Charlie Rose

BENEZRAA  01/31/2012 03:20 PM Report

PRESIDENT OBAMA VERSUS THE NEW JIM CROW

The comment was made and assented too across the table, essentially that the President's "State Of The Union" speech was a fundamentally Republican speech. It was, indeed, at least in the sense that he met the Republicans more than halfway on many issues. The POTUS clearly outlined a truly conservative program of business incentives and disincentives designed to reinvigorate American business within the USA. The POTUS, though a Democrat, appears to be the best of Republican candidates.

Governor Mitch Daniels could not have done a better job of drawing the battle lines of the new Jim Crow movement than he did by his carefully chosen euphemistic phrase "Niagara of Death" to describe the POTUS. My prediction is that if the megalomaniac wing of the Republican Party gets what it prays for, it will put forth a Jim Crow candidate against Obama. This would make for a truly ugly election, not based on what is best for the country, but, based simply on the negativity of ABO (anybody but Obama). Will the Republican Party define itself as the party of "Chicken Little"? Day in and day out, over and over, one hears their terrified clarion call, "Oh, the sky is falling! Oh, the sky is falling...."

winter  01/31/2012 12:23 PM Report

Would you like to give tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas? Businesses and their surrogates are constantly whining from the sidelines that they need more incentives. Yet profits are at record highs and the market should make people who have to work for their living wonder why they aren't participating in all this success. Its all in the freedom of accounting. Tell accounting to siphon your raise into my bonus. Thats whats been going on for decades and born out in "The Chart". We needn't worry though the Romney tide will lift all boats. Or the boats that voted for him anyway. Disparaging Obamas intent is just laughable and sheds more light on the critic than his critique.

finalfantasytown  01/29/2012 10:35 PM Report

Since world war two, national socialism and communism have begun…... Politically, United States stayed in the middle of the track, liberating religious minds and freeing slaves, and rejoiced both from spirits and materials…structure corrupt…greed….getting worse…. Why tring all the best to find the bridge? I think United States has always been playing the role of bridge. ……… transformed into a cube between two earths, functioning as post system, mirror, and bridge.

After flood, Manny will find his brother, another mammoth.(ice age two)

……brain tornado…...

chawlydollylama  01/26/2012 08:15 PM Report

President Obama made a GREAT State of the Union speech. His words were very inspiring and made me Proud to be American. He speaks in an easy to understand style; not since Ronald Reagan did we have a President that actually Makes Sense.

Listening to the GOP try to chop up his words and put down his intentions is like listening to children making up stories and lying through their teeth. They want us to take them seriously, but HOW?. They're FOOLS

Mittster - "I'm more like Reagan"

Das Newt - "No, I'm more like Reagan"

Mittster - "I'm more like Reagan"

Das Newt - "No, I'm more like Reagan"

Mittster - "I'm more like Reagan"

Das Newt - "No, I'm more like Reagan"

Mittster - "I'm more like Reagan"

Das Newt - "I know you are but what am I"

Mittster - "I know you are but what am I"

Das Newt - "I know you are but what am I"

Mittster - "I know you are but what am I"

Das Newt - "I know you are but what am I"

Mittster - "I know you are but what am I"

Gelles  01/26/2012 07:29 AM Report

Th speech opens the campaign for a second term in earnest. The rescue in Somalia reminds us of the Obama Luck. I pray that it continues -- and especially that he promises all we need and makes good on delivering results.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  01/26/2012 02:34 AM Report

Our friends at Marketplace (NPR) did a nice comparison of how the speech stays the same over 30 years:

Ronald Reagan (1984): It would be immoral to make those who are paying taxes pay more, to compensate for those who aren't paying their share.

Barack Obama (2012): Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Bill Clinton (1996): Do you believe we can expand the economy without hurting the enviroment? I do.

Obama (2012): We don't have to choose between our environment and our economy.

George H.W. Bush (1992): We must encourage investment. We must make it easier for people to invest money and create new products, new industries and new jobs.

Obama (2012): Support the same kind of research and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to new American jobs and new American industries.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/sotu-30-year-rewind-speech-hasnt-changed-much

SharkswithfrikingLazers  01/25/2012 06:45 PM Report

As to Health Care, the Supreme Court is due to hear the individual mandate case in March and rule in June.

It would have been something if Obama, while he had them all in front of him, had told them just like he told them when they made corporations people.

"With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests –- including foreign corporations –- to spend without limit in our elections. (Applause.) I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. (Applause.) They should be decided by the American people. And I'd urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address

He should have mentioned their role in our Health Care too but he played this one safe.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  01/25/2012 06:31 PM Report

Was George W. Bush the Captain of our own economic Costa Concordia and Barack Obama the Coast Guard who came in to clean up the mess?

If so, then did Obama let all the oil spill from the ship or did he do the best thing possible with the situation at hand.

Bret Stephens told us in this program that Obama was mediocre at best.

Charlie, remember when you brought Warren Buffet to the table in 2008 and he told us how bad it could actually get?

Also, do you remember the guests who told us a real estate bubble can take up to a decade from which to recover?

So then what is realistic and what then is mediocre?

SharkswithfrikingLazers  01/25/2012 06:19 PM Report

Yes, let the dairyman clean up the milk in the barn without the Federal Government but have the Federal Government do a better job so we do not experience another Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  01/25/2012 06:18 PM Report

Doris nailed it: "Fairness".

Or as Teddy Roosevelt put it, “Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we achieve it, will have two great results.

First, every man will have a fair chance to make of himself all that in him lies; to reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassisted by special privilege of his own and unhampered by the special privilege of others, can carry him, and to get for himself and his family substantially what he has earned.

Second, equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable. No man who carries the burden of the special privileges of another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it is fairly entitled."

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=501

Gelles  01/25/2012 06:02 PM Report

My comment on this great speech by President Obama and fine interview/round-table talk on the CR Show, was printed yesterday on the other interview covering the problems at hand. Please read it now, if you missed it:

..... "Gelles 01/25/2012 09:25 AM Report

On 24 January President Obama delivered a great speech promising an industrial strength continental power BUILT TO LAST and continuation of indispensable global leadership in the march of civilization from interminable wars to lasting peace.

He promised to PAY for these necessities in a reserve currency protected from more inflation than necessary and more debt than our systems of production ought to issue.

The problem with the speech is the debt he promised to reduce. That debt is a function of the uses to which it's put. And such functions are determined by political elections in which voters have more power than know-how about money, banking, debt and distribution of incentives and rewards that can lead to "built to last".

We are brain-washed to see debt and taxes as a good source of money when WORK is the real source of money with which to buy a "built to last" economy -- and debt and taxes are impediments.

Just "plain" hard work, however, is not enough. The President must understand and explain how to guide a monetary system of production to avoid deflation, inflation, stagflation and failure.

Our American voters have invited the failure of the past decade. If they want a magic bullet to recover from deflation and build lasting prosperity they must fashion it from work-based money and develop the tools we used in WW II to build in time of peace a system that is fair from top to bottom and side to side. It must merit the consent of labor and the respect of those within chains of responsibility and authority who are positioned to shun and prevent corruption, crime, waste and shame.

Experiment, feedback, science and imagination are all elements necessary to avoid the error of repeating what fails because we don't know any better.

Fast-talking, multi-tasking, work environments are in vogue. They can mask failure when misused. Bloated text and ugly design are also common. Do not accept them.

I liked the State of the Union Speech. I want its results to to form a more perfect union."

======================

The anti-Keynesian remarks of some that appear as comments ahead of this copy are uniformly ignorant, impolite, and unpatriotic. I have contempt for their authors and praise for all with Charlie Rose: these patriots are not defeatists or ignorant would-be pirates like those who kidnap freedom and pay the price.

I'll write more after I listen more to MSNBC -- a cable network that applauded the best speech this year by any leader anywhere.

True he does not yet call for huge tax relief and more Quantitative Easing. He is still a victim of Univ of Chicago doctrine and remains himself too far froM the University of Missouri, Bard and the New School, -- academic sources for functional finance waiting -- to seed an American manufacturing base that is BUILT TO LAST. MSNBC wants 30 million jobs and all the wealth we need to lead all our allies to the peace and plenty that full employment of free capital and labor can deliver. This cannot be done invisibly with rigid doctrine that does not work. The only model we have that works are scientific trials and tests and and common sense leadership similar to that of Washington, Lincoln, and two Roosevelts, who needed money and courage to put democracy in charge.

mariedolan  01/25/2012 05:45 PM Report

I disagree with the comments posted here. I thought that it was an excellent panel and I enjoyed the appropriate humor which I think we need right now. I thought the "State of The Union Address" covered an exhausting amount of material that was accessible to the American public without cant or demagoguery. After watching the Republicans' recent antics I believe that Preseident Obama will be re-elected unless he dies. I am reassured to hear a Preseident who is interested in rebuilding us from within and I think the need for it is heartbreaking for Americans. I disagree with almost everyone, I find President Obama to be a much better speaker that former President Clinton whom I did not find either believable or committed in either tone or content. Finally, I very much agreed with Doris Kearns, who was able to lift the discussion out of the immediate election fray, that the overarching ideology of this time is that of democracy in relation to capitalism. Deregulatio and lack of new regulations for dark markets has created a monster that has trampled the Middle Class and driven the poor almost into the ground. Ethics must be superimposed on the financial iindustry and the government has a Constitional right and imperative to protect the nation from those who would destroy it either from without or within,intentionally or incidentally to their profit motive. There was much substance in this program and I am going to watch it again this evening to hear what I may have missed. Thank you for your time. Jolly Good Show

tabs  01/25/2012 03:30 PM Report

Since the SOTU speech there have been so many commentators, on so many channels espousing their opinions that it all amounts to WHITE NOISE.

One just has to love that Doris and her comparison of FDR and Romney, HOW ASTUTE. Could not agree more, even if one said it oneself.

With Mr Stern, one thinks of the John Lennon line, "How do you sleep at night?" Mr Stern said on this very show that he wanted, "The US to more resemble the German model of Social Democracy." How is that German model working out for you and your President these days, now that the whole European model of Social Democracy is one step away from implosion due to deficits and debt. In other words every economic premise you based your life's work upon has turned out to have been a failing chimera.

Mr Stern here is something more to consider. Germany since WW2 has relied upon the US for it's military security. German troops have for the first time since WW2 been deployed outside of Germany. These German troops have been deployed in Afghanistan in a NON COMBAT ROLE under the aegis of NATO. Thus if Germany had/has to bear its own cost of defense how much would it have to reallocate from it's social programs into defense. Mr Stern you can not have it both ways.

The President opened his narrative with a nostalgic look at the hey day of the American Middle Class after WW2. Which was a time when America was virtually the only industrial power left in the world (50% of the worlds mfg in 1950 vs 21% @ in 2012). However the President FAILED to mention that the circumstances of that great expansion of the Middle Class no longer exist. America now faces GLOBAL COMPETITION for investment capital, business and jobs. Thus not only was the great Middle Class naturally destined to shrink it will be virtually impossible to put Humpty Dumpty back together again in order to regain those halcyon days of gold and glory. THIS IS WHAT NO POLITICIAN HAS EVER TOLD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, they DARE not to. Instead of adapting to these ever changing circumstances Americans have listened to and elected politicians who have said things like 'It is a New Morning in America." and now the newest one is an appeal to American "FAIRNESS" backed up by an expansion of the Federal government into MICRO MANAGING the economy for "fairness" sake.

Further because America has been in denial over the rise of Global competition and the changing of it's circumstances in the face of this competition. America has become evermore unstable as its economic circumstances have erroded. This is reflected by wars it has fought, financial speculation that has resulted in bubble economies, increased leverage and polarization of the political process and its attendant rise in civil unrest as financial resources become evermore limited.

everybodylovesraygun  01/25/2012 02:51 PM Report

There was nothing civil about bret stephens, WSJ flack.

We know NewsCorp just had to by the WSJ so Rupert could turn it into an even more extreme propaganda rag. But there's a lot of proof that he's killed it.

Bret Stephens' opinions were a pack of sensational, emotional conclusions, and nobody on the panel had the horses or horns to calm the boy blunder down and to put him in his place, back in Rupert's Playhouse, overpaid to blow his demoralizing reactionary dog whistle.

Rupert has exploited our corrupt capital markets to leverage up our entire free press with treasonous lobbying (is it really treason if you're a subject of the UK?). He is producing Stepford "journalists" programed churn out demoralizing GOP propaganda for a very think slice of the electorate, the profiteers who pay their stooge in congress for gridlock protection of their monopolies in all sort of industries.

Bret Stephen's straw man appeals didn't even get off the ground because nobody taught him the word "Because" which forces one to give reasons for one's twisted views. He sat there rattling off conclusions about this president. His hasty generalizations were given way too much air play, as the grey beards let him generate all that heat with no light.

When Charlie Rose becomes an echo chamber-- we've got a problem Houston. Guess what Charlie-- Houston has no problem, they get billions per year in tax breaks and spend about 3% of it to keep it that way, as Bret "one t" Stephens' gets all red faced over the black fall guy. He's a real "bravehart", you found there.

I've watched your show since the early 90s, but my whole view of it has changed. I'm seeing a Supersize Me, Coke sponsored, aging VA gent, who's lost his moral compass, or put the show in the hands of barbarians.

Wake up Charlie, the wine's not that good.

Ellen_Dibble  01/25/2012 12:25 PM Report

Thanks for putting together this circle, a chance for me to end the day with a broad and broadly civil perspective on a speech (speeches, counting Mitch Daniels') that had just happened. To me, it was just right. The conversation held me on topic long enough to frame the speech, set it in memory, to my satisfaction. There were not a bunch of fire-breathing ideologues grandstanding there, thank goodness. So I thereupon slept nine hours, soundly. So I didn't get to see if Charlie Rose was sitting there semi-presiding at CBS at 7:00 AM. Geez-Louise, whose brilliant idea was THAT!

REMant  01/25/2012 12:09 PM Report

God, that speech was an awful piece of bombast. Some reporter called it more state of campaign than of union, and that was certainly evident.

The situation after WWII was considerably different from today in that we were virtually the only industrial nation left standing. Nevertheless we proceeded to go from the world's largest creditor to it largest debtor and from its largest manufacturer to its largest service economy. We kept fighting meaningless wars and printing meaningless money. Both of which sapped our strength and much of the rest of the world's. We might have been better off to have lost it.

The president, as he has for three years past, absolved himself of these problems, blaming it on lack of oversight instead of lack of virtue, and intimated that he hasn't added to them. Then he took credit for saving General Motors and the entire auto industry. He wants not to simplify the tax code, but use it to pet and club corporations. He wants to use trade measures to support our seignorage position. Nothing new in any of this.

Nor is there in the network of community colleges, which are doing just fine. There's no reason to give them money, nor to turn unemployment into workfare. Certainly not to spend more money for K-12 teachers with only rudimentary skills who refuse to teach and test objectively. That amounts to largesse. Nor does it makes sense to force unfortunate kids to serve longer sentences in these prisons. It is positively ludicrous to incarcerate Americans and invite foreigners to take their places.

The president simply blames every non-Democratic constituency and panders to every Democratic one. He protesteth far too much.

The Keynesianism he has learned to preach always ends up turning to wage and price controls and regulations such as these. But if you really want to increase productivity and lower wages and prices, then return to sound money. It's that simple. If you really want a level playing field, then pass a flat tax, not a uniformly higher one with more loopholes. Nor increase the budgets of burgeoning police and spy agencies. If you want responsibility, then give ppl responsibility, starting with yourself.

And what price energy jobs? You can't increase productivity via redistribution. Our problem isn't solved by higher technology, or tax cuts, but by paying down our debt. You can't spend money, you don't have. The president just doesn't get that. And increasing one's budget will certainly not pay for it. The credit rating agencies are not that stupid.

There's no doubt mortgages need if possible to be refinanced. They've needed it for the past four years. But not if it means more tax money poured into the banks who refuse to bend, and continue to receive funds from the Fed under the table.

No one seriously thinks Dodd-Frank is adequate to prevent another series of market crises, either.

I have no doubt that much of the world is looking to US more than ever, but only because we either have left them no choice, or because they are desperate to get aboard one of the few remaining lifeboats. I notice he did not take credit for the election of Islamist majorities anywhere.

The BIGGEST problem, however, with this speech was that it was beyond condescending, the speaker taking personal credit for every idea and accomplishment, deserved or not. I have no idea how many times "I" and "my" or "WE" were used, but they seemed to be every other word. I really think Congress should take steps to make him mail this thing in like Jefferson did.

Taking credit for winning the war in Iraq and killing bin Laden several times over, the president in fact implied we, ourselves, would be better off with a dictatorship. "Commander-in-Chief Obama" marching into battle!.... The comradery of the tactical operations center! This is really not funny. It is dangerous, and typically "American," to, in the face of clear signs of moral degeneracy, start rattling sabers in the name of liberty. Republicans have traditionally made a great deal of noise about military and economic strength, but it's the Democrats who have started all the wars.

In view of the fact that we seem to nearly all be Democrats now, I think thoughtful ppl will have to write off the presidency this year, and start concentrating on electing a Congress able to stand up to whomever is likely to get into the White House.

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On the whole, I thought the tediousness of the discussion rivaled that of the oratory. But I think Doris is right in drawing attention to the influence of both TR and Truman, but that's basically David and Goliath - as she put it, democrats vs capitalists. The history of this nation has never been a question of democracy vs capitalism. It has been one of virtue vs corruption and I wouldn't be too quick to identify one with the other. And I disagree with the idea we can so easily reconstruct lives from correspondence, tapes or tweets, because generally what is taken for granted is left unremarked. I think, too, that Andy Stern needs to acquire a little more knowledge about economics than just unionist rhetoric, and also about the use of propaganda (as does Mr Rose). Al Hunt's contention that the Democrats would back Simpson-Bowles seems to me entirely fantastic. The token Republican made the most sense, tho obviously I have little truck with American Exceptionalism. It ought to be apparent that the president, himself, is trying hard to keep from being made to look like a Jimmy Carter.

Richard_DeBiase  01/25/2012 11:52 AM Report

Dear Charlie,

Maybe, in this show, you were trying to give the impression that we were peeking in on a bunch of reporters at their private social club. But you are not in private; you are on television. And to this viewer, this show was 30% wasted time.

Witty banter is not funny. And when it came to people interrupting another person's point, to make a joke that was not funny, you personally were the worst offender.

Maybe you need to develop a silent signal system (hand signals, signal lights, etc.) so that your other guests can express agreement, disagreement, or that they wish to make their own point, without interrupting another speaker's point. And tell your guests that, if they can not control their own laughter, then they should kill their own microphone.

You prefaced your last question with [paraphrased]: let me go around to each of you and please be precise. Why didn't you conduct the whole show that way?

Best regards,