Unions and survival

“We’re willing to take an extra step here.  ‘Concesssions,’ I used to cringe at that word.  But now, why hide from it? That’s what we did.” 
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger
That’s momentous, and to me ultimately a good thing.  Understand, I’m generally pro-union, almost reflexively.  The idea that a mass of workers should be able to [...]

The latest on the auto bailout talks

This is a fascinating take by Steven Pearlstein on the proposals put forth by the Big Three this week.
The way Pearlstein frames it you can almost envision three men hoping to woo a woman on an old-style, behind-the-curtain television dating game.
GM is saying, “I’d do anything for you.  I’ve already bought your wedding ring and told my family [...]

To walk and chew gum at the same time

I hope it’s lazy language, not lazy reporting, that this Wall Street Journal article puts forth on Barack Obama’s second press conference this week.  Obama introduced his choices for director and deputy director of his Office of Management and Budget, saying, “When we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an [...]

Pragmatist in Chief

 

Everything I’ve learned about Barack Obama tells me he’s politically pragmatic.  I had to look up the definition.  Did you know it?  I’m less convinced that my label sticks after reading the definition.  I’m not too concerned about defending it.
Which makes me wonder how effective the other speculative labels about his governing philosophy and style are useful, if [...]

OK. I’m convinced. (Larry Summers edition)

Brad DeLong on why Summers is right for “high federal office,” perhaps even the Treasury Department, which he previously helmed at the tail end of the Clinton Administration.
Summers and other intellectually robust people like him filling the ranks of government?  And then given rein to do their jobs?  That would be “change.” Barack Obama knows better than to [...]

The stories are the same

 
This week a Midwestern black man in his mid 40s pulled off a big move.  I’m talking about Joe Dumars, of course, trading Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson.  It might not be a good move for this year but almost certainly it helps the Pistons over time.  And Dumars has a lengthy track record by [...]

President Barack Hussein Obama

Even if you didn’t know his face, his name would stand out.
Here’s how the electoral map looked the moment it was called on MSNBC: 

Poetic that Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” has become a theme song of sorts… precocious Stevie’s first major hit, “Fingertips (Pt. 2)” was in 1963, the year Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his ”I Have [...]

Anticipation

Via Yes We Can Hold Babies.

Ground game

This is the best summation of why Barack Obama will win the Presidency and John McCain will not.  From Sean Quinn at the currently indispensable FiveThirtyEight:
The busiest McCain office we saw was in Arlington, at the national HQ, but tight security prevented us from getting any pictures. Ironically, that was our first full office, in [...]

Joe Biden makes 90 seconds seem like an eternity

I like him for VP.  Seriously.  But my man just keeps talking, and talking.  It’s evident twice in this video, whose star nonetheless is young Damon Weaver.  From the four-minute mark peep Biden’s long-windedness while Damon is straining to hold the microphone above his head.  Little man is going to need a serious shoulder massage.