Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

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  1. McCain will use two walls to back Obama against.

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    p>If Obama goes with the Jordans and Johnson of DC, then McCain will cry “old politics!”

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    p>If Obama leans towards solid “newbies” like Samantha Power, the GOPers will puke forth, “Jimmy Carter’s 2nd term!”

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    p>

    Republican John McCain has already fired a number of his top campaign aides because at some point they made money as Washington lobbyists. So far, the hatchet hasn’t fallen on volunteers and unpaid advisers, but given the overheated rhetoric and mindless media coverage, it’s only a matter of time.

    On the Democratic side, Jim Johnson, the former Fannie Mae chairman and former chief of staff to Walter Mondale, was forced to resign this week as head of the vice presidential vetting committee for Democrat Barack Obama in response to a variety of allegations about corporate missteps. Meanwhile, Obama’s new economic adviser, Jason Furman, came under fire from labor unions that complained he consorted with known free-traders such as former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin.
    -snip

    In a way, we’ve seen this before. Jimmy Carter and Clinton both came to Washington vowing to change the way things were done. Initially, they had broad support from the public and the media. But after the inevitable stumbles, the sentiment turned, and suddenly it was conventional wisdom that they were naive and arrogant and that it was a mistake not to recruit people with more Washington experience.

    The lesson from Carter and Clinton is that we need both: a mix of old hands and fresh blood, of time-tested experience and reformist zeal. It may be good politics, and good sport, to rail against the Vernon Jordans, the Jim Johnsons and others in the permanent establishment. But the dirty little secret is that it’s folly to try to succeed in Washington without them.

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