A new Quinnipiac poll indicates that Americans view these topics as priorities for the President-Elect:
Not quite, but close enough.
Step right up! Step right up for some of P.T. Paulson’s magical elixir. It cures sluggish lending, bad debts, economic constipation, why it even pulls the tractor trailers right up to the back gate of the Treasury so we can clear it out by January 20th, 2009 when those other suckers get to take over this lousy job. Get ‘em while they’re hot boys! $10 billion here! $20 billion there! Banks, insurance companies, car companies, who cares? You’re the CEO of Carpeteria? Well, all those folks who didn’t make their mortgage payments, but will still get to stay in their homes anyway–they are going to need new carpets sooner or later. We don’t want you to have an inventory crisis! Here’s $20 billion, how’ll that hold ya? It’s almost Christmas folks. Uncle Henry has got a little something for the stocking this year. How about $10 billion. That should let you take your gal out to a nice dinner and take in a movie, eh?
What’s this? Mayors looking to me for handouts? So they can fix some bridges and roads and hospitals? Look, buddy, why don’t you go talk to a bank about taking out a loan for that type of thing. Can’t you just float a bond? Do you think I’m a miracle worker just because I have $700 billion to blow in less than two months and I can blow it any way I want? My banker friends have to earn a living. How are they gonna keep their private jets flying when troublemakers like you want to butt in and take away their livelihood?
With the World Series between my hometown Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays happening so close to the Presidential election, I can help but confabulate them in my mind. Philadelphia hasn’t won a professional sports championship since 1983. Each of the four major sports teams (Flyers, Sixers, Phillies and Eagles) have made it to the finals, but none has won it all since the ‘83 Sixers with Moses Malone and Dr. J.
Pennsylvania has also not gone to a Republican Presidential candidate for the last four elections. This time around, it will be five in a row for the Democrats. Obama will take Pennsylvania. To win PA, you have to win Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Obama will win both big cities (Philadelphia and Allegheny counties) by a huge margin, so large that it won’t matter much what happens in the rest of the state (OK, add the densely populated bobo suburbs and it won’t matter that McCain wins the 55 rural counties in PA)
Will the Phillies also continue the pattern of losing in the championship? I like their chances of winning for a lot of reasons (the exact opposite reasons I cited in my criticism of the team when they were slumping earlier in the season). I keep hearing commentators and sports writers say “Jimmy Rollins sets the table.” I hate that metaphor. The truth is Jimmy Rollins sets the agenda; he sets the tone. He is literally the leader of this team. He bats first. When he scores, they usually win. Whether he hits a lead-off home run (as he did in the elimination playoff games against the Brewers and the Dodgers) or walks or gets a hit, when he’s on base the Phillies chances of winning are better than they are with him in the dugout. Rollins may write the plan for success, but it’s Ryan Howard who executes it. Rollins may be the President of this company, but Howard is the Chairman and CEO. How does a player lead the league in strikeouts and errors for his position and also lead the league in home runs and RBI? He’s larger than life. He’ll need to drive in runs for the Phillies to win. Shane Victorino has surprisingly carried the load in RBI with 11 thus far in the postseason. Toward the end of the Dodgers series, Howard was getting a lot of hits–singles and doubles. The Phillies may hit a few long balls, but everyone knows that to win the World Series you have to have great pitching and you have to manufacture runs. If the top of the order gets on base and moves runners into scoring position, singles and doubles by Howard will get runs in and the Phillies will win–that is, if their pitching holds up.
The Phillies pitching has been good throughout the playoffs with the exception of Jamie Moyer, who lost twice. However, Cole Hamels and Brett Myers have had plenty of bad games this year. If they can hold the Rays to three runs or less, I like the Phillies chances. If they have an off day and give up six or seven runs, I’ll be worried. The Phillies have the bats to win games 12-10, but you can’t depend on out-slugging the other team when your pitchers are throwing slow-motion pomegranates right down the middle of the plate. That’s like being one of those basketball teams that wins by hitting 60% of their 3-pointers. The problem is no team can do that four times in a seven-game series. The Phillies aren’t going to score double-digit runs in four of these games. They’ll need to win a few games 2-1 or 3-2. Their pitching will need to shut down the Rays. They’ll need to play small-ball and use their speed to steal bases and capitalize on sacrifices.
The World Series is going to be close. Obama might as well cheer for the Rays. He’s going to have a harder time winning Florida than Pennsylvania.
Incidentally, in case anyone interprets this as support for McCain/Palin, know this: I would sooner have my head chewed off by a gila monster than vote for McCain. I’m voting for Obama. I’m pissed off that he voted for that crazy unconstitutional FISA bill, but I also realize that he is doing what he needs to do politically to win. He said he was going to take his lumps for that vote, and I’m giving him his lumps. And while I think Biden will be a competent VP and has strong and well-earned foreign policy credentials, I also find him to be something of a blowhard and I really do think he is looking like that strange Agnew-Byrd morph.
It will be curious to see if President Obama is willing to give up any of the “unitary executive” power grabs that the Bush Administration has taken for the past 8 years. My guess is that he’ll keep as much power as possible in the executive branch. He’s never going to say, “Now that I’m the executive-in-chief, I’m going to reduce the power of the executive branch.” That’s just the nature of Presidents. Some of it will also be payback.
Of Obama’s acceptance speech, Rove said he thought it was underwhelming given the venue. “I think that this was a speech that was not worthy of the venue, and an eminently memorable venue with an eminently forgettable speech,” said Rove.
I think that [Bush’s] was a [presidency] that was not worthy of the venue, and an eminently memorable venue [The White House] with an eminently [disgraceful presidency].
Tuesday Night: Bear Hunting Night!
Wednesday Night: Walleye Night (and fish fry with Sarah Palin)
Thursday Night: Hockey Fights! Republicans settle their internal differences with a good old-fashioned donnybrook on the convention floor. The gun-toting Sarah Palin will officiate. Special guest appearance by Levi “Fuck with me and I’ll kick your ass” Johnston and Minnesota’s own Al Franken.
Biden’s team is currently working on a rebuttal to Rove’s comment. Current possibilities:
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