Hillary Clinton has Barack Obama's back, stabs Susan Rice in same, and admits she is indeed the Secretary of State.

Mr. President,Can I borrow that blade? Susan... I have something for you.

Credit where it is due. The single best decision that Barack Obama made in his entire presidency was to appoint Hillary Clinton Secretary of State. It is entirely possible that single decision saved Obama's Presidency and secured his reelection to a second term.

In an interview with CNN reporter Elise Labott, Hillary Clinton took full responsibility for the inadequate security deployed at the Benghazi Embassy.

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday tried to douse a political firestorm over the deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya, saying she's responsible for the security of American diplomatic outposts. 

"I take responsibility," Clinton said during a visit to Peru. "I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The president and the vice president wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision."... 

"I take this very personally," Clinton said. "So we're going to get to the bottom of it, and then we're going to do everything we can to work to prevent it from happening again, and then we're going to work to bring whoever did this to us to justice."

The State Department is responsible for ensuring adequate security for State Department facilities and personnel.  Those decisions are made in the State Department not in the White House. Hillary Clinton leads the State Department.  She is simply stating the obvious.  Did she personally see and deny the specific request for additional security at the Benghazi consulate?  Probably not. It doesn't matter. A bad decision was made in the organization she leads and it resulted in the death of  an American diplomat and three other Americans.  It's not okay to say we were just unlucky. It's not okay to say "shit happens". She is responsible and she knows it.  She did the right thing.  She said the only thing she could say. Assigning ultimate responsibility for the security lapse was not hard to figure out. All it took was an organization chart.

The only thing surprising about her statement is that we should find it surprising. The only thing remarkable about her statement, is that we find it so newsworthy.  Perhaps this is simply a reflection of the state of politics in the US today.  It's "Breaking News!" that an important political leader publicly accepts responsibility for their area of responsibility.

Live Blogging the Live Bloggers 2012 Vice President Debate Mystical 10-11-12 Edition

Welcome to the 2012 Vice President Edition in the continuing saga of "Live Blogging the Live Bloggers blogging the Debates!"

The Dividist fondly recalls when he conceived this series to cover the first 2008 Republican debate, lo those many years ago, and first asked the question:

"There are plenty of bloggers covering the debate live tonight, but is anyone covering the live bloggers? The Dividist rushes in where other, more sensible bloggers, fear to tread."

After last week's debate,  I don't think anyone will ever again ask the question whether Presidential debates matter.  Now Vice Presidential debates - that's another question. The jury is still out on that one.  After last weeks debacle, interest is high for this - the one and only VP debate prior to the election, now less that a month away.

It'll be interesting to see if it garners the 67 million audience of the Presidential debate. There is competition tonight - an NFL Football game between the Steelers and Titans, and two MLB playoff games, The Yankees vs. Orioles and  Athletics vs. Tigers. So it is safe to assume that Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York, Maryland, Michigan, and Northern California will not be watching the debate. There are a few swing states in there. No matter. The Dividist is on the case.

As always, we select a variety of bloggers from across the political spectrum,and attempt to live blog their live blog efforts. I don't know who we will include, in the past we've used used  Daily Kos from the left, VodkaPundit or HotAir from the right, look to either Reason or Cato for a libertarian point of view and the Moderate Voice, and/or Donklephant as a centrist blog.  Andrew Sullivan is  a reliable live-blogger, as is Chris Cillizza's Fix and CNBC will be tweeting.

If past is prologue we will likely guess wrong about which blogs to monitor and will be scrambling once things get started. Refresh your browsers for latest content once the debate is underway. Because of the derivative nature of this enterprise, I do run quite a bit behind the actual debate. Just setting expectations to lower the bar. As usual - expectations are a big part of the game. Expectations for Biden are low. Expectations for Ryan are high.  That gives Biden an edge. A big edge.

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PREGAME

Chris Cillizza's Fix: "Unlike last week’s debate, where large majorities of people thought beforehand that President Obama would wipe the floor with Mitt Romney (that SO didn’t happen), the expectations are much less tilted toward one candidate for this debate."

CNBC: "Thursday night's debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan has mushroomed in importance since Mitt Romney's strong showing in the first presidential faceoff. "

The Dish - Sullivan:"Gallup claims that veep debates don't usually influence voters. Joseph Cera comes to a different conclusion. Meanwhile, Silver believes that Biden could help shrink the enthusiasm gap "

Daily Kos: "One of tonight's agreed upon debate rules is, allegedly, that the vice president isn't supposed to be referring to his opponent as "Congressman Ryan." Instead, he is to refer to the Republican's boy genius only as "Mister Ryan.

Vodka Pundit - Stephen Green:"Will there be drunkblogging of tonight’s veep debate? Does Joe Biden sometimes accidentally put on his suit jacket upside down?"

Stinque: "In this corner, a Ripped Filthy Liar whom we suspect has a glass jaw. And in this corner, a Hairplug-Studded Veteran whose best moments remind you of a vérité Curb Your Enthusiasm. We have no idea what to expect during tonight’s Veep Debate Open Thread/Mixed Mental Arts Competition. We just know it ain’t gonna be normal."

Reason Hit and Run: "Tonight’s big question comes down to this: Who gets to follow in the footsteps of such political bright lights as Dan Quayle, Al Gore, and, yes, Joe Biden to become the next hapless understudy to the leader of the free world? "

DIVIDIST - Expectations for Biden are low, but he consistently kicked ass in the 2008 Dem primary debates – always performing better than both either Obama or Clinton, and certainly better than Palin. Expectations for Ryan are high, but he has never been tested at this level with this kind of intense national media scrutiny. I don’t expect him to pull a Palin, but he is perfectly capable of blowing it with a major gaffe. Obviously, Biden can’t win it for Obama, but I expect he’ll stop the bleeding, change the narrative and tee it up for Obama in the rematch next week.

We'll be updating when the debate starts in about 5 minutes. Beer me.

And we are off....

Bill Clinton Rips Mitt Romney For Being Too Much Like Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton, arguably the most popular pol in America today, is stumping with and for Obama on the campaign trail this week. From the LA Times:

"Nearly a week after President Obama stopped his campaign's momentum with a lackluster debate performance, former President Clinton sought Tuesday to help him recover by offering a withering new critique of Mitt Romney. "I had a different reaction to that first debate than a lot of people did," Clinton told nearly 2,000 supporters at a campaign rally for Obama and other Democrats. "I thought, 'Wow, here's old moderate Mitt. Where ya been, boy?' "

Team Obama has turned to Bill Clinton as they continues to struggle with the most predictable and telegraphed "pivot to the center" in the history of politics.  Many of the President's supporters are adopting the "Moderate Mitt" label that Clinton uses here as a pejorative, and outlining Romney's new moderate positions to prove that he has changed positions. Think Progress is a case in point:

"In a last ditch effort to win over undecided moderates, Mitt Romney is finally fulfilling his adviser’s prediction that he would become the “Etch-a-Sketch” candidate. During the first presidential debate, Romney started reversing positions he espoused all year while he was trying to placate the Republican base. Since the debate, he’s continued to shed his hard-line stances that alienated moderates. Here are 5 examples..."

It may or may not be "last ditch", but it appears to be working for Romney. Does it not occur to Obama supporters that promoting this moniker and Romney's new moderate positions make it much more likely that undecideds, centrists, independents, and moderates will vote for him? That the fact that he changes positions to adjust to the prevailing political winds and public polls is exactly what they want to see in a President?

Democrats shocked! shocked! to learn that Romney would pivot to the center!

Reaction to last week's debate continued to dominate the news cycle over the weekend, even overshadowing the drop in the unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.  Despite the clear Team Obama preference for moving on to other topics, any other topic, it was left leaning publications, pundits, and satirists that kept the debate story front and center.

Next week's New Yorker is indicative. As we would expect from this publication, the articles between the covers are generally sympathetic to the President. Example - David Remnick:

"The President has always been someone who takes the truth seriously and has a great faith in the American people and their ability to handle big ideas,” Burns said. “He doesn't patronize them. He uses the campaign as an educative process. He wants to win but also wants to be clear about his ideas…. He took complex ideas like Medicare and the debt and tried to explain it to people so they can understand them while at the same time not being patronizing. And he is doing this with an opponent who is completely dissembling on every issue!”

Regardless of the treatment inside the issue, the cover is brutal. Particularly in the reference to the empty chair last seen during Clint Eastwood's GOP Convention performance.

Live Blogging the Live Bloggers2012 Presidential Election Debate Round One

Finally. With one month to the election, with voting already underway, tonight we hear the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Welcome to the 2012 Presidential Election Edition in the continuing saga of "Live Blogging the Live Bloggers blogging the Debates!"

The Dividist fondly recalls when he conceived this series to cover the first 2008 Republican debate, lo those many years ago, and first asked the question:

"There are plenty of bloggers covering the debate live tonight, but is anyone covering the live bloggers? The Dividist rushes in where other, more sensible bloggers, fear to tread."

Our productivity has tapered off  this year. We simply could not  maintain the pace  or interest through the never ending Republican debate marathon.

Now, there is some question whether this exercise, or even live blogging itself, makes any sense in the era of facebook and twitter stream of consciousness. No matter.  The Dividist is on the case.

As always, we select a variety of bloggers from across the political spectrum,and attempt to live blog their live blog efforts. I don't know who we will include, in the past we've used used  Daily Kos from the left, VodkaPundit or HotAir from the right, look to either David Weigel, Reason or Cato for a libertarian point of view and the Moderate Voice, and/or Donklephant as a centrist blog.  Andrew Sullivan is usually a reliable live-blogger, as is Chris Cillizza's Fix and CNBC will be tweeting.

Republican National Convention, Romney, Ryan, Rubio, Rice and The Empty Chair

Rorschach Test? Or replacement for that faded poster on your wall?

One down. One to go.  Some thoughts on the GOP Convention just ended before we plunge headlong into the Dems Convention next week.

Improbably, the moment that will define this convention for all time occurred in the very last hour as an 82 year old iconic actor spent 12 minutes talking to a empty chair.  If you didn't see it you can catch the act here, and reactions everywhere.   Truth be told, I enjoyed the spontaneity and cringe inducing weirdness of it all. The perfectly polished, precision timed, everyone scripted, stay on message regimentation of the convention up to that point had my eyes glassing over and pretty much drained all interest in the proceedings. Clint's improv brought me back, although I suspect I am in the minority with that perspective.  The president punctuated the event with his own rejoinder in the form of an amusing tweet:

That should have been the end of it, but of course - this being American politics at it's finest - we're just getting started. 

It's unsustainable, stupid.

  H/T Zero Hedge 

This graphic compares U.S. debt and deficit with the dysfunctional Eurozone economies.  Interestingly, only Greece is worse than we are vis-a-vis the dual metrics on the chart.  We tie with Ireland. Other than that, we are worse than all of industrial Europe.  If our politicians across the political spectrum agree that our fiscal debt situation is unsustainable and potentially catastrophic, and they do, should this not be a critical issue in the presidential campaign?

In the 1992 presidential campaign, Jame Carville's motivational meme "It's the economy, stupid." perfectly encapsulated the key issue of the election.   The beauty of the exhortation was that it focused the Clinton campaign staff on the one issue that could and would make a difference in the electoral outcome. He correctly identified the single most important issue on the minds of the electorate and it also exposed the single greatest weakness of the George HW Bush administration. The Bush campaign seemingly never understood what the election was really about. They touted foreign policy triumphs and their consequent lack of focus on the domestic economy reinforced the perception that President Bush was out of touch with American voters.

In every election since, campaign strategists, analysts, pundits and bloggers have attempted to reprise Carville's insight with a similar construct for the election at hand. Your loyal blogger is no exception.  In 2006 and 2008 the Dividist was convinced the election was about one thing:  "It's the war, stupid."   True enough in 2006. Not so much in 2008.  In 2008 "It's George Bush, stupid." was enough to win the election for Barack Obama. Even though GWB was not running, it was sufficient to tar McCain with that brush. The public sentiment was to punish GWB and the Party he rode in on.  2010 was a different story.  In 2010 - "It's the spending, stupid." carried the day.

Which brings us to 2012.  After winning a battle, generals are reluctant to abandon the very tactics that prevailed in a victorious campaign.  Despite the setback in 2010,  Axelrod and the Obama campaign strategists continue to fight that 2008 war in 2012. It's a mistake. Things have changed. Today there is a far greater awareness and focus on our profligate and unsustainable deficit spending.

Submitted for your consideration, the 2012 Carville election snowclone:

Carnival of Divided Government LV Quînque et Quînquâgintâ Special Paul Ryan's Express Edition

 "Romney unites Republicans and Democrats." - Jon Stewart

Welcome to the 55th edition of the Carnival of Divided Government - the Special "Paul Ryan's  Express" Edition. This was intended to be the special "Dog Days of Summer" Edition, but the presumptive Republican nominee for President chose this week to make an early announcement of his selection for Vice President.   Apropos to our dividist theme,  conservatives and liberals embraced the selection of Congressman Paul Ryan for diametrically opposed rationales. Jon Stewart and the Daily Show nail it:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Carnival of Divided Government LV

As explained in earlier editions, we have adopted Latin ordinal numeration to impart a patina of gravitas reflecting the historical importance of the series. In this the Carnival of Divided Government LV (Quînque et Quînquâgintâ), as in all of the CODGOV editions, we select volunteers and draftees from the blogosphere and main stream media writing on the single topic of government divided between the major parties (leaving it to the reader to sort out volunteers from draftees).

Consistent with this topic, the primary criteria for acceptance in the carnival is to explicitly use the words and/or concept of "divided government" in submitted posts. A criteria that, to our endless befuddlement, is ignored by many of the bloggers submitting posts, which sadly results in The Dividist reluctantly ignoring their fine submissions. Among the on-topic posts, essays and articles we choose our favorites for commentary and consideration. The Dividist hopes you enjoy these selections. A reminder - Extremism in defense of Divided Government is no Vice-President:

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Michael Moran blogging at Slate takes note of  the Vice Presidential hopeful wrapping himself in the Reagan legacy and shares his thoughts in "Reagan's Mantle, Ryan's Hope":

"Set aside the question of whether the 1981/2013 comparison is valid or not (the case is dubious at best) and let’s look at what Reagan actually did when he took office.... Faced with a difficult economy and divided government, Reagan chose to mix tax cuts with stimulus spending and, yes, tax increases, too. Bruce Bartlett, an economic advisor to Reagan and a Treasury official under George H. W. Bush, professes amazement at the twisting of the historical record by those too young to remember the factual Reagan...

Bartlett reminds us, “The cumulative legislated tax increase during his administration came to $132.7 billion as of 1988 [$367 billion today]. This compared to a gross tax cut of $275.1 billion. Thus Reagan took back about half the 1981 tax cut with subsequent tax increases... Imagine that! The alleged God of Tax Cuts actually raised taxes when he thought progress, political, economic or otherwise, required him to do so.”

 Moran despairs of either party adopting the practical pragmatic governing style that was the hallmark of the Reagan presidency. But he glosses over the very reason why pragmatism was a characteristic of that administration - to whit:  "Faced with a difficult economy and divided government...  Reagan actually worked quite deftly with a Congress in which Democrats held power in both chambers."

The appetite for practical, pragmatic, compromise will be directly proportional to the degree the government remains divided in 2013. There is no chance that the GOP will lose control of the House this cycle, so there is no possibility of the Democrats restoring One Party Democratic Rule. However, the GOP will certainly close the gap in the Senate and have a real possibility of taking control of that chamber. This raises the specter of One Party Republican Rule restored with a Romney / Ryan victory.  In that eventuality Moran's fears of an uncompromising intransigent GOP administration will be realized.

However, if any of the three other possible variations of divided government that will likely result from this election prevail, a pragmatic solutions along the lines of  the "Grand Bargain" is a virtual certainly. This is where the comparison to the Reagan administration is apt. One difference -  This time it is likely to be the Democrat Obama who will need to learn to work deftly with a Congress in which Republicans hold power.

Rise of the Algos - Knight Capital and the Inevitable Catastrophic HFT Triggered Market Meltdown In Our Future

It happened again on Wednesday.  A High Frequency Trading  (HFT) proprietary algorithm crafted by highly compensated brains-on-sticks and nurtured in the bowels of an investment bank escaped into the wild. From its carefully co-located massively parallel high speed trading computer it emerged to wreak havoc on the financial markets.  In this case, it was a happy ending. The algo turned on its master and sucked the very life blood out of the firm that deployed it.

The incident is yet another lights-flashing, klaxon-blaring warning signal that competing HFT algorithms operating with the speed, size and complexity that are commonplace today cannot be adequately regulated, tested, or managed. Their interactions with each other cannot even be understood  or predicted.

Wednesday 8-1-12: The Knight Capital Algo Clusterfrack

Oboomercare & The Dumbest Generation

While I was neglecting my blogging duties last month, the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act aka ObamaCare.  Since then the debate reignited on several points:  Did the Supreme Court get it  right or wrong by ruling the individual mandate constitutional because it was really a tax?  Did Chief Justice John Roberts bravely rule on the constitutional merits of the law or did he hide behind the fig leaf of congressional taxing power? Did he show judicial activism or judicial restraint?  Is ObamaCare the biggest tax increase of all time or is it not? Will ObamaCare reduce the deficit or take the deficit to new heights?

Some of these questions answer themselves. If ObamaCare costs $1 trillion dollars to provide new benefits (and it does), and it does not really control costs (it doesn't), and it really is deficit neutral (as the CBO asserts), then simple arithmetic tells us it must also raise $1 trillion dollars of new revenue (which SCOTUS identifies as a tax to be constitutional).  And that pretty much makes it the biggest nominal tax increase in our history.