Well maybe not the last. After all, there are still 71 days to go before the inauguration.
But late Sunday, George W. Bush's administration scrapped its original $123-billion bailout of American International Group (AIG) and offered a new one, for $170 billion, that extends the loan from two years to five. The deal is part of the $700-billion stash that Congress passed last month.
So far this morning, Wall Street seems to like the news. As for AIG, its CEO Edward Liddy said the new plan "is a significant step forward" that will help AIG divest itself of bad business loans. Tapped to lead the company amid its turmoil five weeks ago, Liddy also said it feels more like five years.
For one thing, Democrats have signaled that under President-elect Barack Obama's administration, the Treasury will use the $700-billion bailout money differently. If there's any left.
For another, Democrats are likely to be enraged that the U.S. government is bailing out Wall Street -- again -- while the Big Three auto makers are nearing the precipice. The White House has been resisting a direct bailout of an industry, preferring to dole out the money to the financial sector and let those traditional gatekeepers of the nation's money supply do their thing.
-- Johanna Neuman
Photo: Stan Honda / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
After Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois today agreed to become Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, praise came from an unexpected quarter.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was at John McCain's side almost every day of the 2008 general election campaign, negotiated the details of the presidential debates with Emanuel, representing Obama.
This is a wise choice by President-elect Obama. Rahm knows Capitol Hill and has great political skills. He can be a tough partisan but also understands the need to work together....
I worked closely with him during the presidential debate negotiations, which were completed in record time. When we hit a rough spot, he always looked for a path forward. I consider Rahm to be a friend and colleague. He's tough but fair. Honest, direct, and candid. These qualities will serve President-elect Obama well.
Toughness is the quality cited most often by presidential scholars -- and several former occupants of the position -- in describing what matters in a White House chief of staff.
Dick Cheney, chief of staff to President Gerald Ford, has developed something of a reputation for toughness himself as vice president to George W. Bush.
But Cheney told political scientist Martha Kumar in 2001 that organization was the key to being White House chief of staff. In an interview for the Presidency Research Group, for which Kumar spoke to 80 former White House staffers, Cheney said:
His reach, his ability to sort of guide and direct the government, to interact with the Cabinet, to deal effectively with the Congress, to manage his relationship with the press, all of those are key ingredients to his success.
On the schedule: confer with Mexican counterparts who will be working in the future with their successors in the Obama or McCain administration. Oh, yeah, and tour the famous Mayan ruins, marvel at the Lacandon rain forest and maybe even take in the Michoacan butterfly reserve with its profusion of monarch butterflies, like the one above, who migrate every year from Canada.
Not so fast. The Washington Post's Al Kamen, who broke the story earlier this week, reports that agency head Dale Hall "decided to postpone the meeting with Mexico until another time." In an e-mail to his staff, Hall explained that he postponed the trip, scheduled for the week of Nov. 17, on learning that not all the top officials would be able to go then.
Apparently they are needed for meetings here, to brief the incoming administration during the transition.
Keeping in mind that it is more difficult to undo a government regulation than it is to put one into place, President Bush's aides are making a final push to shape the federal rule book -- and weaken the regs that protect consumers and the environment.
The idea is to put the new rules into effect before Bush leaves office -- knowing that whether he is followed by Barack Obama or John McCain, the changes are likely to remain in place for a long time.
In bits and pieces, the administration has been chipping away, tweaking here, chain-sawing there, in an effort to redraw the government's reach -- and in many cases, pull it back.
Countdown to Crawford reported on a couple of moves earlier this month, including one to limit product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.
The Washington Post took a look at the administration's efforts today, noting:
The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.
The paper noted that the latest changes would reduce obstacles to some commercial fishing activities, reduce controls on the emissions that contribute to global warming, "relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining."
If a new administration wants to remove the rules, in most cases it would have to go through a lengthy regulatory proceeding involving a period of public comment, rule-writing and analysis of the proposed changes.
You've been laboring for eight long years in a federal agency as an appointee of George W. Bush. You want to leave on a high note. So what do you do?
Well, if you're one of 28 senior officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, you plan a trip to Mexico to tour the famous Mayan ruins and marvel at the Lacandon rain forest while conferring with counterparts in the Mexican government who will likely never talk to you again because your administration is sunsetting with the inauguration. On the list of those taking the trip: Director Dale Hall, who's leaving his job on Jan. 3, and Assistant Secretary Lyle Laverty, who's also departing just after the new president is sworn in.
According to the Washington Post's Al Kamen, the group will visit the Institute of Natural History and Ecology in Chiapas, enjoy receptions and dinner with local officials and have a few hours of meetings before flying back to Mexico. Some on the trip are planning to accept the two-day "optional extension" to see the Michoacan butterfly reserve with its profusion of Monarch butterflies, like the one in the photo above, who migrate every year from Canada.
We have nothing against nature, but we wonder about the wisdom of encouraging trips for officials who are leaving office. And what if the incoming administration has a question to ask of these officials?
Kamen asked Jamie Clark, who headed Fish and Wildlife during the Clinton administration, to look at the itinerary. Clark was not amused, saying:
This is a goodbye boondoggle if I ever saw one. The entire leadership will be gone during the transition.
If you thought members of Congress were the only ones taking last-minute trips at taxpayer expense just before they leave office, think again.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, who spent about $280,000 to take 11 staffers on a two-week tour of Australia last April, is capping his short tenure at the EPA with an all-expense trip to Israel and Jordan. As the Washington Post's wry columnist Al Kamen put it, Johnson is "winding up an excellent 10-day jaunt to the apparently environmentally troubled Holy Land."
Kamen reports that Johnson, "determined to continue gathering these elusive facts until the very end," attended the Eco-Cities of the Mediterranean Forum on the Dead Sea. A spokesman told the Post that Johnson "spoke with Jordanian leaders about the importance of international environmental cooperation at the Russeifah landfill in Russeifah, Jordan."
As if that were not enough, Johnson (seen above in Washington, D.C., recently unveiling the EPA's new hydrogen fuel cell cars) also met with Israeli officials, Kamen reported, "to promote sharing of information...on water security and water quality monitoring."
Nearly a month after Congress approved President Bush's $700-billion bailout of U.S. banks, the stock market is still in free fall, unemployment keeps rising and the global capitalistic system is on the brink. In fact the poison has long since spread from America to the rest of the world. The photo above is a shot of broker Simone Wallmeyer at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, as the market fell today.
And what about the American citizens who inundated the U.S. Capitol switchboard with calls of protest? The ones who vented their rage on radio talk shows and propelled a revolt by House Republicans that nearly derailed the proposal? Apparently they like the plan even less now than they did before.
According to a new poll from CNN, 46% of Americans supported the bailout back on Oct. 3. By Oct. 17, that number had dropped to 40%. Likewise, the number who opposed the idea has increased during the same period, to 56% from 53%.
Even more striking was the number -- 58% -- who think it's a bad idea for the U.S. government to take an equity share in big companies that are in danger of going out of business. Apparently, Americans think that the rules of the road should apply to Lehman Brothers as well as Joe the Plumber.
As for Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary who has been putting his department on lock down to come up with a plan to rescue Wall Street, his numbers are not much better than the president's, clocking in with a 28% approval rating.
Of course both President Bush and his Treasury secretary are still more popular than Congress, which dipped below 20% in a recent Gallup Poll.
The tradition dates back to the Renaissance, when portraiture was a function of history, an attempt to document for posterity the greatness of great men.
And in the early days of the United States, the founders saw a political purpose in commissioning official portraits. George Washington sat for Gilbert Stuart. Defenders argue that a painting is still the most permanent archive of history.
But with the economy tanking, some are asking if we really need portraits of every Cabinet member and sub-Cabinet official to hang on an agency's walls. Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told the Washington Post that in this age of digital photography, agencies should consider using photos.
I think most people like the tradition of presidents having their portraits painted. But where does the line get drawn? Somewhere between the president to Cabinet agency to sub-Cabinet -- somewhere along the way, I'm pretty sure that you'd lose wide public support.
But the temptation to try for immortality must be great. When he first took office in 1977, President Jimmy Carter called portraits "unnecessary luxury" and ordered his Cabinet members to use photos instead. But his portrait hangs in the White House, as does Rosalyn Carter's.
Perhaps the quandary is best summed-up by an art historian, David Bjelajac. The George Washington University professor told the Post, "A photograph has an association with journalistic everyday life, whereas a painted image suggests something that transcends the moment."
So, as the Post's Christopher Lee found in a survey of the agencies, the Defense Department is awaiting delivery of former Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's portrait ($46,790). NASA paid $25,000 for a portrait of former administrator Daniel S. Goldin. And the Environmental Protection Agency forked over $29,500 for a portrait of outgoing Secretary Stephen L. Johnson. That's on top of the $19,000 that the National Cancer Institute paid for a portrait of former director Andrew C. von Eschenbach, now head of the Food and Drug Administration.
Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin has questioned scientific evidence that the beluga whale population in the waters near Anchorage is declining. In fact last summer she urged the federal government not to list the whale as endangered, citing concerns of what a listing might do to the Cook Inlet economy.
But today the U.S. Government replied with a decisive counter, declaring the beluga whales in Alaska's Cook Inlet an endangered species. The findings by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration trigger a rigorous regimen to protect the whales, dwindled to an estimated 375 from their 1995 high of 653.
The decision by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service could trump a decision by the U.S. Interior Department to make oil leases available on Cook Inlet, where energy analysts see an estimated $1.38 billion worth of resources.
"In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering," said James Balsiger, NOAA's acting assistant administrator. The agency added that oil and gas exploration had hindered the whale's existence.
As the Associated Press noted, this is the second run-in Palin has had with the Bush administration over the Endangered Species Act. Earlier, the governor, now Republican vice presidential candidate, had asked the courts to overturn an Interior Department decision declaring polar bears threatened.
For weeks, conservative political circles have been buzzing with rumors that a grassroots organization called the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has been fraudulently registering low-income Americans to vote. There were reports that Mickey Mouse was registered in Florida, that a man named Freddie Johnson registered 73 times, that somehow ACORN was a front organization to elect Democrat Barack Obama.
Today, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee asked the Bush administration's Justice Department to investigate. In a statement, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said:
Reports that ACORN registered Mickey Mouse to vote are deeply disturbing. American voters depend on their government to ensure that their votes are fairly counted in an election. Unfortunately, organizations like ACORN that perpetuate voter fraud continue to plague the American electoral system. Congress must make it clear that ACORN, and organizations like it, will not be allowed to steal votes and potentially influence elections.
Both sides in the presidential race have accused the other of ties to ACORN.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, in an e-mail to supporters, noted that ACORN has endorsed Obama. The Alaska governor added, "We can't allow leftist groups like ACORN to steal this election."
For his part, Obama said today that his relationship with ACORN stemmed from more than a decade ago, when as a young lawyer he represented the group as it tried to implement the motor-voter law in Illinois that allows voter registration at driver registration agencies. And, in a news conference, he noted that voter fraud does not occur until citizens try to vote.
This isn't actually a situation where people who are going to try to vote, because these are phony names. It's doubtful that Tony Romo is going to show up in Ohio to vote. So, this is another one of these distractions that gets stirred up during the course of a campaign. What I want to make sure of though, is that this is not used as an excuse for the kind of voter suppression tactics that strategies and tactics that we've seen in the past. Let's make sure everybody is voting, everybody is registered, everybody is doing this is a lawful way.
With local officials in several states, including Nevada, investigating suspicious voter registrations produced by ACORN, the organization also is fighting back. Spokesman Scott Levenson told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Monday that Obama's campaign did not, as rumored, pay $800,000 to ACORN, but paid that amount to CSI, a private organization, which in turn hired ACORN for $80,000 to get out the vote in the primaries.
Today, Levenson said that his group was being demonized for trying to "empower the powerless and enfranchise the disenfranchised." Noting that ACORN itself alerted local officials to instances in which its registrations might not be valid, as required by law, Levenson said he was proud of the organization's record of registering 1.3 million voters.
In an interview with CNN, he said complaints from Republicans are "a sad, cynical sign of how desperate the McCain campaign is."
-- Johanna Neuman
Photo: A police officer entering the ACORN office in Las Vegas on Oct. 7 as part of an investigation into voter fraud. Credit: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press
James Gerstenzang and Johanna Neuman are reporters in The Times' Washington bureau. Between the two of them, they have covered the White House, diplomacy, military affairs, the environment, international economics, trade and Congress. They have both spent time in Crawford, Texas.
