Month: October 2011

Vice President Joe Biden Suggests A Possible Candidacy For President In 2016

Ronald 1 Comment

To the surprise of many observers, Vice President Joe Biden has suggested on a CNN interview with Candy Crowley that he might run for President in 2016, to succeed his boss, President Barack Obama.

Why is this surprising? It is because after two failed Presidential candidacies in 1988 and 2008, it was figured that Biden was just happy to be Vice President, play a crucial role in the Obama Administration, and then retire after two terms as Vice President at the age of 74.

But instead, Biden makes it clear that he is feeling good, enjoying his work, and will consider another run for the top spot.

How should one react to this? The author wishes to leave no doubt of his great admiration for Joe Biden, thrilled that he is playing a major role under Barack Obama, and convinced that he is adding to the stature and growth of the Vice Presidency. And Joe Biden has a winning personality–warm, gregarious, friendly, reachable–and has tremendous contacts and links to people on Capitol Hill. He is, in many ways, a more charming and charismatic Lyndon Johnson without the rough edges of the 36th President. He has tremendous experience, and in fact, would be by far the most experienced ever of any Presidential candidate, even surpassing Johnson, Bob Dole, and Henry Clay, among others. He would literally have 44 years of service in government by 2016, 36 in the Senate, making him one of the longest serving in that body’s history, plus eight active years as Vice President.

Having been Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee at different times, Biden would have a background that could not be matched by any Democratic or Republican opponent. He has the distinction of being the sixth youngest US Senator upon taking the oath, but the second youngest of all when one considers direct popular vote of the people after 1913, under the 17th Amendment.

His lifetime of service would be capped by four to eight years as President, but he would also be the oldest first term President at 74, and if he had two terms, would leave office as the oldest President in history. Only Ronald Reagan was elected in his 70s, and served two terms to just short by a few weeks of his 78th birthday, with Bob Dole being 73 when he ran, and John McCain being 72 when he was nominated.

The question is whether his health would hold up for the next five years and through a theoretical four to eight years after that. He would certainly be challenged by a new generation of leadership in his party, and his age might be a detriment. And since he is prone to gaffes and misstatements after so many years in office, and being extremely conversational by nature, he could have major problems in succeeding toward his goal.

One thing is certain–that if Joe Biden chose to run for President in 2016, it would be a fascinating run, whether he succeeded in his goal to be nominated and elected, or was retired after 44 years of distinguished service.

The “Birthers” Turn On Republicans: Marco Rubio And Bobby Jindal

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The “Birthers”, including lunatic Orly Taitz, are now turning their fire on two Republicans with Presidential ambitions in the future: Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

Rubio, born of Cuban parents who were not naturalized at the time of his birth, and Jindal, born of Indian parents who were not naturalized at the time of his birth, are being attacked as ineligible to be President under a very narrow interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

Having failed to convince anyone, except lunatics and ignoramuses, that Barack Obama was ineligible to be President, now the “Birthers” are out to destroy any chance that either Republican, born 13 days apart 40 years ago, will have an opportunity to run for the Presidency.

The attempt will fail, and it is likely both will compete against each other in 2016 for President, and the issue should not be the issue of naturalization of their parents.

The issue should be whether Marco Rubio, having deceived and lied to the nation about when his parents left Cuba, has the ethics and honesty to run for President. He told Floridians that his parents fled after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, when they came to America in 1956. By all ethical standards, he should be forced to resign, and his Senate seat declared vacant, but of course Marco has displayed no problem with ethics even during his state legislative career in Florida, and will not voluntarily leave office.

Bobby Jindal has shown bad judgment in backing Rick Perry for President, and considering the fact that Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the Union, one would think he would have a more open minded view on many issues, but such is not the case, sadly.

Both Rubio and Jindal will be heard from in the future, despite the looney “Birther” movement campaign against both of them.

From JFK And The Cuban Missile Crisis To Barack Obama And Al Qaeda, Iraq, And Libya: Statesmanship Personified

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49 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy informed the nation about the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Now, 49 years later, President Barack Obama was able to tell us in the past few months that leading Al Qaeda figures (Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki) had been neutralized; that our involvement in the Iraq War is finally coming to an end by Christmas; and that Libya has finally been liberated from its war criminal despot, Moammar Gaddafi.

Is there a link between these two Presidents nearly a half century apart? Absolutely, as in both cases, we have seen wisdom, good judgment, and statesmanship, characteristics all too rare.

Kennedy decided NOT to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union or a direct hit on missile bases in Cuba, but instead to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the greatest crisis of the nuclear age after starting a naval blockade.

Obama, often considered not ready for crisis leadership, has successfully overcome terrorist threats and eliminated leading terrorists; has brought about a final end to involvement in Iraq, a war we did not need to fight; and cooperated with NATO allies in liberating Libya, at a low cost of about $2 billion, and NO American casualties.

Both Presidents have demonstrated strong, assertive leadership in ways that should be emulated by future Presidents. When one engages in war, one must be careful and cautious, and recognize international cooperation promotes a better result than being a LONE RANGER, out to swagger and flaunt American power, without concern as to how the international community perceives the United States.

Hopefully, the age of George W. Bush is a bad memory that will not be repeated by future Presidents, but the lack of insights by the Republican Presidential field is troubling as a sign that we may be in danger of moving away from the statesmanship represented by these two Democratic Presidents, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.

This is an issue that MUST become a major part of the Presidential Election of 2012, the qualifications and views of the Republican contenders to lead our nation into an uncertain future in international relations.

With foreign policy to be the center of the next presidential debate in November, it is time that the nation focus on and realize that economic policy is not the only consideration in the selection of the next President. We need a statesman on the level of JFK or Obama, and the prognosis to find such a person in the Republican field (outside of maybe Jon Huntsman) is NOT promising.

Barack Obama: The Foreign Policy Success, Greatest Since World War II!

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When one thinks about Presidents and foreign policy, we tend to have the image that Republicans, particularly Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush, are the great success stories, and to look down on Democrats as better in domestic policy than foreign policy, where they are perceived as weak!

In 2008, Hillary Clinton had commercials that made one wonder if Barack Obama was prepared to make tough decisions at 3 AM, in the area of foreign policy, where he was seen as a novice.

Well, here we are nearly three years into Barack Obama’s term, and what has happened?

1. Obama has had Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, arguably one of the very best in American history!

2. Barack Obama has had great success in improving the image of America worldwide through his cooperation with NATO, the United Nations, and the Arab League, a development no one would ever have believed when he became President!

3. Obama has been successful in the withdrawal from Iraq, which just today he announced would end by Christmas.

4. Obama has been able to move toward the idea of eventual withdrawal from Afghanistan, while not recklessly moving in that direction too quickly.

5. Obama intervened, in just the right amount, in Libya, and has now improved his image in that nation, many flying American flags, as Gaddafi has just, after 42 years, been removed finally as a threat to the international order. And it cost not one American life, only about $2 billion in expenditures, and showed that the international community could work successfully together!

6. Obama has been able to go after dozens of terrorists and eliminate them through our intelligence gathering and our drones, including Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki, and these two terrorists, along with Moammar Gaddafi, have been successfully neutralized in a period of less than six months!

7. While there are certainly challenges in foreign policy, particularly with Iran, Pakistan and Venezuela, along with Russia and China, one notices a lot of rhetoric, primarily, as these nations and their leaders have realized that Obama is not a person to “mess with”! They recognize that he is one tough “hombre”!

Compare the record on foreign policy and national security of Obama to George W. Bush, and one wonders why Republicans and conservatives refuse to salute and honor the President for his accomplishments! The obvious answer is that they know this is his major strong point of all, and they are not about to give him the time of day!

Meanwhile, the GOP candidates for President sound like morons, as some of them actually are, when it comes to these issues, and it is clear that our foreign policy and national security would be undermined by a defeat of Barack Obama in 2012!

So the job of the Obama campaign team is to emphasize these achievements, and to work to convince the American people that Obama has more concern and better ideas about how to deal with the economic future, than members of the party who will not even allow funding of extra teachers and first responders because it might raise, very slightly, the tax responsibility of the obscenely rich!

Joe Biden Comment On Rise Of Crime With Cuts In First Responders: Absolutely True!

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Vice President Joe Biden has angered conservatives and Republicans with his assertion that cuts in spending and jobs on First Responders have led to increased crime in Flint, Michigan, and Camden, New Jersey, as examples where such budgets have been cut by half!

Using those unfortunate cities as examples, Biden said rapes, burglaries and murders have risen and will rise, with the refusal of Republicans to support spending on First Responders, with the small cost of half a penny tax on millionaires over the first million dollars.

Despite condemnations and denunciations that Biden is encouraging promotion of fear, what he has declared is absolutely true, but it puts the Republicans on the spot, preferring to have the public attention move away from their irresponsibility in voting down the Senate legislation that was rejected last night, toward criticism of the President instead for the nerve to wish to raise taxes on anyone!

Joe Biden should continue to hammer on this point, and let the Republicans and the talk show hosts complain to their heart’s content! Biden should not back off on what is the total truth!

Republican Call For Infrastructure Investment In Libya, But Not In America!

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As a result of the death of Moammar Gaddafi in Libya, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, among others, are calling for infrastructure spending to rebuild Libya.

While it is certainly honorable to wish to help other nations recover from revolution and civil war, how can these and other neoconservatives say this with a straight face while America’s own infrastructure is crumbling, and Republicans and conservatives refuse to support spending on our roads, schools, bridges, airports, etc, if it means one penny more of taxes on the wealthy?

How short sighted can Republicans be about the future of our own nation, and yet see the significance of involvement overseas? This is beyond all common sense!

Obscene Vote In US Senate On Jobs For Teachers And First Responders: How Can This Be Justified?

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In an attempt by Senate Democrats to pass part of President Obama’s jobs plan, a proposal for $35 billion in spending on hiring or retaining 400,00 teachers and first responders was brought up in that chamber last night, resulting in a 50-50 tie, with all 47 Republicans and Democrats Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut joining them in opposition!

The jobs bill had been touted by Vice President Joe Biden as essential to help promote education and safety and security in local communities, and it would have been financed by a half penny tax on millionaires on incomes over one million dollars, meaning if one had two million in income, he would pay $5,000 in extra taxes, a small amount of contribution when compared to income and the public need!

It is shocking that Joe Lieberman would vote against this, and that Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine would vote against this as well!

At a time of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, the Senate minority and even a few Democrats seem tone deaf to the reality of what is going on in America!

These 50 Senators are to be condemned for playing politics and being short sighted in a time of need!

Death of Moammar Gaddafi Another Foreign Policy Victory For Barack Obama!

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The death of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi today in his hometown is a victory for change in the Middle East, another sign of the impact of the “Arab Spring”, and a great moment for President Barack Obama’s image in being effective in executing American foreign policy!

This just adds to the justification of the American intervention through NATO in the Libyan Civil War, and it adds stature to Obama’s ability to be the most effective figure in fighting terrorism and dictatorship in the Arab world!

There is great hope for the future of Libya, and certainly, it is the final removal of a 42 year brutal dictatorship, at the cost of only $2 billion and not one American life lost!

Already, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, soon to be followed by other Republican Presidential candidates, have made an obligatory statement, trying to prove their foreign policy expertise, but it is Barack Obama who will gain the credit for a decision well crafted, and encouraged by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice!

This, on top of the death of Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists recently, is another victory for civilization against barbarism!

The Lunatic Audiences At GOP Debates: A Total Disgrace!

Ronald 1 Comment

What kind of country are we that we can have lunatic audiences cheering on crazy, nasty, cruel comments on issues involving capital punishment, gays in the military, lack of health care insurance, illegal immigration, and American citizens involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement?

It is shocking that people would cheer the number of people executed under Texas Governor Rick Perry!

It is unbelievable that people would boo a gay soldier who has served our country!

It is dismaying that people would call for letting a person without health insurance, who is seriously ill, to just die!

It is outrageous that people would applaud the idea of an electrified fence to keep illegal immigrants out of the country!

It is disgraceful that an audience would applaud that if people are unemployed or poor in a time of the Great Recession, the worst conditions since the Great Depression, that it is their own fault, and to condemn the marches and demonstrations of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread throughout the nation and overseas!

Have some Americans lost our common humanity, our rationality, our morality, in the name of self centered egotism, that all that matters is our own selfish interests, and to hell with basic common decency? We should mourn the deterioration in civility as a danger sign of the decline of our whole civilization!

Why Barack Obama Will Be A Repeat Of Bill Clinton Electorally, Rather Than Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, And George H.W. Bush!

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A lot of political observers seem to think that Barack Obama is doomed to lose re-election, just as Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush did in 1976, 1980, and 1992.

The author will contend that rather than that unfortunate history, Barack Obama will repeat the electoral experience of Bill Clinton in 1996!

The question, of course, is what is the rationale behind this thought of the author?

Gerald Ford–was an unelected President, coming after Watergate, challenged in the primaries by Ronald Reagan, an extremely charismatic individual, who almost took the nomination from him. Ford was unable to unite the party around him after the Reagan battle, despite dumping Nelson Rockefeller for Bob Dole for Vice President. Ford had little opportunity to convince the country that he was deserving of election, and yet ALMOST defeated Jimmy Carter, which he would have done if he had won a few more thousand votes in Ohio and Hawaii! Ford was not seen as all that capable to be President by many people, with the poor economy of the time.

Jimmy Carter–had a difficult last year in office, with the Afghanistan invasion by the Soviet Union, the Iranian hostage crisis, and the challenge in the primaries by Senator Ted Kennedy and Governor Jerry Brown. He faced a charismatic opponent in Ronald Reagan, and a third party opponent in John Anderson. He was not a warm personality, and came across as weak and ineffective.

George H. W. Bush–faced a primary opponent in Pat Buchanan, and a strong third party challenger in Ross Perot. His Democratic opponent, Bill Clinton, had a lot of charisma, and was helped by the strong showing of Perot. And Bush did not have a particularly likeable personality, more respected for his ability than his understanding of average Americans and their lives.

Bill Clinton–engendered strong feelings for and against during his first term, and had charisma dripping off him, as compared to Bush and Bob Dole, his 1996 re-election opponent. Times were good, and he looked strong in his battles against the GOP Congress run by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He had no opposition for the second term nomination, and his opponent, Dole, being 73 years old, did not help his challenge to Clinton. Also, Wall Street gave more financial support to Clinton to hedge their bets, frustrating Bob Dole!

Barack Obama–well liked, even by those who do not like what he has done, but he has accomplished a lot in office, particularly in foreign affairs and national security. He has brought about substantial domestic reform despite strong opposition from the Republican party, and has loads of charisma, and tons of funding, including as with Clinton, from Wall Street, which, even if opposed as they were to Clinton and now Obama, hedge their bets and support him more than the Republican nominee, just as with Bob Dole in 1996. Also, there is a good chance of a Tea Party right wing party rebellion if Mitt Romney, the likely nominee, is the choice of the Republican party. The opposition does not have a candidate to excite the nation, so although the economy is horrible, the likelihood is that more Americans will recognize the reality that one does not overcome a near depression overnight, and will decide to stick with Obama, just as they did in the height of the Great Depression with Franklin D. Roosevelt!