Daily Archives: June 1, 2012

Your Virtual Front Page, Friday, June 1, 2012

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Here’s a quick one, before your weekend:

  1. Struggling U.S. Economy Drags Down The World (NPR) — Gee whiz, NPR! Do you think you could freak us out any more than that?
  2. U.N. to investigate Syrian massacre (CNN) — And, perhaps more to the point, a senior U.S. diplomat has hinted at U.S. military action if things keep deteriorating, with or without international participation. (Which is to say, no matter what the Russians say.)
  3. Cyberattack against Iran was the work of U.S. and Israeli experts, officials say (WashPost) — Obama not only got bin Laden, he also apparently gave the thumbs-up for Stuxnet. He’s quite a wartime president, it seems. Assad should worry.
  4. US nuns reject Vatican criticism (BBC) — Mostly out of the spotlight (except for the way it has borne on the Obamacare debate), there’s been a growing tension between the nuns and the bishops, between the nuns and the Vatican. Just taking note of it here…
  5. Zimmerman’s bond revoked (The Guardian) — Judge says he wasn’t straight with the court about his assets. He has 48 hours to surrender.
  6. House ethics panel faces scrutiny (The State) — This is old, but it wasn’t a breaking story anyway. It’s a nice setup on what to watch for as the renewed Haley probe progresses. We’re seeing transparency play out in dramatic new ways in our General Assembly, and in a backhanded way, we have our governor to thank for it.

Then, suddenly, the economy got worse faster than you can say ‘Polish death camp’

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This hasn’t been a good week for Mr. Obama. First there was the “Polish death camp” thing that wouldn’t go away. (Hey, I understood what he meant, didn’t you? But just try explaining it to the Poles…)

Today, there’s this:

Worst U.S. Job Data in a Year Signals Stalling Recovery

A dismal job market report Friday gave a resounding confirmation to fears that the United States recovery has markedly slowed, reflecting mounting evidence of a global slowdown.

The report, which showed the smallest net job growth in a year and an unemployment rate moving in the wrong direction, was a political game-changer that bodes ill for President Obama as he faces re-election.

It provided traction for his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at a time when politicians have been deeply divided over the most effective way to strengthen the economy. And it put increased pressure on the Federal Reserve to take further action to stimulate growth.

The United States economy gained a net 69,000 jobs in May, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 in April, largely because more people began looking for work. And there was more unexpected bad news: job gains that had been reported in March and April were revised downward…

Yow. Now the president knows how John McCain felt when the economy got shot out from under him. OK, not that bad. But still not good.

What do y’all think? Is it a blip, or a negative trend? Because I remain convinced that the health of the economy depends in large part on what y’all — all 300 million or so of y’all — think about it. Yeah, there are some things we can’t help, like the Euro mess, but largely we have the ability to stimulate the economy by ourselves. Hey, that sounds kind of dirty, doesn’t it? Well, that’s not how I meant it. Or maybe I did. Talking about money stuff makes my mind wander…

Sympathy for the Devil: Clinton defends Romney

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I liked learning about this today:

Bill Clinton predicted Thursday that President Obama will win reelection this fall “by five or six points,” but the former president’s half-full look at the general election contest was overshadowed by his somewhat unexpected praise of Mitt Romney’s “sterling business career” as chief executive of Bain Capital.

“I don’t think that we ought to get into the position where we say ‘This is bad work. This is good work,'” Clinton said of the private equity industry during an interview on CNN, later adding that Romney’s time in both the private and public sector leaves no doubt he’d be capable of performing the “essential functions of the office.”…

Good for Bill. It’s nice to see someone depart from the SOP tactic of demonizing everything about the opposition.

You don’t have to think private equity managers — or, say, community organizers — are inherently a bad thing to prefer the other candidate.

As Republicans do to the president, too many Democrats want to portray their opponent as the devil. I appreciate Bill Clinton taking the time to run against that grain.

‘Hindsight’ has nothing to do with it

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Kathryn calls my attention to a piece at Salon written by a former Edwards campaign worker, which says in part:

It’s become customary in politically obsessed circles for observers to preen about how they knew that Edwards was bad news all along. His lawyerly ways! His sentimental stories about growing up working class! His hair! How could his silly supporters not see him for the philandering phony he so clearly was?

Of course, a quick perusal of the John Edwards of 2007 demonstrates that this sort of hindsight owes more to revisionist wishful thinking than a correct assessment of the evidence at the time….

Sorry, Amanda. You’ve got that wrong. There were no halcyon days when Edwards was great. Certain not in 2007. Here’s what I wrote about him then.

But you’ve pegged what I’ve thought going back to the 2004 campaign: “How could his silly supporters not see him for the philandering phony he so clearly was?” How, indeed? I used to wonder at it, and worry over it a good bit.

And I may agree with her that his trial was a waste of time and money. Justice was done with regard to John Edwards some time back. All the nation needs to know is that he’ll never hold high public office again, and that’s assured.

The piece ends:

Even those who’ll never be able to forgive Edwards for nearly destroying his legacy should be grateful for the good sense shown by the jury today. Let’s hope the Justice Department takes their lead and lets this one go.

What legacy?