Wall Street Journal — So Far, Obama Remains Popular With Public
The Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll done by pollsters Bill McInturff and Peter Hart is the best regarded public poll and at 100 days, the survey shows Barack Obama with very high personal popularity, moderate acceptance of his policies, and some notes of caution for the days beyond the first 100.
Of particular note, as writer Laura Meckler points out, is that on the Obama plan for historic short-term deficits, the release of interrogation memos and even the stimulus plan, Americans are showing some strong reservations. If such signature issues continue to dismay voters, the 30-point gap between his personal popularity and the support for his policies may widen.
But so far, his best move may have been getting the dog.
“The high ratings are driven largely by personality. Asked for their assessment of various qualities, the public gives Mr. Obama strong marks across the board. But it offers its highest grades on personal matters like honesty and values, versus leadership or professional questions such as being firm and decisive, or appointing qualified people. More than eight in 10 people surveyed say they like him personally.
‘There is this kind of grumbling that this is all style, this is all fluff — the spouse and the dog — that it’s somehow illegitimate,’ says Mr. McInturff. ‘All those things are important, because they provide a very strong personal attachment to him.’ That, he says, can give Mr. Obama months of bonus time to enact an aggressive agenda.’”
Politico — New hope for stalled labor bill
Arles Specter shrank from his once lukewarm support for the ironically named “Employee Free Choice Act” because of its potentially explosive effect in a Republican primary. Now a Democrat, Specter is feeling pressure to start tacking to a different breeze.
If Specter, as expected, looks to be walking away with a November victory as a Democrat, he may not tack too far to the labor left, but if his abortion stance, party flip or other issues have hurt him with general election voters, Specter may feel the urge to get cozy with big labor in the Keystone state.
Like on other issues – including cap and trade and potentially controversial judicial nominations – liberals are seeing new reason for hope with Specters switch.
“He has indicated to the labor movement that he was willing to review some modification in the present bill and to give reconsideration to the bill,” said Bill George, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO boasts 1.7 million members and supporters. The Teamsters have 80,000. The Service Employees International Union has nearly 50,000. And the teachers have thousands more. Even Specter acknowledged Tuesday that: ‘You can’t win an election in Pennsylvania without labor.’
But George notes that while Specter’s 68 percent voting record on labor issues is pretty good for a Republican, the average of the Keystone State’s Democratic caucus is about 85 percent.”
Fed Is Said to Seek Capital for at Least Six Banks
Despite a purported effort to seal leaks on the banking stress tests, the first information escape indicates that at least six of the 19 largest banks have failed their stress tests.
Writers Robert Schmidt and Rebecca Christie can’t say which banks flunked, but they can say that the originally ambitious administration plans to reinvent a more stable banking system may have to wait.
“While some of the lenders may need extra cash injections from the government, most of the capital is likely to come from converting preferred shares to common equity, the people said. The Federal Reserve is now hearing appeals from banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Cop., that regulators have determined need more of a cushion against losses, they added.
By pushing conversions, rather than federal assistance, the government would allow banks to shore themselves up without the political taint that has soured both Wall Street and Congress on the bailouts. The risk is that, along with diluting existing shareholders, the government action won’t seem strong enough.
‘The challenge that policy makers will confront is that more will be needed and it’s not clear they have the resources currently in place or the political capability to deliver more,’ said David Greenlaw, the chief financial economist at Morgan Stanley, one of the 19 banks that are being tested, in New York.”
New York Times — Feeling More Secure, Some Banks Want to Be Left Alone
Writers Graham Bowley and Eric Dash observe that the easy, breezy relationship that first marked the sloshing of billions into the financial sector from the treasury has given way to one of distrust and resistance.
Banks facing public stress test results next week are scurrying to escape long-term federal control. Some institutions will be judged too weak to go it alone, and big banks are pushing hard to make it into the land of the living.
Because of the pitchfork mentality in Washington and the ever-broadening reach of Treasury, banks are also resisting the only program aimed at the root cause of the financial crisis – toxic debt weighing down balance sheets. Bankers are refusing to take the easy money being offered under the Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility (TALF) to buy up the bad mortgage-backed debt.
“While administration officials say they never expected every bank to participate, large banks whose involvement was regarded as vital to the plan’s success have said they will not be involved. Executives worry that whatever assurances the White House gives them, an angry Congress might impose new rules on banks that participate, particularly on pay.
Officials from Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, PNC Financial and a number of other big lenders that have received multibillion-dollar government bailouts are reluctant to participate or have refused so far to commit until more details are offered. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive, has said he believes that the Public-Private Investment Program — which depends on loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — could be ‘good for the system’ but that his bank has no intention of being either a seller or buyer. ‘We’re certainly not going to borrow from the federal government, because we’ve learned our lesson about that,’ he said earlier this month in a conference about earnings.”
Washington Post — Foreclosure Prevention Plan Expanded to 2nd Mortgages
Looking increasingly like a solution in search of a problem, the Obama foreclosure plan got beefed up again Tuesday. This expansion of the $275 billion program won’t cost any more money because so few banks and borrowers have taken the government up on the first round of the plan. But under the new arrangement announced by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the government will help refinance second mortgages – a risky category that banks afraid of more toxic assets have been eager to shed.
As writer Renae Merle points out, hardly a borrower or a lender seems to want in the government plan.
“The Treasury Department also is attempting to breathe new life into another government foreclosure prevention program, called Hope for Homeowners. That program, launched last year, refinances homeowners into more affordable mortgages. But lenders have balked at requirements that they cut some of the principal that borrowers owe. Only one homeowner has received a government-backed loan under the program so far.
Now, lenders will receive $2,500 to refinance a borrower into Hope for Homeowners and $1,000 a year for up to three years as long as the borrower stays current.”
