Obama Lights White House Diwali Lamp
From Aseem Shukla, Newsweek/Washington Post:
The Dow Jones reached a significant milestone yesterday, and news outlets were abuzz with excitement. Olympia Snowe’s vote for the Baucus bill was plenty fodder for the 24-hour news cycles. But, for Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in the United States, an epochal event transpired at the White House afternoon that should not slip notice.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
(from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28)
As the ethereal sounds of a Hindu priest’s chanting of this Sanskrit prayer from ancient Hindu scripture filled the East Room, President Obama lit the ceremonial White House diya –and he used this Sanskrit word for lamp–with dozens of Asian, Indian and Hindu Americans in attendance. Never before had a sitting U.S. President personally celebrated the Diwali holiday, and with that one gesture, two million Hindu Americans felt a bit more like they belonged–one more reason to feel at home. Maybe that cliche’ that all of our diversity adds unique patches to the American quilt is not as tired as we thought.
Diwali is among the most widely celebrated festivals in India and spans all of the Dharmic religious traditions. Rows of diyas, or earthen lamps, line the homes of celebrants as prayers are offered, and for many, a New Year on Hindu calendars is marked. For the seeker, the spiritual significance is clear: the lamps symbolize the quest for knowledge and goodness that mimics the inner Divine and eradicates the darkness of ignorance and false values. As the President said in his address, of course, one does not forget the joyous merriment Diwali celebrations entail: fireworks light up the dark skies of a new moon night, gifts are exchanged and sweets savored.
President Obama to deliver eulogy at Ted Kennedy’s funeral
From the Times of India:
In a touching gesture, US President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy at the funeral mass of Senator Edward Kennedy on Saturday.
Quoting White House officials
, The Boston Globe said Obama will deliver a eulogy at Kennedy’s funeral mass, which has been scheduled for Saturday at The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Mission Hill section of Boston.
Kennedy (77), who died on Tuesday after battling cancer, would be laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery, along the graveside of his other two brothers- Senator Robert F Kennedy and former President John F Kennedy.
The service will be a private, family-only affair at the national shrine, located just across the Potomac River on a bluff overlooking the capital city, The Boston Globe said.
“The nation’s resting place for its heroes, Senator Kennedy spent more days than most at Arlington visiting the graves of his beloved brothers and paying tribute to the fallen men and women of Massachusetts who gave their lives for our country,” said a statement issued by Kennedy’s office.
Obama, who earlier called Kennedy “the greatest United States Senators of our times”, issued a proclamation according to which US flag shall be flown at half-staff till August 30.
From the Boston Globe:
President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy at US Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s funeral Mass on Saturday, a White House official has told the Globe.
Kennedy’s funeral will be held at a time yet to be determined Saturday morning at The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Mission Hill section of Boston. Commonly known as the Mission Church, the 1,450-seat basilica on Tremont Street was built in the 1870s. Kennedy prayed there in 2003 while his daughter, Kara, was being treated for lung cancer.
Obama was a political kindred spirit with Kennedy and the two became particularly close after Kennedy endorsed him for president before the Super Tuesday primaries. In a dramatic moment at the Democratic National Convention in August, the ailing Kennedy electrified the crowd with a speech that seemed intended to pass the Kennedy family torch to Obama.Obama paid tribute this morning to Kennedy, appearing before the cameras to call him an “extraordinary leader” and “one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy.”
“Over the past several years, I’ve had the honor to call Teddy a colleague, a counselor, and a friend,” he said. “For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he was a defender of a dream.”
Views on the White House “Beer Summit”
From The Hindu:
In an effort to douse down a racial firestorm, US President Barack Obama had a glass of beer with professor Henry Gates and police Sergeant, who had arrested the Harvard professor for ‘disorderly conduct’.
Sitting along a picnic table next to the White House’s new swing set, the three were yesterday seen drinking beer from clear glass mugs along and munching peanuts and pretzels served in small silver bowls.
As a later addition, Mr. Obama also invited the Vice President, Joe Biden, to what the US media has characterised as the beer summit.
The momentous occasion was part of Mr. Obama’s effort to calm down the racial firestorm which erupted following the arrest of Gates by Henry Crowly, to which the US President added fuel to the fire by stating that the police acted ’stupidly’.
The controversy that included the offended white police officer and the leading black scholar, who also happened to be an old friend of the President, quickly spiralled into a national issue sparking a fierce debate on racial profiling by law enforcement.
Mr. Obama, however, later backed off from his remarks, and making a surprise appearance at the daily White House Press conference acknowledged that he made a wrong choice of words.
From FoxNews:
After nearly a week of anticipation, happy hour finally arrived Thursday at the White House.
President Obama knocked back some cold beer in the Rose Garden with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and police Sgt. James Crowley of Cambridge, Mass., the two men at the heart last week of a heated debate over race in America.
Vice President Biden also joined them in a gathering that some dubbed the “beer summit” to clear the air after the recent uproar. Obama described it afterward as a “friendly, thoughtful conversation.”
“I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart,” Obama said. “I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode.”
The dispute began July 16 when Crowley, while investigating a report of a potential burglary at Gates’ house, arrested the agitated professor on a charge of disorderly conduct. Gates, who is black, accused the white sergeant of racial profiling. The disorderly conduct charge was dropped — but the dispute exploded into a national debate, particularly after Obama said the police had “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates.
From the New York Times:
President Barack Obama played bartender-in-chief on Thursday at a “beer summit” of the main players in a racially charged case that he hoped would be a “positive lesson” in a national dialogue on race.
Obama, the first black U.S. president, said it was a “friendly, thoughtful” conversation over beer at the White House with prominent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, who is black, and police Sergeant James Crowley, who is white.
Crowley arrested Gates, a well-known documentary filmmaker, for disorderly conduct on July 16 after a confrontation at the professor’s home, sparking a media frenzy as Gates, 58, accused the policeman of racial profiling. Crowley, who had taught courses against racial profiling, denied that.
Obama inflamed the situation by saying he thought police “acted stupidly” in arresting his friend.
“I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart,” Obama said in a statement after the meeting in a garden outside the Oval Office.
“I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode.”
More on Health Care Reform
From the Washington Post:
Earlier today, in an interview with three reporters, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said health-care reform would pass the House and that it would include a public plan. She also said the Blue Dogs were basically resigned to this prospect, and that the Republicans “will do everything they can to stop it, not only because they disagree philosophically, but because they know politically that this is so very powerful” politically. The discussion was a bit disjointed for a straight transcript, but selected excerpts follow.
On the need for a public plan.
We have been very clear about the fundamentals. We do not see real, systemic change in the health-care system if there is not a robust public option. We see that as the way to quality, affordability, accessibility, and universality in health care. If someone has another way, show us, but until that time comes, this is the way we see it.
On the co-op compromise.
I think it might be something additional. I don’t see it as an alternative to the public option.
On the Blue Dogs.
Some of the concerns the Blues have raised are concerns others have raised as well. The public option is going to happen. They recognize that. They may want to put it on their list of concerns about how it will work. But part of what this is is removing misconceptions. One of the misconceptions was that the public option would be funded by the federal government, wouldn’t have to pay back its start-up costs. And that has never been the case. To be a competitor, it will have to be able to compete, be fiscally sound, and be responsible for its administrative costs. It will have advantages, but it has to compete.
Fortune Magazine’s Allan Sloan on Goldman Sachs squabble with Uncle Sam
From Fortune Magazine’s Allan Sloan:
Goldman Sachs bites Uncle Sam’s hand
The investment bank is fat and happy again, but you wouldn’t know it from its squabbling with the Treasury over the warrants in the TARP deal.
NEW YORK (Fortune) — I’ve always thought that the guys running Goldman Sachs were really smart, not only about making money, but also about projecting a classy image to the world outside of Wall Street. Clearly, I overestimated them.
If there was ever a firm with the motivation — and the money — to be gracious to the U.S. taxpayers who kept it alive when the financial markets were imploding, it’s Goldman. It had a chance to look good and do good for taxpayers and itself and Wall Street for a relative pittance — and has blown it. Horribly.
As you have probably noticed, Goldman is getting attacked for posting record profits and setting aside a record amount for employee compensation about three seconds after it repaid its $10 billion of loans from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Repaying those loans freed Goldman from pay restrictions on its top honchos, who seem headed for record or near-record bonuses unless things go badly for the firm in the second half of the year.
What you probably don’t know is that Goldman, flush with cash and profits, is squabbling with the Treasury about how much it should pay taxpayers to buy back the stock purchase warrants it gave the government as part of the TARP deal. Talk about tacky.
Had Goldman retained something it was once reputed to have — a sense of short-term sacrifice in return for long-term profit — it would have agreed to pay the government generously for the warrants. It could have announced that on Tuesday, along with its profits, and looked like a decent, concerned corporate citizen instead of Greedhead Central.
The warrants are very valuable, especially with the recent sharp run-up in Goldman’s stock price. The warrants carry the right (but not the obligation) to buy 12.2 million Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) shares at $122.90 each. Goldman’s closing price of $156.84 yesterday put the warrants “in the money” by a bit over $400 million. (That’s the $33.94 difference between $156.84 and $122.90, multiplied by 12.2 million.)
Given that the warrants still have more than nine years to run, they’re clearly worth more than $400 million, because its owner has years of upside. However, because there’s no existing market for such long Goldman warrants, their value is in the eye of the beholder (and the pricing modeler).
Alas, no one would tell me what the government is asking for the warrants or what Goldman is offering for them. “We are in discussions with the Treasury on the buyback of the warrant,” said Goldman spokesman Lucas VanPraag. “The purchase price has yet to be determined…. We believe that taxpayers should get a decent return, and we hope that our discussions with the Treasury will do just that.” The Treasury declined comment.
My estimate — okay, my SWAG (for scientific wild-assed guess) — is that the Treasury is asking for $1 billion to $1.5 billion and Goldman is offering $500 million or so.
Under the law, Goldman, like other early TARP repayers, has the right to force the Treasury to sell back the warrants after a lengthy set of price arbitrations.
When I say that taxpayers kept Goldman alive, I’m not talking about the $10 billion of TARP money or the $12.9 billion of AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) bailout money that Goldman got. The $10 billion was nice, but not necessarily essential to Goldman’s survival, and Goldman says it was holding enough assets and collateral to get all or almost all of the $12.9 billion had the government not bailed out AIG.
Rather, I’m talking about the way that U.S. and foreign governments — in other words, taxpayers — saved the world’s financial system, saving Goldman in the process. Had many of the world’s biggest institutions collapsed, which would have happened without taxpayer aid, Goldman would have been wiped out because the firms that owed it money wouldn’t have been able to meet their obligations.
I’m also talking about the Federal Reserve Board moving with lightning speed last fall to allow Goldman to become a bank holding company. By giving Goldman access to vast amounts of money it was making available to bank companies, the Fed ended panicky demands from Goldman customers that the firm immediately return the cash and securities it was holding for them. That was the equivalent of a run on the bank, which no institution can survive. Stopping it saved Goldman.
Now this is how Goldman shows its gratitude. It could have shelled out a few extra bucks and done the right thing for taxpayers (and ultimately for itself) by exercising good business judgment and looking generous. Instead, it’s behaving in a way that brings to mind one of my favorite Biblical verses, Deuteronomy 32:15: “So Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked…and spurned the Rock of his salvation.” In these ultra-political days, filled with economic pain for so many Americans, that’s not only the wrong way to act, it’s foolish. A word I never thought I’d associate with Goldman.