AUDITING OBAMA
“Sometime early next year, the six commissioners who run the Federal Election Commission will face an interesting dilemma - whether to approve a ’for cause’ audit of the presidential campaign of a sitting president, Barack Obama,” Hans A. von Spakovsky writes at www.weeklystandard.com.
“From a legal standpoint, this should be an easy vote. Serious issues were raised in numerous media reports chronicling the Obama campaign’s probable violations of federal law. If the career staff at the FEC follow the ordinary, regulatory model of investigations, they will recommend such an audit to the commissioners,” said Mr. von Spakovsky, a former FEC commissioner and now visiting legal scholar at the Heritage Foundation.
“However, the odds are that the three Democratic commissioners will be under enormous pressure to vote ’no.’ Some members of their party may make it clear that their professional and political careers in Washington will be finished if they vote to approve such an audit. Since it takes four votes for the FEC to take any action, at least one of those Democratic commissioners will have to join with the three Republicans to approve an audit.
“Given the credible reports concerning the possible receipt of millions of dollars of illegal foreign contributions; untraceable contributions; contributions from fictitious and anonymous individuals; and amounts grossly in excess of the maximum contribution limits, such an audit is obviously required. (A concurrent investigation by the Department of Justice is also warranted.)
“Among the most disturbing features to come to light is the apparent disregard by the Obama campaign of the most basic security protocols for identifying the actual source and amount of all the contributions it received, which may end up collecting more money than any candidate has ever collected in history - almost $750 million.”
CHANGING RULES
At least one liberal pundit is calling on Senate Democrats to change the filibuster rule after Democrats failed to win enough seats to reach the magic number of 60.
“If the Democratic Party intends to get serious about governing, it can start by disabling the Republican filibuster that gives the minority party in the Senate a virtual veto over anything it wants to kill,” William Greider writes in Nation magazine.
“The chatter in Washington assumes that since Democrats failed to gain a 60-seat majority, there’s nothing they can do. But that’s not true. Democrats can change the rules and remove a malignant obstacle from the path of our new president. Given the emergency conditions facing the nation, why should Mitch McConnell and his right-wing colleagues get to decide what the Senate may vote on?” Mr. Greider said.
“This proposition disturbs the happy talk about the “post-partisan” politics Barack Obama has inspired. But let’s get real. McConnell is making nice for the moment, having survived his re-election scare in Kentucky. But he will use the filibuster to stymie the new Democratic administration whenever it looks to him like a political opportunity for Republicans.”
Democrats, Mr. Greider said, “have lost their last excuse for inaction. For years, they have blamed Bush’s veto or the narrowly divided Senate for their weakness. Both are kaput. Now the Dems have the ability to step up and change the situation. But will they have the courage? …
“The last time the Senate changed the cloture vote threshold to overcome a filibuster was in 1975, when the Democrats reduced it from 67 to 60 votes. This time, the level can reasonably be reduced to 55 votes to break the GOP’s stranglehold on major legislation. The argument for reform seems far more compelling now than it did in 1975.”
OBAMA 2.0
Incoming President Barack Obama will be the first president to keep his campaign field team while in office, according to Democratic officials,” Paul Bedard writes in the Washington Whispers column at www.usnews.com.
“While other presidents have handed off their campaign organization to the national party upon entering office, Team Obama is expected to keep elements of its campaign operational in the states, say the insiders. Democratic officials call what’s being dubbed ’Obama 2.0’ a brilliant strategy to use his campaign and massive 10 million to 12 million e-mail addresses to pressure political foes to back his agenda,” Mr. Bedard said.
“Sources say that this week the Obama transition team is gathering feedback with ’deliberate haste’ from fundraisers, house-party throwers, and major volunteers in an attempt to finalize the plan. This next phase of the Obama effort will be to hire organizers in every state, though the transition team aims for the organization to be mostly volunteer-run. The four goals of Obama’s latest move, as laid out by his transition team in an internal document, are:
c”Mobilize communities to place pressure on key legislators when major issues are on the table.
c”Keep the Obama organization in place for upcoming elections.
c”Promote two-way communication between the public and the executive office.
c”Civic engagement: Obama 2.0’s direction will be determined locally, with minimal top-to-bottom direction.”
SAVING SANTA
“With the government on the brink of rescuing the U.S. auto industry, we have learned that the Treasury Department is drawing up plans to bail out Christmas,” Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger writes.
“’We have reason to believe,’ said a person close to the matter, ’that without an immediate capital injection, Santa Claus will fail before December 24.’ Mr. Claus could not be reached for comment,” Mr. Henninger said.
“Government officials are said to be concerned at the risk that the collapse of Santa Claus could pose to the nation’s intricately related system of holiday happiness. Though a failure by Santa Claus poses the largest systemic risk, the government is also prepared to step in to bail out Christmas trees, caroling parties and mistletoe producers.
“President-elect Barack Obama has been briefed on the initiative, and through a spokesman was quoted as saying, ’I’m OK with bailing out Christmas.’
“Inside Treasury, some officials privately worry that such a precedent could result in the nationalization of Santa Claus, leading to similar calls for help next year from the Easter Bunny and even Valentine’s Day. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson personally concluded, however, that ’Santa Claus is too big to fail.’”
• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or E-mail Greg Pierce.
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