Last year, Obama was criticized for not taking the lead on health care reform. After Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts, Obama's involvement in the negotiatons evaporated. At one point, even Al Franken took David Axlerod aside to ask why the Whitehouse wasn't doing more to help. Franken joined Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown in public criticism of the Whitehouse role. That was around the time Obama turned over health care reform to Nancy Pelosi for the most part.

Now for delegation of leadership, part II. A while back, the Whitehouse charged Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson with discovering what could be done about the debt/deficit. Obama made them co-chairs of the bi-partisan Debt Commission. Good so far. But since the time of their November 10th draft proposal, liberals and conservatives alike have been grousing, since both spending cuts and tax increases have been proposed. On the plus side, there has been scant praise--which is better than no praise. What is a politican like Obama to do? Well, he could duck and cover like he did when Scott Brown was elected.

Yet missing from the conversation in any kind of forceful way has been the president himself. When former Senator Simpson and Mr. Bowles, President Clinton's former chief of staff, put out their draft plan (in a surprise move three weeks before the final report's Dec. 1 due date), Obama was in Asia. A spokesman said he would wait for the final report before commenting.

Obama's Nov. 13 radio address did take a baby step toward committing on fiscal matters: In addressing earmarks, he spoke of putting "our country on the path of fiscal discipline and responsibility."

But Obama probably can't rely on others to do the heavy lifting. Few observers expect the fiscal commission to reach the supermajority needed – 14 out of 18 members, most of them politically sensitive members of Congress – to approve a final report. That means Congress is likely not to face a vote on its recommendations.

But final report or not, Obama has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on a matter of central national importance. Dec. 1 "should mark the handing of the torch to the president to start running with this issue," says Maya MacGuineas, director of the Fiscal Policy Program at the New America Foundation in Washington.

The proposal has many worthwhile elements. For example, federal payroll would be cut by 10%. The spending cuts in the plan amount to twice the debt/deficit reduction as do the tax increases.

A week after the Debt Commission released its draft proposal, another bi-partisan committee headed by Alice Rivlin and Pete Domenici released a even tougher proposal. But I'm suspicious of a plan that introduces a federal sales tax without replacing the income tax. Regardless, there are many avenues toward reducing the debt/deficit--many excellent bits and pieces in these plans--and it is looking like Obama will again be AWOL. He's missing an excellent opportunity to take the lead and cobble together a workable plan from these parts. Maybe he could put Nancy Pelosi on it.

Thanks to Gabriel Malor.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:23 AM | Comments (38)
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The November midterms have provided us with a bit o' schadenfreude . . . but stumbling upon Madame Pelosi and Plugs Biden organ grinding, that's priceless and a bit of uber schadenfreude.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:30 AM | Comments (38)
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Just got my daily update on Ace's whereabouts. It would seem that Ace has decided to dis-embed with Coalition Forces in the 'Stan and return to an environment more akin to his home planet of Endor. Looks like he had a relaxing day in the park. Well, mostly relaxing. Looks like he still has a bit of a temper but a few more days off on vacation will cure that. I'm sure he got his hobo/val-u-rite fix in off camera.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (17)
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He gets pissed: more...

Posted by: CAC at 08:32 AM | Comments (40)
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It's our Third Annual recipe exchange with the Anchoress. Last year, she was on veggie duty and I had a sweet tooth.

This year, she's got the sweet tooth (Italian Rainbow Cookies!!), while I went for the veggie dish. I got this from scmommy in the comments last year:

Squash Stuffing
2 lbs squash – cook tender & drain
1 stick butter – melted
1 small carton sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup grated carrots
1 chopped medium onion
2 Tbl chopped bell pepper
1 small pakage Pepperidge Farm Stuffing
Salt & pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients. Save a little stuffing to sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Easy-peasy, even for a moron like me. And I've been on this odd squash kick lately, too.

So what do you got? I want to see some other atypical, but good veggie recipes. But there will be bonus moron-points for the most outrageously bad dishes that you tell me actually get served in your family.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:18 AM | Comments (213)
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If this whole TSA/Scanner/Pat-Down business had started 30 days earlier, in October instead of November, how would the Nov 2nd elections have turned out?

Discuss.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:54 AM | Comments (63)
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China Daily is reporting that China and Russia have agreed to trade in their respective currencies, the dumpling and potato vodka, rather than using the dollar.

The two countries were accustomed to using other currencies, especially the dollar, for bilateral trade. Since the financial crisis, however, high-ranking officials on both sides began to explore other possibilities.

The yuan has now started trading against the Russian rouble in the Chinese interbank market, while the renminbi will soon be allowed to trade against the rouble in Russia, Putin said.

Should we expect to see more of this in the future? On the upside, at least Rusian Khlav Kalash vendor's will be able to accept yuans when China invades Siberia for its natual resources. No bowl, only stick.

Update

Just a trial balloon? Thanks to ahem in the comments

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:57 AM | Comments (63)
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Apparently FreedomWorks, a “tea party umbrella group” is:

Jesse Jackson isn't the only activist that can use corporate boycotts for political purposes. Starting next year, the huge Tea Party organizer FreedomWorks will urge supporters to punish huge corporations like General Electric and Johnson and Johnson for backing President Obama's progressive agenda.

Â…

Their initial focus will be on consumer firms that lobbied for passage of Obama's agenda items that helped their firms. "We are going after the rent-seeking corporations feeding at the public trough," said FreedomWorks' spokesman Adam Brandon.

Personally I would like to see them go after CEOs who go from company to company driving them into the dirt.  In my opinion that drives a lot of corporate bad behavior such as rent seeking. 

That aside, IÂ’m not sure how successful this will be, I canÂ’t remember the last successful boycott, but maybe itÂ’s worth a try.

source

crossposted at Doubleplusundead

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:31 AM | Comments (71)
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There is a level of cowardice lower than that of conformist: the fashionable non conformist

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:41 AM | Comments (131)
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Convicted of 1st degree murder. The jury was given the option of convicting on lesser charges.

Ingmar Guandique was convicted of first-degree murder for attacking Levy...

...an illegal immigrant [and gang banger] from El Salvador...

"Which office do I go to get my reputation back?" - Ray Donovan, former Sec Labor (after being acquitted of racketeering)

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 02:51 AM | Comments (108)
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