if by magic, you're on the right side (or the same side as your constituents, or more to the point, the winning side...) I just got a tip that the Florida Democratic delegation, all of whom were Clinton backers, will endorse Barack Obama en masse today. There will be no press availability (and no questions), just a statement.
The delegation includes three Congressional Black Caucus members, Kendrick Meek, whose district went 55% to 40% for Barack, Corinne Brown, whose district favored Obama 58.1% to 30% and Alcee Hastings, whose district was Obamafied by a 52.1% to 41.2% margin, all of whom will make the switch, along with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the most vigorous of the Florida Clinton backers (with the possible exception of Brown), whose district is the only one of the four to favor Mrs. Clinton (62.7% to 25.3%). (I also hear that Wasserman Schultz is part of a letter campaign coming from inside Congress to try and shoehorn Hillary onto the ticket as Obama's vice president. Note to whoever: that's what you might call "unhelpful.")
The other members of the delegation include Kathy Castor, who was already for Obama. Robert Wexler is not only already an Obama endorser, he's the official "Obama Guy," and the man who stole the show at Saturday'http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs Rules Committee meeting... Sen. Bill Nelson, who was for Clinton, and Ron Klein (Boca) and Tim Mahoney (Palm Beach Gardens) were still uncommitted as of Monday.
This comes on the heels of the New York Congressional delegation making the move earlier this afternoon, led by the fabulous Charlie Rangel, who Chris Matthews was absolutely right in saying has the best New York accent EVER.
The Florida switch will be interesting news in the black community, where just today, a prominent Democratic activist told me they were planning to write an op-ed piece demanding that the black members respect the votes of their districts (just to show that turnabout is fair play, Robert Wexler's district favored Hillary in the primary, and he's taking some heat from some older, Jewish voters there for supporting Barack ...)
Georgia's John Lewis, who made a pain-filled switch to Obama earlier this year, has been all over TV as a born-again Obama supporter. He is the logical choice to introduce Barack at the nominating convention, where Obama will give his acceptance speech on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. By switching earlier in the year, he fended off a primary challenge, tamped down a revolt among voters in his district, and had to say no to longtime friend Bill Clinton.
The pressure has always been on HRC's black supporters, though the really beligerent ones like Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio caught the most flak. Charlie Rangel I think has gotten a pass, because he was the one who pushed Hillary to run for the Senate in the first place, and probably for the White House, and because the New York delegation made its endorsement of her as a NY "favorite daughter" and as a group. There was no one left hanging out there. But I can't tell you how much grumbling I've heard and read online about the others.
Now, they start trying to put the primary behind them, as Mrs. Clinton does too.
UPDATE: The endorsement statement, from Corinne Brown, Kendrick Meek, Alcee Hastings and Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been released. It reads in part:
“It is with enthusiasm and excitement that we endorse Barack Obama for president.
“We are looking forward to working with Senator Obama in the days, weeks, and months ahead. America cannot afford another four years of failed Republican leadership, and we are committed to doing anything and everything in our power to ensure that Barack Obama is elected the next President of the United States.
“We also ask Senator Obama to do everything in his power to see to it that Florida has a full delegation to the Democratic National Convention with full voting rights.
“We congratulate Senator Clinton for a hard-fought campaign. Never in our lifetimes did we think that we would have the choice of a woman or an African American for the office of the presidency. We hope Americans realize how much the two of them have done for our country during this campaign. America is, indeed, a better place for having the two of them run for the highest office in the land.
| Labels: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Congress, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, democratic candidates, Florida, kendrick meek |
posted by JReid @ 3:05 PM   |
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| Friday, April 11, 2008 |
| What the ... |
Congress is moving forward to solve the foreclosure crisis! ... or not:
WASHINGTON - Homebuilders and the mortgage industry are emerging as big victors in a bipartisan agreement reached by Senate leaders on legislation designed to limit the housing crisis.
The $15 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, expected to be debated Thursday afternoon on the Senate floor, is drawing fire from critics who say it would do little to actually prevent foreclosures. The bill contains a $6 billion emergency tax break that would let companies use losses from 2008 and 2009 to offset profits earned over the previous four years, instead of the usual two-year timeframe.
That's good news for big homebuilders such as KB Home and Pulte Homes Inc., which have been saddled with massive losses over the past year.
Jerry Howard, chief executive of the National Association of Home Builders, said in an interview that the tax break is "very important to the building community." It will keep many small homebuilders out of bankruptcy, he said, and will prevent large builders from having to liquidate assets.
Other big beneficiaries would be Wall Street banks such as Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley. In fact, any company now struggling after years of healthy profits that pumped up their tax bills could benefit.
While Democrats and Republicans called the bill a productive bipartisan compromise, Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, questioned whether the trade off was worthwhile for Democrats. "This is first and foremost helping the big villains in the story," he said.
So why would Congress go through all the trouble of dealing with do-nothing, recalcitrant Republicans and a looming presidential veto threat if any bill they produce actually helps anybody less wealthy than, say, Michael Bloomberg?
Earlier this year, the National Association of Home Builders was so dissatisfied by lawmakers' actions — notably not including the tax provision in the economic stimulus bill_ that it snapped shut its political purse. NAHB said it would stop making contributions to congressional candidates "until further notice."
Oh ... things are becoming clearer...
Since 1990, the trade group has given nearly $20 million to federal candidates, with 35 percent going to Democrats and 65 percent to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. A trade group spokesman could not be reached to comment on whether it plans to open its coffers again if Congress passes the housing bill.
I'll bet. What else does the Helping Homebuilders and Other Rich Muckey-Mucks Act of 2008 do?
The bill also contains $4 billion in grants to local governments to buy and refurbish foreclosed homes, new authority for states to issue bonds to be used to refinance subprime mortgages — those made to borrowers with poor credit — and a $7,000 tax credit for people buying properties in foreclosure.
It includes an additional $100 million — half of what Democrats proposed — for credit counseling to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. And the agreement permanently raises the limit for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration to $550,000. That amount had been temporarily raised to nearly $730,000 as part of the economic stimulus bill signed by President Bush in February.
Credit counseling??? That's it? Wow, I feel the collective sigh going up from homeowners on the brink all over the nation...
Meanwhile, the House and the Bush administration are trading ideas on inadequate homeowner assistance programs of their own.
God bless America!Labels: Bush administration, Congress, mortgage crisis |
| posted by JReid @ 11:26 PM |
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| Thursday, January 04, 2007 |
| From the kitchen to the Congress |
Nancy Pelosi gave one hell of a speech to become the third most powerful individual, and the single most powerful woman in America -- one drinks bender/cocaine overdose and one heart attack away from the presidency. She followed John Boehner's rather moody introduction, including his tribute to Gerald Ford and his ironic imputation to "be nice" in the next Congress. Pelosi laid out clearly that she will provide firm leadership on the issues that matter to Americans (one can hope, and today, at least, I'm willing to hope,) including Iraq, but that when it comes to the House of Representatives, it's mama's world. She showed a light touch (which I'm sure conceals a hell of a knife collection) by gushing about how the support of her family allowed her to go "from the kitchen to the Congress." I loved the touch at the end of bringing all the Congressional kids to the stage (it's all about the children.) And she vowed to force the Congress to do something it hasn't done in recent memory: pay for its programs as you go. Clearly, a traumatized and exhausted country needs some good mothering, and if you ask me, Nancy's just the grandma to git 'er done. Here's the text of her speech. Cliff notes: "embrace girl power..."Labels: 110th Congress, Congress, Democrats, Nancy Pelosi |
| posted by JReid @ 5:52 PM |
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| Wednesday, January 03, 2007 |
| A letter from George |
George W. Bush (or rather, some aide who will only be revealed in the memoirs) sits right down and writes himself a letter to the Democrats, and ships it off to the Wall Street Journal. In it, he calls for ... wait for it ... bipartisanship. Ahem.
Tomorrow, members of the 110th Congress will take their oaths of office here in Washington. I will have the privilege of working with them for the next two years--one quarter of my presidency, plenty of time to accomplish important things for the American people.
Together, we have a chance to serve the American people by solving the complex problems that many don't expect us to tackle, let alone solve, in the partisan environment of today's Washington. To do that, however, we can't play politics as usual. Democrats will control the House and Senate, and therefore we share the responsibility for what we achieve.
Well isn't that nice. Of course, he then goes on to say, pass my tax cuts, do what I want in Iraq, and give me a line item veto.
... oh, and God bless America.Labels: 110th Congress, Bush, Bush administration, Congress, George Bush, worst president ever |
| posted by JReid @ 5:12 PM |
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