A few Obama kudos

No, I don’t always bash him.

First, he plans on neutering the “Buy American” portion of the stimulus bill the House already passed.

Caveat: He didn’t have much choice. Not only does it violate WTO regulations, the European Union threatening a trade war. And, given that the U.S. economy is smaller than the combined Euroworld economy, that’s a trade war we can’t win.

Second, he is proposing a serious cap on executive pay for companies getting TARP bailout funds.

Caveat, though: As with TARP itself, this legally cannot affect bonuses already part of executive contracts, unless the company in question can do a cram-down renegotation on the CEO in question.

Third, as I requested in a blog post yesterday, he’s eating a little crow over the failed Tom Daschle nomination.

“I screwed up. I’ve got to own up to my mistake. Ultimately, its important for this administration to send a message that there aren't two sets of rules — you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.”

Caveat on this, though – no apology was made over the already-approved Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Also, not a caveat but a musing – how much of the American public’s trust has he lost over the Daschle, Killefer and Geithner nominations?