[BretLudwig]

Chicagoization of the American Economy

"Political reporter Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic writes:

Barack Obama has launched the era of the political economy [well, I
think George W. Bush and his minions gave it a good push in that
direction], where, to an unprecedented degree, the White House will
determine the course, structure and function of the American economy;
where, if reports of $2 trillion worth of stimuli are to be believed, the
size and scope of the federal government has the potential to nearly
double over the course of eight years. He's already shifted the
paradigm's
default from private enterprise to public action. To the extent that your
program or pet cause gets to share in the spoils, it must justify itself
to the Obama administration.

Everyone who wants anything from the federal government has to
interface with the now conjoined office of intergovernmental affairs and
public liaison in the Obama White House. To head this office, Obama has
appointed his best friend and most trusted counselor, Valerie Jarrett.
Jarrett has appointed as her chief of staff Michael Strautmanis, one of
the Obama family's best friends and another trusted confidant.
Traditionally, the intergovernmental affairs portfolio and the OPL
portfolio have been kept separate, although Karl Rove unified them in the
Bush White House.

Cecilia Munoz, a senior vice president at the National Council for La
Raza, is a powerhouse who knows everyone in Washington. She's going to be
the formal director of intergovernmental affairs. Tina Tchen, another
long-time Obama friend, will be the head of the office of public liaison.
Additional staff appointments will follow; usually, the deputies in these
offices aren't big names; the names being considered for the
sub-department portfolios in the Obama administration would have been
credible candidates for the top jobs themselves.
The bigger the federal government gets, the more important these
offices become. They'll probably be THE powerhouse in the Obama White
House from the perspective of politics, constituency relations, interest
and client groups, the Washington community, state, local and tribal
governments. Jarrett won't just pass messages between the outside world
and the president. Her job will be manage the relationship between the
outside world and the president, and, vitally, she and her staff will
have
the juice to make decisions about how the Obama administration relates to
just about every external constituency.

No wonder Valerie Jarrett dropped out of the bidding for Blago's
blessing.
Who wants to be crummy U.S. Senator when you get to be fixer-in-chief for
the new quasi-nationalized economy?

And how about having a Senior VP of La Raza stationed right at the
chokehold?"

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/12/c...n-economy.html

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