On Tuesday, April 22, 2014, I lectured on the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson at Florida Atlantic University’s Jupiter Campus as part of their Lifelong Learning Society. Here is a video of my lecture.
Month: May 2014
My Lecture on the Presidency of John F. Kennedy (VIDEO)
On Tuesday, April 1, 2014, I lectured on the Presidency of John F. Kennedy at Florida Atlantic University’s Jupiter Campus as part of their Lifelong Learning Society. Here is a video of my lecture.
Marco Rubio Hints At Running For President No Matter What!
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has hinted very broadly that he plans to run for President in 2016, come hell or high water!
He has indicated that if he runs, he will not consider dropping out and running instead for another six year term in the US Senate, that he will be in the race for the duration.
One can be sure, however, that there would be a move in the Florida legislature to allow him to run for President and the US Senate, similar to what was offered Lyndon B. Johnson in 1960 and Joe Lieberman in 2000 when they ran for Vice President and for another Senate term, so that seems like not a true statement that Rubio is making about his commitment to the Presidential race.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has tried to arrange that Kentucky would allow him to run for both President and re-election to the Senate, but so far has been unable to accomplish that goal.
Rubio is challenging the establishment in both parties, seemingly ignoring the fact that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush may yet run, and is favored by the “Establishment”, and attacking Hillary Clinton on her performance as Secretary of State, declaring he would give her an “F” in that role.
Rubio points out his ten years in the state legislature of Florida, including being House Speaker, and his four years in the Senate, and his age, reaching 43 later this month.
Rubio has the advantages of good looks, his youth, his Hispanic heritage as the son of Cuban refugees, and his looking less objectionable in his statements, actions, and persona than either Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, his major Tea Party rivals.
But he also comes across as not overly bright, and as much too extreme for the majority of the American people.
A worry, though, is that, were he to be the GOP nominee, representing the third largest state, and the ultimate swing state in a Presidential election therefore, and running against Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, the most likely Democratic nominees, he could argue his youth against their ages of 69 and 74 respectively, and that he represents the 21st century (the future), against the 20th century (the past).
For a 45 year old against a 69 or 74 year old opponent, those factors COULD be a major problem for the Democrats, and argues for a younger nominee, such as Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley!
Jon Huntsman Hints That He Might Run For President Again In 2016
Former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman will give the commencement address at the University of Wisconsin in Madison on May 17th.
He has also been interviewed recently by Larry King on his online PoliticKing series, with the interview available on You Tube!
He is involved in leadership of a group called NO LABELS, which purpose is to stop the divisiveness on Capitol Hill and bring solutions to our domestic and foreign policy problems.
Barack Obama was concerned that Huntsman might be the GOP Presidential nominee in 2012, and has very high respect for him.
This author has certainly made clear over the years of his blog of his admiration and respect for Jon Huntsman, who he sees as the ONLY legitimate candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016. He is very knowledgeable, very informed, very impressive as a public speaker, has a handsome manner about him, a warm personality that fits what we need in the Presidency in the future, if there is to be a viable alternative to Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. When one compares Huntsman to ANY other Republican who might run for President, they all come across as laughable by comparison. Their intelligence level, their compassion, their understanding of what really affects the middle class and the poor, and their understanding of the world, all demonstrate massive gaps!
No one else has his breadth of experience, particularly in foreign policy, so important for the next term, other than Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, but he also has proved he can lead as Governor and get things done.
His problem is the right wing extremism of the Republican Party, and the evil Tea Party Movement, which are likely to prevent any chance of his being a serious candidate for the nomination, unless he chooses to run as an independent or third party candidate, but if he does that, it will insure the Democrats, who have the edge in the Electoral College anyway, will keep the White House!
New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen Vs. Scott Brown Senate Race
The New Hampshire Senate race is between incumbent Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, formerly Governor of the state, and former Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who won the seat of Ted Kennedy, and then proceeded to lose it to Elizabeth Warren, and now is a “carpetbagger”, who has owned a home in New Hampshire, and is trying to do what only two others in the distant past have been able to do–win a seat in the Senate from two different states.
Scott Brown has been compared by some, who are delusional, to Robert F. Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, both outsiders who won Senate seats in New York, but his record comes nowhere near what they had, and neither had ever been a Senator, and then lost the seat, and moved to another state to try to regain a seat in the Senate.
The fact that Scott Brown is campaigning on destroying ObamaCare is a strategy that will cause him to lose the race to Shaheen, who is very popular, and very effective in the US Senate.
Brown will have the record of always having a woman opponent for the Senate, first beating Martha Coakley, Massachusetts Attorney General in 2010; then losing to Elizabeth Warren in 2012; and now about to lose to Jeanne Shaheen in 2014!
“Fishing” Expeditions Mount As Republicans Lose On ObamaCare!
The Republican Party is so desperate to find an issue to attack the Obama Administration, now that ObamaCare is working, and polls indicate growing support for the landmark legislation that twenty years ago the Republicans supported, and which Mitt Romney put into play in Massachusetts eight years ago, now shown by statistics and research to have saved many lives in that state.
So now the Republicans are engaging in another attack on the Benghazi terrorist tragedy in Libya, despite the fact there is no evidence of wrongdoing.
And they also have cited Lois Lerner for using her Fifth Amendment rights in the investigation of the Internal Revenue Service targeting political organizations who want tax exempt status, even though progressive groups, as well as conservative groups, were investigated as to their right to a tax exemption.
Also, there is heat being brought against Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, over the problems in providing health care for veterans, even though the GOP has no problem with trying to deny millions of poor people the opportunity to have health care through Medicaid expansion!
The hypocrisy of the Republican Party is beyond belief, and the American people need for the Democrats to fight back in clear terms, and make all voters know the truth about the GOP strategy, so that they do not reward them for their lies and deceit in the upcoming Midterm Elections of 2014!
130th Birthday Of Harry Truman: A Man Of Courage And Decisiveness!
Today is the 130th Anniversary of President Harry Truman’s birth, a man of true courage and decisiveness!
Suddenly thrust into the Presidency on April 12, 1945, he made tough decisions to use the atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II; waged the Cold War with the Soviet Union; recognized the new nation of Israel; integrated the armed forces by executive order, leading the fight for civil rights; and took us into the Korean War, preventing the loss of South Korea to Communism, with South Korea today one of the leading economies in the world, and a democratic nation!
On his 61st birthday, one month after taking over the Presidency, we saw the end of the war in Europe, and the celebration of V-E Day, and although there was still a few more months of war, the “Greatest Generation” had succeeded in fighting Fascism and Nazism, and saved democracy in the world!
So this is a day to salute not only President Truman, but the millions of soldiers who fought in World War II, many of them sacrificing their lives, and the number of living veterans dwindling rapidly every day, 69 years after the war ended!
Rand Paul And Rupert Murdoch As His Guest At The Kentucky Derby: A “Marriage” Made In Heaven?
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is working at wooing Rupert Murdoch, and invited him as his guest at the Kentucky Derby horse race last weekend.
It made quite a splash in the newspapers and on cable tv, that the Australian tycoon in his 80s, one of the most powerful conservative giants, as the owner of Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Weekly Standard, was allowing himself to be the guest of the son of the libertarian giant, former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.
The question is whether this means that Rand Paul will eventually gain the backing of Murdoch and his top lieutenants in the conservative spectrum of politics, including Roger Ailes and Bill Kristol, among others.
At this point, it would seem highly unlikely, but it could be a “shotgun” marriage, although the odds of Paul being the GOP Presidential nominee, let alone the winner of the Presidency in 2016, is highly speculative!
New Scientist Report Shows Massive Climate Changes Going On, Time For Action!
The battle over climate change continues, and a new report by 300 scientists makes clear for everyone and anyone who cares about the future national security of the United States, that dramatic action is needed!
To ignore the obvious evidence of devastating climate change already affecting the globe and the nation is to be an ostrich with its head in the sand.
The worsening reality of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, sinkholes, droughts, forest fires, avalanches, landslides, and glacier meltings at a very rapid rate is a warning sign of what is happening, and much more rapidly than was predicted.
The sad truth, however, is that Republicans and conservatives and those in the energy industries, are vehemently opposed to any action, claiming there is no climate change going on, just normal changes that happen over time but are not extreme in the long run of mankind’s time on earth.
So the battle of the Obama Administration on this issue will face the same stalemate, gridlock, and conspiracy theories that has been visited on everything the President engages in, while trying to promote necessary change!
Economic Revival And Success Of Health Care Law Should Favor Democrats In Midterm Elections Of 2014!
More than ever, many public opinion polls seem to indicate that the Republican Party is to have a major success, gaining seats in the House of Representatives, and winning control of the US Senate!
But polls have been wrong before, and it is very hard to believe with economic revival reaching the recovery of the number of jobs lost in 2008-2009, plus the clear success of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) after a difficult start, that most of the eight million and more people who have signed up are going, either to sit home, or to vote against their own economic interests!
If the polls are correct, then the people are at fault, either for failing to exercise their right to vote, or can simply be told that they have, out of lack of knowledge and understanding, voted against what makes common sense, support for the Democratic Party!
The old saying is that people get the government they deserve, so if millions of people choose to support a party that has undermined the middle class and the poor, nothing else can be said except maybe, some day, they will learn their lesson, and realize the mistake they have made, that has only enriched the very wealthy at their expense!