American political norms, which are now in short supply, dictate that partisan disputes are supposed to end at Vandenberg's "water's edge" -- political actors are supposed to be mindful of taking our domestic disputes to an international level.
Mitt Romney's campaign is apparently ignoring these norms in new ways. We saw this in March, when the Republican condemned President Obama while the president was representing the U.S. overseas (a move that even drew a rebuke from House Speaker John Boehner), and again in May when Romney sought campaign contributions from Americans living in Hong Kong and Singapore (imagine the uproar if Obama sought campaign money from donors in China).
This, however, takes the problem to another level.
A senior economic adviser to Mitt Romney criticized President Obama and his policy toward crisis-torn Europe, and Germany in particular, in an op-ed article in a leading German newspaper on Saturday, raising the question of the propriety of taking America's political fights into international affairs.
The article -- written by R. Glenn Hubbard, the dean of the Columbia Business School and a former adviser in the Bush administration, and published in the business journal Handelsblatt -- drew a rebuke from the Obama campaign.
"In a foreign news outlet, Governor Romney's top economic adviser both discouraged essential steps that need to be taken to promote economic recovery and attempted to undermine America's foreign policy abroad," said Ben LaBolt, press secretary for the president's re-election campaign.
There are two main problems with this, and they're both pretty offensive.
The first problem here has to do with American traditions and norms -- the Romney campaign is breaking unwritten rules by attacking the U.S. president in a foreign media forum.
The second is purely substantive: the Romney campaign knows Europe's crises are hurting the American economy, but it's nevertheless going to a European outlet to push for more austerity, which is already failing miserably on a continental level.
If Eurozone policymakers take the Romney campaign's advice, they lose and we lose, but Romney's electoral odds will improve -- which for Hubbard, may be the only consideration that matters.
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I'm certainly lucky i don't own any guns, because every time I hear of some new outrage from these scum, I want to start screaming or shooting. The complete and utter shamelessness of these people is beyond belief.
I have LOTS of guns. And I'm keepin' them oiled, and my powder dry.
We feel the same way about the left, but we're more mature.
Yeah shooter242 the right is so mature that they shoot doctors, congresswomen, kids at Jewish Community Centers, the right wing is so mature that they actually go out and shoot people to solve problems. Shooting doctors in church, an incredibly mature and Christian thing to do. Right wing hypocrisy and denial of reality is a disease and in your case shooter it appears to be congenital.
Fred,
People like that enjoy spewing verbal vomit.
Shooter242: More mature? Are you friggin kidding me? Name one, just ONE, true liberal that takes their guns to make their point. On my side, let me point out a few of your friends who actually do murder the opposition. Do these names mean anything to you?
Adolph Hitler
Scott Roeder
Timothy McVeigh
Eric Rudolph
John Wilkes Boothe
Sirhan Sirhan
James Earl Ray
Lee Harvey Oswald
Charles J Guiteau
Edgar Ray Killen
Aaron McKinney
Russel Henderson
Lawrence Russell Brewer
and I could on and on and on and on ......... but it brings too many tears to my eyes.
So, name a few for me. Don't say Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3x Butler, or Thomas 15x Johnson. They killed because they were members of the Nation of Islam and they were ... well you know the story so i won't waste my time.
OK Shooter242, the ball is in your court. Can you volley it back my way?
(assh*le)
shouldn't have put Hitler in there. Although he fits in the category of right wing radicals attacking the opposition, he wasn't in the supposedly protected borders of the USA. All the rest are right-wing Americans killing progressives and liberals, either for political reasons or to preserve social inequality. All apologies.
The GOP is always "breaking unwritten rules", the Democrats never get this and attack the break with tradition. One would think that this would be the "conservative" angle but the conservatives are now "terrorists" and the Democrats are just stupid. This country needs an enema.
We need to remove the corn cob first.
Now I'm laughing,thank yu, Sally. Has anybody thought about tapping Romney on the shoulder and saying "You can't do that," Aren't his advisors advising him. He really must be in a big hurry to go and play War with his friend McCain. His advisors should at least advise him on the laws concerning foreign affairs.
There are no rules, to Republicans and in particular the oligarchs in the Party, this is a war about money, rules do not apply in that regard. Glenn Hubbard is the idiot who gave you the Bush crash of 2008, he is one of the highest paid professional liars on the planet, and he infects the entire cult of economists with his wild, esoteric economic theories.
Romney is trying to borrow money from Japan. Imagine if he became President he would be trying to borrow money from a lot of other Countries. Why isn't he trying to borrow money from Iraq or Iran? Maybe Saudi Arabia would like to give him some money. Syria might have some money for him. This man is insane if he thinks he has the power to sell out the United States, his father tried that and didn't succeed. The only one promising other Countries favors will be Romney himself not the American people. Our tax dollars need to stay right here in our own Country in order to help the people here first that need it. No wonder they want to get rid of Medicare and Social Security. The GOP need the funds from there to pay off their rich Buddies abroad.
What's bad for America is good for the GOP.
Great bumper sticker!
The Romney camp doesn't expect Europe to take their advice. They just want to put it out there, like the Ryan budget, so that they can point to it later and say "if you'd only done it this way, we'd be better off." Of course economists don't agree, but their argument is always, "we didn't try it."
As for "the water's edge," I expect that is all inside baseball as far as the voters in Ohio and Virginia are concerned.
How do you explain the Dixie Chick fiasco? To my knowledge they were not running for any elected office.
This is how you explain it:
IOKIYAR
Solyndra and Simpson-Bowles are examples of inside baseball. That doesn't stop the GOP from screaming at the top of the lungs about them. It doesn't stop the beltway press from following along.
This matters, and to dismiss it gives a pass to Romney's campaign for offensive behavior. I expect the MSM to do exactly what you just did. Dismiss it.
IOKIYAR
Romney supports GERMANY'S approach to the crisis? It is so similar to his own plan: austerity for thee and not for me. (I recall reading that German workers got a 6% pay rise at the very moment Greece was cutting all salaries 15%.) It would warm the cockles of Romney's heart -- if he had one.
On how European recovery is important to the US: see http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/europes-risk-to-the-us-in-one-chart/2012/06/11/gJQASJ8rUV_blog.html
And yes, Romney has zero vision regarding actual human beings, and our self-made laws. Why not? he's got his eye on the God of his Mormonism, which I am convinced is the only thing he deeply cares about.
The fact that this idiot published it in Germany where "austerity" is actually hurting the German people that are living with it, makes him appear the idiot - because the Germans along with the rest of the European people are fighting against it!
Second, why publish it in Europe instead of America? Or does he feel as though he'd likely get traction over there where over here he's just another whiner?
Third, how many dis-credited members of Shrubs cabinet is Mittens going to pick up? Yet another reason do keep this guy out of the White House in November, another failed Shrub III Presidency, no thanks some of US had enough the last time!
Oh, I'm sure Hubbard (wonder if he's related to L. Ron) doesn't give a rat's tuchis about the German people. The article was probably intended mainly as a big wet kiss to Angela Merkel and European devotees of Ayn Rand and Hayek in general...sort of a "We're on your side" suck-up.
What is a true american in these time it is hard know,is it americans who been here for 300 years trying and succeeding to build a great nation,or is a true american a person who just take wealth and and hide it all around world.Now in these days and time these two things are on my mine patriotism and loyalty and duel citizenship and multinational .corporations.
Dixie Chicks
Damn. Missed it by six minutes.
To those idiots who mention the Dixie Chicks -- they were NOT running for President but merely concerned citizens. It is no where near the same kind of offensive behavior. Romney is just an ass through and through!
I wonder if these people even know what the Dixie Chicks actually said.
"Just so you know, I am ashamed that President Bush is from Texas."
And for that, they received death threats, had their songs banned from the radio, and people burned their cds in WalMart parking lots.
The outrage... The uproar... The GALL!
For an artist to comment on society, it's a travesty I tell you, a crime!
The thing is, the Chicks had released an album a few months before this happened. Anyone who listened to that album would know very clearly just how anti-war the group is. Her comment was actually pretty tame, considering the disproportionate uproar.
"Mr. Hubbard proposed a classic conservative pro-austerity, anti-Keynesian approach, arguing that cutting government spending will restore public confidence, encourage growth and avert future tax increases."
oh boy! a visit from the confidence fairy. i have to wonder if hibbard has run this argument past david cameron
Apparently you don't appreciate the role of confidence in economics. If your job is threatened, do you go buy a new car? Not if you're responsible and actually expect to pay back the loan. Expectations for the future are the biggest determinant of economic activity. It isn't rocket science, it's about the collective belief about the future.
If you believe the future is bright, you will be more willing to borrow or invest. If you don't you hoard. That's all there is to it.
Is your new car parked in the garage?
It's the same thing they do with their tinkle down economics. "We know it doesn't work, but we can talk about it in a way that makes it seem like it should. Pay no attention to that billionaire behind the curtain..."
So Obama can tell the Germans what to do, but Hubbard can't disagree? Stopping at the water's edge may have worked in the era of newspapers and snail mail, but it's no longer a barrier to politics.
Oh and austerity isn't meant to bring prosperity, it's meant to pay off what one owes. Yes I understand that it's an antiquated notion, but until one get's sufficiently out of debt, no new purchases can be made.
You're not here to have a real discussion. Why waste your time?
Well Rollo, why don't you try it and see what happens?
I'll bite, why does Romney want to borrow money from Japan then? Or was he just accepting a bribe.
Sorry, I'll need a cite. I googled Japan and Romney but nothing jumped out.
Clearly, austerity doesn't work, but you just keep on believing.
Who has our two trillion dollars, just put it back into our social security.
John Mccain could be the new Bradley Manning, just a thought
Glen Hubbard's basic economic philosophy is to deal with government as a leveraged buyout, buy the elected offices, negate all contractual obligations, dispose of all assets, compensate investors handsomely and then move on to the next group of people to exploit. I'm certain that is sellable to the American voters with a $1.5 billion advertising budget, after all Hubbard's masters convinced Californians that tobacco is so good for them they shouldn't raise taxes on it to fund cancer research.