Month: February 2009

After constant wrangling and legislative paralysis, the California legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have finally come to an agreement on a financial package to close the record $42 Billion deficit, an all time gap in any state in American history.

California is a microcosm of the nation, as 46 states face similar crises.  Only North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and West Virginia do not, as of now, have a financial crisis in their state budgeting.  This is why the states are looking to the federal government to rescue them with financial support to cut down the pain and suffering that budget cuts are creating.

The only reason that the California legislature was able to succeed finally was the backing of several moderate Republicans, but again, as on the national level, most of the Republicans refused to negotiate and bargain to come to an agreement, even in the midst of unbelievable crisis in the Golden State, including cutting of public works projects and furloughing of state workers for two days a month.

The Republican party is again proving to be obstructionist and uncaring about the effects of the economic downturn on the nation and the states, something to a great extent caused by their failure historically to recognize the need for effective regulation of the economy, specifically the practices of banks and corporations.

The Obama Administration has this week devised a $75 Billion program to deal with the housing crisis, which has magnified in recent months and can be seen as one of the major causes of the economic downtown over the past year.

The plan is designed to assist homeowners in danger of losing their homes, which does not just affect them, but also their neighbors who have seen the effect of the foreclosure crisis in the rapid decline in property values of their own homes, as much as 40-50 percent in some parts of the nation, particularly Arizona, Nevada, California and Florida. 

But again, despite the reality of the crisis, the GOP is on the attack without offering any better alternative, and this reality sadly includes Senator John McCain, who despite his state’s suffering, is unwilling to cross the aisle and support the President in his plans.  Earlier, he had mouthed the idea of bipartisanship, but when the actual opportunity has arisen, McCain instead has been an obstructionist.  This is a sad situation, but it also makes one happy that McCain did not win the Presidency, as one has to doubt that he would have been aggressively attacking the economic crisis had he been in the White House.

So one has to conclude that fate has played a role in putting Obama in office, ready to take action and deflect criticism, confident in his ability to accomplish his goals!

Illinois Senator Roland Burris, chosen to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat by disgraced Governor Rod Blagoyevich, has become the center of controversy due to the new revelations that he apparently was involved in trying to raise campaign funds for the now former Governor.  It seems that he did not tell the whole truth about his association with the governor in his testimony before the Illinois General Assembly after being picked by Blagoyevich late last year. 

The whole matter has become a circus and an embarrassment and adds to the bad image that Illinois has developed in the past few months.  It is clear that, with a cloud of scandal and suspicion hanging heavily, Senator Burris needs to restore the dignity of his home state and the Senate and resign immediately.

We do not need any more bad images about appointed senators, and again, as stated in an earlier entry, Senator Russ Feingold’s proposal to have an amendment providing for special elections for vacant Senate seats should be pursued seriously.  Even  the new Illinois Governor, Pat Quinn, has proposed a special law to provide now for an election to fill the Senate seat.  It is time to resolve this issue in a expeditious way!

Rush Limbaugh is on  a real binge of name calling on his radio show.  Now he calls President Obama a Fascist.  This comes after his expressed desire that President Obama fail in promoting economic recovery.  He has become the de facto leader of the Republican party which has decided that opposition and obstructionism is the way to go.  The GOP has no new ideas and has nothing, therefore, to offer the American people.

Meanwhile, other critics of Obama have called him a Socialist, a Marxist, a Hitler, a dictator, etc.  How preposterous this whole name calling is!  It reminds one of the constant attacks against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.  The whackos and nuts came out of the woodwork and accused him of every crime imaginable.  Meanwhile, FDR kept his sense of self and his humor and went about the business of making life better for the American people at a low moment in their history.

Barack Obama is following the same path, with a calm, cool, collected, relaxed attitude, not wasting his time on these silly accusations and insults.  He will not be diverted by name calling from the mission he has, which is the most profound since FDR–the restoration of the American economy.  So let the insults and name calling continue, whether from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Bill O’ Reilly, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin etc.  These attacks will not hit the mark, and will only delegitimize these talk show hosts and authors who think being nasty and negative is the way to go.  The American people have already made clear their confidence in Barack Obama

The Minnesota Senate race between Republican senator Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken has reached the point of exasperation, but now the Minnesota courts have determined that many of the Coleman challenges have no basis and the likelihood of a Coleman overturn of Franken’s tiny lead is miniscule.

It is time for Senator Coleman to show some grace and dignity and statesmanship and concede the race, since his challenge has denied his state the services of one of its senators for six weeks at a time of crucial issues, including the Economic Stimulus plan just passed by Congress yesterday.  As important as it is that Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Senator Ted Kennedy participate in the vote, had Al Franken been able to participate in the final and original Senate vote on the legislation, Senator Brown would not have been required to use a government plane at taxpayers’ expense to return to vote after a wake for his mother in Ohio, and Senator Kennedy, recuperating from a brain tumor in Florida, would not have been required to return to DC in order to guarantee the avoidance of a Republican filibuster.

This situation has gotten out of hand and it is time for Al Franken to be declared the victor and for Senator Coleman to accept reality!

President Barack Obama is to be congratulated on the tremendous accomplishment of having his Economic Stimulus plan accepted by both houses of Congress in less than a month, to be precise, 24 days!

There is much debate about the virtues of the legislation, but that is nothing new in American politics.  There will always be a debate and questioning whether or not a Presidential initiative or action will be beneficial to the nation’s future.  Obama well realizes, as he has said himself, that he will be judged by the success or failure of his economic plan.  He made it clear that if his initatives failed, then the country will have a new President in 2012. 

The point is now the President can, over a period of time, be judged on his plans, and that is appropriate.  The issue of bipartisanship is important, but if only three courageous GOP senators (Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania) have the willingness to back the President and to cross party lines, so be it.  If this plan works, the Republican party and its right wing Southern dominance will pay the price.  That is their fate if they fail to follow the majority of economists,  many Republican and Democratic mayors and governors, and American public opinion in wishing to give Obama’s plan a chance. 

Meanwhile, one needs to point out that it is historic that a major piece of legislation has been adopted in so short a time in a new administration, and it bodes well for being just the beginning of the most eventful First Hundred Days since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It is a tremendous disappointment that after accepting the offer to become Secretary of Commerce, suddenly Judd Gregg withdraws before the confirmation hearings, supposedly on grounds of principle.

This situation does not make Senator Gregg look very good in the public eye.  If he had a problem originally with giving up his independence, he should have stated so at the outset, not leave President Obama in the lurch. 

On the other hand, being a strong fiscal conservative made Gregg, as it turns out, a bad choice for the cabinet post, particularly because he would be presiding over the operation of the Census Bureau, when the time comes in April 2010 to do an accurate, unbiased counting of the American people, something which will affect government policies and the political balance for the next ten years.

A good piece of advice is for Obama to forget about any further bipartisanship in the cabinet, as he already has Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation.  Let’s not forget that the Democrats won this last election, including substantial margins in both houses of Congress.  We need someone who is a loyal Democrat to control the Census Bureau.  The Republicans have benefited earlier from being in charge of the Census Bureau,  so now it is time that the Democrats promote what is good for them after more than a decade out of power.

Here we are, 23 days into the Obama Administration, and all we see is Republican obstructionism.

The GOP fails to realize that they lost the election, and they seem unable to have the decency to give Barack Obama even a short "honeymoon" and show some bipartisanship.  IF the economic stimulus bill that now seems likely to be signed into law within a few days by President Obama fails to accomplish its goals, then the GOP will have excellent campaign fodder in the 2010 midterm elections and the Presidential election of 2012.    Could they not have common decency and allow Obama to establish his plan and see what happens, instead of the obstructionism that they are practicing in Congress, destroying any possibility of bipartisan action?  Is this not the proper time to unite, at least briefly, around an economic plan and see if it works?

IF the plan does work, the GOP will be remaining in the wilderness for the long haul.  They are so afraid that the plan MIGHT work that they seem ready to do everything to insure that it will not work!  Barack Obama is to be applauded for TRYING to promote a bipartisan atmosphere, but it seems that the Democrats will soon have to realize that it is them alone with the heroic support of three Republican senators who will have to do what is right for the nation at this time of crisis.  Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Arlen Specter are now being threatened by conservatives with challenges when they next come up for reelection, with only Specter immediately threatened in the 2010 midterm elections.  What a sad commentary that people of principle can be read out of a party that has marginalized itself constantly in recent years!  It seems to me the GOP has a death wish, and the likelihood is of their demise as a serious opposition force until and when they broaden their base and stop letting talk radio and its promoters of hate and division, including Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Schnitt, Joyce Kaufman, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck to have impact on the party direction.

The American people, a majority of governors and mayors of both political persuasions, and a vast majority of economists nationally support and believe that the Obama economic stimulus package, a mix of tax cuts and spending programs, and aid to education and to states strapped by falling revenues, WILL work.  The talk show hosts and the vast majority of Republicans in Congress need to get out of the way!