Meanwhile, back in Washington…

While the attention of the world is on the G20 in London, Washington still percolates with discussions on related and other issues. Here are a few snippets picked up in casual encounters in the past day or so:

• Bankers woo the Congressional Black Caucus: A former senior government official who sat in on the Congressional Black Caucus meeting about the toxic asset bailout plan came away perplexed. During the meeting, representatives of several big financial companies, including Pimco, told the C.B.C. they’d helped the Treasury design the plan to have the government buy up the “bad” assets. They also said they were expecting to be awarded the right to participate in the plan. While Caucus members were, not surprisingly, concerned that minority firms might not be well-represented in the program, they also had concerns that were more fundamental. The person with whom I spoke was, for example, was particularly taken aback by the fact that these financial firms apparently felt it was perfectly appropriate to have a process in which the same companies that help the government design the program should also be the ones who were awarded participation in the program…and especially if the same firms would be the ultimate beneficiaries. I hope Treasury thinks the appearances on this through a little more carefully or I’m afraid there is likely to be more blowback of the kind no one needs right now.

• Dem FP heavyweights get no satisfaction from the White House: An extremely well-known top Democrat, once a candidate for national office, complained that he has been trying for months to get in to see top national security people at the White House — without any luck. “They are living in a bubble,” he ruefully observed, commenting that even when he tried to get in to see a mid-level Treasury official with a concrete plan to help address a central economic concern, his requests fell on deaf ears. This individual, a household name, was one of no fewer than half a dozen people who have made similar complaints or observations to me in the past week.

• A crunch to come again in Oil: In a conversation with a highly respected senior executive at one of the world’s leading energy companies, I asked about the price of oil over the next several years. He offered several responses. One was that when King of Saudi Arabia said $75 a barrel that meant something. Two, he felt that a number of important projects for difficult-to-process or difficult-to-extract oil become viable at $65 a barrel. And three, while this might suggest an average price of $70 or $75 going forward, he concurred that the global economic situation really complicated things. Investment in new production dried up due to the crisis and the consequence is a material decline in productive capacity. And that’s why, he said, a few years down the road, when the recovery happens and demand rebounds particularly from emerging economies we will therefore very likely see oil price spikes.

• A shift underway on U.S. Israel policy?: Over dinner, one of the most important Democratic international policy leaders on the Hill said he felt that there was an appreciable shift seeming to emerge with regard to U.S. policy toward Israel. He felt that even engaged Jews who might have historically considered themselves pro-Israel were, in the wake of Gaza and a broader sea-change in attitudes in the U.S., beginning to expect a much tougher line from the U.S. government toward Israel if the Israelis do not move more constructively toward progress with the Palestinians and their neighbors. This individual was not, however, as convinced as other foreign policy experts around the table that Israel would not follow through on threats to strike at Iran. For more on the Iranian dimension and to help you draw your own conclusions, go to Jeffrey Goldberg’s attention-grabbing recent interview with Bibi Netanyahu at The Atlantic.

• Franken, finally: Oh, and it increasingly looks like former Saturday Night Live star Al Franken is about to become the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. As one keen observer said to me yesterday, “Let’s just hope he is a better politician than he was a comedian…” Amen.

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