On The Run from AJC

Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution contains some humorous anecdotes from the Presidential campaign trail here. The bit that caught my eye was that Russia decided to turn down John McCain's request for campaign funding. I know! First McCain wants to kick Russia out of the G8, and then his campaign solicits Russia's Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, for funding. Well, if your opponents is busy raising $150 Million in a single month, why not look under every stone?

The bigger question is what Obama plans to do with all that money. Better yet, with such a downturn in the economy and the vaporization of wealth on Wall Street (best characterized as simple paper losses, unless people actually sold their shares after stock values plummeted), why are people funding a single campaign in such record numbers?

Especially when the presidential race seems to be almost a foregone conclusion with just 14 days remaining until the polls close.

It's always nice to receive a personal note from the current Governor of Alaska in my inbox, however:

Dear Supporter,

If you caught my guest appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend, you may have seen an ad or two (or twenty) from Senator Obama's campaign.

This barrage of advertising is adding up to the most expensive negative ad buy in political history. And these ads are funded with the nearly $200 million the Obama campaign and the DNC raised in September.

With this new money, they'll only step up their media buying efforts to flood every network with ads attacking our shared values. These ads are full of inaccurate information designed to mislead voters in key media markets.

We need your support to stop the Obama-Biden Democrats' media buying binge. Your immediate contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000 or more will help fund our team's ads in key media markets across the country.

The current media buying gap is a direct result of Senator Obama's broken pledge to accept public financing. This summer, Senator Obama chose to break his promise to the American people by opting out of the public financing system. But, you can be sure that our entire team will honor all of the promises we make in this campaign because we are men and women of our word.

Our team of reformers has a plan to take America in a new direction. Our economic policies focus on providing economic relief to those who need it most. While the Obama-Biden Democrats say they want to "spread the wealth around," our team won't support economic policies that punish Americans for working hard and pursuing the American Dream.

I'm asking you today to help our team get this message out. The funds you give today will help pay for upcoming ad buys and get-out-the-vote efforts.

If Senator Obama is elected and Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid are in charge of Congress, there will be nothing stopping them from raising your taxes, immediately pulling out of Iraq and placing your healthcare decisions in the hands of government bureaucrats.

We can't let this happen and that's why your financial support is so critical to our efforts. Every dollar we raise goes directly to help fund media buys and get-out-the-vote efforts in important races across the country. So, please make the most generous contribution you can give - whether its $25 or $250. We're certainly grateful for any help you can give. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Governor Sarah Palin

Too bad the e-mail didn't include pics!

The Nuke-yoo-lar Topic of W's Legacy

I friend of mine recently e-mailed an op-ed piece from Charles Krauthammer at the Washington Post titled "History Will Judge." The link provided should take you right to it, and it's well worth the read. I feel sheepish that I hadn't read it or linked to it before, but there are only so many hours in the day for keeping up on the news.

I was happy to see that what was sent in e-mail actually matched the online column, with no edits one way or another. Sadly, I never trust what gets sent via e-mail any more. I don't even subscribe to the age-old Cold War tenet of "Trust but Verify." Whose motto was that? Better than "In God we trust. All others we monitor," which is a motto many spooks might recognize.

The reason why I feel compelled to discuss Krauthammer's column is because I'd been thinking about W's post-Presidency plans myself recently. Seriously. I've been trying to get my head around what W will do in retirement, since I can't picture him being invited to the public speaker lecture circuit any time soon. Which group would have him? Even the die-hardiest of the die-hard GOP faithful have distanced themselves from anything to do with Bush's administration.

I'm sure Bush will continue to have many friends in high places, certainly. He still has his defenders, and he still should have plenty of influence. On what, though? As Krauthammer points out, history will most likely be kinder to W as peoples' memories fade a bit. If no less than Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter can all get image rehabs after leaving office, then certainly Bush can, too.

One question for which we really won't have an answer for years to come will be how this very recent Wall Street implosion will affect W's legacy. Nixon (almost impeached), Ford (stagflation), and Carter (malaise) successfully rehabbed their legacies after leaving office; Hoover (Great Depression) did not. I'm not ready to commit to calling these banking problems and economic hard times anything close to another Great Depression. In 1929, over 300 banks had closed their doors even before the stock market crashed. In 1930, over 1,000 additional banks closed forever and the phrase "bank run" struck fears all across the U.S. We're not there yet, and the structural laws and oversight bodies put in place after 1929 should keep us out of another Great Depression. That's the whole idea, at least.

There's no doubt that Wall Street has had its worst week ever (WSJ article, subscription req'd.). I'd like to think that agricultural policies have changed enough so that we won't hit another Dust Bowl again. Unemployment remains relatively low -- last I checked, I think it was around 6%, although as part of the recent rate cut by the Fed, they said they think it will edge up to 7-7.5% by late 2009. Certainly that is still nowhere near the 25% unemployment hit during the Great Depression. Durable goods orders are down and inventories are up, which spell Recession for the economy, and most economists are predicting we're already in a Recession now (more WSJ).

The reason all of the economics issues is important for Bush is that they will have a far more lasting impact on his Presidential legacy than anything else he's done. This is also the key difference from the Krauthammer column, which was published before the Wall Street meltdown. W could be forgiven for promoting a "shoot first, ask questions later" foreign policy. He could be forgiven for domestic spying if it truly keeps us safe from another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. W could be forgiven for acting unilaterally when he felt compelled to do so, even though I think we all remember then-Secretary of State Colin Powell's briefing to the UN Security Council regarding the threat in Iraq. So what if Saddam's WMDs were a figment of his imagination and little more than a ruse to keep the Iranians from attacking? In 2003, everyone agreed they were a real problem. I even think W can be forgiven for his line about looking into Putin's soul back in 2001, as ridiculous as that seems now.

I think Bush will retire to his ranch in Crawford, TX (and everything is bigger in Texas, haven't you heard?), and perhaps have some measure of peace in the months following his departure from the White House. How long can he cut brush? How much mesquite is there in Texas? Would a following administration really put W on the road for sensitive diplomatic missions, as W's father and Bill Clinton have done together? Could you imagine W in France next year, cheering on THE GREAT COMEBACK by Lance Armstrong? It boggles the mind.

If nothing else, W in January becomes fair game for the SNL animation "The X Presidents" as part of their TV Funhouse lineup. So we at least have that to look forward to.