What is the rush?

Today the Associated Press article, "Obama touts aid plan's impact on average Americans" shares what President Obama is doing to market his economic plan. It seems that he is using the paradigm that if one "states the same thing enough time maybe it will become true." Already last week both the Democrats and Republicans were told that much of this economic plan would not be effective to 2010 at the earliest. Yet Obama is saying that it is a must for it to be passed now! What is a couple of days for evaluation and discussion when the plan might not have any effect till late 2010 at the earliest? The marketing of this is almost like the new transition team of Obama, Pelosi and Reid are scared that to many questions will be asked if people have to much time to think about the plan! So let's rush it through before people have time to understand its full ramifications. What is even more scarey when the United States can not even afford this "stimulus" plan is that this article stated that the Obama regime is trying to decide if and when they should bring out their second stimulus plan! If they are already seeing the need for a second one maybe the first one might not be all it should be?

A Leader's Inner Circle

A Leader's Inner Circle
By Dr. John C. Maxwell
Months before President Obama took the oath of office he began assembling an inner circle of advisors. He and his transition team painstakingly pored over the qualifications of candidates to identify the strongest leaders for cabinet posts. In methodically vetting future leaders of his administration, President Obama demonstrated that he understands the law of the inner circle: A leader's potential is determined by those closest to him or her.

Past presidents have learned the hard way that failures of a leader's trusted advisors can bring disaster. During the Clinton administration, investigations into the conduct of five cabinet members eroded public perception of the President's judgment. The indictments and allegations gave ammunition to Clinton's foes and cast doubts on his character, especially after the Monica Lewinsky scandal came to light.

Likewise, President George W. Bush faced embarrassment when the man he appointed as head of FEMA, Michael D. Brown, failed to provide strong federal leadership in the aftermath Hurricane Katrina. Inexperienced in emergency management, Brown was overwhelmed by the crisis. During the height of the disaster, he fretted about finding a dogsitter and fussed about his attire. His unpreparedness and inaction left the Bush Administration vulnerable to scathing accusations of neglect and indifference.

Five questions to ask when forming your inner circle:
Do they display exemplary character in everything they do?

Deception eats away at a leadership team like cancer. Dishonesty on the part of one member of an inner circle can bring shame and disaster to all. Entire organizations have toppled from the misbehavior of one bad apple.

Do they bring complementary gifts to the table?

Imbalance within an inner circle can attune a leader's ear to only one side of an argument. When putting together an inner circle, prioritize diversity of personality and perspective. By doing so, you widen the range of your vision and the breadth of your influence.

Do they hold a strategic position and have influence within the organization?

Members of the inner circle must have the platform and influence to implement a leader's decisions. If they cannot be relied upon to execute a chosen strategy, then they shouldn't be entrusted with a spot on the leadership team. In addition, inviting uninfluential advisors into the inner circle disrupts the political balance of an organization. High performers suffer a motivational blow when they see a less deserving colleague granted special access to top leadership.

Do they add value to the organization and to the leader?

When considering someone for the inner circle, you should be able to articulate clearly the value they will bring. Ask yourself the following questions: What will they infuse into discussion? Where do they have expertise? What unique skills can they be counted on to bring to the table?

Do they positively impact other members of the inner circle?

If you've ever inhabited a house with a feuding husband and wife, then you can understand the need for leaders in close proximity to get along. Infighting saps energy and focus from a senior leader, forcing him or her to mediate conflicts with time that could be better spent elsewhere. Differences of opinion signal healthy debate, but personal animosities destroy a leadership team. Make sure members of your inner circle have the emotional intelligence to keep arguments from becoming too personal.

We've looked at the questions to consider when gathering a team of trusted advisors, I'd also like to offer thoughts on the two traps you can fall into when forming their inner circle.

Two common errors in constructing the inner circle:
Soliciting praise instead of candor.

Stacking an inner circle with flatters and "yes" men ranks among the lousiest decisions you can make as a leader. Doing so restricts your perspective, exposes you to blind spots, and leaves you on an island when do-or-die decisions must be made. When picking members of your inner circle, be sure they have the gumption to voice dissent. You'll rely on them to question your assumptions, to focus you on the mission, and to measure the integrity and worthiness of your ideas.

Driving away talent so that your power isn't threatened.

The wisdom of accumulating a talented inner circle may seem intuitive, but a rising star may threaten insecure leaders. Leaders should not be, and cannot be, the utmost authorities on all matters germane to the organization. Invariably, people have weaknesses. Wise leaders staff around their weaknesses, and welcome talent in areas where they lack strength.

Summary
Questions to Ask of Candidates for Your Inner Circle:

Do they display exemplary character in everything they do?
Do they bring complementary gifts to the table?
Do they hold a strategic position and have influence within the organization?
Do they add value to the organization and to the leader?
Do they positively impact other members of the inner circle?
Traps to Avoid when Staffing Your Inner Circle:

Soliciting praise instead of candor.
Driving away talent so that your power isn't threatened.
About
John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 16 million books. His organizations have trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP and INJOY Stewardship Services. Every year he speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and audiences as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point, the National Football League, and ambassadors at the United Nations. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was named the World's Top Leadership Guru by Leadershipgurus.net. He was also one of only 25 authors and artists named to Amazon.com's 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies.

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GM fell behind Toyota in 2008

MSNBC.com


GM fell behind Toyota in 2008
U.S. carmaker loses sales crown to Asian rival after 77-year reign
msnbc.com news services
updated 10:50 a.m. CT, Wed., Jan. 21, 2009
NEW YORK - General Motors sold fewer cars globally than Toyota last year, as the Japanese automaker passed its Detroit rival for the first time, bringing to an end GM’s 77-year run as the world’s largest automaker.

GM, now struggling to restructure under a $13.4 billion U.S. government bailout, had held the title as the global auto industry leader for over seven decades and used the line in its marketing.

But for 2008, Detroit-based GM said its sales decreased to 8.35 million vehicles, pressured by tightening credit and a slowdown that began in the United States and spread to emerging markets where GM has been stronger.

Earlier this week, Toyota said its global sales for 2008 had slipped 4 percent to 8.97 million vehicles as it also battled a costly slowdown in key markets.

Both GM and Toyota downplayed the significance of the shift in market leadership.

“Share doesn’t always pay the bills,” Don Esmond, Toyota’s senior vice president for U.S. operations, said at an industry conference when asked about Toyota capturing the No. 1 spot.

GM’s sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni said 2009 was starting on a weak note in the U.S. market, the world’s single largest.

With sales to car rental agencies down sharply, the U.S. auto market could slip below 10 million units on an annualized basis for January, DiGiovanni said.

That would be down from 10.3 million units in December and less than the 10.5 million unit level that GM is targeting as the basis of its revised turnaround plan to be submitted to U.S. officials next month.

DiGiovanni said GM expected that fiscal stimulus expected from the United States, China and other governments would boost demand in the second half of the year.

“We feel we’ve weathered one hell of a storm, and we’re cautiously optimistic as we move into ’09 that we can stabilize and grow again,” he said.

GM and Toyota ended 2007 with a virtual tie.

GM sold 9.369 million vehicles, including those sold through SAIC-GM-Wuling, a commercial vehicle joint-venture in China in which the U.S. automaker has a minority stake.

Toyota sold 9.366 million vehicles for 2007.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner had vowed to defend the company’s global sales leadership, saying the title was a point of pride for the automaker.

But with GM reliant on federal funding to avoid bankruptcy, GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said late Tuesday that the automaker had been forced to focus on other measures of the success of its turnaround.

“I actually noticed that they passed us in market capitalization, profitability and cash flow long ago,” Henderson said of Toyota.

More on General Motors | automotive industry


The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28771215/



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A New Era of Responsibility? from the Fox Forum

A New Era Of Responsibility? The Conundrum That Is Barack Obama

By Jon Kraushar
Communications Consultant


We’re only a few days into Barack Obama’s presidency and already the plans and people he is committing himself (and the country) to raise questions about the “new era of responsibility” he called for in his inaugural address.

How responsible is it for Obama to select Timothy Geithner as his treasury secretary — one of the architects of a fiasco of money mismanagement and unaccountable federal bailouts whose cost is ballooning toward one trillion dollars?




Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner delivers his opening statement on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 21,2009, during his nomination hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Obama wants to put Geithner, an admitted tax scofflaw, in charge of our tax system. How does this square with his inaugural pledge that, “…those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account—to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day”?

In his inaugural address, Obama also said:

“The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act—not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.”

Obama’s economic stimulation plan is being compared to President Roosevelt’s in the Depression. FDR, like Obama, maintained that government “make work” infrastructure projects would employ millions and grow the economy. However, in FDR’s time, the nation only revived with the “jolt” of World War II, which revved up manufacturing and employed people both in and out of the military.

Culture Wars

THE FIRST 100 DAYS:
There May Be a New President But the Culture Wars Are Far From Over
By Peter Roff
Conservative Commentator/Former Senior Political Writer, United Press International

Barack Obama’s election may have tamped down the so-called “culture war” that was a hallmark of the Bush presidency but it has not ended it.

Up to now, the pro-abortion rights lobby has carefully couched its activities in the language of personal choice. “The decision to have an abortion,” they say, “is a matter of personal conscience, between a woman and her doctor.”

A new federal rule promulgated by the Bush administration and set to go into effect on January 20 is, in essence, a guarantee for doctors and other health care workers that they shall not have to perform or participate in abortions if they have a personal moral or religious objection to the practice.

It a new wrinkle in America’s abortion debate, one of the cornerstones of the aforementioned “culture war.” Up to now, the pro-abortion rights lobby has carefully couched its activities in the language of personal choice. “The decision to have an abortion,” they say, “is a matter of personal conscience, between a woman and her doctor.”

The rule seeks to clarify, according to the Bush-era Department of Health and Human Services that “non- discrimination protections apply to institutional health care providers as well as to individual employees working for recipients of certain funds” from HHS. It also requires those receiving federal fund to certify their compliance with “provider conscience rights” and opens up a channel within the Department to receive complaints if the new rule is being violated.

At stake are millions of dollars in federal public health money that states and local governments who refuse to abide by the new rule could lose.

Last Thursday seven states — led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat — filed suit in a Hartford, Ct., court seeking to enjoin the rule from going into effect. The plaintiffs claim the new rule would supersede state laws guaranteeing a woman’s access to birth control, emergency contraception and abortion.

Setting aside the issue of being “for” or “against” abortion rights, the state’s lawsuit creates a new twist on the old “Your right to swing your hand wherever you want stops at the end of my nose” discussion. One can argue that forcing doctors and nurses to perform or participate in abortions over their personal moral or religious objections is an offense against the same “right of personal choice” under which abortion itself is justified.

Whether or not Blumenthal and the states he is acting for ultimately prevail, the lawsuit is a sure indication that the culture war will continue.

The Opacity of Hope

The Opacity of Hope


A President of great personal talents but public elusiveness

Barack Obama takes the oath of office today amid a sense of expectation and opportunity rare even for new Presidents. Partly this is due to his heritage and the historic nature of his triumph, partly to our current economic troubles, and partly to a nation looking for a fresh start after the difficulties of the Bush era. The paradox is that in order to succeed Mr. Obama will soon need to turn the opacity of his hope into clear and often difficult choices, some of which will upset his most passionate supporters.

APThe Illinois Democrat brings impressive talents to the White House -- not least the self-confidence that he can do the job. Though only four years out of the state Senate, he seems remarkably undaunted by the task and the moment. His rhetorical gifts are formidable, no small virtue in a job whose influence depends chiefly on the power to persuade. The President-elect's transition has also gone more smoothly than most, certainly in contrast to Bill Clinton's in 1993.
Mr. Obama is likewise equipped with a first-class temperament. He wore the pressures of an epic campaign as lightly as anyone since Ronald Reagan. While his opponents lurched amid this or that headline, the man from Hawaii via Harvard and Chicago never lost his cool. This equanimity will serve him well amid the crises to come, assuming his confidence doesn't slide into an arrogance that sometimes attends 70% Presidential job approval.
Yet for all of those personal virtues, there remains an elusiveness, an opacity, to Mr. Obama's political character. This is in contrast to Reagan, who was personally distant but publicly well defined. Mr. Obama won the primaries and then the White House with a campaign based on the gauzy promise of change more than on a clear agenda. He became a political Everyman into whom Democrats, independents and even many Republicans could pour their great expectations.
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This lack of definition has also marked his personnel choices. When given the chance to pick someone from one policy camp or another, Mr. Obama has typically chosen both: Free-trader Ron Kirk and protectionist Hilda Solis; command-and-control regulator Carol Browner and more market-oriented Cass Sunstein; Tim Geithner, who has voted to open the monetary floodgates, and Paul Volcker, who is worried about the dollar; Tom Daschle, who wants to nationalize all U.S. health care, and Peter Orszag, who believes current entitlements must be reformed.
Soon Mr. Obama will have to choose. That is especially true on the struggling economy, which is the main reason he won so handily. For 25 years from the moment the Reagan policy mix took hold in 1983, the U.S. has had a run of economic expansion marred only by two mild recessions. Younger Americans have grown accustomed to rising incomes and growing 401(k)s. Mr. Obama was elected on his promise to restore that middle-class prosperity. He can best serve the country, and his own Presidency, by focusing his political capital on policies that promote growth.
Yet over that same 25 years Mr. Obama's political coalition has amassed a wish-list of regulatory and redistributionist ideas that would undercut that effort. The global warming crowd wants a huge new carbon tax that would hit the South and Midwest especially hard. Big Labor wants to make union organizing easier, which would slow job creation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is agitating to raise taxes immediately, even amid recession, to finance a spending spree we haven't seen since LBJ's Great Society. Part of Mr. Obama's success will depend on whether he says no to these liberal interests. If he does, he will make it easier for the economy's natural recuperative powers to work -- and he and his party will benefit.
Mr. Obama can also go a long way toward removing the bile from the debate over national security. For some on the left, the Bush era must be repudiated with prosecutions and a return to the pre-9/11 status quo. John Conyers and the New York Times want heads on pikes. Down this road lies wasted political capital for the new President, and risks for U.S. security.
Mr. Obama seems to recognize this, given his recent comments that he prefers to "look forward" rather than back; that Guantanamo may take his entire first term to close down; and that "Dick Cheney's advice was good" to assess Bush policies before leaping to undo them. Now that he is responsible for American security, Mr. Obama is in a position to validate the Bush programs that have kept us safe, perhaps with some political window dressing that mutes the opposition from the anti-antiterror left.
Mr. Obama is also uniquely placed to ask Americans of all races and incomes to show a greater sense of personal responsibility. His own rise to the White House is a walking affirmation of American opportunity. His reaching out to evangelical pastor Rick Warren, both in the campaign and for his Inaugural, is a shrewd and welcome sign that he wants to temper the social furies. Our particular hope is that he will also find a way to take on the teachers unions as the main obstacle to inner-city opportunity. He could revolutionize the school reform debate in an instant.
As a matter of political character, many of these questions hang on Mr. Obama's toughness. We know he is intelligent and clever. What we don't know is if he can make a difficult decision in the national interest that is unpopular, and then endure the consequences. Reagan showed his steel by staring down the Patco strike at home and Soviet scare-tactics against missile deployments abroad. Whatever his mistakes in Iraq, George W. Bush's "surge" was a lonely call that has proven to be right. As far as we know, Mr. Obama has had to make no such decision in his short public life.
The complicated nature of our world means that every modern Presidency is to some extent a leap into the unknown. Mr. Obama's meteoric rise makes him a bigger leap than most. We don't know if he is a genuine man of the left, or a more traditional pragmatist. The audacity of our hope is that as President he will use his considerable talents to return his party to the policies of growth, opportunity and the vigorous defense of U.S. interests that marked it the last time the country had such great expectations for a Democratic President -- under JFK.

New Era of Responsibility----not just my idea!

JANUARY 20, 2009, 12:47 A.M. ET

Obama to Call for a New Era of Responsibility

Huge Crowds Gather as First African-American President Takes Office; Aides Expect Steps on Iraq War, Bank Policy This Week

By LAURA MECKLER and JONATHAN WEISMAN
Landov

On the eve of his inauguration as the 44th president, Barack Obama visited Monday with children at a Washington school in observance of the National Day of Service Project.
WASHINGTON -- Americans poured into the nation's capital to celebrate the inauguration of their first black president. But with the U.S. in its worst economic crisis since the Depression and at war on two fronts, Barack Obama was expected to call on the country to embrace a new culture of responsibility when he takes office at noon.
The inaugural crowd Tuesday could reach two million people, one of the largest gatherings in Washington's history. Millions more will be watching across the U.S. and around the world, with outdoor video screens planned for public squares.
Mr. Obama will take the oath of office with his hand on the Bible that once belonged to the last president to hail from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. The 44th president will stand opposite the Lincoln Memorial, two miles away, where 45 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. called upon the nation to judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Mr. Obama spent Monday celebrating Dr. King's birthday as a day of service, while street vendors sold memorabilia juxtaposing the images of the two black leaders.
Little official business is expected Tuesday in Washington. The real work of the new president will begin Wednesday, Mr. Obama's first full day in office. Aides said one of the new president's first actions will be summoning his national security team to begin preparing for a 16-month withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq, one of the main promises of his two-year-long campaign for the presidency.

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That's just one of the new policies symbolizing the change to come as Washington shifts from eight years of Republican rule under George W. Bush. Within days, Mr. Obama also is expected to issue executive orders to begin closing the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, one of the most controversial symbols of the Bush administration's war on terror; reversing Mr. Bush's restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, and restoring funding for family-planning programs overseas.
On the economic front, Mr. Obama's administration is likely to soon issue new regulations forcing recipients of Wall Street bailout funds to be more transparent with the money, an aide said. The most-ailing financial institutions won't be forced to lend immediately, but healthier banks will be under pressure to move money from their vaults into the economy. "Transparency is going to make a big difference," the aide said.
The inauguration caps a weekend of events and pageantry, and officials predict as many as two million people will seek a spot on the National Mall. The inauguration will join Washington's biggest events, ranking with Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington, Lyndon Johnson's 1965 inauguration, and protests against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s.
Jumbotron screens were in place along the grassy lawn. Attendees, many of whom arrived by bus from around the country, were advised to dress for temperatures forecast near freezing.
Stuck in Traffic
The National Mall was already crowded Monday afternoon, with buses stuck in traffic and tourists taking photos. Visitors made their way through a maze of crowd-control barriers and past dozens of sellers hawking wrist bands, T-shirts and a Spider-Man comic featuring Mr. Obama on the cover.
"If you are black in America right now, that's all the inspiration you need -- a black president!" said David Reed, 39 years old, an African-American from Lexington, Ky., who was selling the comics.
View Full ImageAssociated Press
Paul Locke of Richmond, Va., was among those selling Obama-themed Merchandise -- he had inauguration pins for $5 -- Monday in Washington.

Britt Loudd of Charlotte, N.C., said that as a precinct organizer she made more than 2,200 calls for the campaign. Her three children, who joined her in Washington, also volunteered. "There was no choice," said Mrs. Loudd. "We had to be here."
Mr. Obama on Monday spoke the message he will deliver at his swearing-in: The time has come for a new culture of public service, as well as a new national unity after years of bitter partisan political division.
Pitching In
"Given the crisis that we're in and the hardships that so many people are going through, we can't allow any idle hands," Mr. Obama said, taking a break from painting a dormitory at Sasha Bruce House, a shelter for homeless teens. "Everybody's got to be involved. Everybody's going to have to pitch in, and I think the American people are ready for that."
Mr. Obama will begin his inaugural day with coffee at the White House with Mr. Bush. The swearing-in will be followed by a luncheon at the Capitol and a parade featuring high-school marching bands, drill teams and floats. The evening will conclude with 10 official inaugural balls and countless unofficial parties.
At the swearing-in ceremony, seated behind Mr. Obama, will be his chosen cabinet, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, expected to be confirmed as secretary of state later Tuesday. Also behind him will be his defeated election opponent, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office to Mr. Obama following the swearing in of his vice president, Joe Biden, by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
President Bush will be there, too, departing immediately after the ceremony on a Marine chopper en route to Texas, where he will begin the next chapter of his life as an ex-president.
Before Mr. Obama speaks, the evangelical Rev. Rick Warren will deliver the invocation, a choice that infuriated gay-rights activists but signaled the new president's interest in reaching out to Americans who are not part of his political base.
Throughout his campaign, Mr. Obama stressed that a nation that should have been rallied to service after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, instead drifted to complacency and consumerism. One of his first political promises was a $3.5 billion-a-year service plan to expand the AmeriCorps program established by President Bill Clinton by 250,000 slots, double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011, expand the Foreign Service, and create an Energy Corps to conduct renewable-energy and environmental-cleanup projects.
During appearances on Monday, Mr. Obama returned to the themes of unity and self-reliance.
"I am making a commitment to you as the next president, that we are going to make government work," he told volunteers at Coolidge High. "But I can't do it by myself. Michelle can't do it by herself. Government can only do so much....If we're waiting for someone else to do something, it never gets done."—T.W. Farnam contributed to this article.
Write to Laura Meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com and Jonathan Weisman at jonathan.weisman@wsj.com