Revolving-door scandals like this one are a reminder that the housing and financial meltdowns of 2008 — not to mention the BP gulf oil spill and West Virginia’s Massey mine disaster — should have launched a great debate over how to regulate. Unfortunately, because one of our great political parties is having an intellectual meltdown, …
Miscellany
Morning Must Reads: Heights
- No deal in sight as the government finally hits the debt ceiling.
- Jon Kyl may have put revenue increases on the table.
- Paul Krugman tries to convince Democrats to take a hard line.
- Should Mitt Romney form a tactical alliance with Michele Bachmann? Is he another John McCain?
Clichés, Levees and Federal Funds
As Washington debates Medicare, taxes, deficits and the future of the budget, it’s become a cliché to say that Americans like big government but don’t like to pay for it. Most clichés are true. And as the swollen Mississippi River barrels south toward New Orleans, you can see a stark example of that in the city’s flood protection.
Morning Must Reads: Pledged
- Mitt Romney takes more conservative elite fire after his health care speech, and responds to the Journal‘s bruising op-ed. His thinking seems to be that this might bleed the poison from the system early. Chris Cillizza suggests it might be about proving authenticity, rather than policy.
- Tim Pawlenty, a solid “Not Romney” candidate
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Behind the Decision to Ask Bob Mueller to Stay at the FBI
Attorney General Eric Holder stunned Bob Mueller when he told the FBI director late last month that President Obama wanted him to stay on for two more years. Mueller, 66, was already the longest serving director since J. Edgar …
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Redistributing High-Speed Rail Dollars: Still Useful!
President Obama’s high-speed rail program has taken a lot of abuse because it isn’t just funding true high-speed rail; it’s also accelerating and improving service on moderate-speed trains. OK, guilty as charged. The program’s actual name is “High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail.” And now that Obama has redistributed the …
Morning Must Reads: Trust Deficit
- Pakistan’s Gilani talks to TIME about the “trust deficit.”
- Obama will talk about the Arab Spring, but won’t yet effort a new push on Israel-Palestine détente.
- The Wall Street Journal preempts Romney’s health care remarks with a op-ed tagging him as “compromised.”
Recreational Boating in a Flood Zone
A look at how Memphians are reclaiming the Mississippi.
There Shouldn’t Be an Expensive Home Entitlement
David Streitfeld of The New York Times is a terrific reporter (just ask Joe Klein). For several years now, he has done terrific work on the slow and painful collapse of the housing bubble. This piece, which leads the Times today, strikes me as good news—even though it is going to cause some heartache for folks trying to buy and sell in …
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Morning Must Reads: Track
- Assad shells Syria’s third largest city.
- Obama’s job approval hits 60%, a two-year high, in the latest AP-GfK poll. The survey also found 52% now approve of his handling of the economy, although a majority still feel the nation is on the wrong track.
- He’ll meet with Senate Democrats today and Senate Republicans tomorrow.
Memphis Blues: Tourists Spooked By Images of Floods
Memphis, Tennessee
The White House announced today that President Obama will travel to Memphis on Monday to deliver the commencement address at Booker T. Washington High School. What would Elvis most like from the President right now? “We would love the President to visit the White House of Rock and Roll,” says Kevin Kerns, a …