Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2009 > February > 20
Friday, February 20, 2009
Clyburn, the stimulus and Southern governors
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The debate over the economic stimulus package has gotten peculiarly Southern.
U.S. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) raised eyebrows this morning with this Associated Press article:
The highest-ranking black congressman said Thursday that opposition to the federal stimulus package by southern GOP governors is “a slap in the face of African-Americans.”
U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said he was insulted when the governors of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and his home state, which have large black populations, said they might not accept some of the money from the $787 billion stimulus package.
Clyburn has rephrased himself since then. The Hill, a D.C. newspaper and web site, has this:
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said on Friday that his remark that Republican governors declining to take stimulus funds was a “slap in the face” to blacks was not an attempt to play the race card.
In an interview on MSNBC, Clyburn, the highest ranking African-American in Congress, framed his remarks in the context of Attorney General Eric Holder’s speech earlier in the week. Holder called America a “nation of cowards” when it came to discussing racial inequalities that continue to exist.
“I know that these underserved communities, these communities that have been chronically unemployed, the communities that have the biggest health problems, the communities that really need attention — or African-American communities in some places, Hispanic communities in other places — and that is in South Carolina,” Clyburn said.
“This is not playing the race card; this is discussing what the actual facts are and what we ought to do to address those facts. And avoiding it, pretending it doesn’t exist, will not serve anybody’s useful purpose.”
So far as we can tell, MSNBC hasn’t posted the video yet.
Meanwhile, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was among 70 or so mayors who met with President Barack Obama on Friday. She told my AJC colleague Bob Keefe that money from the $787 billion recovery package could start flowing to Atlanta within weeks,
Franklin said one of her biggest worries is over money for roads, and the state’s Republican-controlled agency in charge. “I remain concerned that 70 percent of transportation money could get stuck in state government - in Georgia DOT,” she said. “That’s a lot of money.”
For some mayors, the Friday meeting represented a new openness they haven’t seen in years. Franklin, for instance, has been to the White House twice in the last two weeks. Before that, she said, she had not been there since Bill Clinton was president.
“I would’ve come if I had been invited,” she said. But the Bush administration offered no such invitation, she told Keefe.
Another Georgia mayor attending the White House session was Robert Reichert, whom Franklin described as “her brother from Macon.”
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment |
Bringing Jesus into the stimulus debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The American Issues Project, a conservative group in Washington, announced today that it had launched a cable TV campaign “spotlighting the excessive spending and pet projects within the far-reaching stimulus legislation.”
AIP said it was spending nearly $1 million on the ad, which will air mostly on news networks — FOX News, CNN, CNN Headline News, CNBC and FOX Business Network.
The key phrase: “Suppose you spend $1 million every single day, starting from the day Jesus was born….”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Illinois governor demands Roland Burris’ resignation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Up in Illinois, Rod Blagojevich’s successor wants the ex-governor’s U.S. Senate appointment gone. This from the Chicago Tribune a few minutes ago:
Gov. Patrick Quinn today called on U.S. Sen. Roland Burris to resign amid the furor of questions over his contacts with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Burris should “act as quickly as possible for the best interests of Illinois,” Quinn said at a late morning news conference. “This should not be a matter that takes weeks.”
Quinn called on lawmakers to give him the power to appoint a temporary successor to the Senate until a special election could be held. Many Republican lawmakers argued Quinn has the constitutional authority to order a special election, which could have the effect of forcing Burris from office. But Quinn said today he doesn’t feel he has the constitutional authority to order a special election.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Clinton tells Obama to keep his chin up. And Carter says this ain’t no Depression
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President Barack Obama has a right to feel a bit double-teamed by two Democratic predecessors.
On one hand, the new president has Bill Clinton advising — in an interview broadcast this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America” — advising him to “put on a more positive face when speaking to the American people about the economy.”
But Obama also has Jimmy Carter recommending that young whipper-snappers keep things in perspective.
At a Thursday press conference announcing a $10 million renovation of his presidential library, Carter wandered into the topic of the economy.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle captured these remarks:
”There is no comparison to the Great Depression and where we are now,” he said. “The Great Depression was much more severe. Right now, we have 7 percent unemployment. In the Great Depression, it was four times that. Back then, there was no money.”
He described how a grown man whom he described as “wise and capable of handling mules and horses” could earn $1 a day for working 16 to 18 hours a day. A woman with similar skills would earn 75 cents and an able-bodied teenager, he said, would earn 50 cents a day.
“There was practically no way to control unemployment,” he said. “Millions were laid off.”
Photo credit: Elissa Eubanks/AJC
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
White House time for Franklin, Perdue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Up in Washington, my AJC colleague Bob Keefe says that both Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and Gov. Sonny Perdue will get some face time — however distant — with President Barack Obama over the next few days.
This morning, Franklin and about 60 other mayors are scheduled to have a 45-minute meeting with Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and top cabinet members to discuss the stimulus package and what it means to their cities.
The visit has been organized by the United States Conference of Mayors.
On Monday, Perdue will meet with the president and his staff as part of the National Governors Association’s winter meetings being held in Washington.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment |
Your morning jolt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On ajc.com this morning:
— Bill Clinton tells President Obama to keep his chin up.
— Bill to strip public defender board passes state Senate.
— Sanford Bishop says stimulus written to avoid GOP tampering.
And elsewhere:
— CNET: Republicans call for a new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users. for two years to aid police investigations.
— LAT: New York Post says sorry — sort of — about that dead monkey cartoon.
— NYT: The stimulus and high-speed rail.
— WSJ: A note from Rush Limbaugh to President Obama.
— WP: Steep drop in oil prices causes trouble.
— WP: Hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu chosen to form a new Israeli government.
