And they said George W. Bush was detached. Imagine if Bush went to a signing ceremony for Guantanamo closing and didn’t know what the next step was or if he allowed Denny Hastert to devise his signature piece of economic legislation.

Fred Dicker says we shouldn’t be surprised Governor Paterson is in “free fall”: “Those who’ve known Paterson well for decades say he’s always been unfocused, self-centered, often lazy – and, at times, clownish and immature.” Ouch.

Ray LaHood says he “fell short” of his responsibilities to persuade Republicans to vote for the transportation bill. So short in fact, he got none. So I guess he should resign or be fired. But is that his job, to be the GOP-pressurer? I thought it was to preside over the sterling operation of the Transportation Department which now has more money than it can spend.

Nancy Pelosi gets a lesson on Catholicism from the Pope. Did she really think she’d skip out of there without one?

Megan McArdle joins the ranks of those amazed at how poorly Tim Geithner handled the bank roll out. And now he has the car industry to manage too. But even if we had a competent Treasury Secretary, running the car industry from Washington would still be  bad idea.

An Obama spokesman says he opposes the Fairness Doctrine. Yes, he also opposed voting on legislation before the public has viewed it for five days, but let’s hope he means it.

He’s didn’t mean that whole thing about renegotiating NAFTA. Thank goodness.

David Brooks writes that “the stimulus package was designed by people who have complete faith in government technocrats, who think an agency can triple its size overnight and still be managed efficiently, who think government knows enough about business to set salaries. Some people think government officials know enough to run the auto industry.” I surmise that “some people” includes Obama, who signed the stimulus (threw a whole photo-op event in its honor) and approved a car czar-board. (The silver lining in the Obama administration is that it has made Brooks seem like a “raving libertarian”!)

So what’s wrong with the $275B homeowners’ bailout? (I mean other than the fact we don’t have $275B.) Well, it puts added strain on the banks so our bank bailout will be that much more expensive. You see, once you start with the bailouts there is no end to them. And the people who are current in larger mortgages (which don’t qualify for relief ) but also  “underwater” due to the drop in home prices are, not surprisingly, annoyed.

Karl Rove thinks the Obama team is “winging it.” Or maybe they have really bad policy ideas. Or both.

Are “the politics what’s killing the economy“? It’s not helping. Talking bank nationalization, prolonging the process of devaluing assets and putting billions into failing enterprises does not seem like a recipe for recovery.

Sen. Dick Durbin says Roland Burris’s time in the senate is “in question.” Well, that sort of talk isn’t going to get Burris out anytime soon. And Robert Gibbs offers a limp comment that the people of Illinois “deserve to know the extent of the involvement” between Burris and Blago. This is the best they can all do?