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OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015 Clinton’s new old liberalism Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2005 ,QWKHSDVWWZR\HDUVMXVWDGYLVRULHVDERXWKLJKEDFWHULDOHYHOVKDYH EHHQLVVXHGDWEHDFKHVDORQJWKHPLOH2UHJRQ&RDVW²IDUIHZHU than in many other coastal states. ,QDGGLWLRQVWDWHKHDOWKRI¿FLDOVVD\WKDWEHFDXVH2UHJRQ¶VFRROZDWHUV keep swimming at a minimum, there are fewer chances for people to be exposed to bacteria. But some coastal residents and environmentalists say the Oregon Beach Monitoring Program doesn’t go far enough. They criticize Oregon’s saltwater quality sampling and advisory noti- ¿FDWLRQDVQRWFRPSUHKHQVLYHHQRXJK7HVWLQJLVGRQHRQEHDFKHVDQG signs are not at all access points to beaches. Some also say the state allows for too much bacteria in the water. Cal- ifornia and Washington issue health warnings for beaches when there is less contamination than allowed in Oregon. The Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots cut Columbia River Bar Pilots fees to lower shipping operators’ rates Friday, a move that will decrease the number of pilots from 20 to 16. ³Our whole function as pilots is the safe and ef¿cient move- ment of ships over the bar. In order to do that, we need to have rested pilots available when the ships arrive,” said Capt. Robert Johnson. ³At time of peak traf¿c, we fear that there’s going to be de- lays to the ships,” he said, because bar pilots can’t work when they are fatigued. With 16 pilots, eight will be working at a time; when more than eight ships are moving across the bar, some will have to wait. Seven miles of the lower Columbia River navigation channel are deep- er than they were a month ago, as the dredge ship Sugar Island has started ZRUNRQWKH86$UP\&RUSVRI(QJLQHHUV¶FKDQQHOGHHSHQLQJSURMHFW :RUNEHJDQ-XQHWRGHHSHQWKH¿UVWPLOHVIURP5LYHU0LOHWR River Mile 16. The Corps expects to deepen an additional 10 miles of the river near Portland in the fall. 50 years ago — 1965 By DAVID BROOKS New York Times News Service W ell, Hillary Clinton hasn’t gone crazy. At a time when some in her party are drifting toward Bernie Sanders/ Occupy Wall Street-style rhetoric, &OLQWRQGHOLYHUHGKHU¿UVWPDMRUHFR- nomic address of the campaign. It was solidly liberal — very sol- idly — but in tone and sub- stance it was well within the general election mainstream. If Seth Wenig /AP any Republicans Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at a were hoping that campaign event in New York Monday. Clinton outlined the themes of her Clinton would economic agenda in the speech at The New School in New York City. make herself there if she had tried to sound like a WKHPVHOYHV³:H¶OOHQVXUHWKDWQR¿UP unelectable by David pitchfork marauder. She has echoes of is too complex to manage and oversee,” wandering into Brooks Hubert Humphrey or George McGov- Clinton declared. One pictures squads the class warfare ern in her voice, or a more liberal Mi- of Federal Simplicity Enforcers roam- fever swamps, ing through the corridors of Midtown chael Dukakis. they can forget about it. She’s way to the left of where her Manhattan telling CEOs when their The main narrative of the Sand- ers camp is that the economic game husband was and to the left of where RXW¿WVDUHWRRPLQGERJJOLQJ is rigged against ordinary people. The Barack Obama was in 2008 or 2012. In each case, in this view, govern- top 1 percent controls the fundamental But she’s responded to the reality of ment is more competent at steering HFRQRPLF FRQGLWLRQV 0DMRU WUDQVIRU- growing inequality with a revived pa- companies toward their own best in- mation is required. There’s not much leoliberalism, not with the edgier, an- terests than the companies are them- individuals can do given the structure JU\HFRQRPLFSROLF\\RX¿QGDPRQJ selves. Clinton’s constant refrain in Bernie Sanders and the cutting-edge this speech was that these federal in- of economic power. Clinton did some Wall Street bash- left. She is best viewed, as the progres- terventions would increase growth and ing in this speech, but it was either sive commentator Matt Yglesias put it productivity, not limit them in the name meaningless, bland (punish criminals) in a Vox essay, as a new paleoliberal. of fairness. or broadly sensible (end the 3HUVRQDOO\,¿QGWKLVIDLWK carried interest deduction). The epistemologically naive. Clin- She’s cleared the main underlying assumption ton seems to have no aware- behind her speech was that in- ness that many of the programs first political hurdle dividuals can rise and succeed if she endorsed have been tried they are given the right helping and did not work. The Obama in this campaign. hands from government. administration spent mightily This speech revealed a wom- RQJUHHQHQHUJ\MREVSURJUDPV an who does not have her heart and they did not work to sig- This neopaleoliberalism is built QL¿FDQWO\ LQFUHDVH HPSOR\PHQW (P- LQ FODVV FRQÀLFW 7KH PRVW SDVVLRQDWH parts of her speech involved classic lib- less on going after Wall Street and the powerment zones, which she endorsed, eral efforts to give people a boost: early rich and more on a tremendous faith have mostly failed to help low-income childhood education, family and med- in government to manage the econo- neighborhoods. Clinton displayed no LFDO OHDYH WD[ FUHGLWV IRU MRE WUDLQLQJ my more intelligently than the private awareness that most federal require- sector. It’s less a negative assault on PHQWV LQYROYH GLI¿FXOW WUDGHRIIV$F- affordable child care programs. She carefully avoided the more rad- the elites and more an optimistic faith cording to the Congressional Budget ical policy ideas embraced by the left, in the power of planning. The private 2I¿FH UDLVLQJ WKH PLQLPXP ZDJH WR such as a blanket tax on the rich. She VHFWRULVQRWHYLORUSRZHUKXQJU\MXVW even $10.10 an hour would increase dodged the trade issue. She endorsed a kind of dumb. pay for millions of workers, but would New Democrats like her husband FRVWURXJKO\MREV minimum wage hike but didn’t commit, as many progressive do, to a $15-an- believed in using market mechanisms Clinton’s unchastened faith in the to increase economic security. As a power of government planning is not hour rate. This speech was more Children’s neopaleoliberal, Hillary Clinton used shared by most voters. And she has Defense Fund than Thomas Piketty. It her kickoff economic address to em- no plausible chance of getting any of was the sort of speech you give if you brace the idea that government can this through a divided Congress. But spend more time listening to voters, write rules to govern how much com- this agenda does pull off a neat trick. It especially female ones, than studying panies pay their workers. Government will excite the progressive base without the quintiles in the income distribution can direct investors toward more sen- automatically alienating the rest of the sible long-term investments. Govern- country. Substantively she’s offered charts. Stylistically, Clinton still sounds as ment can refashion the way companies at least a coherent response to today’s if she is talking down to her audiences. distribute equity in their companies. economic conditions. Politically, she’s But there was a wonky authenticity to Government can determine how com- FOHDUHGWKH¿UVWSROLWLFDOKXUGOHLQWKLV this speech, which would not have been panies should structure and manage campaign. Shale gas and climate change policy unnecessary” have house gas that can negate got it right. On the con- natural gas’ advantage trary, Levi writes, “merely over coal. There are others who making natural gas more very columnist has his or abundant may do little, if her “go to” sources, people see natural gas as a pan- acea. They believe that so anything, to curb carbon we rely on for their deep under- long as we keep increasing dioxide emissions.” How VWDQGLQJRIDSDUWLFXODUVXEMHFW production of inexpensive can this be? The answer is that, although cheap natu- and a mode of thinking about natural gas — mooting the need to build more coal- ral gas is helpful in that it WKDWVXEMHFWZH¿QGSHUVXDVLYH ¿UHG SRZHU SODQWV DQG “shoves aside coal,” it also Joe For me, one such person is even making it possible to boosts economic growth Nocera Michael Levi, a senior fellow for shut some down — then (which means more emis- energy and the environment at the we will be doing more than enough sions), and “gives an edge to indus- to control carbon emissions. In his tries that are heavy energy users and Council on Foreign Relations. article, Levi says, in effect: You’re ELJHPLWWHUV´7KHVHWZRFRQÀLFWLQJ Levi believes in the power of both wrong. forces effectively cancel each other After recounting a little histo- out. facts. Though sensitive to the impor- ry — was it really tance of dealing with cli- The best way to maximize the only a half-dozen good that shale gas can do, Levi mate change, he doesn’t years ago that en- concludes, is to make it a key com- indulge in the hyperbo- The v i r o n m e n t a l i s t s ponent of an overall energy policy le you sometimes hear industry like Robert F. Ken- that is bent on driving down carbon from environmentalists. nedy Jr. were pro- emissions. The government could And while he appreciates needs to moting natural gas promote policies to move the coun- the economic import of as a “step toward try away from coal, “which accounts fracking and shale gas, be better saving our planet”? for three-quarters of carbon dioxide he isn’t afraid to call out the industry on its prob- regulated — Levi delves into produced in U.S. electricity genera- the three rationales tion.” lems. Early in the fracking for its behind their abrupt boom, he went to Penn- And while he doesn’t say so ex- change of heart. plicitly, he does seem to see shale gas sylvania to observe what One is the disrup- as a potential bridge to renewables: If drilling for shale gas was own sake. tion that fracking the government enacted policies that doing to communities — imposes on com- “reward emission cuts” no matter and came away believing that “it was going to stir up much munities. The second is the meth- what technology achieves that goal, more local controversy than many ane problem. The third is the “rapid then coal users would gravitate to were assuming.” Which is exactly progress” being made by renewable natural gas, while natural gas users energy, which many environmental- might well move toward renewables. what happened. For the latest issue of Democracy, ists believe makes further reliance Government would also have to en- a quarterly magazine focused on pro- on natural gas unnecessary. courage policies that “drive down Levi believes that appropriate the cost of zero-based emissions.” gressive ideas, Levi has written an article titled “Fracking and the Cli- rules by both state and federal gov- My own belief is that shale gas mate Debate,” which he described to HUQPHQWV FDQ PLWLJDWH WKH ¿UVW WZR has been a blessing for all kinds of me the other day as a kind of sum- problems. Indeed, he believes that reasons: It has given us a degree of ming up of his views about the role the industry needs to be better reg- energy security that we haven’t seen of cheap natural gas and fracking in XODWHG IRU LWV RZQ VDNH RWKHUZLVH in many decades, and has been a key people will continue to fear the source of economic growth. And, no WKH¿JKWDJDLQVWFOLPDWHFKDQJH There are many people, of worst. As for renewables, the hard matter how much environmentalists course, who believe that natural gas truth is that if the country were to gnash their teeth, it is here to stay. shouldn’t have any role at all in the move away from natural gas, the big That’s why the responsible approach FOLPDWH FKDQJH ¿JKW ZKLOH LW PD\ winner would be coal, not solar or is not to wish it away, but to exploit emit half the carbon dioxide of coal, wind. LWVEHQH¿WVZKLOHVWUDLJKWIRUZDUGO\DG- But that doesn’t mean that those dressing its problems. Ideologues will it is still a fossil fuel that will keep us from going all-in on renewable en- who cling to the “free-market fun- never get that done. That’s why Mi- ergy. And the methane that can leak damentalist dream that a thriving chael Levi’s realism — and his prag- from fracked wells is a potent green- shale gas industry will make climate matism — are so critical to hear. By JOE NOCERA New York Times News Service Courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society/Submitted Photo The Miss Oregon Pageant was founded by the Seaside merchants in 1947. Here contestants pose for the 1965 swimsuit competition. SEASIDE — The largest parade in the history of the Miss Ore- gon pageant is expected to unfold this year, according to Joe Fulop, chairman. The annual event, which features the 21 girls seeking the 1965 Miss Oregon crown. Miss Seaside and Miss Oregon 1964 will be Saturday in Seaside at 2 p.m. NEHALEM — Robert B. Nash of Everett, Wash., who had an article pub- lished in the current issue of Treasure magazine, was scuba diving recently in IHHWRIZDWHURIIWKH1HKDOHPVSLWQRUWKRIWKHQRUWKMHWW\ZKHQKHIRXQG DQGSLFNHGXSDUXVW\REMHFWZKLFKKDVFDXVHGDVWLURIH[FLWHPHQWKHUH It is believed by many to be the head of an ancient Spanish halberd, and there is speculation that it might have come from the shipwreck of the Spanish galleon, the San Francisco Xavier, believed to be the “beeswax ship” which was wrecked on the Nehalem spit during the late 17th or 18th century. Chunks of beeswax from that ship have been recovered from time-to-time from the sands of the spit. 75 years ago — 1940 The Greek steamer Hellenic Skipper, twisted and ravished by 0 hours of raging ¿re, cheated the Coast Guard cutter Ononda- ga’s efforts to tow her into port Saturday afternoon and plunged to a grave in the salty seas she has traveled for 45 years. Lieutenant-Commander Frank Higbee, captain of the cutter, returned to Astoria Sunday with a dramatic story of the forlorn vessel’s death. The Onondaga’s hawser, af¿xed to the battered hulk Saturday afternoon, was hacked apart with an ax in the 90-seconds between the time when the Skipper heaved her last and plunged to the ocean Àoor. The weary old tramp blew a cloud of soot, dirt and steam from her racked boilers and torrid innards; and a vast oil slick closed another chapter of maritime disaster — this one leaving no ghosts of dead men. Clatsop County has suffered an invasion of Miller moths. The insects ap- peared last night, and this morning were found sometimes as much as three deep under lights which attracted them during the night. Seaside was the worst sufferer. The moths were so thick that driving was VRPHWLPHVPDGHGLI¿FXOWZLWKWKHLQVHFWVVPHDULQJZLQGVKLHOGVDQGKHDG- lights. In Astoria, some of the restaurants had to close, because the moths would get into the food. In stores where lights were burning in the windows, often- times the moths were so thick that one could not see through the windows. The moths are apparently the results of the cocooning of the caterpillars which were so numerous earlier in the year. The insects are short lived, living for only about 24 hours. E