Hope ‘n Change’s administration seems to be attracting the kind of disdain it took Jimmy Carter a year to earn. The reason? Try simple incompetence. Let’s look at the outrages of the week – so far.
His Meddling with GM. This is turning into a disaster. Rather than just letting GM do what it should have done last year – file for Chapter 11, restructure its debt and bust the union contracts – we now have King Barack trying to manage GM’s impending bankruptcy. Lest you think my use of ‘King Barack’ is harsh, try Holman Jenkins’ extended op-ed in yesterday’s WSJ: ‘GM Is Becoming a Royal Debacle’.
It’s good to be the king — until you start tripping over your own robe.
So King Barack the Mild is finding as he tries to dictate the terms of what amounts to an out-of-court bankruptcy for Chrysler and GM. He wants Chrysler’s secured lenders to give up their right to nearly full recovery in a bankruptcy in return for 15 cents on the dollar. They’d be crazy to do so, of course, except that these banks also happen to be beholden to the administration for TARP money.
Wasn’t TARP supposed to be about restoring a healthy banking system? Isn’t that a tad inconsistent with banks just voluntarily relinquishing valuable claims on borrowers? Don’t ask.
Kingly prerogative also conflicts with kingly prerogative in the case of GM’s unsecured creditors, who are the sticking point in agreeing to a turnaround plan by the drop-dead date of June 1. His retainer, Steven Rattner, has delivered word that the king’s pleasure is that these unsecured creditors give up 100% of their claims in return for GM stock.
It may also be the king’s pleasure, he advised, to convert at some point the government’s own $13 billion in bailout loans into GM stock.
There’s just one problem: Why on earth would GM’s creditors — who include not just bondholders but the UAW’s health-care trust — want any part of this deal?
His Homeland Security Secretary. Apparently, Janet Napolitano thinks the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States from Canada, prompting the National Post’s editorial board to publish an editorial entitled, ‘The Border for Dummies’, in which they savaged Ms. Napolitano for equating the US-Canada border with the US-Mexican border. Some GOP house members have called for her resignation.
His Maladroit Statements on Detainee Treatment. Where do we begin? First, he released classified interrogation memos while his staff assured everyone that there would be no prosecutions. Then, he released a report from his own DNI on the subject, conveniently redacting out the portions describing key intel obtained through ‘enhanced interrogation’ techniques. Even the Brits have jumped on this piece of news.
Hope ‘n Change then went over to the CIA to buck up the troops, but as David Ignatius reported, the CIA has gone into ‘slow-roll’ mode with everybody going through the motions. Why take any risks in a prosecution-happy atmosphere? Then, unaccountably, Hope ‘n Change did an about-face and said that select members of the Bush administration might indeed be subject to prosecution, thereby releasing the Congressional dogs of war. This is pure poison - injected full-strength into our political discourse.
Credit Cards. Hope ‘n Change has issued an imperial summons to heads of the credit card companies. The reason? He’s going to scold them because they charge higher interest rates to people with bad credit. Reportedly, Hope ‘n Change thinks that’s bad. But ponder this: if there’s no penalty for bad credit, then why should the rest of us maintain good credit? What reward is there for good behavior? This is simply idiotic.
But it’s only Thursday. Cheer up.
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