Punting the Pundits

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”

John Nichols: Kucinich Says Obama Should Face 2012 Democratic Primary Challenge From the Left

Congressman Dennis Kucinich will not challenge President Obama for in the 2012 Democratic primaries-“I’m focusing on being re-elected to the House of Representatives”-but he thinks Obama should face a foe for the presidential nomination.

“I think primaries can have the opportunity of raising the issues and make the Democratic candidate a stronger candidate,” Kucinich, who sought the party nod in 2004 and 2008, said Thursday. “I think it’s safe to predict that President Obama will continue to be the nominee of the Democratic primary, but he can be a stronger nominee if he receives a strong challenge in a primary.”

Nicholas D. Kristof: Avoiding a New Pharaoh

But the game isn’t over, and now a word of caution. I worry that senior generals may want to keep (with some changes) a Mubarak-style government without Mubarak. In essence the regime may have decided that Mubarak had become a liability and thrown him overboard – without any intention of instituting the kind of broad, meaningful democracy that the public wants. Senior generals have enriched themselves and have a stake in a political and economic structure that is profoundly unfair and oppressive. And remember that the military running things directly really isn’t that different from what has been happening: Mubarak’s government was a largely military regime (in civilian clothes) even before this. Mubarak, Vice President Suleiman and so many others – including nearly all the governors – are career military men. So if the military now takes over, how different is it?

Bob Herbert: When Democracy Weakens

As the throngs celebrated in Cairo, I couldn’t help wondering about what is happening to democracy here in the United States. I think it’s on the ropes. We’re in serious danger of becoming a democracy in name only.

While millions of ordinary Americans are struggling with unemployment and declining standards of living, the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite. It doesn’t really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance.

Charles Blow: Repeal, Restrict and Repress

Republican state lawmakers, emboldened by their swollen ranks, have a message for minorities, women, immigrants and the poor: It’s on!

In the first month of the new legislative season, they have introduced a dizzying number of measures on hot-button issues in statehouses around the country as part of what amounts to a full-throttle mission to repeal, restrict and repress.

Kristen Breitweiser: Rooting for Egypt

Today’s victory of the peaceful Egyptian protesters torpedoes the notion that the only effective means to an end in the Middle East must center on violence.

For two weeks now, the news covering the Egyptian Revolution has been split between two very clear groups: those who supported authentic democracy in the streets; and others who locked into their own fear or hypocrisy saw the protestors as a grave threat to our “security.”

Indeed warnings were whispered about the terrible things that could happen if the “wrong” people were put into power in Egypt. Radical Islamic leaders could step up to power and destroy the region; Egyptians are incapable of achieving their own democracy: WWIII is on its way; and of course, the sky was also falling.

Mike Lux: The Big Banks’ Battle Against Consumers and Homeowners

There is a battle going on — a big one — and big battles have a lot of fronts. The big banks are doing whatever they can to fight back against consumers and homeowners who are desperately trying to curb the bankers’ abuses. The number of different fronts that have been opened up keeps growing. Here are just a few of the most important ones:

1. In D.C., the biggest battle is over the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. . . . .

2. The mega-death battle being waged in courtrooms all over the country, in the state AGs’ negotiations with bankers, in demonstrations and corporate campaigns and city council resolutions against JPMorgan Chase, and inside the Obama administration is the battle over mortgage modifications. . . . . .

3. The banks are doing everything in their power to squeeze every penny they can from consumers and small businesses without the market power to fight back . . . . .

4. All over the country, as part of national organizing efforts or just on their own, activists and local elected officials are taking on the six biggest Wall Street banks (who own assets equaling 64 percent of the USA’s GDP).

James Kwak: Paul Ryan Criticizes Bernanke for Failing to Contain Tooth Fairy

In a Congressional hearing today, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), chair of the House Budget Committee, strongly criticized Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke for failing to contain the severe inflation threat posed by the Tooth Fairy.

Ryan pointed to numerous studies showing that, despite ongoing economic sluggishness, the Tooth Fairy is paying much more for children’s baby teeth than in past years. In neighborhoods such as Winnetka, Cleveland Park, the Upper East Side, and Palo Alto, children can receive more than $20 per tooth – a dramatic increase from the 25-50 cents that the Tooth Fairy paid only a decade or two ago. In the Hamptons, summertime prices for teeth can easily exceed $100, according to a survey commissioned by the American Enterprise Institute.* Because the Tooth Fairy is able to create money magically, her purchases of unused teeth (with no apparent economic value**) increase the money supply, fueling inflation. Without explicitly accusing Bernanke of participation in the Tooth Fairy’s scheme, Ryan implied that the Tooth Fairy’s higher payouts may be part of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing scheme.

Michael Winsap: An Egyptian Voice of Democracy Says, Tell Old Pharaoh, Go

“The culture of democracy is still far away.”

That’s what Egypt’s Vice President Omar Suleiman told a group of the country’s newspaper editors on Tuesday. It was just two days before President Hosni Mubarak reconfirmed that he had no intention of resigning until September. But on Friday, Mubarak was gone.