Once again, I turn to Steve Perlstein of the Washington Post, my favorite business columnist, for the best macro-look at what’s happening in the markets and the economy. His take on the dispute over increased spending to get us out of this mess– it’s not that much new debt in any relative sense. Definitely worth reading. What about the flap over Rush Linbaugh? I think the Republicans are nuts to allow Rush to become their spokesman, while the Dems are doing exactly what they need to do to make Rush into their posterchild. Without a real party leader, Rush has filled the void, and while he might have 10 million loyal finge supporters, that won’t get anyone elected. I am guessing that name recognition for Michael Steele (flailing at trying to actualy own his own title as RNC Chair), Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority leader), and John Boehner (House Minority leader) is non-existent. But Rush is first and foremost an entertainer, not a politician, and the sight of real party leaders cowtowing to him, apologizing on his show for daring to criticize his anti-Obama remarks, just reminds the general population why they threw the Republicans out of office. Good for D’s to have a convenient target that the public... 

There are a couple of Washington Post articles today worth checking out for all you Damage Control fans. The first is a story that was all over the place yesterday, the decision by FaceBook to alter its policies on its rights to user information. Tech gadget columnist Rob Pegoraro has a good write-up of the issue, which essentially stems from a lawyer’s edits to their existing fine print, but that some FaceBook fans believe will give FaceBook the rights to use their information in perpetuity. FaceBook could have learned a little something from a former clinet of mine, DoubleClick, the on-line ad behemeth. Ten years ago, DoubleClick inadvertently stepped into a similar mess. The company, through its ad serve technology, had enormous banks of information on the activities of everyone surfing the internet– although the identity of every surfer was limited to url’s that don’t include, for example, names, home addresses, credit information, and all of the other details that make us real as opposed to virtual human beings. What got DoubleClick in trouble was a little change to its privacy notice announcing it might cross-reference that on-line data with off-line data that it had purchased from the Direct Marketing... 

Lesson Two– It’s Okay To Pre-empt Your Adversary’s Media Strategy There was one silver lining, at least for me, in the Travel Office, and I learned a valuable Damage Control lesson that I preach to this day. After the Republicans gained the majority following the 1994 mid-term elections and began investigating in earnest (and called for all those depositions and hearings) they decided to issue an extremely partisan and one-sided investigative report on the Travel Office Affair. And they planned to do so in press conference on Capitol Hill for maximum effect. Three days before the scheduled press conference–and two days before a required meeting of the Government Operations Committee to formally vote on and approve the report as required in the Committee rules, I got a call from a Republican staffer who thought the report was an outrage. In a scene right out of “All The President’s Men,” this person asked to secretly meet in the garage of the Rayburn House Office Building. In the dark recesses of underground parking lot, this Republican staffer gave me a copy of the report. I hurriedly ran back to my desk to review it, and found myself facing a fairly perplexing challenge. (No, it wasn’t... 

Check out my appearance today on Focus Washington discussing White House mistakes over the past several weeks.  Read More →

Washington Post columnist Steven Perlstein has a must-read today about the stimulus package [yes, I am veering off of damage control on this]. His basic point– all of the items in the stimulus bills being floated will create jobs or help rebuild a failing infrastructure, that creating government jobs has just as much merit as creating private sector jobs, and that tax cuts are not nearly as effective in stimulating the economy as spending. His main message to the Congressional critics of the stimulus package– shut up already, you don’t know what you are talking about, and talk to a real economist or financial advisor if you want to sound intelligent in this debate. Here’s a sample: My modest proposal is that lawmakers be authorized to hire personal economic trainers over the coming year to sit by their sides as they fashion the government’s response to the economic crisis and prevent them from uttering the kind of nonsense that has characterized the debate over the stimulus bill during the last two weeks. Coming from Perlstein, who is the best business columnist writing right now in my humble opinion, we should all take notice.  Read More →