Friedman: We should 'consider moving up the inauguration date'

[bigtree]

Monday November 24, 2008


In 1933, the Great Depression deepened as the country drifted between the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his inauguration. In an attempt to prevent that from happening again, the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution moved presidential inaugurations from March up to January -- but now even January 20 may not come soon enough for the struggling American economy.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, "I think we should seriously consider moving up the inauguration date, because I don't know that we have two months to have a political vacuum at this moment in this economic crisis. ... This administration has kind of checked out. They're not going to do anything big."

"There is a storm coming," Friedman continued, "and it hasn't hit yet. And I believe the decisions made, possibly in these next two months, could determine the next four years. This administration could be over before it starts -- over in the sense that it will spend the next four years digging out of a hole that has been created right now, that may be deeper and darker than anyone realizes."

An economic adviser to President-elect Barack Obama has told CNN that Obama is urging outgoing President Bush to do more to fix the economy, but some Democrats worry that this is not enough.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) says of Obama, "I would like him to become -- at least offer to become -- more involved. And I think that offer would be welcomed, not just by the Democrats in the House and the Senate but also by the White House itself."


http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Friedman_Change_Constitution_for_early_inauguration_1124.html

[gratuitous]

1. Oh come on, Tommy

Give it another six months! It'll all work out in six months. And if it doesn't work out in six months, I'm prepared to wait another six months, the standard unit of measurement in a Friedman Unit (FU).

Yes, the next couple of months are important and the current administration checked out a long time ago (latest estimates indicate on or about November 10, 2004). But this "crisis" didn't develop overnight and it won't be solved or irretrievably lost in the next two months. I want to be sure that the Bush administration gets the full measure of credit for its work over the last eight years.

[bigtree]

2. he's not the only one worried about the impact of the Bush presidency on the economy

. . . in the next two months

CHICAGO -- Eager to calm economic anxieties, President-elect Barack Obama is rolling out an economic vision that will require congressional cooperation even before he settles into his new desk in the White House's Oval Office.

"We don't have time to waste here, " Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/785271.html

[Alter Ego]

3. I agree, but mostly because the span of time between election and inauguration

is fucking ridiculous.

[Ganja Ninja]

4. I don't suppose it has anything to do with the fact that Friedman

is taking a beating in the markets.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4524951

:evilgrin:

[TahitiNut]

5. Friedman must have a degenerative disease of the brain. Does he remember 2000?

:eyes: