Jim Cramer Asks Some Good Questions

From his editorial on Mainstreet.com:

So, why after toiling in the cable wilderness for four years with Mad Money am I the target of the wrath of the Obama clan, and the darling, albeit surely momentary, of the Obama-critics? After all, my criticism of Obama's handling of the economic crisis is a lot less pointed than my withering August 2007 "They Know Nothing" meltdown against the previous regime's handling of the economic crisis. Then, I advocated a swift slashing of interest rates by the Federal Reserve and a concomitant policy for potential widespread banking failures that were sure to come because of the Republican administration's pernicious laissez-faire attitude toward Wall Street.

The answer lies in the way the two administrations handled criticism.

Basically, neither administration comes off very well. He believes the Bush administration could have avoided the whole mess and didn't. But he also believes that Obama's administration has not done any better:

Don't get me wrong, Obama was dealt a terrible hand by the previous croupier. But this administration's handling of the banking crisis, something that has brought Citigroup (Stock Quote: C), Bank of America (Stock Quote: BAC), Wells Fargo (Stock Quote: WFC) and even JPMorgan Chase (Stock Quote: JPM) to their knees, has been devastating. The indecision of Geithner, who has floated to the media every single idea in his head, only to announce none orally, has created a vacuum that has allowed short-sellers to dictate policy.

Yet he still supports Obama's agenda. He just doesn't believe now is the time for it:

After the White House briefing, Rush Limbaugh defended me as a wayward leftist who has seen the light. I am always glad to have any allies and defenders, but I do favor almost all of Obama's agenda, right down to having the rich pay more of their freight in this great country. It's just not the right time. We need to declare a war on unemployment and solve it before we let it get out of hand. We need to stop house-price depreciation. Neither the pork-laden stimulus plan nor the confusing mortgage proposal put forward by Obama will defeat either enemy. When Obama trounces both unemployment and house-price depreciation, he will have the power to enact anything he wants. But all the initiatives he wants to rush, like tax hikes, changes in health care, tinkering with the mortgage deduction -- good grief, right now in the midst of the worst housing downturn ever -- and the tough cap-and-trade rules, will derail any chance we have of turning this economy around. Instead, they put the Second Great Depression smack on the nation's table. The markets thought he could stop it; hence the giant relief rally when he was elected. But in fewer than 50 days of his ascendancy, the markets' hopes were totally dashed and the averages are now forecasting the worst decline since the Great Depression. As someone who listens to what the averages are screaming, I think they are accurately predicting the future.

Fairly strong stuff. His criticism that neither administration seems to be listening seems valid.

Change?! We Don't Need No Stinkin' Change!

Obama nominee Kagen is all set to reverse Bush's policies. NOT!:

Elena Kagan, Dean of Harvard Law School and nominee for Solicitor General, announced that she believes that the government has the authority to detain indefinitely terrorism suspects because the country is "at war" with Al Qaeda. Because I am busy finishing edits on a law review article, can someone please explain to me how this differs from Bush's position, which liberals condemned, bashed and burned in effigy? (from Dissenting Justice via Instapundit)

Oh, times they aren't a-changin'....

A Shoe, A Shoe, To You and You and You...

To their credit, a majority of Iraqis seem to abhor the incident in which a reporter threw shoes at President Bush during a news conference.

Some of the comments following the article suggest that more Americans should consider learning some basic respect. A majority of the Iraqi comments seemed to center around the proper treatment of guests, even if the guest is an enemy.

Manners: You'd think a wealthy country like America could afford some.

On a side note, Bush must keep in good shape! I don't know if I could have dodged so quickly. I also have to wonder if US reporters could throw shoes as accurately as this guy did. Impressive all around!

UPDATE: Some are questioning the response of the Secret Service, suggesting they showed unusual restraint, and that they were slow getting to the president.

I know for myself the first time I watched the video I wondered what took them so long. But when I watch it again I realized that time dilation took over--in times of excitement things appear to slow down. In reality there were about two seconds between when the first shoe flew and when he was being wrestled to the ground. He got the second throw off while he was being grabbed. One to two seconds after that there were agents pouring through the door behind Bush, and an agent appears out of the crowd, only to be waved off by the President.

In reality, that was a pretty fast response time for a situation where everything was so heavily locked down that they felt comfortable to have all security out of sight:

"Everyone in that room passed through several layers of security," Agent Ed Donovan tells ABC News. Screening included magnetometers, sweeps by K9 dogs and U.S. military bomb squads. Donovan says name identification checks were done on all the journalists to confirm they were representing news organizations.

I am surprised there weren't more agents in the crowd who could interpose themselves between Bush and anyone even more determined to do harm, but it's also hard to know what restrictions they were operating under.

My hat is off, though, to the reporter in the red shirt (Star Trek, anyone?) seated in front of where the assailant launched his shoes from. He responded pretty quickly, too. He turned, assessed the situation, and was then up and in the assailant's face, nearly blocking the second shot. Not bad for a reporter. That he responded at all puts him ahead of most people.

As someone points out, the most interesting thing is what you don't see: guns.