Three Private Jets? No Bet!

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised anymore that corporate America is clueless. First there was AIG, with it's lavish conferences, and now the Big Three automakers all fly from Detroit to DC by private jet. For the record, their names are Alan Mulally of Ford, Rick Wagoner of GM, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler. They want $25 billion dollars of taxpayer money or, as Nardelli told Congress, national security could be compromised. Okay, they either need the government to fork over or their companies will go broke. So what's the logic in flying by private jet at a cost of around $20,000, when a commercial flight costs anywhere fro $228 coach to $837 first class?

Some members of the House Financial Services Committee had legitimate questions about this. Especially since the carmaker CEOs were talking about coming out of their near death experience leaner and more cost efficient. Rep. Gary Ackerman of New York said, "It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo". The automakers, of course, had a defense to all this. They say like many corporations, GM, Ford, and Chrysler require their top executives to fly private for safety reasons. If that's true, why didn't all three fly in one private jet? After all, hat in hand is hat in hand.

GM even had the guts to go on the offensive. "Making a big to do about this when issues vital to the jobs of millions of Americans, blah blah blah blah....." In other words, ignore our free spending, just give us the money. They may not get it, at least not now. Congress goes home today for the Thanksgiving holiday. There's a compromise in the works, but getting it done in one day is way beyond the capacity of lame ducks.

Besides, if the Big Three really had any empathy with the workers they employ, they'd stop trying to quietly scapegoat them as the source of the current car crisis. Labor agreements may need to be reworked, but job one for Detroit is to make vehicles that are more road reliable and get better gas mileage.

So we've got Congress eyeing the exit, carmakers still bleeding green, and the fate of 5 million American workers still on shaky ground. And all three CEOs flew their private jets back to an economically devastated region, no doubt pondering that to do next.
Nice.

Hillary's Hamlet

What is going on here? First Rahm Emanuel gets offered the chief of staff job in the new Obama Administration, and he hesitates before accepting it. Now, after rampant speculation that Senator Hillary Clinton was the odds on choice for secretary of state, she too is hedging her bets. The story was first reported by Politico Tuesday, and it characterizes Senator Clinton as agonizing over whether to take the job.

There are a number of reasons given for her hesitation, but the Clinton camp doesn't want anyone to think it has to do with her husband's financial dealings. Better to think it's because in the Senate she'd remain her own boss, or even that it's some type of bargaining tactic. Political skeptics, and I count myself as one, look at former President Clinton's finances as the primary reason for Hillary Clinton's agony no matter what her people say. Despite reports of progress in the vetting process, there could be a stumbling block. After all, much of the former president's finances aren't a matter of public record.

There's also the little problem of the senator's campaign debt from the '08 presidential run. She still owes $7.6 million dollars, not counting what she lent herself. As secretary of state, a federal employee, she'd be prohibited from personally soliciting money to retire it. Keep in mind the Clinton camp has reportedly been less than thrilled with efforts by the president-elect to help her in this regard. Could this be the bargaining tactic people are talking about?

No matter how you slice it, Hillary Clinton's Hamlet-like behavior has got to be a major embarrassment to the incoming president. I'm not sure how much longer he'll twist in the wind, or if he should at all. He's got several other people, most notably New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who would jump at the job. His credentials are as strong as Senator Clinton's, maybe stronger. After all the one area Clinton and Obama disagreed about most during their bruising primary battle was foreign policy.

If I were Barack Obama, I'd punt on Hillary Clinton now. Somebody on his transition team must have Bill Richardson's phone number. What do you think?

Who Gets Helped?

While the parlor game about whether Hillary Clinton becomes Secretary of State continues, Congress and the Bush Administration play a dangerous game of chicken on two fronts. The emergency bailout for Detroit's Big Three automakers is one, the other is an economic stimulus package. It looks like the latter will have to wait until President-Elect Obama is in office. That's sad, since there is a bill on the table, introduced Monday by Senate Democrats. In the case of help for the auto industry, it's a test of wills between the White House and Congress about where the money will come from. Let's take the cars first, since it will most likely be acted on before the stimulus bill.

Ironically, there appears to be bipartisan support for some sort of action by year's end. GM in particular says it's burning through cash so fast it might be forced into bankruptcy before President-Elect Obama is inaugurated. The difference isn't over whether to help, it's over thew form the help takes. Democrats want the money, $25 billion in all, to be taken from funds not yet spent in Treasury's $700 billion dollar financial rescue package. The White House and some Republicans want an existing Energy Dept. loan program to be the source of funding. That money was originally supposed to be used for long term investments in producing more energy efficient vehicles.

If it sounds complicated, it is. The core question is whether this money will come with enough strings to make Detroit change the way it does business, and the types of cars it produces. That's much more likely under the Democrats' plan. However, there's no guarantee compromise will be reached in this lame duck session of Congress.

a compromise agreement is even less likely in the case of the economic stimulus package. Republicans in Congress and the White House don't like the price tag, and Democrats resent President Bush's attempt to tie help for American jobseekers to a trade pact with Colombia. It seems both sides are adopting a "leave it for Obama" stance, which means lawmakers risk a further decline in the nation's economic fortunes in the interim.

This is precisely the kind of DC gridlock that Obama was elected to end. Can he? You tell me.

Hillary to State?

Of all the subjects covered during the Obama's interview on 60 Minutes, the most fascinating for political junkies had to be whether he'd name Senator Hillary Clinton to his cabinet, specifically Secretary of State. The president-elect was coy, neither confirming nor denying the possibility. The Clinton camp has also not said much. If you look across the arc of the presidential campaign, you'd see Senator Clinton denying several times she was interested in a cabinet post. That was then, this is now.

Certainly she's got the chops for the job. There would be no worries about on the job training. The only problem for Barack Obama is the fact that there appears to be a crowded field of hopefuls. Senator John Kerry, an early supporter, has reportedly lobbied for the job. Latino groups are lobbying for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Still others are being touted as dark horses for the job.

Hillary Clinton, if she really wants it, will probably be Obama's choice. What better way to end all those media reports about lingering tension from the campaign trail? Despite all that, there's ample evidence Senator Clinton and the president-elect share similar views on foreign policy matters. She'd have no problem articulating his agenda. If offered, the job would be too tempting for her to resist, despite all the talk about wanting to remain in the Senate.

Should she be appointed, there would be an interesting scramble here in New York to succeed her. The choice would be up to Gov. David Paterson, and already there's speculation he'd name Cong. Nydia Velasquez to Clinton's seat. The Latino community in New York has been unhappy about what they feel is insufficient representation in top state positions. What better way to mollify Latino elected officials than to name one of their number to the Senate? It doesn't hurt that Cong. Velasquez was a vocal Clinton supporter during the primaries.

But all that is down the road. The question now is, should President Elect Obama name Hillary Clinton Secretary of State?
You tell me.