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Obama re-opened a trade war with Mexico. WSJ’s O’Grady has the story.
When G-20 finance ministers met in England over the weekend to discuss a way out of the global financial crisis, the group pledged to eschew trade protectionism.
That sounds good. But some of the governments represented at the meeting aren’t walking the walk on global commerce at home. Instead they’re taking the side of special interests that want to weaken foreign competition. One culprit that comes to mind is the U.S.
In violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. last week again closed its southern border to any Mexican trucks additional to those with existing permits. It did so on the usual grounds that Mexican trucks are unsafe, even though that hoary claim has been demolished by extensive testing. But Congress and President Barack Obama are catering to the Teamsters union, which has spent more than a decade lobbying to keep Mexican competition off U.S. highways.
Candidate Obama ran for president as a protectionist, with a special emphasis on a promise to block ratification of U.S. free trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia. Big Labor was a big giver to Mr. Obama’s campaign and he owes it big time. Last week he began paying up. …
Michael Goodwin says more and more people are having Obama doubts.
Not long ago, after a string of especially bad days for the Obama administration, a veteran Democratic pol approached me with a pained look on his face and asked, “Do you think they know what they’re doing?”
The question caught me off guard because the man is a well-known Obama supporter. As we talked, I quickly realized his asking suggested his own considerable doubts.
Yes, it’s early, but an eerily familiar feeling is spreading across party lines and seeping into the national conversation. It’s a nagging doubt about the competency of the White House. …
The White House continues to think their attacks on Limbaugh are very clever. Now Power Line has the story of the anti-Rush billboard.
The Democrats’ strategy of diverting attention from their failures with attacks on Rush Limbaugh continues. They have been holding a contest among the party faithful; the Democrats intend to erect an anti-Rush billboard “where Rush can’t miss it,” which I assume means near his home or studio in Florida. Today the Democratic Party sent out an email saying that they have received “tens of thousands” of submissions. These are the five finalists: …
And Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has the finalist.
The Democratic Party has to do something to distract people from the parade of flopped nominations in the Barack Obama administration, the botched diplomacy of Hillary Clinton, the Wall Street meltdown, and the insane spending spree of the Democratic-controlled Congress. Rather than have people actually pay attention to what Democrats do, the party has decided to hold an anti-Rush Limbaugh contest — to gin up a slogan for a billboard near the Excellence in Broadcasting studios in Florida. My friend Tommy Christopher reports that they’ve picked a winner: …
Morrissey also posts on the most offensive idea to surface from the fever swamps of the Obama administration.
If the Obama administration wanted to come up with the most politically offensive policy it could imagine, within the bounds of reason and reality, what elements would it have to include? Insulting veterans and looking like cheapskates in a time when massive government outlays to private industry would certainly help it along. Comes now Hero of the Anti-War Left, retired General Eric Shinseki, who wants to save a few bucks at the Veterans Administration by making men and women injured in the service of our country pay for their care:
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance. …
Since he’s on a roll, let’s look at Ed Morrissey’s post on the latest personnel problem for the kid president.
And Andy McCarthy tells us how that turned out.
As a third top Treasury nominee withdraws from consideration (see Mark’s item, below) and Vivek Kundra, President Obama’s Chief White House Information Officer, takes a leave of absence following the FBI’s raid on his former office, the administration announces that attorney Tony West, who volunteered his services to represent John Walker Lindh (the so-called “American Taliban” convicted after making war against his country), is the president’s choice to lead the Civil Division at the Department of Justice. …
And McCarthy has another great appointment. The secret service is going to be very busy protecting Obama from the people that work for him.
I was remiss last night in not adding the news that the White House has announced President Obama’s selection of ”social justice” activist Van Jones as his “special adviser on green jobs” according to U.S. News & World Report. This appointment’s a doozy. Here’s a description of Jones from a 2007 interview by Campus Progress: …
Power Line reports another Obama nominee has bit the dust.
Claudia Rosett comments on the DVD set and the Reset Button.
Over the weekend, Mark Steyn had some fun at the Corner. First he picks on the Economist. That’s always popular with Pickerhead.
I don’t agree much with The Economist on anything, although I’ve always admired their ability to pluck callow youths off the streets and get them writing unsigned editorials in that snotty-Brit house-style in nothing flat. But I must say this piece dismissing the views of yours truly and others on the Europeanization of America is pretty lame: …
And Steyn posts on the administration’s desire to drop the phrase “enemy combatants.”
Maybe Connecticut will get a new senator next year. Now the London Times is reporting on Chris Dodd’s real estate transactions.
A holiday home in Connemara is at the centre of a growing row in America involving a prominent Democrat politician, a convicted insider trader and the former president Bill Clinton.
The purchase of the home by Senator Christopher Dodd is being examined by the US Senate ethics committee after allegations that Edward Downe Jr, a businessman convicted of insider trading, acted as a “middle man” in the deal.
Eight years ago Dodd, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination against Barack Obama, lobbied Clinton, the then president, to grant Downe a pardon. This has prompted further questions about the financier’s involvement with the Galway house. …
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