Is A Change Gonna Come?: Obama is taking a big risk with 'business as usual' politics

"'Populist anger' is a condescending label pundits use to suggest an irrational, unruly temperament. But what's really going on is deeper and potentially more forceful. It will not be contained with good rhetoric or symbolic gestures.

"Populism was the highly creative, self-made movement formed by desperate farmers in the late 19th century. It is disparaged in elite circles, but it generated vital ideas that ultimately reshaped government and democracy. We are not there yet, not even close. But the impulse for small-d democracy could be very healthy -- if the political system learns to listen and respond." -- "Obama Told Us To Speak Out, But Is He Listening?" by William Greider

Go. Read: The Washington Post, 2009-03-22).

The Depression: They Still Don't Get It

Here is James K. Galbraith, writing in Washington Monthly, on the need to face up to the magnitude of the economic mess we're in (No Return To Normal: Why the economic crisis, and its solution, are bigger than you think):

Barack Obama's presidency began in hope and goodwill, but its test will be its success or failure on the economics. Did the president and his team correctly diagnose the problem? Did they act with sufficient imagination and force? And did they prevail against the political obstacles-and not only that, but also against the procedures and the habits of thought to which official Washington is addicted?

The president has an economic program. But there is, so far, no clear statement of the thinking behind that program, and there may not be one, until the first report of the new Council of Economic Advisers appears next year. We therefore resort to what we know about the economists: the chair of the National Economic Council, Lawrence Summers; the CEA chair, Christina Romer; the budget director, Peter Orszag; and their titular head, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. This is plainly a capable, close-knit group, acting with energy and commitment. Deficiencies of their program cannot, therefore, be blamed on incompetence. Rather, if deficiencies exist, they probably result from their shared background and creed-in short, from the limitations of their ideas.

Go. Read: Washington Monthly (March/April 2009).

See, also: "AIG. Was the Bailout From Hell a Mistake?" (Simon Gornick's There Is No Plan)
"Financial Policy Despair" (Paul Krugman, The New York Times)

Information Is Power: RAND congressional reports

As a quasi-public institution, the Rand Corporation makes much of its research public, especially that produced on behalf of the government. Some of this data, packaged as periodic reports to Congress, is available to you via email (see below*). You can subscribe at http://www.rand.org/congress/subscribe.html.

* Monthly Review – monthly on the 18th; Banking & Financial Services – periodically; International Affairs – quarterly; Child Policy – quarterly; National Security – monthly on the 1st; Education – tri-yearly; Safety & Justice – tri-yearly; Energy & Environment – tri-yearly; Small Business – periodically; Gulf States Policy Institute – periodically; Terrorism & Homeland Security – quarterly; Health – monthly on the 15th.

quote unquote: Lord Northcliffe

"News
is what someone, somewhere
is trying to suppress;
the rest is just advertising."

-- British press magnate
Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe

Accountability: Change you can track

The latest project of ProPublica (see, Impractical Proposals: Media Watch: Non-Profit Investigative News Effort) is ChangeTracker, a tool that "watches pages on whitehouse.gov, recovery.gov and financialstability.gov so you don’t have to." When the White House adds or deletes anything -- say a blog post or an executive order -- ChangeTracker keeps a log. Changes can be followed by visiting the site, or you can receive updates via rss feed, email, or twitter @changetracker.

Interestingly, the technology that makes this exercise in accountability possible -- Versionista -- is available for free to anyone who wants to keep track of changes on particular websites. ChangeTracker offers a guide on how to create a tracker for any website.

Accountability: Stimulus Watch

StimulusWatch.org was created "to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend." At the site, citizens with first-hand knowledge of local "shovel-ready" projects considered eligible for federal grants can rate their efficiency as generators of jobs and economic activity. You can vote on the efficacy of a proposed project, edit its description and the arguments in favor or against, and enter a conversation about it.