They pay Fineman six figures for this??????

More drivel, more under-stating the obvious from Howard Fineman this week.

But there are other factors at work. One of them is the set of decisions he's made on where to spend his political capital. In Austin in 1999, he told me and my NEWSWEEK colleagues over lunch one day that he had learned from his father's experience: if you accumulate "political capital"-as his dad did as liberator of Kuwait in 1991-you have to "spend it" on bold action.

Well, this Bush chose Social Security-a brave, fundamental and far-sighted choice in many ways. Maybe Karl Rove is right that sweeping reform is the route to a permanent majority of a GOP-led "ownership society" of shareholders. But, in the short run, Bush's Social Security crusade has bought him nothing but trouble, and diverted his attention from other problems.

Is this the kind of drivel that deserves a six figure pay check? I don't think so. Did it ever occur to you Howard that maybe he didn't have any "political capital" to begin with? Social Security was the wrong issue? Duh, Howard, how long did it take you to figure that out?
He may have gotten one thing right:

Having somewhat grudgingly rehired him, the American people don't want to think about him a whole lot-and out of sight is not a good place for a president to be if he wants to dominate politics.

That's right, people are sick of his face and phony Texas drawl and don't really want to be reminded that the bozo is President.