GOP Isn’t Booing, They’re Saying ‘Lew!’ No, Actually They’re Booing
Unsurprisingly, President Obama has nominated Jack Lew, currently White House chief of staff, to replace Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Hardly a popular pick among Republicans since they view Lew as preachy and abrasive — though certainly a budget expert. Geithner without the charm. John Boehner better keep Paul Ryan handy during the upcoming budget battles. As the National Journal describes him:
At the center of this push will be Lew, a 30-year veteran of budget battles under Presidents Reagan and Clinton. Tall and thin, with Harry Potter-like glasses and salt-and-pepper hair, he looks like a typical Washington technocrat, an image that belies his talent for combat. “He’s like a labor-union negotiator. He’s not going to give you an inch if he doesn’t have to,” says Judd Gregg, the Republican former senator and Budget Committee chairman. “He’s a true believer in the causes.”
More broadly, some on the right were hoping for a CEO or maybe Erskine Bowles — someone, anyone to inject a bit of fiscal reality into an administration that doesn’t seem to take the debt issue very seriously. Or at least the spending issue. Lew is there to push the Obama agenda, which means getting as much as possible of the $2 trillion in tax hikes the president has outlined. He doesn’t seem open to the idea that investment taxes hinder growth.
And both Democrats and Republicans wonder about Lew’s lack of financial market experience. What if the eurocrisis reignites, or investors finally get queasy about those massive US budget deficits? That may require a creative financial thinker rather than a career technocrat. Recall that Geithner previously was head of the NY Fed.
Little doubt the liberal Lew will be confirmed. But when he is, it should put permanently to rest the idea that Obama will ever “pivot to the center.”
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: GOP Isn’t Booing, They’re Saying ‘Lew!’ No, Actually They’re Booing
"I was saying 'Boo-urns'."
True enough. Obama has never shown a willingness to negotiate or even an inclination towards the center unless he's been dragged there, kicking and screaming.
Re: GOP Isn’t Booing, They’re Saying ‘Lew!’ No, Actually They’re Booing
Kerry, Hagel, Lew -- When the second term arrives, they bring in the B team from the minor leagues. A long-serving senator known only for his sloth, a man with no sense of our defense needs, and a political hack. What makes this crew different from the norm is that they mix mediocrity with malevolence. It is the malice towards his country that distinguishes Barack Obama.
Jul '11
Re: GOP Isn’t Booing, They’re Saying ‘Lew!’ No, Actually They’re Booing
What if the Eurocrisis re-ignites?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-09/20-facts-about-collapse-europe-everyone-should-know
Our trendlines in federal spending, spending as a percentage of GDP, our unemployment trends, etc., all are following (more or less) the trends in many of the EU countries.
The reason nobody does anything until it's too late is because they're so damn sure nothing's wrong. Kind of like what President BarryMan, L'il Timmy Geithner, and Bernanke have been saying. Nothing to see here. Please move along as we hike your taxes in a recession and claim that debt is meaningless.
May '12
Re: GOP Isn’t Booing, They’re Saying ‘Lew!’ No, Actually They’re Booing
Republicans are only booing because they didn't get to nominate a big government spending guru.
Oct '11
Re: GOP Isn’t Booing, They’re Saying ‘Lew!’ No, Actually They’re Booing
Both Lew and Obama are fully aware that investment taxes hinder growth. That's the agenda.
Jul '11
Re: GOP Isn’t Booing, They’re Saying ‘Lew!’ No, Actually They’re Booing
I'm still wondering why anyone can argue, with a straight [expletive deleted] face, that stimulus spending works, yet they're also willing to argue that tax increases don't impact consumption spending. Considering how everyone paycheck just went down after 1.1.2013, it's funny how I don't hear a lot of air coming out of President Barry's piehole regarding the impacts the reduction in net income will have on spending, and, therefore, will constrict economic growth. Hell, the Labor Secretary states that paying people not to work stimulates the economy.
Why don't our boys and girls in the House and Senate sport the stones to take these arguments public, often, loudly, repeatedly, until realities start to sink in? What have they got to lose, other than the knowledge that they're violating their oath of office they willingly took, every single day, when they keep us on this disastrous path?
Chris is starting to get upset.