Tens of millions of Americans bought into Barack Obama’s call for change and elected him our 44th president on November 4th. By the end of the campaign that clarion call had been distilled down to “Change We Can Believe In.” Toss in a few choruses of “Yes We Can” and a majority of voters were in the Obama conga line by Election Day. The appeal was simple and resonated across party lines. The early democratic primaries pitted Hillary Clinton’s alleged experience against Barack Obama’s call for change. The distinction was clear. If you thought it was time to return to the prosperity of the 90’s, Hillary was your candidate. If you’d had enough of Whitewater, Travelgate, the lost Rose Law Firm papers and the impeachment drama, then Barack was your man. He promised to turn the page on the drama of the Clintons and the ineptitude of George Bush.
Well, if you’d been in a coma since June and woke up this week, you’d be certain Hillary got the democratic nomination and is President-Elect or Barack Obama is and doesn’t know anyone of consequence who didn’t work for Bill Clinton. He’s appointed Clinton hatchet man Rahm Emmanuel as his chief of staff and another Clinton errand boy John Podesta as head of his transition team. Gee, I wonder who those guys are going to reach out to.
Then comes word his pick for Attorney General is former deputy AG under Janet Reno, Eric Holder. In addition to his fine work kidnapping poor Elian Gonzalez and returning him to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, he was also instrumental in putting the Mark Rich pardon on Bill Clinton’s desk. You don’t get your hands much dirtier than that in the Clinton administration. It will be interesting to see if there are any republicans left in the Senate with enough guts to push back on Holder or even ask a few tough questions.
Then there’s the announcement former Senator Tom Dashcle will be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Not only is Dashcle one of the most polarizing, partisan figures in Washington, he has been working as a health care lobbyist since being defeated for re-election in 2004. The wolf will now be guarding the chicken coop. This must be the No lobbyist Left Behind part of Obama’s new politics. More change I don’t believe in.
But here’s the best part. Barring divine intervention, it appears President-elect Obama intends to nominate Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State. If I’m one of the millions of democratic primary voters who chose Obama based on his no vote on Iraq and Hillary’s refusal to admit she was wrong, I want my money back. During the campaign for change, Obama continuously referenced Hillary’s lack of judgment when she voted to authorize invading Iraq yet he intends to reward her by making her the senior representative of American foreign policy. You can be sure the Islamic extremists will remember who voted for war. If there were a Department of Extramarital Affairs, I assume ex-rival Sen. John Edwards would be a lock for the job.
So as our country hurtles toward absolute financial collapse, the Clinton (I mean Obama) transition team is focused on Hillary and whether the ethically challenged former president’s finances can pass the smell test. I’d like to think the Obama folks are giving at least as much thought to assembling a financial team who can stop the bleeding and get this country moving again. Then again, I thought I was voting for real change on November 4th.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Just Say No to Hillary
Talk of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State appears to be reaching critical mass. Has Obama lost his mind? Hillary would be a disaster on so many fronts. For starters she hates Obama and would only use the gig to burnish her thin resume. Does Obama want to begin his historic presidency with the drama and baggage that comes with the sleazy Clintons? I suspect most of this is a trial baloon floated by the Clinton's to get her out of the Senate now that Ted Kennedy has told her he'd be the point man on health care as long as he has a breath in his body. Hillary's only interest in the Senate anyway was as a stepping stone to a presidential bid. That train has left the station and she sure as hell as no intention of hitting the County Fair in upstate New York for the next four years. She probably thinks a successful run as Secretary of State would give her one last shot at the White House in 2016 even though she'd be pushing 70. As for Obama, I suspect he feels obliged to play the game for fear of offending all those angry Hillary women. He let the naive believe he was actually considering Hillary for VP too. Just say no to Hillary one more time. You don't need the aggravation.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Politics of Pain Begin
Now that we’ve all had enough time to congratulate ourselves on electing the first African-American president, it’s time to focus on people and issues that will most directly affect us. I’m talking about our state and local economies. As tempting as it is to speculate about Obama’s Cabinet appointments, none of those people are going to pay your tax bill or prevent cuts in education funding and Medicaid.
The breathtaking collapse of the financial markets and its inevitable ripple affect through the economy is forcing Gov. David Paterson to make some tough decisions. (I find it interesting no one had a problem with the evildoers on Wall Street when they were paying billions in taxes and subsidizing the sacred cows of Medicaid and education).
The State Legislature has just convened a special session to consider Gov. Paterson’s call for $2 billion in mid-year budget cuts. The cuts would include canceling a 3% pay raise for state workers slated for April 1st and withholding a week’s pay until they retire. In addition Paterson wants cut school aid by $585 million, reduce health-care spending by $572 million and freeze funding for local governments. He’s even thinking about raising tuition at the State University of New York by $600 to $4,950.
In short this liberal democrat is doing the same thing the rest of us are. He’s acknowledging the tough times ahead and taking action to minimize their effects. Gov. Paterson is behaving like the grown-up in a room full of petulant special interest brats. Already the Civil Service Employees Association is on record saying cuts would “cripple the delivery of necessary services to New Yorkers and harm working families and retirees of this state.”
God forbid any of these civil service hacks share the burden during bad times because they’ve certainly got their meaty little paws out during the good times. And what’s with the “working families” routine? How about a little love for the tens of thousands of financial workers out on the street because a few CEO’s got greedy or do you have to belong to a union to qualify as a “working families? They’d be happy to forgo a 3% raise if they had a job!
Not surprisingly, the teacher’s union crowd is screaming like a stuck pig. For them the answer is always more money and less accountability. Gov. Paterson’s s display of political courage comes as a shock to the teachers union given the amounts of money they give to democrats of all stripes. They count on democrats to keep the hounds of educational and fiscal reform at bay via their campaign contributions. The thing that gives Paterson so much credibility in this fight is the fact he was for many years an ally of both the teachers and the civil service groups as a State Senator representing Harlem.
But Gov. Paterson clearly understands he now represents more than the narrow self interest of traditional democratic constituencies and is responsible for the fiscal well being of all New Yorkers. For that he deserves tremendous credit. He knows he will be savaged by people he normally agrees with and he’s prepared to answer with his brain not his heart. That’s the kind of leadership New York needs. Gov. Paterson may be legally blind but he has no shortage of vision.
The breathtaking collapse of the financial markets and its inevitable ripple affect through the economy is forcing Gov. David Paterson to make some tough decisions. (I find it interesting no one had a problem with the evildoers on Wall Street when they were paying billions in taxes and subsidizing the sacred cows of Medicaid and education).
The State Legislature has just convened a special session to consider Gov. Paterson’s call for $2 billion in mid-year budget cuts. The cuts would include canceling a 3% pay raise for state workers slated for April 1st and withholding a week’s pay until they retire. In addition Paterson wants cut school aid by $585 million, reduce health-care spending by $572 million and freeze funding for local governments. He’s even thinking about raising tuition at the State University of New York by $600 to $4,950.
In short this liberal democrat is doing the same thing the rest of us are. He’s acknowledging the tough times ahead and taking action to minimize their effects. Gov. Paterson is behaving like the grown-up in a room full of petulant special interest brats. Already the Civil Service Employees Association is on record saying cuts would “cripple the delivery of necessary services to New Yorkers and harm working families and retirees of this state.”
God forbid any of these civil service hacks share the burden during bad times because they’ve certainly got their meaty little paws out during the good times. And what’s with the “working families” routine? How about a little love for the tens of thousands of financial workers out on the street because a few CEO’s got greedy or do you have to belong to a union to qualify as a “working families? They’d be happy to forgo a 3% raise if they had a job!
Not surprisingly, the teacher’s union crowd is screaming like a stuck pig. For them the answer is always more money and less accountability. Gov. Paterson’s s display of political courage comes as a shock to the teachers union given the amounts of money they give to democrats of all stripes. They count on democrats to keep the hounds of educational and fiscal reform at bay via their campaign contributions. The thing that gives Paterson so much credibility in this fight is the fact he was for many years an ally of both the teachers and the civil service groups as a State Senator representing Harlem.
But Gov. Paterson clearly understands he now represents more than the narrow self interest of traditional democratic constituencies and is responsible for the fiscal well being of all New Yorkers. For that he deserves tremendous credit. He knows he will be savaged by people he normally agrees with and he’s prepared to answer with his brain not his heart. That’s the kind of leadership New York needs. Gov. Paterson may be legally blind but he has no shortage of vision.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Election Winners and Losers
No one will ever be able to say the 2008 elections were dull or lacking in historical significance. Clearly the election of Barack Obama as our 44th president is the headline. While Obama’s margin of victory was substantial, it wasn’t quite the landslide most had predicted. It makes you wonder how close it might have been if the economy and the stock market hadn’t imploded in mid-September. While I certainly understand the racial significance of Obama’s win, I also think the majority of people voting for him simply thought he was the most qualified. McCain’s comment about the economic fundamentals being “sound” made him look old, tired and out of touch. He was done after that.
An obvious loser was Hillary Clinton. She knows the nomination was hers and her refusal to admit she was wrong on the Iraq war vote cost her the support of many early primary voters. But a combination of Hillary’s flawed strategy and Bill Clinton’s gaffes brought her back to the pack. At that point, a majority of democrats concluded Obama was the better candidate and gave them a very credible place to go. No amount of “glass ceiling” hyperbole can obscure the fact that Hillary blew it. What has to hurt is Hillary knows she would have beaten the hapless McCain.
Then there’s the House and Senate. Democrats won fairly big but it doesn’t appear they hit the bulletproof number (60) in the Senate, giving republicans a fighting chance of holding off the anticipated onslaught of liberal legislative proposals. Voters in North Carolina showed Sen. Liddy Dole the door after a nearly invisible first term. Note to women of a certain age: If you’re considering plastic surgery, check out a recent Liddy Dole photo.
In Alaska, voters returned convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens to the Senate where he faces almost immediate expulsion, possibly setting the stage for Gov. Sarah Palin to replace him.
Speaking of Palin, I find it interesting that the same geniuses who plucked her from obscurity, claiming she was ready to be president, are now savaging her as a diva moron who didn’t know Africa was a continent. If what they’re saying is true, McCains advisors are the real losers here because they either knowingly put an idiot a heartbeat away or lied about vetting her. Shame on all of you.
In California, a ballot initiative banning same sex marriage met with voter approval indicating the cultural war doesn’t always mirror electoral or partisan success. Not surprisingly, the City of San Francisco immediately announced it intends to challenge the constitutionality of the ballot initiative. Apparently those reservations only surfaced after the measure failed.
Locally democrat Kirsten Gillibrand won easily, defeating Sandy Treadwell for Congress. Treadwell’s candidacy died a little bit every time Gillibrand ran the video of Treadwell praising George Bush. Treadwell’s loss also proved ,once again, money can’t buy you love or a Congressional seat.
In the 99th Assembly district republican Greg Ball brushed off John Degnan after a nasty campaign. In the 102nd Assembly race incumbent republican Joel Miller had little trouble dispatching democratic newcomer Jonathon Smith. Both candidates took the low road at times and spent a ton on paid media.
The real winners I hope are the American people. Barack Obama represents a real break with the past and a turning of the page from the controversies of the Clinton years and the missteps of the Bush era. We should all give him the chance to succeed.
An obvious loser was Hillary Clinton. She knows the nomination was hers and her refusal to admit she was wrong on the Iraq war vote cost her the support of many early primary voters. But a combination of Hillary’s flawed strategy and Bill Clinton’s gaffes brought her back to the pack. At that point, a majority of democrats concluded Obama was the better candidate and gave them a very credible place to go. No amount of “glass ceiling” hyperbole can obscure the fact that Hillary blew it. What has to hurt is Hillary knows she would have beaten the hapless McCain.
Then there’s the House and Senate. Democrats won fairly big but it doesn’t appear they hit the bulletproof number (60) in the Senate, giving republicans a fighting chance of holding off the anticipated onslaught of liberal legislative proposals. Voters in North Carolina showed Sen. Liddy Dole the door after a nearly invisible first term. Note to women of a certain age: If you’re considering plastic surgery, check out a recent Liddy Dole photo.
In Alaska, voters returned convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens to the Senate where he faces almost immediate expulsion, possibly setting the stage for Gov. Sarah Palin to replace him.
Speaking of Palin, I find it interesting that the same geniuses who plucked her from obscurity, claiming she was ready to be president, are now savaging her as a diva moron who didn’t know Africa was a continent. If what they’re saying is true, McCains advisors are the real losers here because they either knowingly put an idiot a heartbeat away or lied about vetting her. Shame on all of you.
In California, a ballot initiative banning same sex marriage met with voter approval indicating the cultural war doesn’t always mirror electoral or partisan success. Not surprisingly, the City of San Francisco immediately announced it intends to challenge the constitutionality of the ballot initiative. Apparently those reservations only surfaced after the measure failed.
Locally democrat Kirsten Gillibrand won easily, defeating Sandy Treadwell for Congress. Treadwell’s candidacy died a little bit every time Gillibrand ran the video of Treadwell praising George Bush. Treadwell’s loss also proved ,once again, money can’t buy you love or a Congressional seat.
In the 99th Assembly district republican Greg Ball brushed off John Degnan after a nasty campaign. In the 102nd Assembly race incumbent republican Joel Miller had little trouble dispatching democratic newcomer Jonathon Smith. Both candidates took the low road at times and spent a ton on paid media.
The real winners I hope are the American people. Barack Obama represents a real break with the past and a turning of the page from the controversies of the Clinton years and the missteps of the Bush era. We should all give him the chance to succeed.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Classic Hypocritical Liberal Reaction to Defeat
Just heard the City of San Francisco plans to file suit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the ballot intiative to ban same sex marriage, which just lost in California. Here's my take on this. If Prop 8 had passed, the same crowd would be hailing it's passage as the progressive voice of the people. How brutality hypocritical. If they really had a problem with it, why did they wait to challenge it until it lost? Because voters only count with liberals when they agree with them.
Election Observations
I don't think too many people were surprised that Barack Obama beat John McCain. The real surprise was how far off the mark the pollsters were in calling the race. They all had Obama winning by double-digits which was nowhere close to the final result. I suspect it was somewhere between bad analysis and bias but a landslide or mandate it wasn't.
I thought Obama's spech was good but not great. He has given far more powerful speeches during the campaign. I stayed with the coverage until they put Oprah and Jesse Jackson on the screen, both crying on cue for the TV cameras. It was time for bed.
Voters in California proved once again why liberals prefer legislating from the bench by voting down the gay marriage proposition. Liddy Dole had her butt kicked in North Carolina while becoming the poster girl for plastic surgery gone horribly wrong. Obnoxious Al Franken is still in a squeaker with Norm Coleman in Minny and it looks like voters in Alaska re-elected indicted Senator Ted Stevens.
Locally democrat Jonathon Smith lost to incumbent Joel Miller once again proving money can't buy you love or an Assembly seat. All in all it was a very good night for Democrats. Now comes the tough part. Whining and criticizing republicans will now have to be replaced by real action and policy. Let's see what they're better at.
I thought Obama's spech was good but not great. He has given far more powerful speeches during the campaign. I stayed with the coverage until they put Oprah and Jesse Jackson on the screen, both crying on cue for the TV cameras. It was time for bed.
Voters in California proved once again why liberals prefer legislating from the bench by voting down the gay marriage proposition. Liddy Dole had her butt kicked in North Carolina while becoming the poster girl for plastic surgery gone horribly wrong. Obnoxious Al Franken is still in a squeaker with Norm Coleman in Minny and it looks like voters in Alaska re-elected indicted Senator Ted Stevens.
Locally democrat Jonathon Smith lost to incumbent Joel Miller once again proving money can't buy you love or an Assembly seat. All in all it was a very good night for Democrats. Now comes the tough part. Whining and criticizing republicans will now have to be replaced by real action and policy. Let's see what they're better at.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Now Comes The Hard Part
Now that everyone has had a few days to digest and dissect the election, it might be a good time to reflect on the task ahead. (Due to deadline constrictions, I’m writing this ahead of the November 4th election but I’m predicting and assuming Barack Obama to be our next President.) Hey, any fool can call it after the fact! While I’m sure democrats want to revel in their electoral success and begin redistributing the wealth, there are a few major issues out there which will require the new president’s immediate attention.
One would be what to do about Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. Obama and the democrats did a fine job of ignoring any tough questions about these two wars during the campaign but that doesn’t mean they went away. Given a significant part of Obama’s base was the anti-war MoveOn.org crowd, those folks won’t take kindly to any reality checks in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After all, is Obama going to preside over a full scale abandonment of Iraq and diminution of the sacrifices made by our soldiers? It’s one thing to have opposed the war and scoffed at the surge as a Senator. It’s quite another to run up the white flag as commander-in-chief when we’re winning. And for all the talk about the real terrorists being in Afghanistan, can Obama simply call off the dogs because a bunch of aging hippies and Hollywood lefties refuse to fight for anything or anyone? If that’s the case let’s make John Murtha Secretary of Defense.
Here at home we face the worst economic collapse since the 1930’s and it’s a long way from over. During the campaign Obama and Biden promised to cut taxes for just about everyone and have the “rich” make up the difference. That has never really worked for long in a free economy because at some point those paying the freight eventually close up shop and hoard their money. Then there was the laughable promise to give people who don’t pay taxes a tax cut. Huh? Where I come from that’s called a welfare check. Socialism hasn’t worked anywhere and it won’t work here.
Adding to the economic crisis is the mortgage debacle. Not only is the government committed to bailing out those financial institutions responsible for this mess but simultaneously rewarding individuals who took out mortgages they knew they couldn’t afford. The only people being penalized are those who lived within their means and paid their bills on time. The risk takers and hustlers are all lining up at the federal trough to cry poverty and renegotiate their mortgages, tempting square shooters to do the same.
Obama will shortly have to decide where to draw the line. For instance, one could argue the irresponsible actions of government regulators, predatory lenders and greedy borrowers crashed this economy costing millions of jobs. Shouldn’t the innocent bystanders of this train wreck be as entitled to mortgage relief as those who gamed the system?
As daunting as these issues are President Obama will be given a very long political honeymoon. The historic nature of his election coupled with the crippling legacy of the Bush years will buy him time to figure it out. The honeymoon will likely last until the 2010 off year elections. If Obama has been unsuccessful after that, look for a very conservative candidate to emerge on the Republican side. And if McCain won, just call me Thomas E. Dewey.
One would be what to do about Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. Obama and the democrats did a fine job of ignoring any tough questions about these two wars during the campaign but that doesn’t mean they went away. Given a significant part of Obama’s base was the anti-war MoveOn.org crowd, those folks won’t take kindly to any reality checks in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After all, is Obama going to preside over a full scale abandonment of Iraq and diminution of the sacrifices made by our soldiers? It’s one thing to have opposed the war and scoffed at the surge as a Senator. It’s quite another to run up the white flag as commander-in-chief when we’re winning. And for all the talk about the real terrorists being in Afghanistan, can Obama simply call off the dogs because a bunch of aging hippies and Hollywood lefties refuse to fight for anything or anyone? If that’s the case let’s make John Murtha Secretary of Defense.
Here at home we face the worst economic collapse since the 1930’s and it’s a long way from over. During the campaign Obama and Biden promised to cut taxes for just about everyone and have the “rich” make up the difference. That has never really worked for long in a free economy because at some point those paying the freight eventually close up shop and hoard their money. Then there was the laughable promise to give people who don’t pay taxes a tax cut. Huh? Where I come from that’s called a welfare check. Socialism hasn’t worked anywhere and it won’t work here.
Adding to the economic crisis is the mortgage debacle. Not only is the government committed to bailing out those financial institutions responsible for this mess but simultaneously rewarding individuals who took out mortgages they knew they couldn’t afford. The only people being penalized are those who lived within their means and paid their bills on time. The risk takers and hustlers are all lining up at the federal trough to cry poverty and renegotiate their mortgages, tempting square shooters to do the same.
Obama will shortly have to decide where to draw the line. For instance, one could argue the irresponsible actions of government regulators, predatory lenders and greedy borrowers crashed this economy costing millions of jobs. Shouldn’t the innocent bystanders of this train wreck be as entitled to mortgage relief as those who gamed the system?
As daunting as these issues are President Obama will be given a very long political honeymoon. The historic nature of his election coupled with the crippling legacy of the Bush years will buy him time to figure it out. The honeymoon will likely last until the 2010 off year elections. If Obama has been unsuccessful after that, look for a very conservative candidate to emerge on the Republican side. And if McCain won, just call me Thomas E. Dewey.
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