More “Obama-Rama” Wonderment

As the “fired up, ready to go” senator from Illinois makes a last push for votes along with Hillary, St. McCain and The Mittster before Super Tuesday tomorrow, it’s worth nothing that Obama recently received an endorsement that would make me question once more whether or not he is truly a candidate of change or a slightly more palatable version of much of the corporate status quo under which we currently live.

(OK, now let me emphasize here that if I take shots at Obama and Hillary Clinton, it is NOT merely out of reflex because John Edwards dropped out of the race. In this case, I think Obama has received plaudits from someone who really doesn’t give a damn about the progressive political community Obama purports to represent.)

I’m glad Hale “Bonddad” (?) Stewart of HuffPo is so pleased here that Paul Volcker (pictured), the former Federal Reserve chairman under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, has endorsed Obama, with Stewart praising Volcker as…

… the primary reason the country didn't fall into a period of rapidly escalating inflation in the early 1980s (due to his actions). His solution wasn't exactly popular.

I would call that an understatement when you consider the following as noted in this New York Times letter from 1987 upon Volcker’s retirement…

It's true that Mr. Volcker deserves credit for stopping the runaway inflation after President Carter appointed him in 1979 as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. By the same token he must accept the consequence of his high-interest tactic: the cruelest recession since the Great Depression.

When that combined with the cuts in anti-recession measures like unemployment compensation, which Mr. Reagan engineered in 1981, literally millions of workers and their families paid the price for stopping inflation.

Also, I’m not an economist and I can’t tell you that there’s a definite link between energy prices and inflation, but I should note that the rate of inflation under Volcker peaked at least partly because of the actions of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1979, including Iran when the clerics took over and produced less oil, driving up the price; eventually, due to reduced demand and overproduction, inflation fell in the ‘80s amidst an “oil glut,” leading me to believe that OPEC’s mishandling of their oil supply deserves as much recognition here for the decrease in inflation as Mr. Volcker’s financial acumen.

Although, as noted here, Volcker is absolutely spot-on concerning global warming (really though, the time to actually debate this issue ended years ago), so he deserves credit for that much anyway.

And one more thing concerning Obama: this New York Times story yesterday by reporter Mike McIntire tells us of the deal he cut with Exelon Energy (my interpretation of the story, I hasten to add) over a bill regarding radioactive leaks at Exelon’s nuclear plants.

And if you think I’m being unkind, please note that…

…Since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon, which is based in Illinois, have contributed at least $227,000 to Mr. Obama’s campaigns for the United States Senate and for president. Two top Exelon officials, Frank M. Clark, executive vice president, and John W. Rogers Jr., a director, are among his largest fund-raisers.

Another Obama donor, John W. Rowe, chairman of Exelon, is also chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear power industry’s lobbying group, based in Washington. Exelon’s support for Mr. Obama far exceeds its support for any other presidential candidate.

In addition, Mr. Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, has worked as a consultant to Exelon. A spokeswoman for Exelon said Mr. Axelrod’s company had helped an Exelon subsidiary, Commonwealth Edison, with communications strategy periodically since 2002, but had no involvement in the leak controversy or other nuclear issues.

God, do I miss John Edwards’ candidacy right now.