Pretty Naive for a SecDef

“The controlling nature of the Obama White House, and its determination to take credit for every good thing that happened while giving none to the people in the cabinet departments — in the trenches — who had actually done the work, offended Hillary Clinton as much as it did me.”

Former defense secretary Robert Gates, in his new memoir Duty

Every president takes credit for the good stuff, this was nothing new or unusual.  Presidents have to get re-elected, cabinet members don’t, and when we look back on successes (or failures), they are always linked, both in our memories and the history books, with who was president at the time.

Avoiding Government Shutdown

On a 73-26 vote, the Senate passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through the rest of FY 2013, which ends September 30.

They moved money around within the Defense Department to avoid sequester-related problems, and made a number of other similar fixes, such as making sure we will have meat inspections and that the State Department can provide non-lethal aid to Syrians.

 

The Phony Patriots of “Fix the Debt”

The NYT has a terrific take-down on the front page today* of that “Fix the Debt” group.  They’re not high-minded at all, just a front for high-value tax benefits and defense contracts.

It’s a bunch of lobbyists trying to protect stuff like the “carried interest” loophole for private equity, tax breaks for multinationals, military spending, etc.  They want to fix the debt on the backs of others while keeping their goodies.

For example, their core principles argue that we should cut entitlements dramatically, but don’t say a word about cutting even a penny from the defense budget.

The story links “Fix the Debt” leaders to specific companies:  Sam Nunn to General Electric;  Erskine Bowles to Morgan Stanley; Judd Gregg to Goldman Sachs, Honeywell, and International Exchange.

The article is sickening, but a must read.  They pretend to be about patriotism, but really it’s all about their perks.

* “Public Goals, Private Interests in Debt Campaign,” Nicholas Confessore

That Wasn’t an Earthquake

That wasn’t an earthquake you felt.  It was the collective rolling in their graves of our Founding Fathers when Herman Cain told Barbara Walters he’d like to be Secretary of Defense.