News Virginian
Published: March 20, 2008

A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:

THUMBS-UP: Thugs seeking a foothold in the Shenandoah Valley will continue to face a significant obstacle in the form of special prosecutor Phillip O. Figura. Federal grant money used to pay his $65,000 annual salary - a bargain if ever there was one - was set to run out in June. State Attorney General Bob McDonnell thankfully stepped in, finding money in his budget to keep Figura on the job. Losing Figura and the Shenandoah Valley Multijurisdictional Grand Jury, which he serves as special counsel, would have been a devastating blow for regional authorities in their efforts to quell gang violence. The anti-gang initiative led by Figura has produced 90 indictments over the last two years. No wonder Waynesboro police Chief Douglas Davis expressed relief that Figura and the Grand Jury would be retained. "It's just been a tremendous asset," he said. Credit Figura for building a track record that merited notice. Credit McDonnell for recognizing the need. "We rearranged the deck in our office," McDonnell said. "This guy has gotten great results." Officials say there are more than 300 documented gang members or affiliates in the Valley. We need the dedication and expertise of men and women such as Figura and an approach like the one utilized by the Grand Jury, stretching across boundaries to unite authorities as they work to keep our streets safe.

THUMBS-DOWN: The once glittering image of Barack Obama is showing marks of wear. The nicks, dents and scrapes have grown deeper and more visible with the YouTube revelations that the man he has called his mentor is, at best, a divider rather than a uniter and, at worst, a racist. But Obama's troubles did not begin on the Internet. They started in Ohio, where seeking to appease unionists in that blue-collar state, he declared his indignation over the North American Free Trade Agreement's ostensible betrayal of American workers. While he spoke out of one side of his mouth, campaign adviser Samantha Power spoke out of the other, telling leaders in Canada, where eyebrows were raised over the senator's free-trade stance, that the anti-NAFTA talk should be waved aside as mere campaign rhetoric. Obama's positions on the war have flowed along a similar vein. He recently promised a withdrawal in 16 months. Along came Power - who since has been sent packing - to again set the record straight, telling the BBC that "of course" Obama would "not rely upon some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or U.S. senator." Obama has been criticized for riding rhetoric to the top of the polls while skimming on the details. His recent attempts to elaborate have revealed that there are two sides to his every story. So when Obama disavows the race-baiting rants of his pastor of 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, we are not quite sure what to believe. Perhaps we can ask his erstwhile adviser to point us to the authentic version of the dueling Obamas.

THUMBS-SIDE: Echoes of the Great Depression reverberated through the financial world when JPMorgan Chase swooped in to buy crumbling investment bank Bear Stearns for $236 million in the middle of what looked like 1930s-style bank run. A fall off a mountain cliff would be smoother and slower than that of the fittingly named Bear Stearns, which in January 2007 reported a net worth of $20 billion. JPMorgan's deal was bolstered - read, engineered - by $30 billion in Federal Reserve loans. That element in the equation has prompted cries that the Fed created a no-win precedent that ultimately will result in a crippling quandary: either bail out smaller banks, too, or be seen as favoring the big boys. The more significant issue is one of faith in the market in spite of its travails. The Fed's aim was as much about keeping that alive as it was about rescuing Bear Stearns. Some believe that in addition to driving down the dollar, the Fed's rapid response reeks of desperation, the sort of which could trigger panic severe enough to send the economy into freefall. By almost all accounts, a Bear Stearns collapse would have rippled around the globe. The Fed had little choice but to step in. But with other banks clinging to threadbare lifelines, the concerns critics cite are real. In other words, the Fed might only have delayed rather than averted a crisis.