Filed Under: I Heard Europe Loves Obama…

Der Spiegel asks:

Will Obama Be the ‘Jimmy Carter of the 21st Century’?

“Can US President Barack Obama lead America away from fossil fuel dependency? German commentators don’t think so. Some say he is in danger of turning into an idealistic, one-term president like Jimmy Carter.

US President Barack Obama’s address from the Oval Office on Tuesday was supposed to be a moment of leadership during the worst environmental disaster in American history. But critics from across the political spectrum wondered afterwards whether he’d shown leadership at all. The geyser of oil in the Gulf of Mexico seems, technologically, to lie beyond anything either BP or the US government was prepared for, and Obama failed to mention any specific new ideas.”

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,701279,00.html

Filed Under: Who Would Have Thunk It?

Gulf Between College Spending on Academics, Athletics Grows

By Emmeline Zhao

Athletics and academics have long played interactive roles in collegiate culture, but a new study suggests that the interaction isn’t balanced.

As colleges across the country spend increasingly more on athletic programs — a median $84,446 per athlete in 2008, up almost 38% from 2005 — academic spending hasn’t changed proportionally — a median $13,349 per student, up about 20% over the same period, according to a report released today by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/06/18/gulf-between-college-spending-on-academics-athletics-grows/?mod=djemRTE_h

Filed Under: Beware of Scales Falling From Eyes!

Mort Zuckerman, erstwhile liberal, Democrat, supporter of President Obama and Editor-in-Chief of U,S, News and World Report, writes:

“Obama clearly wishes to do good and means well. But he is one of those people who believe that the world was born with the word and exists by means of persuasion, such that there is no person or country that you cannot, by means of logical and moral argument, bring around to your side. He speaks as a teacher, as someone imparting values and generalities appropriate for a Sunday morning sermon, not as a tough-minded leader. He urges that things “must be done” and “should be done” and that “it is time” to do them. As the former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Les Gelb, put it, there is “the impression that Obama might confuse speeches with policy.” Another journalist put it differently when he described Obama as an “NPR [National Public Radio] president who gives wonderful speeches.” In other words, he talks the talk but doesn’t know how to walk the walk. The Obama presidency has so far been characterized by a well-intentioned but excessive belief in the power of rhetoric with too little appreciation of reality and loyalty.”

Comment: Disillusionment is settling in.

Although liberal in his causes, Zuckerman is a former Ass’t Prof of Economics at Harvard and Yale, and has made a grunch (technical term) of money. He is obviously a pragmatist.

Summary Justice

Even a child murderer caught with knife in hand gets a trial before punishment – something BP didn’t get.

Just as we should never invade another country without a Congressional Declaration of War as proposed by the Constitution, neither should we strongarm corporations in private meetings without at least a Declaration of National Emergency.

Certainly, such a declaration is warranted. I don’t object to the $20 billion – just to the methodology. With such a declaration, the Jones Act could easily be avoided and ships from around the world activated for use. The Saudis and the Dutch (among others) know how to do this better than we.

One of the great benefits to come out of this will be a realization of the limits of federal power. The President has long been over his head in the job.

It has now been made obvious to all concerned.