Today, in Osawatomie, Kansas, President Obama will invoke Teddy Roosevelt as a model for his 2012 reelection campaign. Over 100 years ago, after leaving the White House, Roosevelt delivered a seminal speech, titled “The New Nationalism,” which would become the foundation for the Progressive Party he would later create to challenge President Taft’s reelection. Obama plans to identify with those same progressive roots today as he calls for higher taxes on the rich and more government control of the economy.
At the White House press briefing yesterday, spokesman Jay Carney said Obama, “Thinks it’s an opportune time and an opportune location to try to put into broader perspective the kind of debates we’ve been having and the issues that are of vital importance to give middle-class Americans the kind of fair shot that they deserve.” Obama will no doubt echo Roosevelt’s call for a “equality of opportunity” and recycle the speech’s “square deal” rhetoric.
But while there are many parts of Roosevelt’s New Nationalism speech that will sound great to modern ears, there are also many passages that will grate on independent voters:
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This, I know, implies a policy of a far more active governmental interference with social and economic conditions in this country than we have yet had, but I think we have got to face the fact that such an increase in governmental control is now necessary.
These words are as radical today as they were 100 years ago. When text of Roosevelt’s New Nationalism reached New York, The New York Times called it “Roosevelt’s Super-Socialism.” Don’t count on that paper using a similar description of Obama’s speech today.
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, Corzine Rebuffed Internal Warnings on Risks: President Obama campaign fundraiser and former-Democratic Sen. and Gov. of New Jersey Jon Corzine ignored his firm’s own risk management consultants as he bet over $6.3 billion on European sovereign debt before MF Global went bankrupt.
The Washington Examiner, Democrats propose taking the rich again: Senate Democrats continued to make a new millionaire’s surtax the centerpiece of their payroll tax cut plan yesterday, lowering the proposed new tax from 3.25% to 1.9% and sunsetting it after 10 years. The new 10-year tax hike would still only pay for a single year payroll tax cut.
The Washington Post, Sarkozy, Merkel call for new E.U. treaty to address debt crisis: France and Germany reached an agreement Monday to seek mandatory limits on budget deficits among debt-laden European governments, which would require rewriting the European Union treaty.
The New York Times, S.&P. Warns Euro Zone of Ratings Downgrades: Standard & Poor’s warned Monday that it might strip the euro zone’s two biggest economies, Germany and France, of their top-notch AAA long-term credit ratings.
The Washington Post, OECD report cites rising income inequality: Income inequality is increasing across much of the developed world as skilled workers command a disproportionate share of the bounty made possible by technological progress.
The Wall Street Journal, FAA Chief’s Arrest Leaves Agency in Limbo: The drunk-driving arrest of Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt over the weekend has jeopardized his future leadership of the agency and has slowed agency business.
The Washington Examiner, U.S. commits to another dozen years of financial aid to Afghanistan: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Monday, that the United States would send billions in security aid to Afghanistan, every year, for at least another decade.
The Los Angeles Times, Jerry Brown to take tax hike plan straight to voters: California Gov. Jerry Brown announced Monday that he would bypass the state legislature and take his $7 billion tax hike, made up of a half-cent sales tax increase and a new 2% surtax on those making more than $250,000, to voters in a referendum.
Campaign 2012:
Romney: Mitt Romney endorsed extending the current payroll tax rates for another year yesterday. On Monday, he told the Micheal Medved radio show: “I would like to see the payroll tax cut extended because I know that working families are really feeling the pinch right now — middle-class Americans are having a hard time.”
VA SEN: Former-Sen. George Allen, R, is facing fierce opposition from Tea Party activists as he tries to recapture the U.S. Senate seat he lost to Sen. Jim Webb, D, in 2006. Last week, the Virginia Tea Party Patriots launched a campaign that paints Allen as a high-spending, Bush-era conservative.
Righty Playbook:
The ChamberPost‘s Sean Hackbarth highlights a Cleveland Federal Reserve study showing that public policy uncertainty is slowing job creation.
The Enterprise Blog‘s James Pethokoukis explains how Obama is turning America into Europe.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board details a North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) report finding that EPA plans to shutdown coal power plants will stress the power grid “in ways never before experienced.”
Lefty Playbook:
Slate‘s David Weigel flags a CSPAN video of Mitt Romney from 2004 attacking then-presidential candidate John Kerry for flip-flopping.
The New York Times Joe Nocera calls health care rationer Dr. Donald Berwick “the most qualified person in the country to run Medicare at this critical juncture, and the fact that he is no longer in the job is the country’s loss.”
The New Republic‘s Jonathan Cohn hopes that the bankruptcy of one of the lead plaintiffs in the Obamacare case heading to the Supreme Court will undermine the challenge to the law.
