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Get Ready for the New New Deal

By: Brian Faughnan (Diary)  |  October 26th, 2008 at 01:30 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

I’ve written elsewhere about the plans of Congressional Democrats to ignite a torrent of new spending if Barack Obama wins the White House. The list of Congressional Democrats eager to christen a ‘New New Deal’ is stunning (and apparently now includes Obama himself).

If Obama does win the White House, we might see a sort of coming out party for the New New Deal agenda on November 15. That’s when the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute is holding a day-long conference called “Restoring America Through a New New Deal: Policy Priorities for the First 100 Days”

Organized in association with the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, this one-day conference will bring together prominent public figures, policy-makers, academics and journalists to explore the policy priorities they see as critical to the new administration and Congress. The panelists—including Senator Chuck Hagel, Jonathan Alter, Robert Kuttner, and Majora Carter—will offer expert analysis on key issues under three broad headings: Restoring America’s Global Position; Restoring the Health of the Nation; and Restoring the Health of the Planet.

According to a self-identified member of the board of the institute, the conference has already earned an illustrious list of participants:

Meanwhile, by virtue of my membership on the board of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (“FERI”) I have been invited to attend a wonderful and somewhat presumptuous event in mid-November that is being sponsored by FERI and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. This program–obviously based on the assumption that Obama will win the election–is gathering an impressive group of panelists, many of whom may end up serving in an Obama administration, to discuss “A New New Deal: the First Hundred Days.” I cannot pass up going to this.

They’re going to have Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Paul Krugman, Jonathan Alter, Chuck Hagel, Dennis Ross (who worked in the State Department on trying to solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem under the first Bush and again under Clinton), Robert Kuttner (editor of the American Prospect) New York Governor David Patterson, Sherry Glied (health care policy expert), Harris Wofford (former senator and now an expert on “national public service”–concepts like Peace Corps, FDR’s old CCC, etc.) and others.

So, I guess we’ll gather and “plan” the first hundred days.

Paul Kanjorski summarized the thinking quite well when he said “All we’re doing is going into the basket and saying, ‘Damn, what did they do in ’32, what did they do in ’34, what did they do in ’36,’ and we’re pulling them out, dusting them off, giving them a paint job, correcting the fenders a bit, and we’re using them.”

I ask again: is Barack Obama going to stand in the way of the coming expansion of government — which liberal leaders are working to make sure extends far beyond what he has promised? Not likely.

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COMMENTS

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  • builder20

    Off topic, forgive me, but over on little green footballs they have an article saying the the LA Times has a tape of Obama from April in which he is having a Dinner with some PLO guys, and Bill Ayers. Anybody know anything about that? If true I would like to send the info out, but would prefer to know more about it before I annoy my entire email list, again. :)

  • GMULAW2010

    Look, I don’t think they will be dusting off the policies of 70 years ago. The fact is that no matter who is President, the next administration needs to do a good deal of rehabilitating the economy and our diplomatic relations overseas. Obama is less experienced than McCain, but, he has been wrangling in very good advisors to help shape policy. I do not think he is going to be this huge liberal as people claim. I feel like he will seek a middle like Clinton. He has never been one to rush to a conclusion. He is the law professor, who mulls over points and counter-points, taking in different views until he feels he has heard enough to decide what would be best. An example of this is can be in how he approached the FISA bill — http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/CassRSunsteinBDDDA786-0C3A-44E4-B22C-6FA964EB6199.html — and he did vote on the compromise.

    Lots of slippery-slope-tin-foil-hat-wearing-type thinking occurs from a lot on the right and people on this message board (take Builder20 for example), but look at Obama’s temperament during this crisis, and those who he is gathering to develop policy, create the inference that he will be more of a pragmatist than an ideologue. I know many on this site will bash me for saying this and for being an Obama supporter, but I believe you need to respect differing political views without the petty demonization that goes on in both camps.

    This is my first post on Red State and I like a lot of what you guys do. Yes, there is some demonization, but I feel like a lot of posts make some good conservative counter-arguments without going into the gutter. Good job and I look forward to adding positively to the debate.

  • janis

    comment text. I don’t want a president who has to have over 300 foreign policy advisors to come up with a strategy. One president with experience and a knowledge of history will do just fine.

    That’s not, by the way, Obama.

    • David_Hinz

      is that it is entirely built around what you HOPE the candidate will do. Hope is fine, but it has to be based in the reality of what the candidate has done. Candidates will SAY anything to get elected — President Clinton promised a middle-class tax cut and then took it off the table a month into his presidency. He raised taxes instead. Sen Obama has already PROMISED to raise taxes on the PEOPLE WHO CREATE JOBS in this country — unless you believe he is lying about tax increases.

      All we have to go by is what he has done in the past. And everything about his past lies with radical leftist ideology and associations. You might HOPE he will govern as a centrist, but there is nothing in his past to make that hope a reality.

      I realize you are not interested in looking at past associations as indicative of future performance, but rationally, what other indicators do we have to go by?

      • bobbymike

        Said “there will be a crisis and he will do the worng thing” jeez I feel great!!

        • janis

          .

          • Putter

            was (rationally) recalling this little slice of suppressed truth.The problem we face with Obama is that the truth often sounds absurd.

          • GMULAW2010

            In full context he was stating that Obama, and all Presidents for that matter, will be tested, but that Barack has the ability to handle the situation. Was it smart to say? NO! Did you watch SNL? lol

  • seamist

    I keep hearing “whisperings” of how companies, large and small, will not hire, may lay off, will freeze people’s pay or may eliminate benefits if BO is elected, because of his tax proposals. Why don’t they SHOUT it from the rooftops by sending a memo to all of their employees, giving them a heads-up to what may come to pass? Talk directly to their wallets and they may come out of this trance they’re in!

    • Vegas_Rick

      I’m sorry, but, bull$88&! Your boy has promised, PROMISED, to raise taxes if he is elected. He says only on the rich, but look at his spending promises. His tax increases will have to be much bigger. See Bill Clinton circa 1993.

      Google the great depression. Just a little reading will teach you that the stock market crash of 1929 put the US economy in a deep recession. HOOVER’S TAX INCREASES IN 1930 STARTED THE GREAT DEPRESSION!

      As for our diplomatic relations over seas, who? Sarkozy loves us. Merkel loves us. Brown’s pending replacement loves us. Who do we need to rehabilitate with? Hamas? Hezbollah? Putin? Ajad? who?

      Get lost troll!

      • Vegas_Rick

        Full context my a$$. Bring a link moron. He specifically said Obama would be tested and his supporters wouldn’t like his response.

        We’ve all seen the clip multiple times. After all, it is great comedy.

        Don’t try to bring your newbee butt in here and tell us what we heard!

        • cookcountyconservative
          • David_Hinz

            what he said was, “AW, $#it is this microphone turned on?”

          • GMULAW2010

            I think there is a fundamental difference in the tax policy of dems and repubs. McCain hammers in that raising taxes on the top 5% as Obama wants to do will stifle job creation, whereas Obama hamemrs that giving mroe money to the middle class through tax cuts will spur the economy. Of course you can line up about a million economists on both sides to argue that they are right and they will show you all the charts and graphs possible.

            Problem with McCain’s argument is that we have had his tax policy for the last 8 years and the economy isn’t doing all that well. Jobs aren’t being created they are being lost. Furthermore, Obama’s plan will give tax credits to small businesses and businesses that stay in the US.

            Obama has done a very good job at not being labeled as the “tax and spend liberal” that McCain wants to paint him as and it is showing in polls that say he has an advantage on the economy and on taxes. He has been consistent with stating that 95% of Americans will get a tax cut.

            It has also inoculated him from this ridiculous “Socialism” charge. We have had a progressive tax that has been “spreadin’ the wealth around” for 90 years. Obama wants to shift where the taxes fall giving more tax cuts to the middle instead of the top. His taxes will increase the top 5% bracket from 36% to 39%, where it was during Clinton. The top 20-5% will not see a change from the Bush cuts, while the bottom 80% will see an actual tax cut, where the middle class will get about 3 times more then what McCain’s would be.

            I really find this “socialism” argument funny considering the $750 billion we are using to nationalize banks and buy stocks. Yet another reason why the public isn’t buying the charge.

          • cookcountyconservative

            Dear Employee:

            As a result of increased tax exposures the resulting reduction of money budgeted for all department areas,
            we are forced to cut down on our number of personnel.

            Under this plan, older employees will be asked to take early retirement,
            thus permitting the retention of younger people who represent our future.
            Therefore, a program to phase out older personnel by the end of the next
            fiscal year, via retirement, will be placed into effect immediately. This
            program will be known as S.L.A.P. (Severance of Late-Aged Personnel).

            Employees who are SLAPPED will be given the opportunity to look for jobs
            outside the company. SLAPPED employees can request a review of their
            employment records before actual retirement takes place.

            This review phase of the program will be called S.C.R.E.W. (Survey of
            Capabilities of Retired Elderly Workers). All employees who have been
            SLAPPED and SCREWED may file an appeal with upper management. This appeal
            is called S.H.A.F.T. (Study by Higher Authority Following Termination).
            Under the terms of this new policy, an employee may be SLAPPED once,
            SCREWED twice, but may be SHAFTED as many times as the company deems
            appropriate. If an employee follows the above procedure, he/she will be
            entitled to get: H.E.R.P.E.S. (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel’s
            Early Severance) or C.L.A.P. (Combined Lump sum Assistance Payment).

            As HERPES and CLAP. are considered benefit plans, any empl oyee who has
            received HERPES or CLAP will no longer be SLAPPED or SCREWED by the
            company. Management wishes to assure the younger employees who remain on
            board that the company will continue its policy of training employees
            through our: Special High Intensity Training ( S.H.I.T.).

            We take pride in the amount of SHIT our employees receive. We have given
            our employees more SHIT than any company in this area. If any employee
            feels they do not receive enough SHIT on the job, see your immediate
            supervisor. Your supervisor is specially trained to make sure you receive
            all the SHIT you can stand.

            And, once again, thanks for all your years of loyal service with us!

            Management

          • GMULAW2010

            Troll? No. A troll would be on here writing crazy liberal rants about how all you McCain supporters are a bunch of racists, fascists and everything else the crazies write on HuffPo. None of which I’m doing. Sorry for trying to elevate the debate. Mr. Hinz replied to my post with civility and intelligence considering the debate on taxes. So in regards to your taxes argument please see my reply to Mr. Hinz. Besides that, learn to respect differing opinions. You lose arguments by resorting to ad-hominem attacks.

          • janis

            So if the pointy little cap fits, you get to wear it. As soon as a moderator shows up, you got some ‘splainin’ to do–if you get the chance.

          • Vegas_Rick

            It is fact. Sorry if I hurt your feelings. My feelings are Obama supporters come into enemy territory at their own risk. I am not interested in elevating any discussion that serves to legitimize his candidacy, his lies, his socialist leanings, his policy changes since the end of the primaries, or pretty much anything about Obama.

            And I am certainly not interested in liberal opinions. :)

            I will continue to tell you folks how I feel until Moe tells me to quit.

          • David_Hinz

            and just woke up lat month?

            Please don’t give us the usual Talking-Point-o-Matic™ mantra about how bad the economy has been for the last 8 years because it is pure crap!

            DotCom Bubble? Inherited recession? 9-11 attack? Corporate Accounting Scandal? Housing Bubble? And STILL, 64 straight months of economic growth, with millions of jobs created over 8 years.

            AND, of course, each and every one of the economic hits began in the 1990s, and were aided and abetted by Democrat economic policies —

            As for Obama’s economic plan — ONLY an idiot believes you can bring DOWN oil prices by INCREASING TAXES on the oil companies. ONLY an idiot believes increased taxes on corporations will result in anything but FEWER jobs. As to his $3000 incentive to hire workers — a ONE YEAR tax break to hire someone that will cost the company thousands more than that.

            you have not made any case for Sen Obama’s economic prowess.

          • GMULAW2010

            I had written a huge response to this and then my browser reset. I posted Obama’s response to Khalidi at the bottom…so quickly…I see Wright as the only association that was of importance. The others are guilt by associations. If i picked apart everyone you knew in your life and then subscribed their actions to you; you would say I am being unfair and you would be right.

            I feel like a lot of his associations get simplified into one liners, like “pallin’ around with terrorists” that ridiculously distorts the relationship. Obama had nothing to do with Ayers’ terrorist actions and only worked with him on a bipartisan board meant to raise funding for public schools. You can say the same thing about McCain knowing Gordin Liddy or Palin giving a speech to AIP and her husband being a part of that group in the 90′s. Does Obama and his surrogates go there? No, because it is a distraction that is meaningless.

            Furthermore, nothing in Obama’s actions in life have ever conveyed a militant angry black who hates America. And if he is, if all the conspiracies brewing online are true, do you think that the Secret Service, FBI, CIA and NSA (that do background checks and debrief on national security issues) would allow a terrorist to become a Senator and to serve on the Foreign Relations Committee? Do you think that this same rogue Senator would then go on to run for President and be guarded by the Secret Service? Would this same presidential candidate then begin to get highly sensitive debriefings of material that general election candidates get to help with transition? No.

            Its insane to think that bloggers have done a better job at investigating Obama then the government and this is the pointy tin hat stuff that I’m talking about. Obama’s an American, christian, who loves this country and who thinks the Democratic Party has better policy positions. He’s not the Anti-Christ that people try to make him out to be.

            Now with Khalidi here is what Obama says about it at fightthesmears.com:
            Ugly insinuations about Barack Obama?s relationship with a former neighbor and university colleague, Rhashid Khalidi, are completely false.

            Barack?s record on Israel is clear: he strongly supports the U.S.-Israel relationship. He believes that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America?s strongest ally in the Middle East.

            Barack and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel?s right to protect its citizens. They have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems.

            Barack has nothing to hide: he has openly described his relationship with Rashid Khalidi:

            ?[Khalidi] is not one of my advisors; he?s not one of my foreign policy people. His kids went to the Lab school where my kids go as well. He is a respected scholar, although he vehemently disagrees with a lot of Israel?s policy?To pluck out one person who I know and who I?ve had a conversation with who has very different views than 900 of my friends and then to suggest that somehow that shows that maybe I?m not sufficiently pro-Israel, I think, is a very problematic stand to take?So we gotta be careful about guilt by association.?

            Bipartisanship ? getting along with people we disagree with ? is something we prize in our politicians. For example, Barack has been widely praised for working with conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn to pass a bill making government spending searchable over the Internet (Obama bio). So why should it be any different that Barack knows a respected scholar, former university colleague, and former neighbor who disagrees with him about Israel?

            Smears, insults, and innuendo about the nature of Barack?s relationship with Khalidi are completely unfounded. Guilt-by-association is always a questionable tactic.

          • GMULAW2010

            GMU is the account name and Nick is my actual name…didn’t you make a profile?

          • David_Hinz

            Furthermore, nothing in Obama’s actions in life have ever conveyed a militant angry black who hates America.

            “…a white man’s greed…” sound familiar? It came from one of Rev Wright’s sermons that Sen Obama did not hear… and he quoted in his memoir.

          • GMULAW2010

            My feelings are just fine.

  • markol

    I think we should send each member of congress a copy of the book “The Forgotten Man” by Amity Shlaes.

    • GMULAW2010

      Well here is that quote in all its contextual glory:
      “[T]he pastor described going to a museum and being confronted by a painting title Hope.

      ‘The painting depicts a harpist,’ Revernd Wright explained, ‘a woman who at first glance appears to be sitting atop a great mountaintop. Until you take a closer look and see that the woman is bruised and bloodied, dressed in tattered rags, the harp reduced to a single frayed string. Your eye is then drawn down to the scene below, down to the valley below, where everywhere are the ravages of famine, the drumbeat of war, a world groaning under strife and deprivation.

      It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks? greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere ? That?s the world! On which hope sits.’

      -He was quoting what Wright, a man brought up in a very different era, had said in describing a painting and not what he believed or what he believed the painting to mean. Describing what another believes does not mean you believe the same. The old guilt by association thingy.

      It would be the same as me saying:
      David Hinz believes that white men’s greed runs a world in need!
      -well I’d be wrong, because you are merely quoting what someone else wrote. I think Ann Coulter has done that to the New York Times

      There is lots of those out of context statements from Obama’s books on the internet. Here they are in full context: http://fightthesmears.com/articles/4/therealquote

      Obama is also half white, was brought up by his white mother and grandparents. To say he hates white people is patently ridiculous.

      • finaljeopardy

        As director of the Woods Fund board in Chicago Barack Obama granted Khalidi’s the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, $40,000 in 2001 and $35,000 in 2002. He has thrown dinner parties for Khalidi with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn where money was likely sent to the AAAN, as well, and Khalidi has held campaign fundraisers for Obama. One hand is clearly washing the other, though no nefarious motive can be ascribed to this. What we see from Obama’s associations is that he is comfortable with radical leftwing ideologues, presumably because he shares their world view.

        Americans have a choice in this election: a young, untested, ambitious, intelligent, far left Democrat who made his career by enabling the staus quo, playing to class warfare and racial strife and taking political graft and who believes in an expanded government. Or a war hero with a lengthy and distinguished record of public service who has given the correct response to the occasional crises involving our country over the years, has shown consistently sound judgment throughout the campaign, is respected by our allies and enemies alike and while having been in Washington for many years now, is not of Washington. McCain knows where the levers of power are located – and how to manipulate them – but he is not controlled by them. Huge difference between the two candidates and the direction they would lead the country.

        • finaljeopardy

          Feelings, nothing more than feelings,
          trying to forget my feelings of love.
          Teardrops rolling down on my face,
          trying to forget my feelings of love.

          These astroturfing lunatics don’t have feelings. They’re on a mission from God.

  • foresthunter

    I wonder what the results would look like without the socialist city in the mix.

    • Jill1066

      Hi, Nick. I see your point about Rev. Wright being the most significant association, but there’s also a matter of the number of these troubling people. Anyone can have one or two odd or distasteful people in the circle of acquaintances, but when there are quite a few it becomes a pattern.

      Unless he’s an extremely good actor, I don’t think Sen. Obama is motivated by the sort of hate and anger that clearly sits within Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger, Bill Ayers, Khalidi, etc. However, he certainly seemed to be very comfortable working and socializing with them. These were not casual associations. Obama was steered towards the Chicago Annenberg Challenge board by Bill Ayers. That represents his only executive experience, but he never talks about it because then he’d have to explain how he worked with Ayers to direct millions of dollars towards very left-wing educational projects that had more to do with encouraging students to be political activists than to learn math, science, etc. Chunks of money also went to Rev. Wright’s church. When he got into the IL state house he used his position to direct public money to some of his political supporters.

      Then there is the association with Acorn which is very disturbing. Obama trained Acorn employees, he represented the group in a lawsuit to intimidate a bank to make more loans to people who had questionable credit. That’s the kind of stuff that directly led to the current mortgage mess and our recent financial meltdown.

      When I consider all that with the fact that Obama chose Rev. Wright (a hateful, conspiracy theory spouting, Anti-American bigot) as his spiritual mentor, had Wright officiate at his wedding, attended his church for 20 years, and exposed his children to this man’s noxious influence – it’s very hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. Say what you will about Wright – he’s not a shy man or particularly inclined to conceal what he really thinks. It is not believable to me that Sen. Obama was unaware of Wright’s thinking and disgusting statements. Perhaps he didn’t share them, but he certainly did nothing to oppose them. That doesn’t give me much comfort that if elected president he would stand up against the worst impulses of his party to raise taxes, increase government control of the business market, and limit the intrusion of goverment into the lives of ordinary Americans.

      To some extent we are all known by the company we keep. He made a series of really poor choices.

      • persiflage

        <…nothing in Obama’s actions in life have ever conveyed a militant angry black who hates America…>
        the above allegation could be verified, if only the senator would reveal all of his records at Columbia, and Harvard, and his youth, and his Thesis, and…etc. Two years of campaigning, and we still don’t know this guy – except just what he wants us to believe about him. If you’ve got those records, get them out in the open and help your candidate with his transparency. At the moment, it’s getting a failing grade.

        • Jill1066

          Hi, Nick. You said ” …. Obama has done a very good job at not being labeled as the “tax and spend liberal” that McCain wants to paint him as and it is showing in polls that say he has an advantage on the economy and on taxes. He has been consistent with stating that 95% of Americans will get a tax cut. …”

          You’re right that Sen. Obama has been very consistent in saying that 95% of Americans will get a tax cut under his system. However, Sen. Obama is not being candid in that statement. A tax cut is when the rate of taxation is lowered so that people who fall into a tax bracket pay 33% instead of 35% (for example). A tax rebate is when you pay a tax and get a check that gives you a portion of the tax back. A tax credit is when you pay the government (X – credit amount) instead of X.

          95% of Americans do not pay income taxes. Approximately 38-40% of the population earns below a threshold level at which income tax kicks in. George W. Bush raised this threshold when he instituted his tax cuts so that now fewer people pay income taxes. So if 40% of the public doesn’t pay income tax then there’s no income tax to cut or rebate back to them.

          Sen. Obama’s campaign has attempted to claim that “everybody pays payroll taxes if they work so these folks are getting a tax cut based on that”. The problem with this is that they are not proposing to directly rebate the payroll taxes because that would further defund Social Security which is already headed for insolvency. If Sen. Obama doesn’t refund the payroll taxes then the “tax cut” for people who don’t pay income taxes has to come from general tax income. This means he’s planning to write them a check with money taken from other Americans who do pay taxes. That’s income redistribution.

          He says now that nobody making less that $250K needs to worry about this, but that will still hurt a lot of small businesses that employ a large chunk of the American work force. If things don’t work out the way he anticipates, what’s to stop him from deciding that the level should drop from $250K to $225K to $200K to….? You get the point. Income redistribution is a central tenet of socialism. That’s why there are many conservatives and moderates who believe Sen. Obama has leanings towards socialism.

          • EconExpert


            **No matter who wins we need to embrace the ideas presented in Steve Forbes’s recent article:
            ?How Capitalism Will Save Us? ? By Steve Forbes

            He discusses the real causes of our economic situation and the steps we need to do to get out of it. Forbes is one guy that I trust. He has had many years of experience in global markets.

          • hunter

            He has told us what he wants to do:
            Lose the war, collectivize the economy.
            He shown us what he does:
            Deal with crooks, racists and anti-American creeps.
            We know he deliberately set up his web-based fund raising to make it east circumvent the law.
            His actions on free speech and dissent speak volumes:
            He seeks to crush it.
            Yet you Obamatons are so full of blind faith that you confuse your projections of what he should do with what he has said and done.

          • hunter

            It is amazing that the court sealed records of his Senate opponent had to be opened up for the press.
            But total and effective secrecy of Obama’s transcript, health, University work, is maintained.
            That is only happening because the media is cooperating to keep it secret.

          • izoneguy

            Obama is a Pathological Liar

            Obama changes his story all the time.

            Obama will exaggerate and lie about everything, the smallest and easiest things to tell the truth about and the big serious things.

            What ever you do, Obama thinks he can do it better.

            Obama does not value the truth, and can often live in his own type of reality.

            Obama will act defensively when questioned or challenged, he sees his lies as not hurting anyone.

            Obama lies for sympathy or to seem better.

            Obama never owns up to his lies.

            Obama contradicts what he says, he loses track of the many lies told.

            Obama lies because he is insecure.

  • pinkonaut

    Do you think the Libs can beat the increase from five trillion to almost nine trillion that W led?