As the news cycle moves on to President Obama’s feckless budget (next week’s posting), a quick reprise of the events in Egypt is in order. - First, I assume that the Army will maintain order until elections are held in the Fall, that the Muslim Brotherhood will be one of several political blocks, that we will continue to buy the Army’s support, and that the | Read More »
The Republican Party is in tatters in California because it is on the politically wrong side of three issues: illegal immigration (Meg Whitman’s treatment of her maid struck a chord and helped sink the ticket); abortion (Carly Fiorina would have been the first pro-life state election winner in ages); and environmental protection (the public prefers solar panels to oil drilling and the nation’s toughest air cleanliness laws to | Read More »
President Obama’s “What Me Worry?” State of the Union address brings into focus the question of leadership. For reference I look to John Kotter’s Harvard Business School opus, Leading Change. Steps include: establishing a sense of urgency; creating a guiding coalition; developing a vision and strategy; communicating the change vision; and generating short term wins. Lets look beyond the speeches to Obama’s first two years. Important | Read More »
Discussions about President Hu Jintao’s recent visit to the United States have been remarkably shallow, given the importance of the relationship between the two countries and the availability of information. Perhaps it is a European bias in our East Coast media or our current sense of national financial angst that prevents a meaningful discussion. (It did give Obama an “investment” theme for his State of the Union address.) | Read More »
For the next decade at least 100 Republicans will be introduced at Lincoln Day dinners and 4th of July parades as “Former Presidential Candidate …..”. Armies of them are sidling up to newbies Governor Terry Branstad of Iowa, Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, and Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina, hoping for an influential friend in an early caucus or primary state. Within the next several months the | Read More »
It is obvious to all that California is losing the game in terms of budget deficits with the resultant impact on education and social services - and has been for a long time. Sometimes it is not enough to play better, you have to change the game. Some of that is happening out here. Jerry Brown’s first task as governor is to set an honest budget without the gimmics that | Read More »
With everybody writing about the tragedy in Tucson, House and Senate procedures, President Obama’s wonderful 50% approval rating, and Sarah Palin’s intentions I’d like to focus on the much mentioned but little understood subject of what can be done about jobs. Lets take three time frames. 1. The Crisis. With the 2008 financial crisis we went from an historic nominal 5% unemployment rate to about | Read More »
By this time next year we will know whether the Republicans have been able to pull Barrack Obama’s chestnuts out of the fire. For the record we should note that when the Republicans take control of the House in another week the Democrats have no budget for the current fiscal year, no appropriation bills, no plan to reduce the trillion dollar budget deficit, no chief presidential financial advisor, and | Read More »
When Nancy hands John the keys to the House in January there is a real question as to where national leadership will come from. Like it or not, she has done the heavy lifting for much of what the Democrats have accomplished (inflicted?) with the specifics rarely coming from the White House - the Stimulus; Health Care; Cap and Trade (at least through the House); Ask/Tell; and much more. Her fund raising and political | Read More »
As I get older I fear sounding like Ebeneezer Scrooge - particularly at this time of year - but a number of recent events have made me look askance at the behavior of the children (with an apology to those under 20.) WikiLeaks. A definitive article by George Friedman in STRATFOR on the three rounds of disclosures points out that none have provided “new news” for those who | Read More »
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