Here’s TPM Alum Greg Sargent’s first post at his new blog at Whorunsgov.com, the new site started by Wapo.
Experts we’ve talked to think Obama’s executive order yesterday on presidential records could seriously impair former President Bush’s ability to assert executive privilege on his own — and may have an immediate impact on ongoing litigation where executive privilege has been raised, including in the House’s lawsuit to get White House records of the U.S. attorney firings.
At least one of the Senate GOP culprits behind the delays on the confirmations of EPA nominee Lisa Jackson and Council on Environmental Quality nominee Nancy Sutley has been fingered: It’s Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY).
Think about it for a minute. This is the Republican Party circa 2009: pro-torture and pro-global warming. This is what they’re staking their claims on. And willing to obstruct a wildly popular new President in the midst of not just a national economic crisis, but a convergence of international crises of which economic collapse is just one.
Democrats should take this and run with it and run hard. If the GOP wants to be a remnant party of dead-enders usually found in the backwoods of Idaho, go for it. But Democrats need to remind the American people of this over and over and over again, no matter how self-evident it may seem now.
This is a chance to shape a generation’s perception of the opposition, and I say that fully cognizant of how that power can be used and misused. Dems are riding high now, and its easy at this moment to dismiss the GOP. But they do so at their own peril. The GOP is reeling, on its heels, flailing desperately for how to retain its relevance and political viability. Now is when you seize the advantage and hammer these points home again and again and again.
Rinse and repeat.
Late Update: Yet another example of the kinds of games the GOP is content to play. Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) suggests sending Gitmo detainees to Alcatraz, in Nancy Pelosi’s district. (Actually, as I read it, he suggests that San Francisco really isn’t part of America, so let’s send them there, etc.)
Cheney: Scooter Libby was the “victim of a serious miscarriage of justice” and Bush should have pardoned him.
A lib-leaning advocacy group sent out a press release just now mildly critical of the Obama Administration (not even critical, so much as pushing for more) with the following note:
(Weird trying to find the right tone–this is all so new!)
Indeed.
Reader with experience on Wall Street writes in:
You really should take a look at disclosure this morning regarding the payment by Merrill Lynch of $3-4 billion in bonuses in late December, just ahead of the closing of the acquisition by Bank of America.
John Thain, former head of Merrill and now formerly with BofA (fired today), paid the bonuses earlier than they are normally paid (late January, February) because he knew that once the BofA deal closed, he would be unable to “reward” all those hardworking Merrill bankers and traders who lost a mere $27 billion in 2008 ($15 billion in just the fourth quarter), and whose company needed an injection of another $10 billion of government capital and $118 billion of government backstops in order to convince BofA to follow through with the 12/31/08 acquisition. Without that capital and backstop, no BofA deal, and certain bankruptcy for Merrill and its fine crew of bankers and traders.
I worked on Wall Street for 15 years, and was laid off late last year. I can tell you this for sure: you don’t need to pay a dime in bonus to anyone on Wall Street these days. I know this firsthand: there’s nowhere to go!
Where would a Merrill banker unhappy with a donut for a bonus go? Lehman? Bear? Bank of America? There are no jobs on Wall Street, there are no jobs on Main Street (and certainly none that will even pay close to what these guys earn just in salary; my salary alone put me in the 99+ percentile in income).
These guys aren’t going to leave Merrill because of no bonus to become CEOs, law firm partners, or MLB shortstops. They’ll do what every single person I know on Wall Street that still has a job: they’ll keep their heads down and hope the next round of layoffs doesn’t include them.
One last thing: this is, I think, would be a perfect situation for Obama to discuss specifically. Merrill bankers and traders making off with $3-4 billion days before taxpayers are “required” to put up another $128 billion in capital and backstops, thanks to the fine work of those bankers and traders? Come on…enough is enough.
A reader checks in from Interior:
Just wanted to let you guys know that there was an all-hands meeting with the new Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, at 11am today.
The bullet points are:
– Ethical misconduct and criminal acts by Bush political appoints spoiled image of department.
– We want to be held to the highest standards of ethics and accountability.
– We will respect the scientific process
– There is the possibility that we will form a basketball team and take on the White House. Though Sec. Salazar noted that he has to be careful, as he “serves at the pleasure of the president.”Secretary Salazar was extremely well received, with a fairly open Q&A session following his speech. My first impression of him is that he seems to be a highly qualified, and a genuinely nice guy to boot. He also seems to have brought with a group of extremely qualified people. I’ll wait and see, as always. It was a really heartening meeting though; everyone seems very excited. It feels like a return to rational governance.
Could an executive order issued by President Obama make it more likely we’ll see key documents on the US Attorney firings — and other issues — that the Bush White House has been fighting to keep secret? Could be…
Full-size video at TPMtv.com.