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| NYT columnist says liberals need to get 'upset' over the broken promises [0-3] of the Obama, Biden administrations |
| 2025-03-27 |
| [FoxNews] Ezra Klein said the Obama administration was '0-for-3' on the most ambitious proposals in his stimulus package like high-speed rail New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein said Wednesday liberals need to get upset over the failed promises of the Biden and Obama presidencies. Klein joined California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's podcast where he talked about his new book with The Atlantic's Derek Thompson, "Abundance," which examines why liberal government isn't delivering and finds it's often their own well-intentioned policies and regulations getting in the way. He said the Obama and Biden administrations suffered from this problem. "So much of the political theory of the Biden administration was that if you can show liberal democracy can deliver, you will pull people out of wanting these strongmen who say they're going to burn the whole thing down and give you something out of the ashes," Klein said. He gave the example of the Biden administration celebrating the $42 billion for rural broadband passed in the 2021 infrastructure bill. But with all the multi-stage processes and red-tape, "By the end of the administration, of the 56 states and jurisdictions that were trying to apply for the money, three had made it through." "If the things don't move fast enough, if they don't get to the people fast enough, it's much harder for liberal democracy to make the case that it delivers," he said. Klein then recalled a conversation he had with former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau about California’s high-speed rail effort, which has been in the works for almost two decades with little progress. "I was saying that, the stimulus bill under Obama, that had three big headline projects for reinvestment," he said. "It had high-speed rail, it had smart grid, and it had a nationwide system of interoperable health records." "I remember those days," Newsom responded. "Yeah. 0-for-3," Klein said. "At some point, we gotta be upset about this, you know?" Related: Ezra Klein 04/16/2022 California's Vanished Dream, by the Numbers Ezra Klein 04/22/2021 Named & Shamed: The ‘Journalists’ Who Went on Chinese Communist Party Junkets, Then Delivered ‘Favorable Coverage.’ Ezra Klein 10/13/2020 CBS Obtains 94-Page Outline Showing FBI and Chris Steele Collaborative Use of Media Reporting |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #4 It is likely to carry passengers by 2030 or so but ridership is likely to be far below expectations. There is no business model when LA or SD to SFO flights are <$100. Currently only a mid-central valley segment is under construction with NO actual track laid (other than a single siding...with great fanfare). California high-speed rail project needs $7 billion by next summer |
| Posted by: Frank G 2025-03-27 14:17 |
| #3 Will it be like BART and be illegal...sorry...require a film permit in order to video the happenings because you are a bigot? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2025-03-27 13:48 |
| #2 actually the USA has made some progress on 'smart grid' which actually started under W - a long way still to go The Cal HSRail is under construction and has gobbled up billions of $ so far. It is likely to carry passengers by 2030 or so but ridership is likely to be far below expectations. |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2025-03-27 13:05 |
| #1 It's easy to promise stuff when somebody else has to do it. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2025-03-27 10:34 |