destor23 -- I would have to go back and study this. Unfortunately, I don't have an email that someone sent, or which I saw posted somewhere that looked at the great number of conflicts that were initiated in the last year of a presidency. Now that I think about it, it might have been the oped co written by Richard Armitage and Michelle Flournoy yesterday or the day before.

But to answer you directly, I'm not familiar with many cases of such "tying of the hands of the next presidency".

It's an important and interesting question though.

Posted at June 10, 2008 10:58 AM in response to Cheney Winning the Inside Battles Again

LisB -- I hope you are right, but I fear many are not paying attention to the shifting tide of fortunes inside the administration.

coralsea -- Gareth's piece is really important to understand why the tectonics of this are changing. It's a great article, but some of the pieces that stopped the drumbeats last time around have come undone and the chances of a hot conflict with Iran are rising now. To some degree, I fear that the oil markets are anticipating a conflict. The surges are not just supply/demand.

Anyone been down to Norfolk lately? There are virtually no ships there. A lot is deployed and there seems to be a creeping escalation in place now. We have to focus some attention on what is unfolding.

-- steve clemons

Posted at June 10, 2008 12:08 AM in response to Cheney Winning the Inside Battles Again

No worries at all. Seriously though, if I missed some other item I should have responded to, always feel free to send me a note.

I just responded to your item about Obama as globalist on the other page dealing with Obama's economic policy staff -- but I failed to hit reply to you -- so it's just down at the bottom of the page.

Hope you find it of interest. best, steve

Posted at June 9, 2008 11:01 PM in response to tpm pravda

destor23 -- Of course Obama is a globalist. But there are different kinds of globalists. Some are manic globalists who still have in mind a network of higher and higher trust thoroughfares for the flow of money, people, capital and ideas -- and there is now a higher fear brand of globalization in which borders are thicker, people travel less frictionlessly through them, along with other changes. We are not going back to some nativist orientation -- but I do think that we are going to rethink globalization and how it works. Jamie Galbraith and Jared Bernstein have been creative and aggressive on that front. I think Summers has come to an 'introspective moment' as well but still carries the neoliberal flame. Blinder, in my view, has been the most important top tier economist in opening up this debate and moving many in his field. The group of economists listed are diverse -- I grant that, but that wasn't really the key focus of my piece regarding Jason's new job. In any case, thanks for the note.

Posted at June 9, 2008 10:57 PM in response to Obama's Economic Soul?

I stand corrected. I look forward to further debates/discussion with you on policy matters.

best regards,

Steve Clemons

Posted at June 9, 2008 10:25 PM in response to tpm pravda

Economides -- For the record, I think that the entire list is comprised of excellent economists, but they have different takes on the world. That was my primary point. Jamie Galbraith, a great friend, is someone I think is one of the nation's real visionaries in the economics arena -- and he is one of the most versatile. He's been working hard for Obama for some time and he's been a regular speaker and partner with much of my work. Goolsbee too is great -- but of the ilk I describe above I think. There is a great video of him with other of the campaign advisers that is worth watching as I think his comments were detail rich in a way that is quickly disappearing from the campaign staff -- particularly after he was burned on the Canada NAFTA flap.

Jared Bernstein is a great labor economist. When I wrote my piece, I did not see the note about Bernstein, but my essential point about how Barack Obama is building out his key paid staff still stands I think. Blinder and Summers have been key players in this "moment of introspection" in the economics profession, but I don't think that they have really abandoned a neoliberal orientation. But your point about diversity is fair and noted.

I should have addressed more than trade -- you are on target on that, and will try to do so in future posts.

Best,

Steve Clemons

Posted at June 9, 2008 10:13 PM in response to Obama's Economic Soul?

destor23 --- I read the comments when I get a chance. If there are any of yours I have not answered, please zap me a note. I would appreciate my private emails not being posted. I like Morsus Mihi's comments generally -- even when taking me on -- and thought that his response to me on the economists around Obama was quite good. There was an item that disclosed personal info about me that I didn't want up and which I thought was inappropriate. When he was not pleased with the correction, I restored his post -- but removed my post until the link that he was using was cleaned up. I don't want to discuss my personal issues here or on any blog.

In any case, I hope my privacy is respected -- and I appreciate MM's concern about censorship. My personal info though is that -- personal, for reasons. Thanks -- and again -- email me if I can answer any questions or complaints about things I might have missed before.

Posted at June 9, 2008 9:07 PM in response to tpm pravda

Loiusev -- Thanks for your note. My post was about much more than my exchange with the Obama campaign over Cuba policy. But to answer your questions specifically, I am invited with other members of the press and political blogging community to on the record conference calls with the candidate's team. These sessions are like press sessions. Transcripts and tapes are kept.

My issue -- to the degree I have one -- is that I posed a question during a conference call and received an answer from Susan Rice. She was thoughtful and serious -- and she gave a sound answer. I wrote up her response --- and indicated my disagreement with it. There was no problem with any of that.

The problem came when I began to hear through third parties that Rice had tried to tell other parties that I had misquoted her and intimating as well that Barack Obama did in fact endorse something along the lines of the 2001-03 status quo in US-Cuba relations. On substantive policy grounds, I know that Obama does not agree with that position -- and Susan Rice's stated formulation to me on the phone was Obama's real position. But to intimate informally that she was misquoted and then to potentially imply that Obama's position was fuzzier than what I reported is not a professional way to deal with foreign policy writers.

Yes, it is quite normal for writers and bloggers to ask for transcripts. I did so six weeks ago.

I let the matter drop until I had lunch with one of Obama's top foreign policy advisers who raised the issue with me and who said what I did.

This is not a mountain/mole hill problem. It is a micro case regarding trying to determine what a candidate's policy really is -- and to what degree it is solid and how the decision was made.

Thanks for your questions.

Steve Clemons

Posted at April 27, 2008 6:12 PM in response to Gravity Puts Dent in Obama Momentum

Thanks Tom - That "Solar Grand Plan" article was superb and like the broader question of next gen communications or broadband 2.0, I think what constitutes "infrastructure" needs to be broadened.

Thanks for the comment,

Steve Clemons

Posted at February 13, 2008 12:12 PM in response to Finally! A Serious Proposal on Infrastructure

Thanks Troll bait. I didn't mean to intend I thought your post yesterday was snarky. Been too rushed I think to respond fully.

To rmrdooooo -- I think Debra Dickerson's take on the power relationships between the races continues to be the most stimulating reading out there. She's not saying race is a dead issue -- but she's pointing that direction and thinks race needs to be tackled through other dimensions, through the real problems folks have....

Anyway, I may write more on the subject above at some point as I didn't mean for folks to get lost in it or confused -- which clearly may be the case.

Best on MLK Day,

Steve Clemons

Posted at January 21, 2008 8:29 AM in response to Beyond King