The Unspeakable Cheney Speaks Up

The self-selected, unelected Vice President of 2000 is still intent on earning his title as worst ever. Only two weeks after being wheeled out of office, he has these gracious words about the new administration:

“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry.”

In an interview, Dick Cheney tells Politico that protecting the country is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” adding “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.

“If it hadn’t been for what we did--with respect to the terrorist surveillance program, or enhanced interrogation techniques for high-value detainees, the Patriot Act, and so forth--then we would have been attacked again. Those policies we put in place, in my opinion, were absolutely crucial to getting us through the last seven-plus years without a major-casualty attack on the U.S.”

And Cheney knows this how? Apparently by consulting the same home-cooked intelligence that told him Saddam Hussein had links to the 9/11 terrorists and was working on nuclear weapons to use against us.

His advice to the new president: “The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama administration believes.”

After leaving an economy in tatters, the former VP has no apologies, only a head-shaking comment: “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The combination of the financial crisis that started last year, coupled now with, obviously, a major recession, I think we’re a long way from having solved these problems.”

We? The recession is apparently an act of nature that couldn't have been foreseen or prevented. By the logic of Cheneyworld, that's Obama's problem to solve. After winning the war on terror, you couldn't expect the Bush Administration to do everything.

Recession Rolls On

As Americans mail in tax returns and wait for their economic stimulus checks, they will find fewer places to spend the money when it arrives. Retail chains are closing stores and going out of business in the face of declining sales and mounting debt, the New York Times reports:

"Since last fall, eight mostly midsize chains--as diverse as the furniture store Levitz and the electronics seller Sharper Image--have filed for bankruptcy protection...

"But the troubles are quickly spreading to bigger national companies, like Linens ‘n Things, the bedding and furniture retailer with 500 stores in 47 states...

"Even retailers that can avoid bankruptcy are shutting down stores to preserve cash through what could be a long economic downturn. Over the next year, Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores, Ann Taylor will start to shutter 117 and the jeweler Zales will close 100."

As food prices rise at a record rate and gasoline prices keep climbing, they crowd out other purchases--people are spending less on furniture, clothing and electronics. As jobs disappear in these contracting companies, the recession may worsen and snowball beyond the pathetic efforts of a clueless Congress and President to affect them.

Meanwhile, billions of American dollars keep disappearing into the sinkhole of Iraqi corruption. At least business is booming at banks in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.

A Country With Nobody in Charge

The Bush era is closing on a downer. More than four out of five Americans, 81 percent, are unhappy with the way the country is going, the New York Times/CBS News mood poll tells us today, with the economy replacing terrorism and the war in Iraq at the top of their worry list.

They blame government for the housing crisis more than banks or home buyers and favor help for individuals rather than financial institutions.

But that's not what's happening in Washington. After the $29 billion bailout of Bear Stearns, the Senate is cobbling a $15 billion bill that provides tax breaks for home builders but leaves out a provision Bush threatened to veto that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgages to keep owners in their homes. They did include $100 million for counseling people facing foreclosure, presumably to help the newly homeless feel better about their situation.

The March decline of 80,000 jobs is the third in a row, signifying a real recession. For those who still have jobs, wage increases failed to match inflation, in effect giving them a pay cut.

As voters watch their Executive Branch and Congress fumble and stumble on the economy, they may also be depressed by the bottomless quagmire in Iraq that continues to consume lives and billions of dollars. The Petraeus-Ryan tap dancing team will bring very little convincing cheer from a country where the newly trained freedom fighters desert in droves when called into action.

Somebody should check on what the 19 percent of Americans who think the country is going in the right direction have been smoking.

Obama-Bloomberg Boomlet

As dream tickets go, this one would go deep into the American unconscious and produce either a catharsis or a nightmare.

Today's surprise embrace of Barack Obama in New York by Mayor Mike Bloomberg sets off speculation about an endorsement, but more than that, the possibility that they might share the Democratic ticket for November.

The pluses are obvious: Bloomberg would bring to Obama the managerial skills he is accused of lacking, a Jewish partner to offset doubts raised by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright flap, credibility in handling a recession as well as a billionaire's deep pockets for campaign funds.

The Mayor, according to Obama, has been "a remarkable leader for New York--he has established himself as a major voice in our national debate on issues like renewing our economy, educating our children, and seeking energy independence. Mr. Mayor, I share your determination to bring this country together to finally make progress for the American people."

For the two to share more than that, the once Democrat turned Republican now an Independent would have to convince his former political allies that he would bring more to the party and Democratic candidates across the country than the combined racial and religious prejudice would take away.

But in this extraordinary year, when there are even renewed rumors about a McCain-Condoleezza Rice pairing, speculation won't go away.

How Does a Recession Look?

Three out of four Americans think the country is a recession, the Zogby Poll reports today, and confidence in the economy, President Bush and Congress has plummeted.

"As oil prices hit record highs," the pollsters note, "Americans say they are prepared to take measures to compensate if oil prices continue to rise--37% plan to drive less, 24% would reduce retail and entertainment spending and 19% would try to conserve energy at home."

Retail sales are slowing down, and payrolls fell by 22,000 in January and 63,000 in February.

Anecdotal evidence is everywhere. Once-crowded restaurants have empty tables, and consumers are rethinking optional spending. In one of the wealthiest areas in Connecticut, a prominent dentist reports a sharp drop in cosmetic surgery as his hygienist tells of losing her overleveraged home to foreclosure.

Starbucks is closing 100 stores in the face of sales losses and has decided to stop offering hot breakfast sandwiches because customers complained about the aroma. As the Bush era stumbles toward a close, Americans are having a lot of trouble telling themselves to wake up and smell the coffee.

Things may get better when taxpayers start getting stimulus checks in May, but not many are willing to bet on it by buying more now.

In the Political Trenches

Tall, handsome Jim Himes looks a little like James Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and, at a meeting with supporters in a Westport living room, sounds like him as he talks earnestly about repairing the damage done to the world and America's place in it during the Bush years.

Behind the hoopla over Presidential primaries and caucuses, the struggle for America's political soul goes on in meeting halls and homes across the country to decide what kind of Congress will set priorities for families and communities next year with a new president in the White House.

Himes, a political newcomer, is trying to unseat Chris Shays who has been entrenched in the House seat of the 4th District in southwestern Connecticut since 1987, the only Republican in New England to survive, barely, the purge of Bush supporters in 2006.

It won't help his cause that, after weaseling about getting troops out of Iraq, Shays planted a kiss on George W. Bush's cheek as the President walked in to deliver his final State of the Union speech last month.

In his campaign, the 40-year-old Himes is being supported by the so-called 30-something Democrats in their tactful revolt against the party's ineffectual elders in the House. Two of them, one from Florida, were in the room last night to cheer him on.

After a year in the trenches, the novice challenger has outdone Shays in fund-raising and is ready to campaign against him, coupling the issue of impending recession with the trillion-plus dollars being wasted in Iraq that could have been providing jobs and repairing our infrastructure back home.

It shouldn't take a Frank Capra ending to get Himes, and others like him, to Washington this November.

The Economy, Stupid--Again

With the imminent passage and signing of the stimulus bill, both parties have signed on to acknowledging that the economy is the major issue of the Presidential campaign. How will the candidates adjust?

Hillary Clinton has the 1992 "It's the economy, stupid" playbook in place as well as a new, improved Bill Clinton to stump on the good times of his tenure without creating new animosity and resentment.

Barack Obama will be hard-pressed to translate his idealism into leadership on the issue without looking too dreamy on the one hand or too scary with any practical solutions he proposes. FDR would be the most likely template--"nothing to fear but fear itself" with the argument that government can be the solution, not the problem.

John McCain will likely try to overcome his admitted deficiencies as Economist-in-Chief by shielding himself with a panel of Free Enterprise gurus while he hammers away at Republican verities about the wisdom of the marketplace.

Meanwhile, voters will be worrying about whether the downturn is going to be long, as Paul Krugman suggests today, or with rebate money in their pockets lighten up enough to believe that the economy will soon turn around, as it always does.

Shoved into the background will be ugly fact that Iraq continues to consume not only American lives but enormous amounts of money that could be invested in our infrastructure and put people to work.

But as McCain goes about proclaiming "victory" with "honor," making that case may turn out to be a hard sell.

Free Money for All

The bipartisan smiles in Washington signify that the President and Congress have agreed to give the economy a $150 billion jolt, less than a year's worth of what it costs to keep American troops fighting and dying in Iraq.

Democrats who gave up on de-funding the war will face the voters this fall with a "victory" over an impending recession to paper over their failure to do what they were elected to do in November 2006.

For consumers who overspent by $3 trillion dollars since 2001 (according to Business Week's chief economist), there will be free money and cheaper credit thanks to the Fed to keep doing what they did to get us into trouble in the first place.

The talking-head economists on TV will give us contradictory explanations of how this all works, but the bottom line seems to be that "fiscal discipline" for both individuals and the government has gone out of style in the Bush era, along with restraint over the use of military power.

Is it naïve to suggest that the money being wasted in Iraq could be stimulating the economy and rebuilding America's infrastructure without any loss of life?

"Mine Is Bigger Than Yours" Hits Home

In the words of Mel Brooks' philosopher-producer Max Bialystock, "If you've got it, baby, flaunt it!" That's just what many Americans have been doing with their homes until the credit crunch brought down the curtain with record foreclosures.

Amid bailouts and interest rate freezes to keep the show going, a painfully apt book emerges to underscore that the housing crisis, despite what the politicians are telling us, is not only about greedy bankers, mortgage brokers and hedge funds.

The thesis of "House Lust" by Newsweek reporter Dan McGinn: "Owning a home has long been considered the fulfillment of the American Dream. But in the last decade, as the real estate market boomed, Americans’ fascination with homes turned into a frenzy. Everywhere we turned, people were talking about, scheming over, envying, shopping for, refinancing, or just plain ogling houses—in the process, we’ve transformed shelter from a basic necessity into an all-consuming passion."

For some, huge homes have become what Cadillacs were half a century ago, an emblem of conspicuous consumption, proof to the world that owners have "arrived." In 2005, the average newly built US house measured 2,434 square feet, as opposed to 1,000 feet in Britain, Italy and Sweden and the 750-foot shoeboxes in Levittown after World War II.

"Everyone knows the direct causes of the present housing collapse: low interest rates, lax mortgage lending, rampant speculation," Robert J. Samuelson writes in the Washington Post. "But the larger force lies in Americans' devotion to home ownership. It explains why government officials, politicians and journalists (including this one) overlooked abuses in 'subprime' lending. The home ownership rate was approaching 70 percent in 2005, up from 64 percent in 1990. Great. A good cause shielded bad practices. The same complacency lulled ordinary Americans into paying ever-rising home prices."

The crisis may slow down builders in affluent areas from tearing down adequate houses and replacing them with "MacMansions" that not only require higher costs for upkeep but contribute to global warming with the energy consumed to heat and cool them.

As Congress and the White House push along legislation to head off a recession, a report on economic overreaching may be in order to remind Americans that, even in building their castles, less may be more.

Bush's Belated Change About "Change"

The man who set the theme for this year's election is off to the Middle East today on a quest to salvage something there, after conceding the US faces “economic challenges” at home, a euphemism for the threat of recession reflected in rising oil prices, the home mortgage crisis and a weakening job market.

After jawboning the Israelis and Palestinians to make nice, President Bush will be reunited with Tony Blair, who is there on a similar mission for the "Quartet"-- the US, UN, European Union and Russia--to reminisce about the glory days when they were going to topple Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to the region.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley still insists that the promotion of freedom as a "counterpoint" to terrorism remains "the essence" of the Bush strategy. "I don't think he's pulled back," Hadley says.

But most observers disagree. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "The trip will showcase a president shifting his focus from the big idea of a free and democratic Middle East to more traditional US foreign-policy goals: an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, the containment of a threatening state--in this case Iran--and the assurance of US energy security at a time of $100-a-barrel oil."

The belated dialing down of Neo-Con ambitions, if not the rhetoric, to remake an intractable part of the world is welcome and should inspire the next President to define change in more traditional American terms.