Entries for March 2009

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Last week, Mickey Kaus exposed some postings on JournoList, the by-invitation-only website for certain young left-wing political writers. I'm glad I haven't gotten an invitation. Many of these writers produce thoughtful and intelligent pieces in print and in online venues available to the general public. But the pieces Kaus presents are childish and boorish. These guys would make better use of their time writing for everyone rather than trying to bully and badmouth each other into taking a party line on issues, which seems to be JournoList's purpose. Not all new ideas are good ones.

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

My U.S. News column this week is on the roadblocks the Obama administration is encountering to its expansive budget and economic policies. Ours is not a parliamentary democracy like Britain's, where the majority party can push its program through the legislature without much trouble. Members of Congress are, to a considerable extent, independent operators, beholden not to the president but to their own constituents, and act accordingly. Obama's big plans on energy and taxes affect different states and congressional districts in different ways, ways that cut across party lines. So he's encountering roadblocks, and it's not clear whether he'll get around them.

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Bill Galston at the New Republic's blog provides some clear thinking on the prospects for the Obama administration's cap-and-trade legislation. His conclusion: ain't gonna happen. Galston notes that national polls show that on the question of balancing economic against environmental considerations, voters have switched and are now more concerned about the economy—as in holding down utility costs—and less concerned about the environment.

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

At the risk of being accused of browning up the boss, let me link to Mort Zuckerman's column from the U.S. News Weekly on Iran. What can we do about Iran's nuclear weapons program, short of military action? Mort has a list:

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I haven't commented on Timothy Geithner's plan, the one promised for February 10 and delivered on March 23, to clear out the toxic waste assets from the banks and other financial institutions that hold them. I hope it works, and I fear that it won't. But this isn't my area of expertise and I'm not confident enough to make any predictions. I note with interest that it's being attacked, and being defended, by people on the left and people on the right.

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I don't give investment advice, but for those who want to avoid political risk, a portfolio manager named Eric Singer has created Congressional Effect Management, a mutual fund that trades only when Congress is out of session. Singer says that his fund has outperformed the market this year and last. Warning: outperformed the market this year and last means losing less than the market has.

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I had lost track of Democratic political consultant Hank Morris some time ago; I knew him as a Democratic campaign consultant in the 1970s and 1980s, and one who always seemed reasonably honest and candid. So I was shocked to see this. Morris's lawyer says he's innocent. I find that hard to believe, but I also find it hard to believe that Morris would be involved in a scam like this. Though $30 million is a lot of money. What could have been going on in his mind?