Archive for June 21st, 2010

Are those Hillary’s footsteps that O is hearing ?

June 21, 2010

Last week in the Homa Files we opined that President Obama made a critical mistake when he heeded Michelle’s advice and passed on Hillary as his VP

My argument: Obama has no operating people in his posse of lawyers, academics and political hacks – Hillary would have made an effective COO.

For the record, the Homa Files was on record before a flurry of Hillary chatter.

A day after our post, Sally Quinn wrote in the Wash Post that Hillary and Joe Biden should switch jobs. 

Her logic: it would position Hillary for 2016.

But there’s more …

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Buried in a weekend WSJ opinion piece on how snakebit the President appears, Peggy Noonan snuck in a showstopper:

“ … among Democrats — and others — when the talk turns to the presidency it turns more and more to Hillary Clinton.

“We may have made a mistake. She would have been better.”

Sooner or later the secretary of state is going to come under fairly consistent pressure to begin to consider 2012.“

WSJ, A Snakebit President, Noonan, June18, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575313181930072638.html

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A couple of factoids:

Shortly after the 2008 election, a plugged-in politico told me that Hillary was looking towards 2012 by “keeping the core of her campaign group, expecting Obama’s presidency to implode.”

Hmmm.

Then last fall, Gallup published the results of a survey that revealed Hillary to have favorable ratings than Obama … and that was before the healthcare fiasco, the Sestak meddling, the dissing of Israel, the BP oil spill, etc.  Gotta think her gap is even greater now.

image

Source: Gallup, Hillary Clinton Now More Popular Than Barack Obama October 15, 2009
http://www.gallup.com/poll/123665/Hillary-Clinton-More-Popular-Barack-Obama.aspx

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These days, Bill is running around trying to save Dem congressional candidates who are trying to distance themselves from Obama.

Think Obama — with his approval rating down to 41% and even mainstream media questioning his competence — is looking over his shoulder ?

Posted in Hillary Clinton, Obama Administration | Leave a Comment »

Keep your non-union skimmers away from the Gulf (continued)

June 21, 2010

Last week, several sources reported that Team Obama was repelling foreign nation’s offers of high capacity skimming vessels. 

Why ? Because the ships and barges were made outside the U.S., possibly with non-union labor – and barred by the Jones Act.

Here’s the WSJ’s recap …

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JUNE 19, 2010 The President Does a Jones Act
Why Obama turned down foreign ships to clean up the Gulf.

President Obama has repeatedly said his Administration is doing everything in its power to expedite the oil clean-up and mitigate the damage.

But in the two weeks immediately after the spill, 13 foreign governments reached out and offered their assistance.

The U.S. State Department response?

“While there is no need right now that the U.S. cannot meet, the U.S. Coast Guard is assessing these offers of assistance to see if there will be something which we will need in the near future.”

The Belgian dredging group DEME says it has offered the U.S. specialized vessels and technology that can help clean up the spill in three to four months compared to the estimated nine months that the U.S. will need.

There are only a handful of these vessels in the world, and most of them belong to Dutch and Belgian companies. So why aren’t we calling on them?

Blame it on the protectionist Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also called the Jones Act, that requires ships working in U.S. waters to be built, operated and owned by Americans — unions don’t want ships built with foreign labor to be used in U.S. waters.

Presidents can suspend the Jones Act in emergencies, as George W. Bush did after Hurricane Katrina. But the Obama Administration continues to maintain that this isn’t necessary.

There’s no excuse for turning away ships that can clean up the oil merely because that might offend Mr. Obama’s union friends.

Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704324304575306881766723718.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

Posted in Gulf Blowout & Clean-up | Leave a Comment »

Submarine warfare: Quiznos tosses focus groups for “speed dining”

June 21, 2010

Punch Line: To speed time-to-market, Quiznos employs rapid-fire taste tests that help it give customers what they want, sooner.

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Excerpted from Bloomberg Business Week: Damn the Torpedoes! Getting Quiznos, January 14, 2010

Quiznos has always positioned itself as a cut above Subway in the fast-food market — and priced its sandwiches accordingly.

While restaurant operators regularly enlist consumers for feedback, many have turned away from traditional focus groups … to avoid the peril of group think from a methodology that some experts say is “a bit dated”.

Quiznos  swear by a method called “speed-dining”.  The company  empanels as many as 25 groups in back-to-back, 90-minute tastings.

By reworking recipes based on snap reviews, Quiznos can get products from test kitchen to the market in six months … twice as fast as competitors.

Now Quiznos is gunning for upmarket consumers with two new subs priced at up to $7.49.

That may seem foolhardy, with unemployment at 10%. But Quiznos is confident.

After all, speed diners ate them up in October.

Full article:
http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_04/b4164054518256.htm

Posted in Mktg - Product & Innovation, Mktg - Research | Leave a Comment »