Word has been bubbling from a Ha’aretz story that Dennis Ross may be on the way out as special envoy to Iran. Marty Peretz (who finds Bibi Netanyahu’s speech as compelling as I do and who seems to have figured out the administration wasn’t what he imagined it would be) writes:
The story seems to assume that Ross was declared persona non grata by Tehran either because he was a Jew or because he believes that Iran should not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons. If the Obama administration so readily capitulated to Dr. Ahmadinejad’s masters or minions, there’s another reason to be worried about its seriousness in this very serious encounter between antagonists. No, we are actually enemies.
To have crumbled precisely while the regime of the ayatollahs is facing a real crisis of confidence at home and something of a challenge to its legitimacy abroad is, well, just that: crumbling. It certainly does not testify to American resilience, even diplomatically. My instinct here is that the president and Mrs. Clinton are so eager to engage–engage even for its own sake–that they’ll do anything to please the other. This does not come as a result of analysis. It is, I am sorry to say, a predicated formula.
Well, yes, that was the concern in conservative quarters since Obama started running for office. And his persona since taking office as the Great Mediator between U.S. interests and those of our enemies suggests he really isn’t very comfortable in the role as U.S. advocate, which necessitates, when appropriate, confronting our adversaries. At times like this you wish the desperation were not so apparent and there were more willingness to, if not stand tall, at least not give away all pretense that you might do so.
This is in many respects a defining moment for the Obama presidency. As they used to say, the whole world is watching — both events in Iran and the reaction in Washington. Let’s hope we see not a crumbling, but a restoration of American will, determination, and renewed understanding that evil can not be engaged, only opposed.
“In the future, politicians and the public should think twice before taking on responsibilities for which they are unfit.”
And bloggers with no knowledge of economics should stop pretending they know the answers — and are smarter than the former president of the New York Fed (Geithner), the former and current heads of the federal reserve (Volcker and Bernankey) and the former Treasury Secretary (Larry SUmmers). Especially those (Jennifer Rubin) who were strident supporters of the first TARP bailout.
You were sure you were right then. Now you are sure that government intervention is the wrong way to go. Why is that? Could it be because a different party runs Washington?
You just wait Jennifer, it will come out. Once the screaming subsides and clearer heads take over, we will learn they (The current regime) knew about this before they said they did. Then the cow-pucky is going to hit the fan. Then a few poor souls will have to fall-on-the-sword for this. Stupid, absolutely stupid.
But Jennifer didn’t you support the original bailout?
Bankruptcy is in fact the ideal place to work these issues out.
I recently read the legalesse attached to a credit default swap involving 5000 different mortgages. It was over 300 pages long and filled with “floating” formulas with on a myriad of contingencies ad nauseum. A large institution,filing bankruptcy,that dealt in these instruments would have tens of thousands of these monsters to unravel in order to satisfy the creditors. The genius of our top financial lawyers combined with the genius of our top financial Masters aided by Physicists from MIT have created entities that can be dealt with in one way, throw them into a nuclear reactor,and forget about it.
It is fatuous to assume that any employee cannot be replaced. Bonuses indeed! Let these gold-plated accounts become civil servants, paid according to the Government Schedule. I like to imagine a former Master of the Universe filling out his self-evaluation form in hopes of getting a merit pay raise point or two above his annual grade step increase.
Don’t worry. Be happy.
According to an American Research Group poll, released today: “In a turnaround from February, 40% of Americans say the national economy is getting worse. This is down from 63% in February. A total of 20% say the national economy is getting better, which is up from 4% in February and is the highest in the past year.”
Timmy Geithner is turning this ship around.
#1: “And bloggers with no knowledge of economics should stop” etc.
You elected your blogger, by reading her column.
You can unelect her at any moment.
If she does not fit your standards, blame yourself.
Timmy Geithner is turning this ship around…right down to the gutter.
DABio – unfortunately that isn’t how it works – yep you can replace them, but with someone who costs just as much – in fact what it is going to cost you now is a very large signing bonus, a much bigger base salary, along with a retention bonus along with subsidizing private security services, along with an agreement to reimburse for legal fees when the government overlords try to change the next thing they agreed to but now want to change their mind.
That’s just the way it works – the AIG jobs have just now become less desirable (and trust me, they weren’t all that desirable in that world already, hence the retention bonuses we all know about now)- to get an equally competent person as the one you drove out – it will cost you more.
This is nothing but a grotesque sideshow to hide the remarkable incompetence of the Maobama Administration. A Congressman told Secretary Geitner in a formal hearing about these AIG bonuses — on March 3. So Congress knew about them before March 3; indeed, Senator Dodd at the alleged request of Treasury proposed an amendment earlier this year to a bailout bill, which duly carried, to permit the corporate sucklings of the state to pay their previously contracted employee bonuses. That amendment was needed in large part to permit AIG to pay the bonuses at issue. Many of the AIG employees who received the bonuses at issue are sorely needed to runoff the Byzantinely complex credit default obligations AIG stupidly wrote. Why any of them would stay at AIG after this “look, there’s a squirrel!” political deflection stunt escapes me. Government cannot even competently run government — government should stay far away from trying to run a private sector company, even one so heavily on the dole as AIG.
Dabbio – “It is fatuous to assume that any employee cannot be replaced.”
It is also fatuous to assume that large masses of specialized employees can be replaced in a business during a crisis that almost assures it has no future without a great deal of cost and confusion.
One of the interesting thing about the Barney Frank whips and chains show the other day with the (innocent scapegoat) AIG CEO the other day is that it will greatly increase turnover while it also increases recruiting cost and the quality of hires at all the bailout organizations as competent people have they noses rubbed into one of the consequences of working in such organizations.