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October 10, 2005
By Rob Kall
:::::::: I've already written that I believe it is a betrayal of the NY Times loyal left and democratic reader base to take one of the left's most insightful, eloquent spokesmen, away from us. Occassionally, I'll review Krugman articles, adding my own opinions and comments so as to meet the legal requirements associated with
Krugman wonders if the question should be if, not when Bush will deliver on his promise to pay for the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. Krugman says,
First, Mr. Bush already has a record of trying to renege on pledges to a stricken city. After 9/11 he made big promises to New York. But as soon as his bullhorn moment was past, officials began trying to wriggle out of his pledge. By early toot his budget director was accusing New Yorks elected representatives who wanted to know what had happened to the promised aid, of engaging in a money-grubbing gam. Its not clear how much federal help the city has actually received.
Krugman says that congress is now in recess, that by the time it returns, seven weeks will have passed since Katrina and the levee floods, observes
And the administration has spent much of that time blocking efforts to aid Katrinas victims.
Krugman wonders:
why the news media havent made more of the White House role in stalling a bipartisan bill that would have extended Medicaid coverage to all low-income hurricane victimssome of whom, according to the surveys, cant afford needed medicine.
He also brings up the craven position the White House is taking, insisting that disaster loans to local governments that dont have tax bases any more will not be forgiven. He calls it cruel and unusual. He adds,
Since the administration is already nickel-and-diming Katrinas victims, its a good bet that it will do the same with reconstructionthat is, if reconstruction ever gets started,
Krugman points out that that there are
no visible signs that the administration has even begun developing a plan. He reports that while his paper, the NY Times, reported that Karl Rove was placed in charge, Rove has been a lot less visible since hes been the subject of speculation that hell be indicted by prosecutors of the Plame case, and asks if Rove was ever running the reconstruction. Scott McClellan was asked who was running the reconstruction and he replied, The President.
Now thats a joke. The only thing Bush is good at is running things into the groundbusinesses, war efforts, diplomacy, worlds most powerful nation, ecology, democracy. The people of the gulf are doomed, if hes in charge. The good news is that Clinton appointee, James Lee Witt, who Bush complimented for his competence, is helping out.
Pathetically, the NY Times, instead of covering his work as a shining oasis of great work in a sea of Bush crony incompetence, takes the angle with this title and sub-title, FEMA Director Under Clinton Profits From Experience As a consultant, James Lee Witt is having to step deftly to avoid being perceived as a disaster profiteer. The Times is taking a thinly veiled swipe at the one man who could have done a a good job if he was in charge of FEMA.
Since it is likely that Bush will remain hostile to domestic spending that might threaten his tax cuts. So he speculates that there will be foot dragging as a natural political response as a way to deal with the Katrina reconstructiona way to prevent any tax raises. Others have said that any money that Bush puts up will be borrowed from the Chinese, putting the US further into debt.
Krugman reports that hes reading an important book, OFF CENTER, by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, Yale and Berkeley political scientists. He reports the books goal is to explain
how Republicans, who face a generally moderate electorate and won recent national elections by the slimmest of margins, have nonetheless been able to advance a radical rightist agenda.
One of their new rules for radicals is Dont just do something, stand there. .
He observes that sometimes frontal assaults on government programs tend to fail, as Mr. Bush learned in his hapless attempt to sell Social Security privatization. He quotes the authors, Hacker and Pierson, who point out, Sometimes decisions not to act can be a powerful means of reshaping the role of government. Krugman mentions the minimum wage as an example which the public strongly supports, but conservatives actually cut by allowing inflation to eat into wages through their inaction.
Krugman wraps up the article suggesting he may be overanalyzing, that it may not be intentional foot dragging. Maybe its just out-of-touch leadership and a lack of competent people.
Maybe hes right both waysintentional foot-dragging, withholding of funds and real leadership and plans for reconstruction until his crony deals or all in place and then too, he has filled the government with incompetents.
Krugmans article applies to Katrina, but the title of the article, Will Bush Deliver? is a beauty that could be applied to a plethora of Bush Whitehouse and Republican themesprotecting the US from terrorism, improving education, decreasing the size of government
I wrote a piece a few weeks ago recapping the Republicans Biggest Lies that sums up a lot of ways that Bush and his Republican rubber-stampers in congress dont deliver on their promises, and more recently, a OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), and publisher of Storycon.org, President of Futurehealth, Inc, and an inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.comListen to over 200 of Rob's Podcast interviews here. Rob is, with Opednews.com the first media winner of the Pillar Award for supporting Whistleblowers and the first amendment.
With his experience as architect and founder of a technorati top 100 blog, he is also a new media / social media consultant and trainer for corporations, non-profits, entrepreneurs and authors.
Rob is a frequent Speaker on the bottom-up revolution, politics, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey and Positive Psychology. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates, and optimizing tapping the power of new media. Watch me speaking on Bottom up economics at the Occupy G8 Economic Summit, here.
See more Rob Kall articles here and, older ones, here.
To learn more about Rob and OpEdNews.com, check out A Voice For Truth - ROB KALL | OM Times Magazine and this article. For Rob's work in non-political realms mostly before 2000, see his C.V..
And here's a one hour radio interview where I was a guest- on Envision This, on 10/23/13. And here is the transcript. And Rob's quotes are here.
To watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, former Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here Now, wouldn't you like to see me on the political news shows, representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me on and refer them to this youtube video. Rob's radio show, The Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived at www.opednews.com/podcasts Or listen to it streaming, live at www.wnjc1360.com
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Press coverage in the Wall Street Journal: Party's Left Pushes for a Seat at the Table
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