Now word comes that a federal grand jury is looking into Governor Bill Richardson’s receipt of a political contribution from a company that advised New Mexico on bond deals:
A federal grand jury is investigating how a company that advised Jefferson County, Alabama, on bond deals that threaten to cause the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, did similar work in New Mexico after making contributions to Governor Bill Richardson’s political action committees.
The grand jury in Albuquerque is looking into Beverly Hills, California-based CDR Financial Products Inc., which received almost $1.5 million in fees from the New Mexico Finance Authority in 2004 after donating $100,000 to Richardson’s efforts to register Hispanic and American Indian voters and pay for expenses at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, people familiar with the matter said.
Other than to say Richardson is aware of the issue and expects everyone to co-operate, Richardson’s office had no further comment. Nothing from the Obama transition team, so far.
Perhaps this will turn out to be nothing. Perhaps Rahm Emanuel will face no further inquiry. But for number of investigations involving top advisors before he takes office, President-elect Obama certainly has set a new record.
To be clear, we don’t know whether anyone did anything improper in either situation. But it does put a premium on candor and not weasel-worded responses concerning aides’ involvement in matters under investigation. Speaking of which, does it really take a week to compile a list of contacts between the transition team and Blago’s office?
Could we perhaps start with the Chicago-based advisors who logically would have had contact with Blago? Really, Valerie Jarrett, David Axelrod and Emanuel should be able to come forward and explain what was said, if anything, to whom and when. Far better for it to come out now, and frankly be lost in the holiday news black hole, than to have it hang over the transition team.
Barone’s a joke. Obama dominated among the young, and his strongest position was healthcare. Among all Americans, healthcare was Obama’s biggest area of advantage over McCain.
Good luck getting anybody to care about card check.
Even though I am sure Troy and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum, he is right. No one will care about any of these little issues. Obama has the Big Mo going for him, and he is, like Achilles, half-god, half man. But where is his heel? That, Jennifer, is where you should train your formidable intellect.
Republicans need to realize how much they’ve lost the perceptions game, especially among the young. Ask any politically active young adult how many people are uninsured in the United States, and they’ll tell you about 45 million, maybe 48. But ask them whether that number refers to people who were out of insurance for the whole year, or only a portion of the year, and they won’t know that the second answer is true. Ask them how many of those 45 million are illegal immigrants, and they won’t know that the answer is 43 percent. Ask them how many could afford insurance but choose not to purchase it, and they won’t know that about 8% of the uninsured make over $75,000/yr, and 21% make over $50,000/yr. Ask them whether many many millions of the uninsured are covered under Medicare and can enroll *after* they need the care (and thus don’t see a need to sign up in advance), and they won’t know that this is true. Ask them how many are 18-34 year olds, the vast majority of whom are perfectly healthy, and they won’t be able to tell you that it’s 55%. Ask them how many of the illegal immigrants simply prefer to wait for an emergency and then make use of free emergency services, and many will probably not even know that it’s possible.
Why do they know the 45 million figure? Because that’s what the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) have been telling them. Why don’t they know all these other factors that make the 45-million figure a joke? Because Republicans haven’t been telling them. I don’t deny that there are millions of deserving people who need insurance, and I don’t mean that we should deny illegals treatment. I’m just talking about perceptions here. Republicans have been deeply unsuccessful in shaping the field of perceptions around policy issues, especially when it comes to health care.
When Obama says “we need to take care of the least of these; 45 million uninsured is just not acceptable in the wealthiest nation on earth,” the young people of America *are* going to agree with him, in spite of their preference for personal freedoms and choice, because the Democrats have successfully shaped all of the major perceptions on this issue. Democrats care; Republicans are heartless. Democrats have plans; Republicans don’t. Democrats are protecting the interests of the poor; Republicans are only protecting the drug and insurance companies. Universal coverage is inevitable; it’s just a matter of time; and anyone who advocates anything less doesn’t care about the needy. Until we start to overturn these perceptions, on health care and other issues, we are not going to win over young people.
The youth vote, I suspect, was heavily influenced by image, not substance.
Certainly not policy issues. Obama was cool. A slim metrosexual. What more
could a generation raised on MTV and American Idol want?
#2, I think Obama is over-reaching badly. He’s going far beyond what most people thought they were supporting him for. I’m pretty confident his support will be below 55%, maybe below 50%, in another month. And when people see the sorts of effects his policies are going to have on the economy, well, they’re not going to like it.
McCain didn’t “lose it,” rather, Bush lost it for McCain long before McCain ever really had a chance.
I don’t think any of you really, REALLY understand how much GW was loathed and ridiculed by America’s youth.
Think of it as Carter cubed.
And maybe you’ll get some appreciation of the tremendous damage that GW did to our party, {and of course you really can’t be accurate without throwing in his father as well}.
The Bush family was the equivalent of Vatican II to the GOP, id est, a flat-out disaster.
Younger voters identified with Obama’s youthfulness and “change” message. However, the youth vote is also fickle and undependable. Will they stick with him if they can’t get work and are stuck in an authoritarian-style healthcare system with little choice and freedom? Obama’s policies are cruel and punitive, not liberating.
Voters under 30 don’t remember 1980 when we had double-digit inflation, unemployment and interest rates. That’s where we’re headed and voters under 30 will get a rude awakening. I also remember an old Republican in that same year winning back the youth.
If you think Obama’s socialist policies are going to create jobs and opportunity, you may be right. Nazi Germany, where many citizens also thought their leader was a demi-god, had full employment.
I agree with #5, I don’t think people have grasped the magnitude of what he is proposing yet, let alone the cost of it all.
Troy – there isn’t a democratic straegist who believes what you said about Barone. The youth voted for Obama’s style and against Bush – not for what either man actually stood – or stands – for.
One thing for the GOP to do is to cherry pick specific outrages in Obama’s plan- such as the limits on charitable deductions- and target demographics affected by the, as well as crafting a more general critique to present to Americans at large.
With non-profits reeling nation -wide, they and their people they serve should now how Obama is willing to imperil them to fulfill his vision of exalting the state.
On a whole different note, I think I’ve posed this question before, but I’ll ask you guys again: What does Christopher Buckley have to say now?
Youth is commonly defined the the age cohort under 25. That’s the folks who were in early to mid-teens when Bush became President. Of course they’d believe that Bush was the worst President ever. Bush was the only President they’ve been really aware of, so they don’t know any better.
Wait until all these intelligent young people hit middle age and realize they have been royally shafted–that they are “the ones” left to pay off Obama’s drunken sailor debt AND to support through their taxes all the Baby Boomers in retirement, in nursing homes, in hospitals….
S Rose
Buckley & a few other effite snobs didn’t care about Obama’s lack of substance before & couldn’t have been unaware that he was going to govern as he said, so I guess that most of them are just going to keep quiet for now. Wouldn’t you?
And as for their views on Joe The Biden, a/k/a Ditto Boland….
I am a big believer in permanent electoral majorities until the next election. Republicans have to stop being incoherent and start attacking the vulnerable points of Obama’s policies. It’s already a target rich environment with massive spending bills (excuse me, I mean stimulus) and taxes and bailouts. I don’t seem to recall Obama running on the “vote for me I will spend and tax you through the gills” ticket. Did I miss it? Was that his mandate, along with “vote for Democrats and they will give us a massive ‘stimulus’ bill written in secret in the smoke filled rooms of Congress by Democratic apparatichiks like Pelosi and Reid”? Even the young have to start working eventually, and the politics of style will not survive the first paycheck or lack thereof as the case may develope.
I didn’t become a conservative until I got out of college 1989 and couldn’t find a decent job in Maine in 1990-91. I quickly became aware of how the economy affected job availability and how the economy was affected by government policies. Most of my classmates went back to school at that point to get advanced degrees since they couldn’t find jobs either.
These young people haven’t suffered, nor have they had to give up anything. Just wait until Mom and Dad refuse to pick up their Visa and cell phone tabs due to their own belt-tightening measures and these kids are forced to work at Starbucks, oh wait, McDonald’s is probably the only one hiring, then they will sing a different tune.
Republicans need to simplify the message – Bobby Jindal does a good job of explaining conservatism at its most basic level and why he believes in it.
Ahithophel is exactly correct with respect to the health insurance availability issue. The vast majority of the “40 million uninsured” are either eligible for insurance or are illegals.
I speak as an employer of 800 people of whom 2/3 of those eligible and have no insurance through a spouse or partner decline. Why? because it costs. I tell my friends they would rather spend their dough on cigarettes and beer. There are many to be sure that lose insurance and then because of chronic illness, cannot get it. That’s what must be fixed.
I believe that once in a plan, you should be able to continue indefinitely – at your own expense – if you desire. Cobra only lasts 18 months.
I believe that once a year, anyone should be able to sign up whether they are employed or not.
If you don’t sign up when you turn 18, then the cost is double when you finally do sign up. We have open enrollment once a year where any employee can sign up no matter what their pre existing condition. So adverse selection is apparently accomodated by the plans, within this framework. It could work nationally.
Expect a big bolt to the right by today’s young Obama voters in eight years, when we enter the politics of entitlements, as the government booms and the boomers retire.
A big part of the problem for Republicans is not that they project an image they need to change, but that so many younger people in America have had little in their lives so far that requires them to cultivate good sense and judgment.
It is NOT wise or analytically discriminating to favor Obama in spite of his manifold inconsistencies and weaknesses. That he knows how to appeal to people without judgment, or a reliable capacity for critical thought, is not evidence in his favor.
Republicans can’t retain any intellectual integrity by trying to appeal to young people — or anyone else — on the basis of style, charisma, and popularity. There are reasons I think the GOP needs to straighten up and get better grounded, but appealing to young people just because they’re young isn’t one of them. I thank God — really; I’m not kidding — that my seniors didn’t cater to my youthful hubris when I was in my 20s. They didn’t always handle things perfectly, but as I look back on life, I have realized more and more that they were right and I was wrong, and it’s a REALLY good thing for me and the world that they were in charge, and I wasn’t.
Obama’s popularity among younger voters is evidence against youth, not evidence for Obama. That said, young people have tremendous potential. I had occasion to make this point over at Victor Davis Hanson’s blog a few days ago. Young people are capable of much better things than many of them think they are. Our school system largely fails them today, and for many of them, it is only their own parents, and/or extracurricular activities like sports and music, that require them to grow, and deal with challenges and failure — the real things of life — before they turn 18. For a lot of them, they are shuffled along through school systems that never put them in ANY situation where they might fail — or at least have to improve their performance in order to advance — and they reach the age of employment and autonomy with no experience of that kind.
But I saw them enter the military every year, and learn hard lessons quickly — often taking in what should have taken 18 years in the space of months — and they did it. They turned into men and women of character and confidence. They’ve got the “stuff.” It’s a travesty that, too often, they are not being required to develop it.
I think the best thing Republicans can do is engage with younger voters on a personal level — and show them an alternative to the model of a leftist adult that too often represents most of what they have been exposed to since they were children. It always amazes me that younger women can never believe I’m a conservative Republican, and retired military officer. Comments like “Wow, you’re so normal,” and “Wow, you’re not a fascist” are common. Think of how business people and the military are portrayed in most movies and TV shows. Many young voters have literally never known the real people in these professions — other than, perhaps, a shift manager at McDonald’s, or the one boss they’ve had so far at a software design firm. They are so easy to persuade, about the characteristics of whole professions and categories of people, because they don’t know any personally.
One of the most rewarding outreaches I was ever engaged in was with a friend — an Army officer — with whom I was stationed at Central Command in Tampa. She got a small group of us to go and talk to classes each semester, at a state community college, and the students were always very positive and interested, and asked excellent questions. They were, interestingly, much more at home interacting with adults in the classroom environment than people their age often seem to be in other venues. Anyway, I don’t know how welcome we would have been by the faculty or administration — as opposed to the students — at the University of South Florida, or the private University of Tampa. But it was at least as worthwhile interacting with community college students, where the focus was on employability or getting credits to transfer to the state U system — and there was no ROTC — as such outreaches are in the more common K-12 venues. Maybe more so.
Well, this is far too long already. Bottom line: the GOP can’t turn itself inside out to appeal to voters on the basis of soothing, meaningless, but enticing rhetoric — and also retain any reason for existence. It will be harder, but more rewarding in the end, to persuade younger voters with facts and principles. It won’t hurt if some of us can work up a cheerful, positive attitude to do that with.
Alan K — an interesting perspective. I don’t know that I agree, but I respect the experience you’re coming from.
A key feature of younger people carrying health insurance is that they file on it much more rarely than the older. It’s not cynical but analytical to recognize that one huge reason advocates of mandatory insurance are so determined to make young people buy it, is that they think doing so would increase premium revenues more than it would increase claims.
Americans have become so accustomed to our heavily-regulated, mandate-infested health care system that most people simply don’t realize this basic fact: if the government didn’t regulate health care, and build cost-shifting into the fee schedules it imposes through the insurance system, it wouldn’t cost an uninsured 28-year-old nearly as much as it currently would — if he had to pay for it himself — to break his leg surfing. The reason treatment costs too much for most people to consider paying out of pocket is that government forces paying patients to pay for the costs of the non-paying, through our health care transactions.
Dragooning more premium payers into health insurance only enables government further, in its quest to regulate everything related to health care. We can’t deregulate everything at once, but an excellent start would be letting people buy their insurance across state lines, and allowing them to carry catastrophic-only insurance, and pay as they go for routine services.
Bah…the “youth vote” is over-rated. I was among the “youth vote” in the Clinton v. Bush in 1990 and I voted for the hip Clinton (dude! he didn’t inhale *wink*). I, like many other conservatives, started out as a young liberal. Fed a steady diet of government education, counter-cultural “hipness”, and a media dominated by celebrity and style over substance, it’s not surprising. But luckily many of us grow up. Those who don’t remain liberals, and those liberals who do grow up: almost invariably are communists-in-training (called socialists by Mr. Marx).
“I, like many other conservatives, started out as a young liberal. Fed a steady diet of government education, counter-cultural “hipness”, and a media dominated by celebrity and style over substance, it’s not surprising. But luckily many of us grow up.” — J. Rowland #20.
No, it’s not surprising. And yes, many young liberals do “grow up.” Of course, they just get “replaced” by “new” young liberals. And in the meantime, the country is cursed with 8 years of Clinton, X years of Obama, de-facto 1-party governance in New York, California, Illinois (among many other states), etc., etc., etc.
Michael Barone is possibly the shrewdest living observer of American politics and history. His philosophical journey (McGovern 72 to conservative in 20 years) certainly corroborates J. Rowland’s assurance that many liberals eventually grow up, and I hesitate to disagree with him. Yet his comments (as summarized by Jennifer Rubin) strike me as a bit Pollyanna-ish. To claim, as reason for political optimism, that “much of the Obama policy agenda is antithetical to the youth-oriented ‘millennial’ generation’s mentality” assumes that said “mentality” is rooted in something deeper and more durable than the cult of personality (Kennedys in the 60s-70s, Clintons in the 90s, Obamas today, MLK forever and always) and the media/academic complex which constantly reinforces it. Such an assumption might possibly be true, but as I go about my daily business in this country I really don’t see much reason to believe it. Very much to the contrary, when you get down to it. The absence of a stable family structure, the virtual disappearance of “organized religion” as a cultural force, the geographically transient, disconnected nature of their lives… all of these things and more cause me to think that the “millennials” — far from being resistant to Obamaism in particular or to Utopian-secularism in general — will, in fact, be a very easy mark. Certainly the voting evidence that Barone cited in his speech (almost 2:1 for Obama) suggests that was the case in 2008.
If Barone were capable of giving advice that was as dazzling as his analysis, he’d realize that the best opportunity for Republicans to capture the youth vote is to appeal to its natural aggression and nurtured conceit. Contemporary American kids are probably more ignorant than any previous generation, but they’re as aggressive as ever and much snottier. The mewling pacifist platform of Obama and his surrender-happy Democrat party does not appeal to our youth unless it’s distorted beyond recognition–something the Dems and their promoters in the media do quite well. The snot-nosed generation doesn’t play hyper-violent video games, watch slasher movies and demand preferential rights for women because it wants to give peace a chance. It wants to crush its perceived enemies and glom onto as many advantages as possible, just like the passive aggressive Obama and Dems do. The difference between the Wet-Earses and Big Ears is that the kids can easily be convinced that America should crush real monsters like jihadis, unions and home grown Marxists instead of going after cartoon monsters like aliens, zombies and economic disparity. Our self centered youth are not pacifistic enough to help Big B. harm their privileged lifestyle if they know better. They just don’t know any better.
I dunno, but it seems to me if the Republicans insist on nominating badly wounded, white-haired old men from old wars with peevishness ias a principal component of their personalities — Dole, McCain — they can expect more of the same.
#24 — There is some truth in that (both as a description of Dole/McCain and as a prediction of the likely political consequences).
Barone also raised the Obama ploy to limit top earners’ charitable deductions, which is already creating something of a firestorm. That move, he says, will “de-Tocqueville-ize” America, devastating faith and non-faith based organizations
Oh, give me a break. The charitable deduction would get scaled back from 35% to 28% against income of more than $250K, and that’s going to kill charities? How utterly stupid are you people, anyway? Wait, better not answer that.
Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and the Chairman of one of the Senate Committees, made some negative noise about the limit on charitable deductions, too. Didn’t use Barone’s language, but sounded like that wasn’t going to be in the final version.
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Thanks,
Sandy