Post Politics Hour

washingtonpost.com's Daily Politics Discussion

Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.

Washington Post national political reporter Lois Romano, was online Thursday, Feb. 19 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss President Obama's $75 billion foreclosure prevention program, the stimulus bill, more money for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the attorney general's trip to Guantanamo, Roland Burris and more.

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Archive: Post Politics Hour discussion transcripts

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Lois Romano: Good Morning. Thanks for joining us on this rainy morning in Washington. I'll try to get to as many of your questions as I can.

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Fairfax, Va.: Why are so few of our political leaders aghast at Obama's unwillingness to "look back" and examine who did what to get us into the mess we are in now? Maybe, just maybe some of the guilty parties are still around and capable of doing more or worse damage?

Lois Romano: What would be the point? Its wasted energy as far as Obama is concerned. The GOP is out of office and out of power. Public opinion right now just wants a resolution - not a partisan war.

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Montgomery Village, Md.: Lois -- Given yet another revelation about J.Edgar Hoover on the front page today, will we FINALLY get someone to take his name off the FBI Headquarters building downtown? It could create at least several new jobs, too!

washingtonpost.com: Valenti's Sexuality Was Topic For FBI (Post, Feb. 19)

Lois Romano: Don't hold your breath on that one.

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Richmond, Va.: I'm a Democrat, so don't get me wrong about this, but how can the Democrats fix the economy when they can't fix Burris? It is so embarrassing to have him on the front pages again, explaining away his misconduct -- almost knocking off, once more, historical happenings (stimulus bill, plan for foreclosures), and going on a high-powered PR blitz to save himself (who is paying for that, by the way?) Just out of curiosity, can he be impeached?

washingtonpost.com: Clouds Gather Over Roland Bu (Post, Feb. 19)

Lois Romano: He can be impeached, which is an extreme solution. If he's found to have broken the law, he would likely first be removed from his committees. Unfortunately, there is nothing Democrats can do about him right now. However odd the process seemed, he was appointed to the seat under the proper laws and jurisdictions. At a certain point, he will cease being news. Remember he has to run in 2010 and right now his prospects don't look very good.

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Minneapolis, Minn.: Hi Lois -- Thanks for taking questions today. It was good to see you on Hardball the other night. What's your take on the divisions within the Republican Party regarding the stimulus package? Some Republican governors are embracing it, some House members who nevertheless voted against it are touting the benefits (the height of hypocrisy, if you ask me), Senate members like John McCain who are adamantly opposed, and Snowe, Collins, and Spector who were instrumental in getting it passed. So much for party unity, or is it just the big tent they're always talking about?

Lois Romano: Truthfully, its difficult to know how much of the complaining is merely political or substantive concerns about the plan. A handful of governors such as South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford suggest they might turn it down because all it does is create more debt. But we'll see if that materializes when tens f millions of dollars are on the table for his state for needed programs such as education. These conservative governors ascribe to solutions that drives the market and consumer spending to energize the economy. They also worry that too many federal restrictions come with the money, taking away their freedom to spend it as they see fit.

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Pittsburgh, Pa.: Are those six Republican governors who are threatening to refuse part of the stimulus bill funds to their states SERIOUS? Do they really place ideological purity above their constituents' best economic interests? Don't they think the voters of their respective states will remember this the next time they run for office? (e.g., Rick Perry may well be primary-challenged by moderate Kay Bailey Hutchison, while Sarah Palin has national ambitions).

Lois Romano: I don't think they will turn down the money in the end.

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Prescott, Ariz.: As I understand it, Sen. Burris is being encouraged to step down because he didn't tell the Illinois state legislature the whole story about some actions he'd taken (i.e. he deceived them). I live in Arizona, one of my senators is Jon Kyl. During the Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld case that was heard by the Supreme Court, Senator Kyl (along with Lindsey Graham) tried to deceive the court by passing off a fake Senate transcript as the real thing. They basically tried to lie to the Supreme Court and got busted. This story was reported in Slate (Slate is a Washington Post partner isn't it?): Invisible Men (Slate, March 27, 2006) Now I think deceiving the Supreme Court is pretty low, yet I never heard a single call for Kyl or Graham to step down, for doing this. In fact, they are still considered respectable senators for journalists to contact for comment. Now how is what Burris did worse than what Kyl or Graham did?

Lois Romano: I'm not going to get into who did what and who was worse. But one difference is that the other two senators were elected by their states, and given legitimacy because the electoral process. Mr. Burris doesn't have any base of support that we know of.

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Seattle, Wash.: In your answer to Fairfax, Va., you wrote "What would be the point?". Do you really believe that there is no value in prevention? Do traffic tickets reduce traffic accidents? Would not understanding and holding those responsible help prevent the U.S from getting into future messes?

Lois Romano: Look, of course the economists are examining what went wrong, how we got here, how to prevent future economic crises. But I believe the initial question was about seeking out particular people. No one person caused the economy to collapse-- and seeking out individuals who might have been incompetent several years ago-- to what end?

Of course, if someone is found to have broken the law, that's another story.

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Anonymous: Roland Burris must be a dream come true for the Republicans. Can he really survive the current scandal? Will the Democrats abandon him like the Republicans abaondoned Ted Stevens (though, pointedly, not until Stevens was actually indicted, and Burris has not been indicted for anything)? Tammy Duckworth, currently headed for the VA, would seem a choice to calm troubled waters. But Burris does not appear willing to go quietly (ego over party, ego over country).

washingtonpost.com: Clouds Gather Over Roland Bu (Post, Feb. 19)

Lois Romano: I don't see any Dems jumping forward for him. I think they would like him to disappear-but its tough. He's there now. Its a huge distraction for them.

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Hell's Kitchen, NYC: Maybe I'm crazy for thinking this, but don't the Bush-era firings of the U.S. Attorneys (for refusing to prosecute for political purposes) actually put all of those who remained in the department who weren't fired under suspicion? It's not to say they were all guilty, but how likely is it that the only U.S. Attorneys appointed by Bush who were pressured to participate are the ones who refused and were fired for it? And how many of the others - those who might have actually participated in politicizing Justice -- are still working at DOJ?

Lois Romano: I don't know. But many of those jobs were political and I suspect most--if not all- of those people are gone.

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Shame on you, Lois: I thought the overarching goal of the media is to expose government secrets and hold government officials accountable for wrongdoing, but it appears to be the opposite, these days. You are saying outright that Bush officials should not be investigated or prosecuted even if they committed felonies. Of course, the most striking aspect of all this is how "journalists" -- of all people -- are to argue on behalf of the powerful political leaders over whom you actually still claim to serve as "watchdogs." Shame on you, Lois!

Lois Romano: Shame on you for not reading my previous answers and just pontificating. I specifically said law breaking would be investigated.

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Northern Virginia: I'm wondering if there is a happy balance between "cocooning" in the White House (or at least within Washington), and traveling every week. I think it's great the Obamas took a quick look at Camp David and went home to Chicago over the three-day weekend, and I really liked President Obama's town halls to push the stimulus bill through. Of course the trip to Canada is a presidential tradition. But I was not so sure about the trips to Colorado and Arizona for things that could have been done from home in D.C.

As an average citizen, I would like to think of the president as being generally available at the White House to participate in meetings for both sudden crises and less dire but still urgent bumps in the road. Do you agree there is some balance still to be found between zero travel and maxed-out travel?

Lois Romano: Yes, agreed. But I don't think we're witnessing maxed out travel at this point. Obama believes he is taking his message to the people rather than getting caught up in the beltway fighting.

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Boston: Hi Lois, and what a great new picture. Love it.

Yesterday on the chat, Michael Shear said that if we didn't see the effects of the stimulus in 6-8 months it would hurt Obama. I have heard that idea repeatedly from the media, but where is it coming from, and what are you guys expecting?

These financial programs (TARP, FDIC money market bailout, Stimulus, etc.) aren't magic drugs that cure immediately and completely. It isn't like the the clouds will part and the sun will shine and the birds will sing: "It worked, it worked." These are all little tools to try to alleviate a humongous and global financial problem.

I read that TARP hasn't worked. Has anybody bothered to look at LIBOR rates? TARP has done great things. The idea wasn't that things would go from flat line at the ICU to playing squash and disco dancing the next day...it was just to move our financial system out of the ICU.

Sorry to rant, but your readers and other news consumers are getting short-shrifted if our journalists are presenting them with comic book expectations to the massive problem we are facing.

Lois Romano: Well, I'll disagree with my colleague. I think we are going to have to see something- and Obamaland says we will in the form of jobs. I think the market is also going to have to stabilize. But for the most part, I believe consumers are realistic and expect it's going to take between one and two years.

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Poplar Bluff, Mo.: Lois, thanks for the chat. The GOP moderates in the Senate, Collins, Snowe, and Specter, seem to be the swing votes in the Senate. Why doesn't the GOP attract moderate Republicans to run, and will these moderate senators, especially Specter, have any serious primary challenges when they run again? Thanks.

Lois Romano: the simple answer is that representatives usually get elected by their base- and for the GOP, the base tends to be conservative. In the case of Snowe and Collins, their base is more moderate. Specter does have a conservative base and he had a very tough race last time. Don't know who's looking at his seat right now from his own party. Some polls have shown him to be vulnerable.

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Burris: Though you are denying it, by the way you are framing it, you are implying that what Burris did is worse than Jon Kyl lying to the Supreme Court, because you are saying Burris is a "headache" for the Democrats. I'll wager that no one on the Washington Post staff has lamented what a problem Kyl or Graham is for Republicans. In fact, Graham was on 'This Week' on Sunday morning and no one acted like he was kryptonite; McCain drug him around with him the entire presidential campaign but there wasn't any had-wringing. We have a Senate who gave the convicted felon Ted Stevens a standing ovation last November. Burris fits right in. They should give him a standing ovation as well.

Lois Romano: I'm not implying anything.

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Alexandria, Va.: There is an interesting sub-plot being played out among Republican governors who harbor national ambitions (Sanford, Jindal, Palin, Barbour). It looks like they would dearly love to just say 'no' to getting the new federal stimulus money for their particular states, but they each have a state constitutional requirement to balance their state budget. What's the over/under on personal ambition winning out over the needs of their states?

Lois Romano: Well, if they don't put their states first and the people detect that they are not putting their states first, there will be no political future. Voters are smart.

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Washington, D.C. -- Weirdness at Agencies: Lois, do you think the White House is fully, attentively engaged as to some of the specialized agencies?

At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Republican former Chair is remaining in office, but is also publicly declining to actually participate in Commission work, is not voting, and is apparently looking for employment. He has missed literally dozens of both formal and notational votes on contested orders. The other 4 Commissioners are 2 to 2 (Dem to Rep). The White House could easily remove the non-participating Commissioner and could then nominate its own new Democrat, but doesn't seem to be aware that this game had led to a party-deadlock. I have heard one or two similar stories about other agencies.

Lois Romano: I hear the same stories. I also hear a lot of the major agencies are still understaffed-- such as treasury. It is overwhelming to assemble a government. Initially, the transition team said that a lot of these job would be filled and issues resolved by late March. I suspect it will stretch into May. They are still working on filling cabinet level jobs at Commerce and HHS- which takes priority.

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Opinion "Journalism" at the Post?: On Sunday, the Washington Post printed a climate change denial column by George Will that contained several demonstrable falsehoods. Despite the loud chorus of critics pointing out Will's factual flaws, Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt has refused to comment on the errors and the column has not received a correction. Will has another column in the Post today, but it too has no correction attached to it for his last column's obvious factual mistakes. Are columnists allowed to make up their own facts, in addition to opining, nowadays? I don't understand the Post's unwillingness to print a correction here.

Lois Romano: Columnists have latitude in expressing opinions.

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Wilmington, N.C.: In my mind it seemed somewhat disingenuous for Perez Obama to wait several days to sign the Recovery bill after the Congress made such a hard push to get it done before the 14th of Feb. weekend. Instead he waited until the following Tues. to get it done. Have any other people concerned citizens voiced this concern? It seems that in some way the funds would be getting to the needy sooner. Thank you

Lois Romano: Thanks for the comment.

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Seattle, Wash.: Sorry for my confusion, but I just want to clarify this matter. In response to Fairfax, Va.'s question about examining who did what to get us into the mess, you answered "what would be the point?". Then, in response to the "same on you" questions, you answered, "I specifically said law breaking would be investigated."

So, do I understand correctly that you actually do see a point in looking back? Should there not be investigations to see if laws were broken? Without investigations, how will we know if laws were broken?

Lois Romano: Yes, I think lawbreaking should be investigated. What I think is a waste of time is looking for blame for political or grandstanding reasons when there's so much to do.

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Lois Romano: Thanks for all the great questions-- it was a quick hour! Please join us here tomorrow at 11-- and everyday- for political insight and news.

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