Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Erskine Bowles for President?

They call it part parlor game, part reporting assignment. Politico has launched a presidential race of its own featuring none of the announced candidates, or President Obama.

"The public has had it with Washington and conventional politics," write editor Jim Vandehei and reporter Mike Allen. "It has lost trust and respect in the conventional governing class ... Is there a person in politics, business or entertainment who could harness the public's hunger for something new, different and inspiring?"

To start the ball rolling, they came up with five names: former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles of Charlotte, Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, CIA Director David Petraeus, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Here's part of what they say about Bowles: "Many voters seem open to, if not hungry for, a real discussion about tough changes. Ask Republicans and Democrats alike to name a serious and responsible thinker who could lead this discussion and the name Erskine Bowles often tops the list.

"Bowles, 66, is far from an inspirational figure. In fact, he can be as dull as a butter knife in public settings. But he knows budgets, and numbers, and tough choices (he's the man who asked Dick Morris to resign in the Clinton years) and, unlike most, has slapped his name on ideas that upset leaders of both parties but excite deficit hawks on both sides.

"The Bowles pitch would rest on a rarity in modern campaigns: a very specific proposal for the tough budget choices the country should make. He came up with a truly bipartisan plan that took a real whack at America's long-term deficits, only to see the plan abandoned by Obama, who had appointed him to make those choices in the first place.

"The options outlined by Bowles and former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson were not the usual nips, tucks and other plastic surgery but, instead, clear and often painful cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. The Simpson-Bowles plan uses a mix of spending cuts ($3 trillion) and tax increases ($1 trillion) to do what many of members of both parties, if given truth serum, would say Washington needs to do: save at least $4 trillion over the next decade."

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not just "NO!", but "H#$@ No!"

Erskine is in the same league as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Anonymous said...

Best laugh I've had so far this week!

Anonymous said...

Did someome hack the Observer this AM? Or is this the Onion?
Take Skipper's family money and his wife's family money away, and what do you have other than another empty suit?
He's a realy champion for the middle class, right?

Anonymous said...

Someone should run against Obama, why Bowles. He did a good job on the budget cutting committee that was disregarded. The Democrats need to run a winner, HILARY!

Anonymous said...

He ran for Senate twice...he has done nothing but get in the way...nevers holds a job more than a year....looked the other way at UNC when all the Football players where getting their courses taken care of by other people in the system.....korny...thank god his wife has money....he sure as hell could not make any without her investment...His dad was a jerk as well, another crooked Democrat like his dad's boss Jim hunt

Anonymous said...

Gotta give NC credit; everyday there is something dumber & dumber making the news.

Anonymous said...

You guys need to get you facts straight. Go back and look what he did before he was ever in politics. He started a company which became one of premier middle market investment banks in country. He later sold the company to First Union. So to say he relies on family money is plan wrong. Further more, there is nobody out there who has the ability and understanding of how to balance a budget than he does. As he was the last person to do so in Clinton Administration. So before you speak get your facts straight.

Anonymous said...

DNC and the Observer and city are now trying to stab Obama in the back seeing how utterly hopeless things are?

Wheres Hillary?

Forget egghead.

Anonymous said...

Be kinda like having Pee Wee Herman teaching "alternative" sex-ed to 5th graders lol.

Anonymous said...

Clean sweep GOP Congress and WH with 2/3s majority? Def

All Obama gay agenda reversed? Def

GOP outlaws the Democrat party?

Illegals rounded up and sent home and the border guarded by the military? Def

Real changes coming ... it wont be pretty for many ...

Anonymous said...

Puke, upchuck, spew, "ralph", this type of politico, inc. is WHAT is wrong about his country. H377 to the NO!

Anonymous said...

They just trying to put down the man... what a bunch of racists...

Anonymous said...

The knee jerk reaction to this article is hilarious. Erskine will not run for President. He's wonkish, nerdy, and doesn't connect to the voters. He would never win. But no one should discount what he has accomplished in his career or the seriously with which he approached his deficit reduction plan. We should be so lucky as to have a President with actual executive, business, and policy experience.

And read the Simpson-Bowles document. He suggests major cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and SS. He's nothing like our current Congress.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, but no thanks.

Anonymous said...

* seriousness

SpringsMills said...

He can't fair any worse than our current Community Organizer, or could he??

Anonymous said...

Why does this headline always come out around election time?

BH said...

Obama wouldn't ask Congress for an up or down vote on the Bowles Simpson plan because it included entitlement cuts- so Obama is not now nor ever was serious about deficit reduction. Just sorry Erskine and the commission were serious and practical while this Prez is not.

Anonymous said...

Hey Fores&in, wasn't John Edwards and Mary Sleasely hired under your watch? And how did it feel to be Obama's useful idiot?

Anonymous said...

Thanks, but no thanks Repubs for pushing this ridiculous and I'm sure intended divisive idea. President Barack Obama is our guy now and in 2012. However, 2016 is wide open. Go for it, but first change your wicked ways.

Anonymous said...

I can't understand what he says when he talks. He sounds and looks like a West Virginia redneck with sunken jaw syndrome who smokes ten packs of cigarettes a day. He broke his back while drinking as a student at UNC, couldn't win a political election, was appointed as UNC system president in a closed door, illegal meeting. This guy life was handed to him due to family name.

Anonymous said...

Erskine Bowles is a smart guy and
a straight shooter. NC would be
better off today if he had been
elected one of our two senators.
He also did a good job as president
of the UNC System.

Anonymous said...

Jim, did you run out of important, pertinent, interesting, intelligent, journalistic, and thought provoking political topics to write about than this? You've been at since 81'? I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but perhaps it's time for you to retire. You are out of touch sir. I would rather have read about Sue Myrick's panty hose running. Jus sayin?

Anonymous said...

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100108992/michelle-obama%E2%80%99s-taxpayer-funded-spending-is-an-embarrassment-for-the-white-house/

joecrash1 said...

Irksome Bowels needs to just go away.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately Erskine probably won't be a Presidential Nominee nor was he a nominee for Secretary of the Treasury. Wish the Congress would affect some of the changes promoted by the joint commission that he co-chaired instead of destroying the "Full faith and credit of the USA", that they swore to uphold- its part of the Constitution.Jim you are on the right track- new leadership is needed- especially in Congress!

yatesspain.blogspot.com said...

Thank you for the article, really useful data.