Landed Series Wandering

The Obama administration (extended play version)

Updates:

• Obama administration’s treatment of its own nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Councel
• The Kagan Supreme Court nomination

Making good use of the darkness which emanated from the incompetent, criminal, sadistic, unconstitutional, ‘i am the decider, you’re either with us or against us” Bush administration, the Obama campaign created an image of the candidate as intelligent, willing to compromise, desirous of negotiations as conflict resolution, and agent of some unspecified change. One was able to project on to the figure what one wished.

There is a tension between the wishes projected onto the president and the actions undertaken by the Obama administration.

Some are satisfied with a president who is intelligent and reasonable and personable. Some are disappointed by the lack of change exhibited in the administration’s actions.

As a measure of ‘change, LSW posits the distance between Bush actions/nornmal U.S. policies (Republican or Democrat) and the actions of the Obama administration.

Appointees:

Larry Summers, current national economic council director, was was Secretary of the Treasury for the last year and a half of the Clinton Administration. “Summers, along with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt, Fed Chairman Greenspan, and Secretary Rubin, torpedoed an effort to regulate the derivatives that many blame for bringing the financial market down in Fall 2008.” clipped from Summers, along with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt, Fed Chairman Greenspan, and Secretary Rubin, torpedoed an effort to regulate the derivatives that many blame for bringing the financial market down in Fall 2008.” Clipped from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers#Summers.27_role_in_the_deregulation_of_derivatives_contracts

No change from politics as usual.

Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Representative of business as usual

Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, Bush II secretary of Defense. Does not represent a change from either Bush/Cheney nor from politics as usual.
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Judicial matters
The nomination for the next Supreme Court justice to fill Justice John Paul Steven’s place. A NY Times article can serve as a starting point in the effort to assess the choice of the nominee in terms of the Obama’s place in the U.S. political landscape.

Merrick B. Garland,, seen as a safe choice in terms of avoiding confrontation with the Republicans. ‘an appeals court judge here, is well liked by elite legal advocates’, well liked by conservatives.

Elena Kagan, solicitor general but never a judge and has not left a trail of judicial decisions or scholarly utterances. ‘But as the dean of Harvard Law School, she earned respect across ideological lines by bringing in several high-profile conservative professors, and she is a favorite among some in the extended Obama circle, who see her as smart and capable.’ Her views are not well known and there is some wariness (f.eg. Greenwald interviewed on Democracy Now being expressed.

Diane P. Wood, liberal federal appeals court judge ‘a progressive voice on a court that is home to several heavyweight conservative intellectuals.’ Strong supporter of abortion rights. Might easily arouse the dander of the Republicans.

Then again, a different person may be chosen as the nominee. Stay tuned.
And the choice is made.

The Obama handling of its own nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel indicates that it does not intend to stray from the judicial path laid out by the Bush/Cheney administration. A rather sobering and depressing recognition but it makes one wonder why Obama chose to nominate Johnsen to begin with only to, evidently, change his mind. Like other issues, Obama’s first tendency seems to be in a so-called progressive direction only to change course under way back towards the center or to the right. One can wonder who exactly is making decisions in the Obama administration.

Financial crisis
Can be looked at through the perspective of what should be in financial reform legislation.

From baselinescenario.com, “If the White House continues down the path of endorsing reform while not really pushing for meaningful change, the financial reform conversation will become increasingly uncomfortable for them.

Passing a bill that contains mostly mush is not a good idea – it would only further the perception (and the reality) that this administration is far too close to certain “savvy businessmen” on Wall Street.

The coming legislative debate will clearly divide people into “for” and “against” our massive global banks that have so manifestly gone bad. For the last time: Which side does the president really want to be on?”

LSW finds it difficult to ascertain a big difference between the Obama administration’sactions (Obama’s words on the need for financial reform are as usual groovy) and the Bush adminstration’s pandering to the rich and mighty on Wall Street. The Obama rhetoric indicates comprehension of the issues at stake, but the actions until now indicate either a lack of will or a lack of capacity.

Obama’s military
NATO kills four Afghan civilians in what is now known as Obama’s war.