Quick News Bits

Politics in Minnesota is reporting from two sources on each side of the Coleman-Franken Senate recount epic that the Minnesota Supreme Court is expected to release its final decision sometime today. Rumors have been swirling that if the court sides decidedly with Franken that Coleman will call off the dogs and allow Franken to be seated, much to the dismay of the RNC. So is this the light at the end of the tunnel? It seems almost too much to think so, but I really think it is. It may be too late for Coleman to save his name and make a run at the Governor’s office, but then again, maybe he is thinking he still has a shot at that office. Expect to see Harry Reid doing a jig in some Capital hallway later today.

The theme of the week out of Washington (or more specifically, the Washington press corps) is that the President’s honeymoon is coming to an end. Honeymoon’s don’t last forever, but this isn’t the first time that different pundits have taken this story out for a spin. You may remember during the stimulus vote that quite a lot of writers were openly wondering if the President may even get a honeymoon at all, and that was at the beginning of February.

There are two indicators that show the honeymoon that was supposed to have ended in February may actually be coming to an end now. The first is a set of polls, one by the Wall Street Journal and the other by the New York Times which show that public attitudes towards the President’s policies may be faltering. Both polls cite public concerns about the rising deficit as well as government intervention in the economy. But both polls still give the President high public approval ratings.

The other indicator may just well be the mouth of George W. Bush. It was too much to hope that he would keep his thoughts to himself forever, the former President made his first sharp criticisms of the current administration earlier this week while speaking in Pennsylvania. It is significant if for no other reason than his defense of his own policies could serve as a potential rallying point for the GOP.

The administration is already responding to both problems. Secretary Geithner is out and about defending the administration’s economic oversight, as has the President who disparaged Wall Street’s “short memory” concerning how a lack of oversight led to this crisis in the first place. As far as the ex-President Bush is concerned, the Administration will likely continue to use him as a political punching bag because the more Bush tries to defend his various failed policies, the deeper a hole he digs himself.