Archive
Frank and Franken: The Gentleman From Massachusetts Wins One For Wall Street
It was a fight to the finish between two heavyweight contenders. In this corner, representing the big Wall Street interests and wearing green trunks the color of money, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts. And in this corner, representing common sense and the...
Obama: We've Been Outflanked, Cap & Trade Dead
The headline of my local paper today is Obama: Act on clean energy. (But a different headline online - do they do that just to mess up bloggers?) In the speech the President paid homage to President Carter's efforts to change America's energy policies, saying, For...
The Jobs Deficit: What Can Be Done Now
In his column concerning last month's jobs number, George Will does a nearly "Noonan-eque" job of spreading disorientation and doubt about what government should do— if anything — about chronic unemployment, delivering a simple-but-subtle...
No Clear Rallying Cry From Obama? Too Bad. Get To Work.
As you can see in today's Progressive Breakfast, interpretations of the President's speech ranged widely. Carbon cap is dead. Or alive. Serious push for other clean energy standards and investments. Or desire to take anything they can get. Pragmatic. Or cop-out. The...
Progressive Breakfast - 6/16/2010
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. Prospects Brighter For Energy Bill,...
New Studies Bolster Case For Climate Bill, In Advance Of Oval Office Address
Hours before the President will address the nation about the need to end our dependence on fossil fuels, two new studies bolstered the case for the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act, the comprehensive climate protection and clean energy jobs bill. The Environmental...
The Oval Office Address: Will The President Go For A "Price On Carbon"?
It is rare for a President to deliver an Oval Office address on a subject that is not related to war. When a President does so, he signals to the nation that the problem at hand is not only of the utmost importance, but requires the nation to come together to fix it....
Obama's Speech - The Carter Context
"The moral equivalent of war." Tonight President Obama will talk about the Gulf oil catastrophe, and, hopefully, overall energy and climate policy. A look back at President Carter's fight over energy brings some context to this situation. On April 18, 1977, 33 years...
Liveblogging The Wall Street Reform Conference Committee
5:15 It is generally bad news that Barney Frank is backing this effort to gut the Franken amendment. That's the only serious reform effort on the table today, and for Frank to be coming out against it implies that he's much more willing to do Wall Street's dirty work...
Listening to the Mayors
By and large, mayors are pragmatists. They've got snow to remove and potholes to fill, schools to run and crime to fight. Literally and figuratively, they must keep the trains running on time, or hear loudly and decisively from voters and constituents. That pragmatic...
