Day: April 4, 2009

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has made a dramatic entrance on the national stage by his refusal to accept economic stimulus aid for education from the federal government, making him one of two governors to reject such aid.  The other, of course, is Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

His own party in the legislature and educational leaders in the state have denounced him, but Sanford seems determined to make himself noticed in such an outrageous way, as he is nearing next year term linits as Governor, and is predicted to be starting a national campaign to run for President in 2012.

If the GOP thinks that nominating Sanford or Palin is the answer to their minority status nationally, they will get a rude awakening in 2012.  This outrageous conduct by Sanford, as well as Palin, needs to be condemned.  It is unbelievable that South Carolina and Alaska, two of the poorest states in social terms, would reject federal aid, and the two governors need to be called on the carpet by responsible party leaders nationally.

President Obama has made a dramatic impression as an international leader this week, first at the G-20 Summit in London, then at the NATO summit in France, and in his meetings with individual leaders of the various nations, as he continues his week long tour in Europe.

He has been invited to Russia and China later this year, and has developed warm relationships with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 

He has also condemned European expressions of anti Americanism in the past, but also admitted that the United States in recent years has been at times arrogant and overbearing in its foreign policy toward the rest of the world.  So he balanced criticism of foreign nations and their response to America with the admission of shortcomings on our part, particularly during the administration of George W. Bush.

He has become as popular in Europe and the general world community as he is at home in the United States.  And his wife, Michelle, has become the equivalent of a rock star, on the level of the late Princess Diana and the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the past. 

Obama has gained the respect and admiration of many people in America, even those who originally opposed him but now see the virtues of this young President who is having a tremendous impact on America and the world.

Inevitably, the unanimous decision of the Iowa Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage this week will impact the 2012 GOP Presidential race, with Iowa’s caucus being the earliest election involved in the choosing of convention delegates.

It will make the burden of the Republican party ever greater to recover from the debacle they are involved  in now.  Most likely,  GOP candidates will be outdoing each other in being anti gay, in order to gain the backing of the evangelical right.

But at the same time, by catering to this element in their party, the Republican party will alienate many people who are already turned off to the role of evangelicals in the party, and it will likely backfire with the younger generation in particular, which does not want the kind of social intervention in private lives that this group desires.

It will, unfortunately, be sad to see such bigotry and hate being promoted, and remind us of past such bigotry and hatred that was advocated by Southern Democrats on the issue of civil rights for African Americans up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Supreme Court decision legalizing interracial marriage in 1967.

It can be hoped that some Republican candidate will emerge who does not wish to promote this agenda.  That is the only hope for the near future of the GOP, but right now it is hard to imagine who that courageous candidate might be.

Iowa has become the third state to allow gay marriage this week, after Massachusetts and Connecticut.  New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont allow civil unions, and California briefly allowed gay marriage and then negated it in a controversial referendum last year.  New York is looking toward recognizing gays who marry in other states, and New Hampshire and Vermont have this week seen their legislatures move toward the acceptance of gay marriage, although both states’ governors have indicated their opposition to such action.

The addition of Iowa, seen as a conservative rural state, taking this action toward gay equality, is inspiring and indicates that over an extended period of time it is likely that gay marriage, outside of religious institutions but endorsed civilly, is an inevitablity in much of the nation. It might eventually come up to the US Supreme Court for determination, with the possibility over time of change on the Court leading to backing of the concept, just as in 1967, after much opposition, interracial marriage was finally declared constitutional.

Iowa should feel proud of itself not only for this, but also for being the first state to see a largely white population back Barack Obama in its presidential caucuses, and start the President on the road to the White House.  So Iowa is overcoming its past image and can been as a state promoting progress and change!

Alaska, the 49th state, is back in the news, and not in a positive way.

We had to deal with Governor Sarah Palin running for Vice President last year, and scaring millions of Americans at the thought that she might be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

We had Senator Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican senator in history, facing corruption charges and being convicted, and losing his reelection race to Nick Begich.

Now the Justice Department has decided to drop the charges against Stevens and withdraw the conviction.

As a result, the silly season has begun with suggestions by Palin that Senator Begich resign, and a special election be held between Stevens and Begich for that Senate seat.  Additionally, Congressman Don Young, himself a subject of federal corruption investigation, suggests that the idea of Begich resigning is ridiculous, but that Stevens instead run in the GOP primary against Palin for the next term as governor in 2010, at a time when Stevens would be 87 years of age.  Young and Palin are political enemies of each other, which explains this line of thinking.

The public record of Palin, Stevens and Young are an embarrassment, and only Democratic Senator Nick Begich offers hope for a rational future in Alaska politics at this point of time.  The concept of Alaska statehood, now fifty years old, makes one wonder: Could we revisit the idea and maybe negate what has happened in the past fifty years?  :)  LOL