The Tough Stuff

The NY Times does a piece on Rahm Emanuel's money-making and connections.

WSJ Op-Ed suggests Barack and Rahmbo practice some tough love for the auto-industry:

The reason Europe has fuel-efficient cars is high gas prices, not CAFE laws. What's more, the only times that Americans have switched to smaller cars is 1973, 1979 and the spring of 2008, when gas prices here were high. So the time has come for Congress to stop pretending that fuel-economy can be legislated and to put market forces to work. That means raising gasoline taxes -- offset by cuts in income taxes and by gas vouchers for needy people. These measures would succeed at raising fuel economy and in reducing automotive emissions where the CAFE law has failed.

There are no painless solutions here. But amid this dismal picture, there is a real opportunity for our new president-elect. If Barack Obama can stare down the UAW, the pro-CAFE environmental lobby and the corporate-welfare supplicants by insisting on the sort of tough-love measures outlined here, he'll establish himself as a true leader. Rahm Emanuel, the president-elect's designated chief of staff, says a good crisis shouldn't be wasted.

John Kass has a column on Obama's taking a pass on denouncing Chicago corruption in Chicago--think he'll do it in Washington? At least leave Patrick Fitzgerald where he is, please.

Does Barack Obama have the right stuff to do the tough stuff?