Sunday Morning Political Round Up--Four Steps back to Sanity

As brutal as this economic downturn has been (and it has been), there were at least four steps towards sanity that give me hope that things will start to get better. At least in the long term:

1. Nationalization of Banks--Watching Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer on Meet the Press, agreeing on the idea of bank nationalization was a first step towards sanity. I was also heartened by their candidness about what nationalization is, and what it isn't:

What it is: Banks being taken over, management being removed, bad assets being stripped out, the new bank, with the more solid assets, is recapitalized, re-privatized, with new management.

What it isn't: Banks being RUN by the federal government

This was helpful, and I think that with such a definition in mind, the Geithner plan makes more sense. These "stress tests" of banks can possibly help to determine which banks can survive with simply more capital, and which cannot survive without nationalization. This is a better idea than just throwing more and more money at these banks endlessly. I think this is a good start.


2. Newt stepping up to take control of the party--With Newt's appearance on "This Week", he is clearly laying down a marker that Rush Limbaugh is NOT the leader of the party. That, in fact, HE is the ideological leader, and is fast becoming the face of the party. Unlike Rush, Newt is far more skilled in the ways of Washington, and will bring to the debate ideas, and constructive choices for people. I may not agree with Newt on many of his positions, but he has thoughtful ideas, and provides the kind of loyal opposition to the Democrats that we need right now. Limbaugh's approach is simply too divisive, too angry for a constructive debate. I am encouraged that the Republican leaders took a look around last week, and decided that they needed to get into the fray. The credible contenders--Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, et al--were able to push some of the pretenders out of the picture--the Michael Steele's, the Mark Sanfords. Thankfully, we don't have a party of Rush to deal with going forward here. Let's hope anyway.

3. Second Stimulus--I am not suggesting a second stimulus would work. However, I am encouraged that the government is not going to sit back and do nothing. I think it is very important that our leaders are keeping an active eye on how things are going, and is doing what it can to fix things. Peter Orzag was surprisingly candid, in my opinion, about the fact that they will change their approach, as the facts and circumstances on the ground change. Obama has taken this approach in his foreign policy in Iraq, and has taken the same approach on economics. Wonderful.

4. Health Care will continue to be debated--Despite protests from panelists on Meet the Press and on Stephanopolous, health care has been coming to the forefront more and more. I am surprised that people don't see the link between the health care issue and the economy. I am glad it is being debated. I am glad that these issues are finally being put front and center, and we can hear the issues for what they are, and perhaps even come to a solution to better our country. What's wrong with this?

People can disagree with me, but I think that our current President has challenged our Congress, and civic leaders to take on more challenging issues of the day. I think this weekend has shown me that people CAN step up, have serious discussions, and arrive at real solutions.

It's giving me some hope...