The Fireside chat for April 24, 2010 (VIDEO)

As the auto industry and financial markets begin to stabilize, the President says the government’s emergency interventions can now wind down. He pledges that real reform, particularly on Wall Street, must now begin.

"By the time I get to Arizona..." (VIDEO)

No, the President did not quote Public Enemy during his speech today.

This is from a Naturalization Ceremony for American Soldiers on the White House lawn. It was a nice ceremony, but the President took a moment (about 16:00 minutes in) to blast Arizona and their (at the time) about-to-be-signed racist-ass law.



From the White House website:

...people who are in America illegally have a responsibility -- to pay their back taxes and admit responsibility for breaking the law, pay a penalty, learn English, pass criminal background checks, and get right with the law -- or face removal -- before they can get in line and eventually earn their citizenship.

So responsibility. Accountability. Common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform. I thank Secretary Napolitano for helping to lead our efforts, both on and off Capitol Hill. And I thank Senators Schumer and Graham for working with us to forge a bipartisan consensus on a framework for moving forward, and I welcome the commitment of House and Senate Democratic leaders to take action.

I’ll continue to consult with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and I would note that 11 current Republican Senators voted to pass immigration reform four years ago. I’m hopeful that they will join with Democrats in doing so again so we can make the progress the American people deserve.

Indeed, our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.

In fact, I’ve instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation. But if we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.

As a nation, as a people, we can choose a different future -- a future that keeps faith with our history, with our heritage, and with the hope that America has always inspired in the hearts of people all over the world. For just as each of these 24 new citizens once cast their eyes upon our country from afar, so too, somewhere in the world today is a young boy or a young girl wondering if they, too, might someday share in America’s promise.

Don't go counting your...ahem...chickens...

Josh has a warning for those who think that the Dems are about to get trouched in the upcoming midterms:

It's easy to overstate the power of money in a political race. So long as both candidates have a threshold amount of money adequate to get a message out, it's hard for a money advantage to save a candidate who has the odds really stacked against them. But Christina Bellantoni points out that a number of the most endangered Senate Dems -- Reid, Lincoln, Specter, Boxer, et al. -- all have lots more money in the bank than their GOP rivals, even as they're struggling to do degrees in the polls. In the case of Harry Reid, for instance, something like 30 times as much as his likely rival.

Money can only do so much. And there's no way national Republicans won't at the very least adequately fund these challengers. But the disparities are great enough that it's made me rethink at least a little what I think is going to happen in these races.

The President's remarks on Wall Street Reform at Cooper Union (VIDEO)

Right down the block from my old dorm at NYU.



In case you doubt, I have vivid memories of what its like when the President comes to visit Cooper Union, as evidenced below:




What do you want to bet that that same guy was out there today?

Uhh, gee Blanche. Ya think?!?

Former Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR): Empty, soulless, but not completely stupid.

I just want to know why she thought this was a good idea before the SEC Investigation was announced.

In case you need a funny explanation of the Goldman Indictment (VIDEO)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Goldman Sachs Fraud Case - Andrew Ross Sorkin
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

CNBC: John Harwood's Interview with President Obama (VIDEO)

This are the pieces I was able to grab so far. (In the end, I think it covers the 15-20 minutes mentioned up front).

And yes, this portion of the Interview goes black about 3 minutes in.

And yes, the website posted it anyway:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Okay, back up and running:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And part three, covering Goldman stuff:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Are Tea Partiers Racist? ... Part 2

Don't just gauge the racism of the Tea Parties by the quality of the white people attending, judge them also by the quality of the people of color attending:

I had specifically come to this rally because it was supposed to be especially diverse. And, on the stage at least, it was. The speakers included a black doctor who bashed Democrats for crying racism, a Hispanic immigrant who said that she had never received a single government entitlement and a Vietnamese immigrant who said that the Tea Party leader was God. It felt like a bizarre spoof of a 1980s Benetton ad.

The juxtaposition was striking: an abundance of diversity on the stage and a dearth of it in the crowd, with the exception of a few minorities like the young black man who carried a sign that read “Quit calling me a racist.”

They saved the best for last, however: Alfonzo “Zo” Rachel. According to his Web site, Zo, who is black and performs skits as “Zo-bama,” allowed drugs to cost him “his graduation.” Before ripping into the president for unconstitutional behavior, he cautioned, “I don’t have the education that our president has, so if I misinterpret some things in the founding documents I kind of have an excuse.” That was the understatement of the evening.

I found the imagery surreal and a bit sad: the minorities trying desperately to prove that they were “one of the good ones”; the organizers trying desperately to resolve any racial guilt among the crowd. The message was clear: How could we be intolerant if these multicolored faces feel the same way we do?

It was a farce. This Tea Party wanted to project a mainstream image of a group that is anything but. A New York Times/CBS News poll released on Wednesday found that only 1 percent of Tea Party supporters are black and only 1 percent are Hispanic. It’s almost all white.

And even when compared to other whites, their views are extreme and marginal. For instance, white Tea Party supporters are twice as likely as white independents and eight times as likely as white Democrats to believe that Barack Obama was born in another country.

Furthermore, they were more than eight times as likely as white independents and six times as likely as white Democrats to think that the Obama administration favors blacks over whites.

Thursday night I saw a political minstrel show devised for the entertainment of those on the rim of obliviousness and for those engaged in the subterfuge of intolerance. I was not amused.

Here we go again...

Paul Krugman remains a brilliant Economist. He remains a dreadful strategist.