We have a new audio clip up:  "Obama's First Month."  You can hear it here.

THURSDAY,  MARCH 5,  2009

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, NOTHING TO SEE - AT 10:42 P.M. ET:  Do you sometimes get the feeling that Washington is just a series of reruns and revivals, where you get to see actors reprise their old roles? 

It seems that way, doesn't it?  Today, for example, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under golden oldie John Kerry, held a hearing on Iran.  And who were the stars?  Why, none other than those audience favorites, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmah Carter's failed national security adviser, and Brent Scowcroft, who had a similar track record under Bush 41.  And their advice?  Why, don't worry so much.  The biggest threat comes not from an Iranian nuclear bomb, but from the arms race that the bomb might start.

Hey guys, I'll worry first about the bomb, then about the arms race.  The bomb can be sailed into Baltimore harbor, and really ruin the season for the Orioles.  The arms race is a future abstraction.

These guys have been selling this line for years.  We have a fanatical regime in Iran, one with a religious vision of the world, where suicide is glory, and two  retreads are telling not to worry.  They also waxed philosophical about the good old days, and assured us that deterrence would work with Iran as it did with the former Soviet Union. 

Next week I expect to hear this Abbott and Costello act inform us that a weak country like Japan, with no natural resources, would never attack Pearl Harbor.  And they'd believe it. 

March 5, 2009  Permalink

DOW CLOSE - AT 4:02 P.M. ET:  Preliminary figures - The Dow closed down 282 points, to 6594.

DOW DIVING - AT 3:25 P.M. ET:  A half hour before the close, the Dow is down 281 points, to 6595.

MORE ON FREEMAN - AT 3:26 P.M. ET:  There are new developments in the case of Charles Freeman Jr., the dictator-loving diplomat named to head the sensitive National Intelligence Council.  We reported earlier today that, according to congressional sources, there'll be an independent investigation by the inspector general of Freeman's ties to Saudi Arabia.  He ought to include China as well.   

Now it appears that, despite the silence of the mainstream media, the controversy is escalating still further.  A spokeswoman for Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, says the White House has not yet "undertaken the typical vetting associated with senior administration assignments" and that Blair chose Freeman without White House approval.

Maybe, just maybe, the administration is backing away from this disgraceful appointment, and will hang it on Blair.

March 5, 2009   Permalink

BAD CALL - AT 3:14 P.M. ET:  From the New York Post:

Officials at the FBI's New York field office - the first line of defense in preventing another terrorist attack here - got so spooked by the threat of bad weather that they declared a "snow day" Monday, sources told The Post.

Millions of other New Yorkers with jobs unrelated to national security managed to trudge through the snow while the FBI stayed warm at home.

COMMENT:  Okay,  little humor, but someone should have a heart-to-heart with the guy who made that personnel call.

March 5, 2009  Permalink

CITI SLUMPS - AT 3:08 P.M. ET: 

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., once the world’s biggest bank by market value, dropped below $1 in New York trading for the first time as investors lose confidence the shares can recover after more than $37.5 billion in losses and a government rescue.

COMMENT:  I do my basic banking at Citi.  Next time I'm at my branch I'll remember to drop a few coins in the "something for the executives" box at the door.

March 5, 2009  Permalink

IN THE REAL WORLD - AT 3:04 P.M. ET: 

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea said it can’t guarantee the safety of South Korean civilian aircraft flying over its territory during U.S.-South Korean military exercises, describing the maneuvers as a “grave provocation” that may prompt a war.

“No one knows what military conflicts will be touched off by the reckless war exercises of the U.S. and the puppet clique for a war of aggression” against North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency said today in an e-mailed statement. “Security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side and its vicinity.”

COMMENT:  That's a pretty serious threat, essentially a threat to shoot down airliners, with their passengers aboard.  The secretary of state was recently in the region, and it's pretty apparent that her presence, and the arrival on Earth of The One in the White House, have not changed North Korean behavior.  Obviously, this is all because of BUSH (!!).

March 5, 2009  Permalink

DOW DUMPING - AT 3:01 P.M. ET: An hour before the close, the Dow is down 264, to 6612.

GEITHNER SPEAKS AGAIN - AT 2:59 P.M. ET:

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas producing companies should not receive federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks because their businesses contribute to global warming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Wednesday.

It was one of the sharpest attacks yet on the oil and gas industry by a top Obama administration official, reinforcing the White House stance that new U.S. energy policy will focus on promoting renewable energy sources like wind and solar power and rely less on traditional fossil fuels like oil as America tackles climate change.

COMMENT:  This is madness.  Look, I have no brief for oil and gas companies.  I don't own their stock.  I don't even know anyone who works for any of those firms.  I'm sure some of them have done nasty things.  (Texaco was once induced into sponsoring broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera because it would improve Texaco's so-so image.) 

But, for a century, oil and gas companies have provided this nation with remarkably cheap energy, making possible lifestyles that those in previous generations could only dream about.  Knifing them in the back, and disparaging what they do, is not helpful.  Basing these attacks on the "science" of global warming is especially unhelpful, as that "science" is coming under increasing criticism from responsible researchers.

March 5, 2009.  Permalink

DOW DOWN MORE - AT 11:19 A.M. ET:  The Dow is now down 208, to 6668, more than wiping out yesterday's gains.  Obama must have said something about the economy.

DOW DROPS - AT 11:00 A.M. ET:  The Dow is down 154, to 6721. 

BULLETIN - AT 8:37 A.M. ET: 

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp.'s auditors have raised "substantial doubt" about the troubled automaker's ability to continue operations, and the company said it may have to seek bankruptcy protection if it can't execute a huge restructuring plan.

The automaker revealed the concerns Thursday in an annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"The corporation's recurring losses from operations, stockholders' deficit, and inability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its obligations and sustain its operations raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern," auditors for the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP wrote in the report.

COMMENT:  Obviously, this is major economic news.  Look for a posible effect on today's stock market.  Long term, GM going bankrupt could have an impact that is as much psychological as economic.  It's like the Statue of Liberty losing her right arm.

March 5, 2009  Permalink

GOP MORE DIRECT - AT 7:56 A.M. ET:  The Republicans are becoming more confident about attacking President Obama personally.  From The Politico:

After tip-toeing around the popular new president for months, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has shifted gears and gone directly at President Barack Obama and the budget blueprint his White House unveiled last week.

"Look, it's the president's budget," Boehner said. "He sent it to the Hill."

"The president certainly remains popular, but his policies are becoming less and less popular," Boehner said, citing the continuing slide in the financial markets. "Certainly the stock market hasn't acted very well" since Obama's inauguration.

As the markets continue to falter, Republicans are becoming more confident in their criticisms of the president — some have already taken to using the phrase "the Obama economy."

COMMENT:  But Boehner acknowledged, and as we urged last night at The Angel's Corner, Republicans must come up with alternatives, not just criticize.  There must be a Republican program that the American people can see and feel.

March 5, 2009  Permalink

ENGLAND?  WHERE'S THAT AT? - AT 7:43 A.M. ET:  The press buzz continues in regard to the cool reception given British Prime Minister Gordon Brown by President Obama this week.  A poignant quote from Britain's leftish Guardian:

The idea of a "special relationship" between the US and Britain, above and beyond any other American alliance, is not just hackneyed. It is also, at this point, hollow and delusional. (Obama's as-if-by-rote recitation of the magic but ill-defined words yesterday does not alter this fact.) This does not mean that Britain is irrelevant: it is an important American ally, and is likely to remain so, especially at moments of crisis. But it is also one of several nations which fit that description.

COMMENT:  Sadly, that's about right in the age of Obama.  I'd be curious to see who does get a special greeting at the White House.

March 5, 2009   Permalink

PROGRESS ON FREEMAN - AT 7:39 A.M. ET:  We've been monitoring the bizarre appointment of Charles W. Freeman Jr. to head the sensitive National Intelligence Council.  Freeman, as Urgent Agenda readers know, never met a dictatorship he didn't like, and has apparently maintained close relations with some of the more accomplished oppressors, like the Chinese.

The Freeman scandal has been blacked out of virtually the entire liberal press, which may tell us something about modern liberalism's concern for human rights.  But a few outlets, like The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, and Fox News, have followed the tale.

Now, thanks to the efforts of several members of Congress, the Freeman appointment will apparently be probed, according to the reliable Eli Lake of the Washington Times:

An independent inspector general will look into the foreign financial ties of Chas W. Freeman Jr., the Obama administration's pick to serve as chairman of the group that prepares the U.S. intelligence community's most sensitive assessments, according to three congressional aides.

The director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, last Thursday named Mr. Freeman, a veteran former diplomat, to the chairmanship of the National Intelligence Council, known inside the government as the NIC. In that job, Mr. Freeman will have access to some of America's most closely guarded secrets and be charged with overseeing the drafting of the consensus view of all 16 intelligence agencies.

His selection was praised by some who noted his articulateness and experience as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a senior envoy to China and other nations. But it sparked concerns among some members of Congress from both parties, who asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's inspector general, Edward McGuire, to investigate Mr. Freeman's potential conflicts of interest.

So far, so good.  But without major press attention, chances are the appointment will go through.  The press disgrace here is as great as the disgrace of the appointment itself. 

By the way, Robert Gibbs, the White House news secretary, was asked about the Freeman nomination at a press briefing.  He said the White House was unfamiliar with Freeman's views.

Great vetting...again.

March 5, 2009.  Permalink

WEDNESDAY,  MARCH 4,  2009

MAKING AMENDS - AT 11:07 P.M. ET:  We've noted here that President Obama hardly went out of his way to make Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, feel welcome on Brown's visit to Washington this week.  And indeed, Obama's attitude toward things British has seemed aloof.  British discontent, and some serious sniping by American observers, has apparently produced some soul searching, as The Politico reports:

After taking flak for returning a bust of Winston Churchill, President Obama is giving some British mementos prominent homes in and near the Oval Office.

In a 10-minute phone call Wednesday, Obama thanked British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for dropping off the gifts Tuesday when he visited the White House, according to an official release. The unusually-detailed readout on the call said Obama has put a pen holder taken from the HMS Gannet on his Oval Office desk, known as the Resolute desk. The statement also said a first-edition biography of Churchill, the legendary World War II British premier, has been placed in the president’s private study just outside the Oval.

COMMENT:  We hope a lesson has been learned.  We expect the president to treat our friends better than he treats our enemies.

March 3, 2009  Permalink

TOUGH WORDS ON IRAN - AT 7:41 P.M. ET:  From The Jerusalem Post:

WASHINGTON - Israel is seriously considering taking unilateral military action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a report by top US political figures and experts released Wednesday.

The report also says Israel's time frame for action is growing shorter, not only because of Iranian advances, but because Teheran might soon acquire upgraded air defenses and disperse its nuclear program to additional locations.

The report, "Preventing a Cascade of Instability," was put out by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). It also argues that international sanctions against Iran need to be intensified urgently for the engagement the Obama administration is planning with Teheran to be effective.

COMMENT:  This comes as we're learning that Iran has far more fissionable material than we'd thought.  The White House talks a good game on Iran, but there really doesn't seem to be a great sense of urgency.  If Iran gets the bomb, it will be on Obama's watch, but he'll blame Bush.

March 4, 2009.  Permalink

MORE DEM QUESTIONS - AT 7:32 P.M. ET: 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's proposal to limit itemized tax deductions for high earners is running into opposition from key Democrats in Congress who worry that charities and the housing market would be hurt.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus questioned Wednesday whether the proposal was viable, a day after his House counterpart also expressed reservations.

COMMENT:  This follow our earlier reports of Democratic discontent.  The more thoughtful Democrats, the ones who actually read bills, own calculators and know how to use them, are raising serious questions.  So far there has been no response from the White House.

March 4, 2009.  Permalink

THEY ARE BUZZING - AT 1:43 P.M. ET:  ...about the shabby treatment British Prime Minister Gordon Brown received at the hands of President Obama in the last few days during Brown's trip here.  Dana Milbank of The Washington Post reviews the carnage:

Our British cousins are getting the feeling that the new administration doesn't fancy them.

The murmurs began when President Obama returned to the British Embassy the Winston Churchill bust that had been displayed in the Oval Office since Tony Blair lent it to George W. Bush.

The fears intensified when press secretary Robert Gibbs, announcing British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to the White House, demoted the Churchillian phrase "special relationship" to a mere "special partnership" across the Atlantic.

And the alarm bells really went off when Brown's entourage landed at Andrews Air Force Base on Monday night. Obama, breaking with precedent, wouldn't grant the prime minister the customary honor of standing beside him in front of the two nations' flags for the TV cameras. The Camp David sleepover that Blair got on his first meeting with Bush? Sorry, chaps. 

COMMENT:  Smart, real smart of President Obama.  Punish our friends, reward our enemies.  A few days ago a letter leaked in which Obama essentially offered to scrap missile defense for Eastern Europe if Russia would hold our hand on Iran.  Must have made the Czechs and Poles feel all warm and fuzzy. 

You'll notice that foreign countries, including allies, aren't exactly falling over themselves to praise the Obama foreign policy.  I suspect that numbness is more their attitude.  The One isn't the messiah after all

The Telegraph's Ian Martin, who is stationed in Washington, is so angry that he's ready to pull up the drawbridge: 

We get the point, sunshine: we're just one of many allies and you want fancy new friends. Well, the next time you need something doing, something which impinges on your national security, then try calling the French, or the Japanese, or best of all the Germans. The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps but beyond that you'll be on your own.

When it comes to men, munitions and commitment you'll soon find out why it pays to at least treat the Brits with some manners.

Hear!  Hear!

March 4, 2009.  Permalink.

       

DOW STILL UP - AT 1:30 P.M. ET:  The Dow is up 135, to 6861.  It's a modest rally, not quite the lightning bolt that some had hoped for. 

DOW UP - AT 9:40 A.M. ET:  The Dow is up 114, to 6841, at least initially confirming predictions of some strength today.  We'll see how long it lasts.

IRAN - THE TICKING CLOCK

Posted at 8:18 a.m. ET:

With all the "negotiations" talk filling the air, and soaking up space in the in-the-tank-for-Obama press, you'd never know there's a real world out there.  My friend Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi alerts us to a Wall Street Journal editorial that reminds us that the Iranian clock is always moving forward, never back, with grave implications for those who don't notice:

Mr. Obama is already trying to lure Russian help on Iran by offering to trade away hard-earned missile defense sites in Eastern Europe. Russia's President claims to be unimpressed. And now it turns out that the rate at which Iran's nuclear programs are advancing may render even negotiations moot.

Oh, but negotiations are never moot.  Even the League of Nations stayed in business during World War II.  Those were the days.

That's a fair conclusion from the latest report by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. Among other disclosures, the IAEA found that Iran has produced more than 1,000 kilograms of low enriched uranium (LEU), enough for a single bomb's worth of uranium after further enrichment. The IAEA also found that Iran had underreported its stock of LEU by about 200 kilograms, which took the agency by surprise partly because it only checks Iran's stockpile once a year. This is the basis for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Michael Mullen's weekend acknowledgment that the U.S. believes Iran has enough fissile material to make a bomb.

Not too many people seem overly concerned. 

That's not all. The IAEA says its inspectors have been denied access to a heavy water reactor in Arak, and that Iran has put a roof over the site "rendering impossible the continued use of satellite imagery to monitor further construction inside the reactor building." Most proliferation experts agree that the Arak reactor, scheduled for completion in 2011, can have no purpose other than to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

We're sure there's a mistake here.  They just wanted indoor tennis courts.

The report contains much more of this. It is the latest in a long line of reports that should have sounded alarms but instead have accustomed the world to conclude that a nuclear Iran is something we'll just have to live with.

Well, dearies, our Middle East Studies departments aren't expressing worry.  Why should we?

Well, not the entire world: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned last week that "time is slipping through our fingers" when it comes to stopping Tehran. "What is needed," he added, "is a two-pronged course of action which includes ironclad, strenuous sanctions . . . and a readiness to consider options in the event that these sanctions do not succeed."

Those alarmist Israelis again.

Nobody -- Mr. Obama least of all -- can doubt what Mr. Barak means by "options." Nor should the Administration doubt that an Israeli strike, however necessary and justified, could put the U.S. in the middle of a broader Middle East war. If Mr. Obama wants to avoid a security crisis in the first year of his watch, he will have to get serious about Iran now.

Well, let future generations take care of it, while they're paying off the debts we're handing them now.  What's one more problem?

March 4, 2009.      Permalink          

FREEMAN NOT HOME FREE - AT 7:30 A.M. ET:  As readers know, we've been following the bizarre appointment of Charles Freeman Jr. to head the National Intelligence Council, which prepares the sensitive National Intelligence Estimates.  Among other sins, Freeman approved China's Tiananmen Square Massacre, but said it wasn't tough enough, and has an ongoing love affair with Arab dictatorships, especially Saudi Arabia.  Some Republican members of Congress have spoken out.  Now another joins the dissenters.  From Fox News:

The ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee called on the Obama administration to withdraw its pick for the top intelligence analyst post, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Charles Freeman, a veteran diplomat and former senior Pentagon official, is expected to assume his new job as chairman of the National Intelligence Council in the coming weeks.

He has stirred controversy with several statements, including one in which he said the Chinese government acted too slowly to crack down on protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Mr. Freeman has also criticized American policies supporting Israel.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R., Mich.) said in an interview, "I hope that this is one that's withdrawn."

COMMENT:  This is an insane appointment.  It violates fundamental American values of support for democracy and opposition to dictatorships.  There are so many qualified people available for this post, so why choose this one?  That's the question that Congress should be asking.  What message does the administration want to send?  By the way, so far only the Murdoch-owned news organizations are giving the story any serious play.  Zip in The New York Times or the Washington Post.  What message does that send?

March 4, 2009  Permalink

SOME DEMS WORRY - AT 7:22 A.M. ET:  Not all Senate Democrats are sold on the president's economic plans.  Moderate Dems are starting to worry about the costs, and they often come from states where reelection can be tough.  The Politico reports:

Moderate and conservative Democrats in the Senate are starting to choke over the massive spending and tax increases in President Barack Obama’s budget plans and have begun plotting to increase their influence over the agenda of a president who is turning out to be much more liberal than they are.

A group of 14 Senate Democrats and one independent huddled behind closed doors on Tuesday, discussing how centrists in that chamber can assert more leverage on the major policy debates that will dominate this Congress.

Afterward, some in attendance made plain that they are getting jitters over the cost and expansive reach of Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget proposal.

COMMENT:  This is a major story.  Fourteen Democrats are almost a quarter of all the Dems in the Senate.  If they start defecting from the Obama plan, they can have a decisive influence.  The numbers don't lie.

March 4, 2009  Permalink

 
NOSTRADAMUS TYPE BULLETIN - AT 7:12 A.M. ET:

MOSCOW (AP) -- If you're inclined to believe Igor Panarin, and the Kremlin wouldn't mind if you did, then President Barack Obama will order martial law this year, the U.S. will split into six rump-states before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order.

Panarin might be easy to ignore but for the fact that he is a dean at the Foreign Ministry's school for future diplomats and a regular on Russia's state-guided TV channels. And his predictions fit into the anti-American story line of the Kremlin leadership.

COMMENT:  And Britney Spears will become secretary of defense.  And a conservative will win an Oscar.

March 4, 2009  Permalink

PERFECT WAY TO PUT IT - AT 7:01 A.M. ET:  From Michael Goodwin, in the New York Daily News:

For sheer chutzpah, it would be hard to top the scene on Capitol Hill yesterday. As Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner vowed to go after wealthy Americans who shield money in tax havens, the man wielding the chairman's gavel in the House Ways and Means hearing was Democrat Charlie Rangel.

Perfect together. Geithner and Rangel are two peas in a pod when it comes to dodging their own taxes, and neither is embarrassed about demanding others pay up.

Their certainty about what's good for the rest of us, combined with their sense of privilege about their own shady conduct, perfectly illustrates the real deficit in Washington. More than the budget gap, the trust deficit is causing doubts about President Obama's big-government grab.    

COMMENT:  Some new polls show increased concern about the Obama economic policies, although the president himself remains immensely popular.  We saw something of the same poll pattern during the Reagan administration.  Popular presidents tend to get reelected, even if the public has doubts about their policies.

March 4, 2009  Permalink