Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Byron York - Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy

Friday, August 06, 2010

Byron York - Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy

"I love this job," said Thomas Perez, the hard-charging head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, in a speech last December to the liberal legal group American Constitution Society. "We have a very broad, a very ambitious vision. It's a very exciting vision, and I wake up every morning with a hop in my step."

There's no doubt Tom Perez is hopping a lot these days. Of all the transformations that have taken place in the Obama administration, perhaps none is so radical as that within the Civil Rights Division. Under Perez, it is bigger, richer and more aggressive than ever, with a far more expansive view of its authority than at any time in recent history.

Susan Ferrechio - Parties do battle over Bush tax cuts

The Senate on Thursday voted down a proposal to permanently extend the Bush income tax cuts set to expire Jan. 1, in a vote forced by Republicans on an issue that promises to be politically explosive.

The vote was on an amendment attached to the federal aid bill, and was typical of a tactic by the GOP to keep the issue alive by forcing lawmakers to take a position on the tax cuts before Congress takes up the issue in earnest in the fall.

Mark Tapscott - Market optimistic despite more bad jobs news; Is media ignoring impact of possible GOP gains in November?

"A more profoundly GOP Congress could extend the Bush tax cuts, that's the really big one," Varney said. "Obama might swallow a one-year deal. If you're an investor, that's a possibility."

Varney is not alone in thinking the prospect of big GOP gains in November could be giving investors reason for optimism as they try to factor in the possibility in their outlooks.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist at the Department of Labor and now director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Employment Policy, thinks "there’s certainly a link between recent stock market gains and improvement of Republicans at the polls."

Julie Mason - Gay marriage ruling creates political trap for Obama

A California judge's ruling that effectively legalized gay marriage in the state creates a new campaign issue for the fall with no easy fallback for President Obama.