GM's Shares Tumble on Rising Cash Concerns (JOHN D. STOLL and SHARON TERLEP, 11/10/08, Wall Street Journal)
General Motors Corp. stock fell to its lowest level since 1946 as concern intensified that the auto maker could run out of cash and be forced to file for bankruptcy protection.The stock's decline came as several analysts issued dire reports about GM and the company acknowledged in a government filing it could be at risk of violating the terms of some of its debt if it doesn't steady its deteriorating finances by year's end.
A violation of the debt covenants, GM said in the filing late Friday, would give lenders the right to demand repayment of $6 billion, a sum that potentially could cripple the car maker's ability to stay in business.
GM and sympathetic lawmakers boosted their calls Monday for the federal government to bail out the company. In return for aid, lawmakers in Congress have suggested the government could seek to take a stake in the company, limit executive compensation and require GM to speed the introduction of fuel-efficient vehicles
Obama Is Expected to Put Education Overhaul on Back Burner (ROBERT TOMSHO and JOHN HECHINGER, 11/11/08, Wall Street Journal)
Critics of the Bush administration's education policies had hoped that putting a Democrat in the White House would mean dramatic changes, including the potential scrapping of the No Child Left Behind law and its reliance on standardized testing, as well as more federal dollars for schools.But with the financial crisis and other priorities bearing down, President-elect Barack Obama's education initiatives -- at least early in his term -- are expected to be more about tinkering than bold change.
President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party.
President-elect Barack Obama is leaning toward asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his position for at least a year, according to two Obama advisers. A senior Pentagon official said Mr. Gates would likely accept the offer if it is made.
Obama to fulfil promise and shut Guantanamo (Leonard Doyle, 11 November 2008, Independent)
Mr Obama's plans for Guantanamo inmates should see most detainees, against whom there is little or no evidence, being released to their home countries after years in legal limbo. Others will face prosecution in US criminal courts. One problem for those courts will face is deciding whether evidence from anonymous intelligence sources or obtained without any legal process can be taken into account. Some Guantanamo inmates suffered torture or other abusive treatment at the hands of CIA interrogators either at the prison or after they were picked up in security sweeps in Afghanistan or Pakistan. A few have been through the controversial military commissions process, from which even prosecutors have resigned. The US Supreme Court has several times rebuked the Bush administration for its handling of the detainees.
In late July, I visited that country to see what happened to the first two Guantanamo detainees returned there. The picture is bleak. Tunisian authorities held both Abdallah Hajji and Lotfi Lagha for several weeks in tiny isolation cells after the United States flew them from Guantanamo on June 18. Each is facing serious charges of terrorism before Tunisian courts whose proceedings are anything but fair. Hajji told his lawyer that upon arrival police deprived him of sleep for 48 hours, threatened to rape his wife, and slapped him until he signed a statement he was not able to read. Tunisian authorities deny he was mistreated but won't let him be seen by any independent monitor in a position to comment publicly. [...]
Hajji says he would have preferred to remain in Guantanamo had he known that Tunisia would jail and retry him, according to his lawyer. For five weeks he was in a cell he described as a "tomb" so dark that he could not tell day from night, and was forbidden all contact with other inmates. In August, authorities moved him to a cell with two other inmates.
Iran economists denounce Ahmadinejad's policies: In an open letter they say Iran faces deep economic problems, including stunted growth, double-digit inflation and widespread unemployment, contradicting recent statements by officials. (Borzou Daragahi, November 10, 2008, LA Times)
A group of 60 Iranian economists Sunday condemned the economic policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and contradicted recent boasts by Tehran officials who said the Islamic Republic has been successfully weathering the global financial crisis.In a 30-page letter quoted by several newspapers and state-run television and published on the website of the independent Iranian Labor News Agency, the economists say Iran is in dire economic straits and must drastically change course. The letter also says Ahmadinejad's "tension-creating" foreign policy has "scared off foreign investment and inflicted heavy damage" on the economy.
"Meager economic growth, widespread jobless rate, chronic and double-digit inflation, crisis in capital markets, government's expansionary budget, disturbed interaction with the world, inequity and poverty have combined with the global economic downturn to leave undeniably big impacts on exports and imports," the letter says.
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Democrats Have G.O.P. to Thank, at Least in Part (JOHN HARWOOD, 11/10/08, NY Times)
In the battleground state of Ohio, where Mr. Kerry lost the presidency to George W. Bush, the 2.74 million votes he received almost precisely matched Mr. Obama’s 2008 total. Mr. Obama won because John McCain received 300,000 fewer votes than Mr. Bush did.
A Change in the Changes on Obama’s Web Site (Adam Graham-Silverman, 11/10/08, CQ)
On Nov. 7, global health advocates noticed that some of the details of Obama’s “fight global poverty” statement had been removed. Specifically, the site no longer promised to fully fund debt cancellation for the world’s poorest countries or provide the full U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. [...]By this morning, all of the issue-specific pages on the transition site had been removed from the agenda section. In its place, a statement that mentioned details but provided none at all: “The Obama Administration has a comprehensive and detailed agenda to carry out its policies.”
Worse Than Bush? (Ted Galen Carpenter, 11.07.2008, The National Interest)
It is on the issue of humanitarian intervention, though, that Obama’s attitude—and that of some of his likely foreign policy appointees—is most worrisome. His article, “Renewing American Leadership,” in the July/August 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs included a dubious and troubling assumption. He insisted that “the security and well-being of each and every American depend on the security and well-being of those who live beyond our borders. The mission of the United States is to provide global leadership grounded in the understanding that the world shares a common security and a common humanity.” That assumption about the alleged indivisibility of destinies is not materially different from the sentiments that President Bush expressed in his second inaugural address: “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.”But that assumption is both erroneous and dangerous. Taken to its logical conclusion, it means that America can never be safe or prosperous unless the dozens of chronically misgoverned countries are (somehow) transformed into free, democratic states. That is a blueprint for endless nation-building missions and perpetual war. Given the strains created by the recent debacle in America’s financial system, it is also an ambitious mission that American taxpayers can ill-afford.
Although it is hard to imagine, Obama’s foreign policy could prove even worse than that of the Bush administration. He flirts with the notion that the guiding principal of U.S. foreign policy should be to promote, defend and enforce respect for “human dignity” in the world. As an operational concept, such a standard would have to improve several notches just to reach vacuous. At best, it would entail Washington becoming the nag of the planet, constantly hectoring other governments to improve their behavior. At worst, it could become an excuse for lavish foreign-aid expenditures and military interventions to protect the downtrodden in failed states or even in functioning countries with repressive regimes. Yet most of the probable arenas for such interventions entail little or no connection to America’s tangible interests. Instead, this country would embark on expensive and potentially dangerous humanitarian crusades that would bleed America’s armed forces and drain the treasury.
Ex-Dodgers star Roe passes away: 'Preacher' named Pitcher of the Year by Sporting News in 1951 (Ken Gurnick, 11/09/08, MLB.com)
Left-hander Preacher Roe, a five-time All-Star who pitched for the Dodgers in three World Series, died Sunday night from colon cancer. He was 92.Roe played for the Cardinals and Pirates before being acquired by Brooklyn's Branch Rickey in 1948. He went 22-3 in 1951, when The Sporting News named him pitcher of the year. He went 93-37 as a Dodger, threw a 1-0 shutout over the Yankees in the 1949 World Series, a complete-game victory in the 1952 World Series and had a 2.54 ERA in five World Series appearances.
He retired to run a supermarket in Missouri after the 1954 season with a career mark of 127-84, 3.34 ERA and 101 complete games.
Roe transitioned from a hard-thrower in his early years to a crafty finesse pitcher during his most successful seasons, although in a 1955 Sports Illustrated interview he admitted to throwing a spitball.
Obama and the War on Brains (NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, 11/09/08, NY Times)
Barack Obama’s election is a milestone in more than his pigmentation. The second most remarkable thing about his election is that American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual. [...]Granted, Mr. Obama may have been protected from accusations of excessive intelligence by his race. [...]
As Mr. Obama prepares to take office, I wish I could say that smart people have a great record in power. They don’t. Just think of Emperor Nero, who was one of the most intellectual of ancient rulers — and who also killed his brother, his mother and his pregnant wife; then castrated and married a slave boy who resembled his wife; probably set fire to Rome; and turned Christians into human torches to light his gardens.
James Garfield could simultaneously write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other, Thomas Jefferson was a dazzling scholar and inventor, and John Adams typically carried a book of poetry. Yet all were outclassed by George Washington, who was among the least intellectual of our early presidents.
Yet as Mr. Obama goes to Washington, I’m hopeful that his fertile mind will set a new tone for our country. Maybe someday soon our leaders no longer will have to shuffle in shame when they’re caught with brains in their heads.
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Obamaism: It’s a kind of religion. But one rooted in a deep faith in rationality. Last week, New York rejoiced in its promise. And sang the National Anthem in the streets. (Kurt Andersen, Nov 9, 2008, New York)
However, from now until Inauguration Day is the last moment when so many of us in New York will feel so happily synchronized and united. Enjoy it while you can. Just as the trauma after 9/11 had a half-life, and then accelerated as no further attacks occurred, so will the euphoria over President Obama begin to fade on January 21, and accelerate when no unicorns and rainbow bridges and candy-cane trees appear during 2009 or, experts expect, 2010. In his victory speech last Tuesday night, his rhetoric was as well modulated as ever, balancing the goose-bumpy yes-we-cans with a prudent, rational, buzz-killing reminder that he and we must now deal with several gargantuan messes that won’t vanish when the Republicans leave Washington. And even though he may turn out to be, thanks to armed Islamic extremism and economic disarray, the 21st century’s FDR, if we can please avoid another Great Depression and the equivalent of World War II, I’ll be happy if he’s nothing more than a Democratic Ronald Reagan.We need to manage our reactions and moods as the Obama miracle turns into just … a presidency. On the one hand, we need to look at the way the Hannitys and Limbaughs and Coulters behaved during the six years that Republicans ran Washington, and avoid becoming their irritating mirror images. And on the other hand, when Obama winds up governing more from the center than the left—as he’s promised to do all along—we have to ignore the ideologues and chronic complainers among us who will scream betrayal! when he hasn’t withdrawn from Iraq quickly enough, doesn’t simply free all the terrorists from Guantánamo, supports offshore drilling and nuclear power and non-union-approved experiments in public education. We need to abandon the default impulse to oppositionism, and not let our habit of the last several years congeal and continue as a kind of neurotic imperative to whine. Of course, from the point of view of political cynicism (of which the president-elect has a healthy amount), some left-wing opposition would be useful to the Obama administration, because it will help persuade the center and the sane right that he is not such a wild-eyed lefty after all.
And is he not, in fact? I don’t think so, but all the Obama voters I know, from a Park Slope Noam Chomskyite to a red-state Republican friend of Laura Bush’s, think that Obama is their president-elect. What precisely will Obamaism turn out to be? A lot of New York types have always professed horror that people voted for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush because they “liked” them, had positive gut feelings about them. Yet in the end we, too, voted for what we take to be Obama’s elegant, clear-eyed, unruffled temperament and personality.
Wash Post concedes bias for Obama: Examines past stories, photos (Jennifer Harper, November 10, 2008, Washington Times)
On Sunday, The Washington Post's ombudsman, Deborah Howell, offered evidence of an "Obama tilt" in her own newspaper."Readers have been consistently critical of the lack of probing issues coverage and what they saw as a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama. My surveys, which ended on Election Day, show that they are right on both counts," Ms. Howell wrote in her column.
"Now Howell gives the mea culpa in her first column after Election Day, when it's far too late to do anything about it. Where was Howell during the last three months? Why wait until the election is over to speak up? That's an answer in itself," countered Ed Morrissey of Hot Air.
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A New Specter: Deflation (Robert J. Samuelson, November 10, 2008, Washington Post)
Until recently, the idea that deflation -- the decline of most prices -- was possible, let alone a potential economic danger, seemed outlandish. If anything, inflation was the threat. Led by rising oil and food prices, it was increasing in most countries. But in the past two months, deflation has suddenly become conceivable, and, though still a long shot, it's much more menacing than most people realize. The most urgent economic task for Barack Obama and other world leaders is to prevent the long shot from happening.A mild deflation -- like a mild inflation -- would be barely noticeable, and even pleasurable. Who doesn't like lower prices? But beyond a few percentage points, deflation can create economic havoc by forcing debtors to repay loans in more expensive money and causing consumers to postpone purchases.
Train travel on track for a large push: Going by rail is gaining favor amid high fuel costs. Plans in the state and elsewhere may encourage more use. (Joan Lowy, November 10, 2008, LA Times)
After half a century as more of a curiosity than a convenience, passenger trains are getting back on track in some parts of the country.The high cost of fuel, coupled with congestion on highways and at airports, is drawing travelers back to trains not only for commuting but also for travel between cities as much as 500 miles apart.
Last week, Californians approved Proposition 1A to sell nearly $10 billion in bonds to get going on an 800-mile system of bullet trains that could zip along at 200 mph, linking the Bay Area and Southern California and the cities in between.
In the Midwest, transportation officials are pushing a plan to connect cities in nine states in a hub-and-spoke system centered in Chicago.
The public is far ahead of policymakers in recognizing trains as an attractive alternative to cars and planes, said Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
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Fraser Nelson reviews the week in politics (The Spectator, 11/09/08)
There was something almost comic about Gordon Brown and David Cameron’s rush to associate themselves with Barack Obama’s victory, each offering their own quite different interpretation. The Prime Minister declared that people are looking to government to help them during the economic downturn. The Conservative leader, with no less confidence, asserted that people are obviously hungry for change. But neither British party leader will have felt comfortable with the slogan which the Democrats were pushing in every swing state until the last possible minute: ‘Obama-Biden for tax cuts’.The Conservative leadership persuaded itself some time ago that elections are not won with such a message. The view, held in some Cameroon quarters with almost religious fervour, is that the British thrice rejected tax cuts and should not be offered them again. When George Osborne’s political capital was greater, he would speak about ‘educating the party’ on the issue of tax cuts. Yet at the last Tory conference, I met some delegates only half-joking about an ‘educating the Osborne’ session, in which they would teach the shadow chancellor how to fight a spendthrift government with a tax-cutting message.
Mr Obama has just given a rather spectacular lesson in how to do it. While John McCain seemed a little squeamish about his offer of tax cuts (which would, after all, increase the deficit) Mr Obama was utterly unapologetic. It became one of his core pledges to America, placed at the heart of every major speech and rally address — and it had a galvanising effect. When asked which of the candidates was the ‘real’ tax-cutter, polls showed that Mr Obama beat Mr McCain three to one — even though the Republican plan was, in fact, the better-formulated and further-reaching of the two. Obama thus stole a key issue from his rivals, as George W. Bush once did with education, and Bill Clinton with welfare reform.
Red, white and true blue: City hoists Old Glory: Stores see star-spangled sales (ANDREA JAMES AND KERY MURAKAMI, 11/06/08, Seattle P-I)
Barack Obama's presidential win held a poignant significance for liberal Seattleites: This is their America, too.The feeling was evident in jubilant partying in the streets, in quiet moments of reflection and in blossoms of red, white and blue.
With newfound patriotism, Seattleites want to wave the flag, hang it from their homes and stick it on their cars.
"The thing that's kind of astounding to me is I never ever would have cared to own a flag," said Rosemary Garner, 42. "This is the first day in my life I actually feel this funny sense of pride about my country. It's a very foreign feeling, but it's a good one."
Garner, a self-described "flag virgin" who lives on Capitol Hill, bought eight flags Wednesday -- some to wave and others to stick on her car to "mix and match with some nice Obama and peace signs. Then I bought a couple of flags for some friends who wanted to hang them from their truck along with their biodiesel stickers." [...]
At All the King's Flags in Ballard, people have been snatching up American flags.
"Just today I've had a noticeable rush on U.S. flags," said James Sawyer, assistant manager. "I had a lady come in and she said she's happy to be an American again, that's why she was buying a flag."
Of a dozen customers, one had supported McCain and worried about rising taxes, but everyone else was upbeat, manager Alex White said.
While flag waving is normal in some parts of the country, the Stars and Stripes haven't been so ubiquitous in Seattle.
"People around here don't fly flags like they do on the East Coast," said Seattle flag maker Carol Anderson, who hails from Rhode Island but has lived in Seattle for seven years.
We're with Karl Rove:
O'REILLY: All right. Are you worried about Obama? Are you worried about this man?ROVE: Look, I think…
O'REILLY: Come on, tell me the truth as an American, not as a pundit, not as a…
ROVE: Let me tell you what I feel as an American. First, as an American, I love my country and I want my president to succeed.
O'REILLY: So you want him to succeed…
ROVE: I want him to succeed.
O'REILLY: ...even though he's in the other party.
ROVE: That's right. Look, I was there when a president came in whom a lot of people in this country said, we don't think he's president, we will never accept him as legitimate. And I saw how bad it was for the country.
O'REILLY: The Bush haters.
ROVE: The Bush haters. And so I don't want to be one of those. I want to be a person who says I want our new president-elect to succeed. When he takes that oath of office after January 20, it's the obligation of every American to give him a chance. And we agree with him when we think he's right. We hope he's open to persuasion if his mind is open and not made up. And when he's wrong, we do have an obligation to say with all due respect we disagree. [...]
ROVE: And look, but here's the point. Now he's got the job. And we got to — every American hope that he is and pray for and support him in being up for the job.