Sen. Dianne Feinstein made the innocent-sounding but in fact wholly-remarkable statement that the choice of Leon Panetta for DCI is unsatisfactory because the role should be filled by a person with enough experience to understand what the CIA actually does.

Wouldn’t it be equally remarkable to suggest that the American people should have elected a President with enough experience to understand what the government actually does?

We shouldn’t be surprised that a man like Obama would pick a man like Panetta for a critically-important job that he isn’t qualified to do.

Everyone’s attention has temporarily shifted away from the automaker bailout, to consideration of a vast Keynesian stimulus program, with some side-distractions relating to the personnel of the US Senate.

Don’t worry about the automaker situation: it’ll be back on the front-burner next month as both GM and Chrysler LLC will have burned through last month’s bailout money and will be back for more. A lot more.

Instead, let’s take a closer look at the New New Deal, which was hurriedly pulled out of a hat immediately after the Presidential election as Barack Obama’s answer to the musical question: “Omigosh, the economy is falling apart! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO???”

Exactly what is the New New Deal? More importantly, exactly what problems does it purport to solve? Not the ones you think.

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