Month: July 2009

Vice President Joe Biden announced this week an agreement by the nation’s hospitals to forgo $155 billion in future Medicare and Medicaid payments to assist in lowering the cost of President Obama’s health care plan.

This development, on top of the backing of a national health care plan by the American Medical Association, and Walmart  (the largest employer in the country), are seen as hopeful steps toward the enactment of Obama’s ideas of a proposal to cover just about everyone in the nation. 

The problem is to appease the far left which wants a more vigorous plan,  and also the more difficult terrain for a health care plan in the Senate, where conservative Democrats and most Republicans are opposed to any public health care initiative.

So the battle goes on, but Obama has said failure is not an option, and that this initiative will mark the level of success or failure of his Presidency.  It will be the most significant single battle over this summer in Congress.

How much bad news can the Republican party tolerate?  On top of Sarah Palin’s sudden quitting of the Alaska Governorship without any really clear explanation, and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s "disappearance" and later continuous confessional to a love affair with a woman in Argentina who he calls his "soulmate",  the Nevada Senator John Ensign scandal had receded into the background, but now it is back and far worse than it was.

Senator Ensign, who like Palin and Sanford, had plans to seek the GOP Presidential nomination in 2012, had been caught in an affair with the wife of a friend, with both the friend and the mistress on the Senate payroll and then forced out.  Yesterday, it was revealed that Ensign had written a letter of apology to his mistress and her husband, at the urging of Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn.  Today, it was publicized that Ensign is being sued by the couple for millions of dollars, and this on top of the wealthy parents of Senator Ensign giving favors in the amount of $96,000,  as "friends" who wanted to help out this couple who had been close to their son and been on his staff.

Anyone analyzing this situation can see that the eight $12,000 checks (just under the amount that has to pay taxes and can be counted as "gifts")  were a bribe to shut up the mistress and her husband, but apparently it has instead led to the deepening of the scandal, and calls by the husband and former "friend" of the senator that he resign from the Senate.  What a total mess and disaster, and at the same time, an embarrassment to the Republican party and the US Senate.

While Sarah Palin has been criticized for deciding to quit her job, it does seem to me that both Governor Sanford and Senator Ensign need to follow her lead and resign for the good of the party, their families, and the American political system.  What a horrible model these so called "Christian conservatives", who preach morality and ethics but don’t practice it, represent to young people and the country at large.  This is what makes so many Americans cynical about politics.  There is a need for ending this hypocrisy and for the governor and the senator to leave public life and stay out of it for the good of the nation!

Barack Obama has accomplished a major agreement on his trip to Russia, and it holds the potential for much better relations between the US and the Russians.

The agreement deals with nuclear arms limitations, as a renewal and improvement of the arms agreement signed during the first Bush Administration nearly twenty years ago.  It calls for reduction of missiles and nuclear warheads in a legally binding way, therefore cutting down the dangers of nuclear war between the two nations, who together have the vast majority of nuclear arms.

This agreement, along with the willingness of the Russians to allow US planes and supplies to use Russian airspace to supply troops in the Afghanistan War, marks a new beginning in the relationship between the two former Cold War rivals.

It would create a much more peaceful world if the Russians and the Americans could continue to cooperate in the foreign policy challenges presented by North Korea and Iran on the  issue of nuclear proliferation.

Most of the country, including the vast majority of Republicans and conservatives, are stunned beyond belief by Sarah Palin’s withdrawal from her term as Governor of Alaska, and are in a quandary as to her motives and intentions.

George Will  and Karl Rove are two of the many who are mystified by her actions, and almost no one can rationalize or understand what she is doing, and cannot see it as a positive if she intends to run for President in 2012.  To say that resigning after only two and a half years as Governor qualifies her to run for President is seen as preposterous,  although I would contend that even had she finished a full term, the thought of her being President is ridiculous!

But yet, we have some so called "intelligent" conservatives and Republicans who seem to believe that it could be a positive move,  including Bill Bennett,  Mary Matalin,  and Bill Kristol  (the editor of the prestigious Weekly Standard conservative journal of opinion).    Of course, Kristol, earlier in his career, was a big supporter and aide to Vice President Dan Quayle, so one has to wonder about his judgment! :)   This is the same person who thought that Iraq was a winnable war and that it would not last as long with as big a commitment by this nation as it has turned out to be.   Also, Mary Matalin was an aide to both Vice President Dick Cheney and President George W Bush,  so can one really believe her judgment is of any value?  And Bill Bennett has long been known to be an arrogant, cocky, egotistical man who plays by his own drummer, so to say.

So the fact that these three people see Sarah Palin’s actions as rational has to make one wonder how intelligent and sensible they are!  🙂

The news last week that Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, and the American Medical Association leadership, both agree on the concept of national health care is a big step toward adoption of such a national plan.

Who would have imagined this back in 1993-94,  when President Clinton faced such strong opposition from many quarters and failed to accomplish any move toward a national health care plan, with the result being now that about 47 million Americans have no health care.

Despite strong opposition from the Republican party and conservative talk show hosts,  the hope is now that a decent national health care plan will be enacted this year, but President Obama is concerned that left wing groups are exerting too much pressure on congressional Democrats that could lead to major splits and failure to enact this necessary legislation.

I say give the Democrats support in their quest for legislation, without doing anything to antagonize or divide the party, which should now, with its strong majorities in both Houses, accomplish its goal of a decent, reasonable national health care plan.

The sudden resignation of Sarah Palin from the Governorship of Alaska brings back bad memories of the disaster of her Vice Presidential candidacy last year, after being selected by Senator John McCain.

It also reminds one of other Vice Presidential choices in the past forty years that were regrettable, with two of them unfortunately fulfilling the role of Vice President in a worrisome way due to the victory of their Presidential running mates.  I am referring to Spiro Agnew, elected with Richard Nixon in 1968, and Dan Quayle, elected with George HW Bush in 1988.

Both were disastrous as Vice President, and in both cases, we could have ended up with them in the White House.  If Spiro Agnew had not been uncovered with his taking of cash bribes in the Vice Presidential office, as he had done earlier in the Maryland Governor’s office and the Baltimore County Executive’s office, he would have succeeded Nixon when the President resigned to avoid impeachment in the Watergate scandal.  Agnew had already divided America by attacking liberals and the news media and labeling anti Vietnam war demonstrators as traitors.

If George HW Bush had died in office from atrial fibrillation or from his vomiting on the Japanese Prime Minister  (which at the time caused a lot of laughter and jokes LOL 🙂 ),  we would have been faced with a new President who was most famous as Vice President for saying such things as that he wished the Middle East was as quiet and uneventful as the Midwest,  and that he wished he had studied Latin so that he would understand Latin America better, on a tour of the area.  He also could not spell the word "potato"  before a student group, and generally made a fool of himself, to such an extent that when Bush was ill, it was said that there was a "political earthquake",   as it was portrayed in a news magazine!

We cannot afford to have the kind of irresponsible behavior displayed in the past by Richard Nixon, George HW Bush,  and John McCain.  Presidential nominees of both parties MUST be convinced that their running mates must be picked not only on narrow political considerations, but also on the basis of qualifications to replace a President who might leave office prematurely.  In the dangerous world we live in,  we cannot afford to make a mistake in the number two position.  We need more in the vein of Hubert Humphrey, Henry Cabot Lodge,  Edmund Muskie, Sargent Shriver,  Nelson Rockefeller,  Walter Mondale, Bob Dole,  George HW Bush,  Lloyd Bentsen,  Al Gore, Jack Kemp,  Joe Lieberman, John Edwards,  Joe Biden, and yes, even Dick Cheney (who despite the controversies over his Vice Presidency, came to office qualified to be President).

There has to be a better vetting process to avoid the kind of scary circumstances that we had to deal  with in 1968, 1988, and 2008.

When one thinks about what Sarah Palin has just done, decided to quit public office, but with the likelihood that she will seek the Presidency in 2012, it gets one to thinking about what seems to be the growing strategy in running for President: Be out of office so you have complete freedom to seek the office without the burden of having to please constituents.

Since World War II,  three Presidents ran for the office while not in public service at the time:  Richard Nixon,  Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. 

If one looks at the likely Republican field,  and add Senator John Thune of South Dakota to the list that was given earlier today in another entry, one can see that the majority of possible candidates are not or will not be in elective office when they run for the Presidency.  This includes Mike Huckabee,  Newt Gingrich,  Jeb Bush,  Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Sarah Palin.   Those who will likely be  in office are Bobby Jindal,  Haley Barbour,  Rick Perry,  Charlie Crist, and John Thune.  This is subject to change, of course, such as Perry losing his party’s nomination to Kay Bailey Hutchison in Texas,  or Haley Barbour or Bobby Jindal choosing not to run for reelection in Louisiana or Mississippi,  or Charlie Crist losing his run for a Senate seat in Florida.

In any case,  the seeking of the Presidency is such an all consuming passion,  that being out of public office seems to be a smart, shrewd move by those who wish to pursue the office!

Sarah Palin has just shocked the country with her public statement at her home in Wasilla, Alaska, that she is not going to run for reelection, but is also RESIGNING her position in the next few weeks, and handing over the power of the Governorship to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell.

She said in her statement that she wanted to contribute to America from outside government, whatever that means.  She also compared herself to a point guard involved in a "full press" in a basketball game, who is diverted by opponents,  whatever that means, which is likely anger at being criticized and analyzed by the news media about her performance as Governor and Vice Presidential candidate, as well as her family issues.  She also said that it was due to LINCOLN’S Secretary of State William Seward that Alaska came to be acquired by the US from Russia, forgetting or not knowing that while Seward was certainly involved, it was under ANDREW JOHNSON, not Lincoln, that the Czar Alexander II of Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States.  So Sarah needs to be updated on the details of American history, which she clearly lacks knowledge of, but is that surprising?  🙂

Sarah Palin is breaking her bond when she was elected Governor two and a half years ago, which was to finish out her term unless nature or tragedy intervened.  She is also claiming that she has saved money for the state by rejecting a pay increase, although it was well publicized that she charged the state for travel when much of the time she was home in Wasilla doing state business. 

So this woman who came out of oblivion last August 29 is leaving government after a controversial ten months of what she calls  "the politics of personal destruction".   Sounds to me as if she is very bitter and resentful, and in many ways, sounds like Richard Nixon when he lost the Governorship in California in 1962 and told reporters: "You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because gentleman, this is my last press conference!"   Of course, it was NOT his last press conference as he pursued the Presidency, and unfortunately won it, with a bitterness and desire for vendetta that he well hid, but made this country the victim of on the way to his resignation.

If one wants to believe that Sarah Palin is really leaving government for good, we can only hope so, but I think it is an illusion.  Sarah Palin will, very obviously, be a candidate for national office in 2012, although I cannot imagine her going the distance.  We can hope that this country is not crazy enough to pick her from among the multitude of Republican candidates, just about ALL who are better qualified and safer to elect than the mayor of a small Alaskan town  (Wasilla) of about 7,000 people,  to a two and a half year term as governor of the second smallest populated state, with the last year being dominated by her campaign for Vice President and its aftermath.

America deserves better than Sarah Palin, and I cannot imagine the GOP pitting her against Barack Obama in 2012, although I suppose most Democrats would "pray"  for such an election contest!

It has been revealed that the Republican "Revolution"  of 1994 has gone against so called "Christian Morality", much of it within years after the takeover of the Congress by the GOP.

At least a dozen members of the "Revolution" class became involved in sex scandals,which led to divorces in some cases within just two years!

This is out of a total of 71 freshmen elected in 1994, or about one out of every six–this from a party which preached "morality" and "family values" and instead set a hypocritical standard of behavior that has obviously not stopped with the recent involvement in sex scandals of John Ensign and Mark Sanford.

This can best be portrayed as the arrogance of power, and the belief that you can preach one thing while practicing another.  What a disgrace and an embarrassment!

Recent events have made running for and winning the Governorship of any state far less glamorous and far less career advancing.

When one looks at the lower public opinion ratings of many governors in the midst of the Great Recession we have been in for more than a year,  one can see how being a legislator–a US Senator or Representative–is far more appealing.

Being a legislator means less responsibility and blame when situations beyond one’s control go sour.  Would anyone now want to be NY Governor David Paterson, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm,  New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine,  Florida Governor Charlie Crist and other governors of other states?   Why is it that Charlie Crist and now Sarah Palin have chosen not to run for reelection?  Part of it is their desire to run for President, but also the misery in states large and small dealing with the Great Recession. 

Of course, there will always be those who wish to run for and, in many states, remain Governor of their states–such examples as Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom in California,  Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, Andrew Cuomo and Rudy Guiliani in New York,  Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas,–but the position looks far less alluring and attractive now than it has in many years, literally decades!