Melody Barnes

by Josh Orton, Mon Nov 24, 2008 at 09:12:32 AM EST

As Todd mentioned, Obama made his economic team announcement this morning. But look who'll be running the Economic Policy Council (via The Field):

Melody Barnes, Domestic Policy Council served as chief counsel to Senator Ted Kennedy on the Judiciary Committee from 1985 to 1993. Want to get an idea of how progressive she is? Read this: In January of 2007, prior to President Bush's state of the union address, Barnes wrote this essay for the Washington Post, What a Progressive President Might Say:

    "Here at home there is urgent work to do to fight the historically high -- and growing -- gap between our richest and poorest citizens. While the mean income of households on the low end of the income spectrum -- the bottom 20 percent -- is just $10,655 a year, the income of the top twenty percent of households averages almost $160,000. That's 15 times as much. At the same time, according to the latest census figures, the middle class, beset with stagnant wages and mountainous debts, is shrinking. The sad fact is that one of our most cherished values as a society, namely equality of opportunity, is fading as a reality for far too many people..."

Yes, there have been some announcements and appointments that haven't exactly been music to a progressive's ears. But worth it to note when Obama appoints a true progressive to a significant position of power. Certainly easier than concocting one of those "secret progressive" theories. Actual progressives are better.

Tags: Barack Obama (all tags)

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4 Comments

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Re: Melody Barnes

I was begining to doubt.  This is very welcome news, even though I had my heart set on Krugman in an important post.

by Why Not 2008-11-24 09:15AM | 0 recs
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Re: Melody Barnes

Actually, I like keeping Krugman where he is. If he's brought into the Administration, the Traditional Media and Conservatives will jump all over the chance to paint him as toeing the line for President Obama. But if he's on the outside and  voicing support for the Administration's policies, it preserves the narrative that Obama's policies are in line with what a Nobel Prize winner is recommending.

by Beomoose 2008-11-24 10:12AM | 0 recs
Cartman stretched square
Her conventional-thinking 'solutions'

are not very impressive. From the same Washington Post opinion piece:

To restore fairness to our system, I will embark on a multi-faceted approach including increasing our investment in public education, promoting genuine health care reform, and backing a higher minimum wage.

A higher minimum wage is a great idea; having a full-employment economy is an even better way to reduce inequality; promoting unionization is the other. An targeted incomes policy, commonplace in postwar Europe, would be ideal.

The usual mantra of 'invest in education' is just wrong-headed conventional thinking, and just nonsense. The U.S. spends far more on public education than the Western Europeans, for example, and with what results inequality-wise?

by fairleft 2008-11-24 10:20AM | 0 recs
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Re: Melody Barnes

Given that narrowing the income gap was at the top of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's domestic policy agenda as described in the primaries, I don't think Melody Barnes provides enough evidence to satisfy those "true progressives" who are complaining.

I consider myself a liberal, and I am very happy with the direction of Obama's staff and policy decisions so far. But then I expected him to tend more conservative than he has. The plans Obama has supported and proposed for the economic crisis are much larger and more liberal than I thought he would muster.

I'm not sure why people who appear to be more leftist than liberal thought Obama would be particularly sympathetic to them. Though I find Sirota's 'celebrity' theory appealing.

by souvarine 2008-11-24 10:40AM | 0 recs

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