George W. Bush

Three Years Since Election Of Barack Obama And One Year To Next Presidential Election!

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Three years ago last evening, at around 11 pm Eastern time, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States, a truly historic moment in American history! And tomorrow, it will be exactly one year to the next Presidential election!

It has been a very eventful, tumultuous three years, and many have been disappointed that all of the problems left by the Republican party control of Congress for 12 years and control of the White House for eight years under President George W. Bush, have not been resolved overnight.

Of course, it was truly unrealistic to believe that we would overcome the economic disaster of the Great Recession magically in three years.

But a lot of progress has been made, and in foreign policy and national security, Barack Obama has had an amazing three years.

Also, socially, we have seen great progress in promotion of human rights and the taking of the proper stand for workers, women, gays, and other groups that have not had a fair shake in the past in our country.

Barack Obama may have made people think he could walk on water, but the reality is that progress in many areas, including health care, education, constitutional law, and the environment has been made, but still leaving room for improvement.

To believe that any of the Republicans running for President offer a better future is to dwell in nonsensical dreaming!

The Further Deterioration Of The Presidential Candidates: Can’t We Find Qualified Candidates?

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The deterioration of the Republican Party continues, and it is amazing that whenever one thinks we have reached the “bottom of the barrel”, the situation gets worse.

Many have criticized George W. Bush as not very bright, not very qualified to be our President, and some have unfairly said he is the worst President in American history, a totally inaccurate statement.

But when one looks at all of the faults of George W. Bush, and then examines Sarah Palin who considered running; Michele Bachmann; Rick Perry; and now Herman Cain, honestly it gets worse all of the time and makes George W. Bush look like a genius!

Palin had little knowledge of any subject, but at least had SOME experience in public office.

Michele Bachmann came across as more looney and nutty, but at least had a few terms in the House of Representatives.

Rick Perry came across as making George W. Bush look brilliant, and has proved to be a terrible candidate, but at least he has been Governor of the second largest state for eleven years.

And then we have Herman Cain, with NO qualifications other than having been the head of Godfather Pizza, with NO experience in government at all, and totally coming across as a fool! And then he has sexual harassment charges lodged against him, and he and others start to compare him to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who had similar charges against him in 1991, but overcame them and went on to the Court, where he remains after 20 years.

The point is that Herman Cain is actually far worse than George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry!

it is also true that Herman Cain is no Clarence Thomas, who at least has intellectual qualifications, even if one does not agree with his jurisprudence!

So the GOP gets worse and worse and worse, while Mitt Romney flounders with a consistent one fourth of the party for him, and three fourths against him.

And Jon Huntsman, the best candidate the party has to offer, is “dead in the water” with one or two percent!

What a great tragedy for the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan!

The Republican Party: Fiscal Discipline And National Security–Foreign Policy Expertise Reputation Replaced By Incompetency And Ignorance!

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The Republican Party used to be the party of Fiscal Discipline, until George W. Bush and the Republican Congress spent wildly on the War on Terror and a Prescription Drug Plan without raising taxes, and in fact, cut them dramatically on the wealthy, causing the economic crisis of the Great Recession as a result!

The Republican Party used to be the party of National Security–Foreign Policy Expertise, the party of Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush, until Sarah Palin came along as a Vice Presidential choice in 2008, and then Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain came along, all three of them displaying total ignorance of the subject, and Rick Perry not much better!

To believe that the Republican Party could have serious challengers for the Presidency who have no clue on foreign policy or economic matters is something that promotes speechlessness!

Sarah Palin showed plenty enough ignorance, and there was a great sigh of relief when she decided finally not to run for President.

But instead, we have Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain, who seem in many ways, even worse than Sarah Palin.

We also have Rick Perry, who seems even worse than George W. Bush.

What has happened to the party that used to be respectable and knowledgeable, the party of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, George H. W. Bush, John McCain, and yes, even Ronald Reagan?

The Republican Party is in mourning for itself among its Establishment, and the nation should be in mourning as to how far downhill the party has gone!

A major political party with a glorious history in many ways has become an embarrassment to itself, and the nation suffers as a result!

The Supreme Court: Most Important Issue Of Presidential Campaign Of 2012

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It is amazing how little this Presidential campaign of 2012 has been connected to foreign policy, and to constitutional law, as if ONLY the economy matters.

As much as the Great Recession and its supposed aftermath has created a major crisis for Americans, to overemphasize it is a dangerous action, as the LONG RANGE problem is much more our relations with the world AND the future of our judiciary.

Regarding the judiciary, the thought that a Republican President would select MORE conservatives to a Court already top heavy with conservatives is absolutely terrifying on issues such as the power and influence of corporations, the rights of women, the rights of gays, the role of religion in government, and the struggle to preserve civil rights and civil liberties.

For instance, if Michael Dukakis had been elected in 1988 instead of George H. W. Bush, we would not have had Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court.

If John Kerry had been elected President in 2004, instead of George W. Bush, we would not have had John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.

Going further back, if Walter Mondale had defeated Ronald Reagan in 1984, we would not have had Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, and Justice William Rehnquist would not have become Chief Justice.

So the election of the President has LONG TERM consequences in judicial and constitutional interpretation, just as much as foreign policy is not only short term, but long range affecting.

When one realizes that Ruth Bader Ginsberg is 78, and Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy are 75, it seems realistic to believe that all three COULD be out of office in the next term of office.

So the Court could become more conservative if a Republican is elected to the Presidency, and more moderate if Barack Obama is elected to a second term in the White House.

Therefore, every voter MUST realize that the Presidential election has consequences, not only in foreign policy long term, but also in the future of our legal system and our constitutional rights.

The Collapse of Rick Perry: The Disastrous Performance Which Improves The Image Of George W. Bush!

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Texas Governor Rick Perry started off his Presidential campaign with a roar, surging ahead of Mitt Romney in September with 23 percent, and in some polls even more that that.

By mid October, after disastrous debate performances, he fell to 12 percent, and now, after the rude, nasty, aggressive attacks on Mitt Romney at the Nevada debate last week, he has totally tanked to fifth place, with only 6 percent support, in the New York Times-CBS News Poll.

Herman Cain, the “flavor of the month”, is ahead with 25 percent, with Romney second at 21 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 10 percent, Ron Paul with 8 percent, and Rick Perry at 6 percent.

And now he has proposed a new tax plan which would make the rich even richer, and hurt the middle class and the poor. And he has embraced the “Birther” myth about Barack Obama, which has been revived by Donald Trump yet again. Perry has also come across as insensitive, divisive, controversial, and personally obnoxious competitor in so many ways, with his personality and viewpoints undermining his candidacy the more one examines him!

Perry is seen by many as a total disaster, and this has led to condemnations by many Republicans, who realize Perry is worse than George W. Bush ever was, and it is clear that the Bush family and its supporters, including brother Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida, and Karl Rove, the “Bush Brain” advisor, are working very hard behind the scenes to derail Rick Perry.

Perry, due to his large campaign chest, is going to be part of the race for a long time, but he is an embarrassment to many in the party who see a total calamity ahead!

“Bush Brain” Karl Rove Alarmed At Disintegration Of Republican Party Represented By Candidacies Of Rick Perry And Herman Cain

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Karl Rove, known as the “Bush Brain’, the man who was able to succeed in electing George W. Bush President twice, is alarmed at what he sees as the coming disintegration of the Republican Party.

Rove has denounced Rick Perry and Donald Trump for reviving the “Birther” conspiracy theory about Barack Obama’s birth certificate, and denial that he was born in the United States. He is also alarmed at the ignorance and rhetoric of Herman Cain, who he considers totally unprepared to be President.

Without saying so specifically, it is clear that Rove prefers Mitt Romney as the nominee, particularly since Jon Huntsman so far has not shown any ability to gain support in the polls. Rove is worried that the Republican Party could self destruct in congressional races, due to the image of the party being crazy, looney, and conspiratorial in nature.

And to top it off, conservative talk show hosts and spokesmen, including Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, have bad mouthed Mitt Romney’s credentials, which along with “Birthers” and Tea Party activists, is a tremendous burden for those, such as Rove, who wish to keep the GOP in the hands of mainstream, rational leadership.

All this is great news for President Obama, as the opposition party tears itself apart.

The Inscrutable Joe Lieberman Still Making Noise As He Readies To Exit The Scene

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Connecticut Independent Senator Joe Lieberman may have decided to exit the Senate at the end of 2012, but he is still making noise and creating controversy.

Called conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, Jr’s “favorite Democrat” when he challenged incumbent liberal Republican Lowell Weicker successfully in 1988, Lieberman went on to build a legacy of hard nosed realism in American foreign policy, and the typical liberal Democrat in domestic affairs.

Coming across as moderate mainstream overall, he ended up being chosen as Vice President Al Gore’s Vice Presidential running mate in 2000, but then alienated Gore by publicly stating that the recount challenge was useless against George W. Bush.

After September 11, 2001, his maverick nature continued to develop, and he became one of the most vociferous backers of the Iraq War strategy of President George W. Bush, breaking with many Democrats, including Al Gore.

By 2006, he had alienated many Democrats in his home state and lost the Democratic primary, but instead of gracefully retiring, he ran as an Independent in a three way race and won his seat for another six year term.

Then in 2008, he backed his old friend, Senator John McCain, in the presidential election, breaking party ties completely in a shocking way, and the Democrats thought of punishing him by taking away his party seniority, but President Barack Obama advised against it.

At times supportive of Obama, but often not, Lieberman continued on his independent ways, remaining hawkish in foreign policy and liberal on most domestic matters, and particularly was notable in backing the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the military.

But last week, he refused to support the spending bill that would have preserved or created jobs for teachers and first responders, including firefighters and police officers, joining with only two other Democrats and all the Republicans in the Senate.

He has made it clear that he is unlikely to back anyone in the race to replace him in 2012, but has been friendly to Christopher Shays, former moderate Republican Congressman running for his seat.

So Joe Lieberman, from the beginning 23 years ago to now, remains the ultimate inscrutable political figure, certainly a fascinating one to research for a biography in the future.

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!

Obama Press Coverage Very Negative, But Still Well Liked In Polls!

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A Pew Research study shows that President Barack Obama has had very high levels of criticism in press coverage, but still retains a high personal likeability rating.

It is nothing new for Presidents to be bitterly attacked in the news media, particularly during a re-election campaign, but that does not necessarily lead to it having an effect on the presidential election.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was castigated and condemned, and still he won easy re-election victories.

The same occurred with Harry Truman, and he shocked everyone by winning re-election in 1948!

Bill Clinton came under constant fire in 1996, and George W. Bush in 2004, and yet they both won a second term.

As long as Obama has a high likeability rating, it will be difficult for any opponent to defeat him, no matter how the economy is used as an issue.

The question is whether the Republicans find a candidate who will be seen as much likeable as Barack Obama! Don’t bet on it!