Midterm Elections Of 2010

Joe Biden’s Prediction For The Midterm Elections: Control Of Congress Assured!

Ronald Leave a comment

Vice President Joe Biden gave a “pep talk” to the Democratic National Committee yesterday, predicting that the party would retain control of both houses of Congress in the November 2 midterm elections!

Smartly, he did not give any numbers as to the party balance, and did not state that the party would retain the same number of seats, as that would be foolhardy, when one looks at the history of midterm elections!

But he pointed out that the Republican party has offered no real alternatives other than “repeal and repeat”, and that the American people, going through the roughest time since the Great Depression, would come to their senses after Labor Day, and realize that slow progress has been made, and it makes no sense to go back to the failed policies of the George W. Bush years, which led to this economic disaster!

The Tea Party activists running on the GOP line will weaken the party, Biden predicted, and with all of the propaganda going around that the Democrats are going to lose many seats, it is a fact, well known and reported, that the Republican National Committee is running low on campaign funds, while the Democrats are in much better financial shape!

So the media reports that are widespread, making it seem as if the Democrats are in retreat, may not be the case, as the author feels! But, of course, it is essential that all who believe that a return of the Republicans to control of Congress would be devastating, to get out there and work for the party and vote!

The 111th Congress’ Successes Are Magnificent, Greatest Since 1965-1966! The Democrats And President Obama Must Spread The Message! :)

Ronald 4 Comments

The Democratic Party has accomplished a proud record of achievements that should be enough to keep Republican gains down during the midterm election of 2010, but they have not been able to transmit these successes adequately to the American people!

It is now the job of President Obama and all Democratic officeholders and candidates to promote, hail, endorse, and defend a record unmatched by any Congress since the 1960s! 🙂

The only Congresses that could be seen as having accomplished MORE than the 111th Congress are the 73rd Congress under Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1934), and the 89th Congress under Lyndon B. Johnson (1965-1966)!

This Congress, under Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has enacted much pathbreaking legislation, but it will take years to feel the full impact of what they have done for the American people!

Among the accomplishments are the following (not an exhaustive list):

1. Passage of the largest stimulus package in history, which prevented a worst economic downturn, but may not have been enough to turn the economy around as quickly as many hoped for!
2. credit card consumer protection legislation.
3. landmark health care reform legislation.
4. Wall Street regulation.
5. tobacco regulation.
6. reform of contracting in the Pentagon, and the beginning of accountability on wasteful spending.
7. tax cuts for the middle class.
8. an anti age discrimination law.
9. approval by the Senate of two Supreme Court nominees.
10. extension of unemployment compensation after a battle in the Senate.
11. Much other legislation, including on climate change, in the House, but blocked in the Senate!

Many other initiatives were taken by President Obama outside of Congressional activity, and it should be made clear to the American people that the President and his party have worked VERY HARD to change the direction of the country, and deal with the total mess left by the Republicans and George W. Bush!

But to expect total success and a complete turnaround of years of damage in less than two years is unrealistic, so the Democrats must play hardball, and get the message out that a return to the Republican policies through an attempted repeal of the 111th Congress’s accomplishments would be counterproductive, as well as destructive, of the interests and the future of the American people! 🙁

What A GOP Victory In November Would Mean For America! :(

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Let’s just imagine a scenario where the Republican Party gains 40 or more seats in the House of Representatives and 10 in the Senate, and therefore wins control of both houses of Congress! 🙁

What would this mean? Many things, indeed, none of them good for America! 🙁 There is no special order to the following list!

1. John Boehner would become Speaker of the House, and Eric Cantor would become House Majority Leader–neither of whom have yet come up with any concept of leadership other than total opposition to anything but helping corporations avoid regulation!
2. Mitch McConnell would become Senate Majority Leader, and presides over a chaotic Senate in which Tea Party Movement senators such as Mike Lee, Ken Buck, Marco Rubio, and Linda McMahon join Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, and make one feel that Tom Coburn, James Inhofe and Jim DeMint are comparatively “mainstream”!
3. The House would begin probes of the Obama Administration, with Darrell Issa of California having the power to issue subpoenas and promote a “witch hunt” against the President and his staff!
4. Any attempt to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the military, if not accomplished already, will fail to be enacted by Congress!
5. Attempts to repeal the Health Care legislation will be an early order of business!
6. Attempts to repeal Financial Reform legislation will be urgently pursued!
7. Tax cuts for the wealthy will proliferate, and the estate tax will permanently come to an end!
8. Defense spending will rise astronomically, and there will be talk of war against the Islamic world!
9. There will be attempts to privatize Social Security and Medicare, and get the government out of the business of controlling the “safety net”!
10. There will be no environmental legislation, as Senator James Inhofe will continue to block any action against global warming and climate change!
11. The new Consumer Financial Protection Agency will be scaled back, and possibly face repeal, as unnecessary bureaucracy!
12. Any judicial appointments, including the Supreme Court, will be blocked or delayed!
13. No more economic stimulus of any kind will be offered, despite the fact of growing unemployment and higher levels of mortgage foreclosures!
14. Attempts will be made to bring charges of impeachment against President Obama, based on McCarthy type innuendos!
15. Education and all other social programs will be dramatically cut!
16. States rights will be emphasized, with the government only there for defense and promotion of corporate privilege!
17. Severe anti immigrant legislation will come to a vote, and the racism and nativism that exists will multiply!
18. Anti Islamic violence will be encouraged by GOP rhetoric, worsening our relations with the Islamic world!
19. The Republicans will attempt to block foreign policy initiatives by the Obama Administration worldwide, and treaties will be fought against as foreign conspiracies!
20. The country will be far worse off in both domestic and foreign policy by 2012, in ways not even mentioned above!

There are certainly many other points that could be made, but this is a solid sampling of the reality that America faces if it allows fear and hate and anger to rule the day on Election Day!

The one virtue if a GOP takeover occurs is, thankfully, the ability of President Obama to veto most legislation that calls for the wrong policies or for repeal, with no chance of a two thirds override in the Congress!

Ironically, this crisis of a Republican takeover, were it to happen, might bring out a different side of the President! It might make Obama finally stop trying to be a “nice guy” and fight in the way Harry Truman fought the Republicans in 1948!

In other words, Obama might, under these circumstances, become “Give Them Hell Barack!”

It is certainly time that the President, in this fall campaign, does everything humanly possible to get the message out to the voters: We have made fundamental changes that are for the good of the American people! There is much to do, but do not set back progress and make life worse for this nation! Give us the chance to continue our work of reforming America for the benefit of all, not just the wealthy and the corporate interests! Let us continue the expansion represented by the New Deal and the Great Society! Make America once again the land of opportunity and the beacon for oppressed people around the globe! Make us proud, instead of promoting a negative attitude about the future! In so doing, we will be continuing the true message of the Founding Fathers, who saw this nation as a unique one in world history!

The Inscrutable Nature Of The American Voter: The Future At Stake!

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The upcoming Midterm Elections of 2010 for the House of Representatives, Senate, and Governorships are a topic of discussion among not just journalists and bloggers, but also every day Americans who are living through the most difficult economic times in 75 years!

Certain points seem clear:
1. There is great discontent and anger with the high unemployment rate, and the continuing housing crisis, with foreclosures at very high levels!
2. The vast majority of Republicans and conservatives are totally negative toward everything that the Obama Administration has promoted into law, and everything they advocate in statements and actions!
3. Democrats are unenthusiastic about the upcoming elections, and have lost their passion to be involved in promoting their party through activism and voting participation!
4. Independents are unhappy with the Obama Administration, but not enthused either by the Republican alternative!
5. Moderates may be unhappy with some of what the Obama Administration has done and advocated, but don’t want to go over to the right wing Tea Party activist movement!
6. Tea Party activists are zealous in their hatred of government, but it is doubtful that a large percentage of Americans believe in their cause!
7. A majority of Americans may hate the power and influence of the federal government, but at the same time want the federal government to be there to control and regulate the powerful economic forces, the corporations, that dominate their lives!
8. A majority of Americans are disillusioned about the future, and that may lead to record turnout for the elections, based upon this emotion, or could also lead to a record decline in participation, based on alienation from the whole situation existing in America!

The reality is as follows: Based upon history, the Republican Party SHOULD gain seats in both houses of Congress and in the Governorships! That would not be a surprise! The party out of the White House traditionally gains seats in a midterm election!

But the question is, will those who vote, state by state, cause a party turnover in the Congress? The answer is highly unlikely, as a gain of more than 40 seats in the House and 10 in the Senate seems extremely remote!

Will the decision be by those who vote that the opposition is the “lesser of evils”, or rather that “better to stick with those you know, than those you don’t know”?

When those who vote have time to reflect on what has happened, will they punish the Democrats for the multitude of changes brought about, or decide after reflection that a lot of good has occurred, and they do not wish to see it repealed; or will they be supportive of a more confrontational Congress that will lead to greater gridlock and stalemate?

The key question above all is not only who votes, and how many, but how rational will these voters be when they are actually voting! Will emotion and fear and scare tactics win over, or will calm reasoning about how much worse it would have been, under a different set of policies under President John McCain, take hold?

This midterm election is truly a mandate, a sense of where the American people stand! We are at a crossroads as to whether government can work, or whether we are returning to the era of 19th century states rights (Civil War) and unregulated capitalism (Gilded Age)!

In other words, are we returning to the tragic policies of the past, and wiping out all of the progress of the 20th century under Congresses and Presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon (yes, even him!), George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama?

All of these Presidents and Congresses made life better, and advanced the cause of social and economic reform, and democracy, at times when many of the states were in the other direction, and also tamed the excesses of industrial capitalism in the public interest!

To believe that we are on the cusp of a reversal of our history is something to be worried about, and to prevent this by promoting active participation in this fall’s election by those who care about preserving the great reforms and changes that the federal government has brought about in the past century!

Can America afford to return to the past? Is this what would be best for the nation’s future? The clear answer is NO! 🙁

Unpredictability Of Republican Senate Candidates Not Favored By GOP Leaders: Future Troubles For Mitch McConnell?

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican party leaders in Washington, D. C. are now faced with six nominees for the Senate not originally supported by the GOP Senatorial Campaign Committee! There is unpredictability as to what this means for the party structure and stability in the Senate, if all or most of the six win their Senate races!

Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sharron Angle of Nevada have made the most news with their controversial statements and refusal to talk to mainstream media!

But also not originally favored by party leaders are Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ken Buck of Colorado, and Linda McMahon of Connecticut!

The only one of these six that can be seen as a definite winner in November is Mike Lee of Utah, a state where the Republicans dominate to such an extent that it is clear his Democratic opponent has no chance to win the seat! Senator Robert Bennett was defeated by Tea Party activists in a state convention.

Rand Paul defeated the establishment favorite, Trevor Grayson, in Kentucky, and has been an embarrassment to Mitch McConnell, and if he wins the Senate seat over Jack Conway, will be a “loose cannon” sure to give the Republican leader and his party a lot of grief!

Sharron Angle defeated Sue Lowden in Nevada, the party favorite, and has been a literal nightmare as she campaigns, and will be a “lightning rod” if she manages to defeat Harry Reid!

Marco Rubio managed to destroy Governor Charlie Crist’s chances for the GOP nomination in Florida, and is loved by the Tea Party, but as an Independent, Crist might yet win the Senate race!

Ken Buck defeated Jane Norton in Colorado, and is a Tea Party favorite, but faces a tough race against Michael Bennet, and has made statements highly controversial in the vein of Paul and Angle!

Linda McMahon, the former head of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) has used her substantial fortune to defeat establishment favorite Rob Simmons in Connecticut, but faces an uphill race against state Attorney General Dick Blumenthal!

A Senate with all of these individuals in the chamber would be a major nightmare for Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders! In fact, there is no guarantee that there would not be a rebellion against the party leadership, that could lead to more extreme Republicans such as Jim DeMint of South Carolina or James Inhofe of Oklahoma as the Senate leaders!

The Tea Party is creating a scenario for the Republican Party that they may long regret! 🙂

The good news is that as things stand right now, as stated earlier, the only certain winner is Mike Lee of Utah, but all of these six races will be key ones for assessing the future impact of the Senate on American politics, no matter whether the Democrats keep control, or somehow, the Republicans win control!

Two Economists Agree: Obama Prevented A Depression!

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In the heated political climate that now exists in Washington, DC, the truth often is lost, and propaganda wins out, but in late July, a report by two economists proved something very significant: that the actions of President Obama in the past year really made a difference, and prevented a depression and deflation!

According to these two esteemed economists, one connected to Princeton University and the Federal Reserve, and the other to Moody’s, the gross domestic product would be 6.5 percent lower; there would be 8.5 million fewer jobs on top of the 8 million loss that has occurred; and the economy would be experiencing deflation, something unheard of since the times of Herbert Hoover!

The TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) begun by George W. Bush and continued by Barack Obama, and the economic stimulus program promoted by Obama made a REAL difference, and it is time that this be understood and accepted, and also applauded!

But in the midst of the election campaign for Congress and the governorships this fall, truth is likely to be a victim, as impatient people want immediate resolution of the economic crisis! What they fail to understand is that IF the Republican party had been in power and refused to do everything that Obama proposed, we would be in far worse shape!

The Republicans have not come up with any alternative, but if they win control of Congress, the American people will discover that there are no magic potions, and they will soon realize that they have made a mistake in switching party control to the GOP! 🙁

Exactly Three Months To The Midterm Elections! The Most Crucial Midterm Since 1934!

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Today marks exactly three months to the midterm Congressional elections of 2010!

Every midterm election is, of course, significant, but looking at the economic and political situation that exists now, it could be argued that this is the most important such midterm election since 1934, when Franklin D. Roosevelt had begun the New Deal to tackle the Great Depression, and the conservative and Republican opposition was bitterly attacking it as a failure, and calling for a return to the conservative economic policies which had caused the massive downturn in the early 1930s!

The future of the nation was at stake then, and it is similar to what is faced now! If the Republican party were somehow to gain control of the Congress, it would likely lead to a total meltdown of the economy, and further deterioration of the political system, leaving us in threat of total anarchy! 🙁

This is due to the fact that unlike any other Presidency, the aim of the opposition party is total destruction of the Obama programs and policies, and no willingness to accept the responsibility of shared commitment to the public good!

If we think that the economy is in sad shape now, imagine a GOP Congress declaring further war on the middle and lower classes, and using social wedges to divide American society, and appealing to the lowest common denominator of hate and prejudice! 🙁

This is not the time for anyone who cares about progressive or liberal causes to sit on their hands because the Obama Administration has not accomplished all of the goals it set for itself in the 2008 election campaign!

Perfection is not possible, but if committed people do not vote, they will bring about a scenario they will regret for many years! The need to vote is absolutely essential!

African American Lawmakers And Ethics: No Excuses Accepted! :(

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As if the Democratic Party did not have enough problems facing them in the midterm elections in November, two senior African American lawmakers in the House of Representatives have managed to make themselves the center of corruption probes that are leading to ethics investigations!

Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York, the former Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is facing 13 ethics violations in a public trial which seems daunting to overcome! Having been in the House for nearly 40 years, Rangel seems obviously to have misused his office and to have a level of cockiness and arrogance which does not do his cause any favor!

Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California also faces ethics charges, and is the senior African American woman in the House, with nearly 20 years in the chamber. She is facing charges of helping her husband financially with a bank tied to him. She is well known for her often outrageous statements and actions, including wanting earmarks named after her!

The problem with both Rangel and Waters is that they both display arrogance, cockiness, and extreme egotism, but if one dares to state that publicly, they often are called racists!

That cannot be allowed to be reasons for them to avoid paying the price for their corruption, which seems quite clear! The Democrats in the House need to do what is proper, which is to back away from both members on the basis that they are hurting the party’s interests and do not deserve united support just because of their race!

If the Democrats refuse to hold Rangel and Waters responsible simply to avoid the charge of racism, then the party will suffer dearly in November!

What is needed is to make clear that the party will not accept corruption in any member, whether African American, Hispanic, Asian, or Caucasian! The principles of decency, ethics, and honesty are essential to keep public support and deal with the many issues that face this nation!

The fact is that all those under any stage of ethics violations, a total of eight now, are African American House Democrats! Does that make it a racist act, or just the reality that apparently SOME members of the House who happen to be black take liberties with their positions of power?

To promote the idea that race is the key factor is not a service to the House of Representatives, and in the case of Rangel and Waters, instead of fighting the charges in a divisive way, they should both “cut deals” or face a vote based on their behavior, not their race!

The Fickle Nature Of Public Opinion Polls: Bill Clinton Vs. Barack Obama!

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Imagine this: Former President Bill Clinton is now more popular than President Barack Obama!

Of course, Bill Clinton was quite unpopular during the 2008 Presidential campaign, as his wife was in combat with Obama!

But now, with no responsibility for government policy, and involved in Haitian relief and other charitable causes, suddenly he is popular, and is seen by many as a better campaign asset for many Democrats than the President!

Of course, Obama faces the constant barrage of problems and issues, and the opposition is unrelenting, which shows the reality of politics–that when you are engaged in the making of policy, you make enemies!

Once you leave, and years go by, and if you stay out of controversy, your ratings will go up, as attitudes soften towards you in retrospect!

So Clinton’s popularity can be utilized to help Democrats in areas where it might be best for Obama to avoid campaigning!

If the Democrats do better in the midterm elections than many expect, a lot of the credit will have to go to Bill Clinton! But that is all to the good! 🙂

What Obama And The Democrats Must Do To Defeat The Republicans In November 2010!

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Republican House Leader John Boehner has made clear what the goal of his party is if they regain control in November: repeal all legislation passed under Barack Obama, and rescind all regulations and reforms that have been enacted! 🙁

This is a negative approach, which basically is saying that we should go back to the Bush years of deregulation and corporate malfeasance, and ignore the reality of suffering for millions of Americans affected by the Great Recession brought on during the Bush Administration!

So the Democrats MUST go on the offensive, and in a sense, fight a guerrilla war against those who speak up for corporate America, for the privileged, for the elite! Make it clear that we gave the conservatives nearly 30 years in power in one form or another, and that it is now time that progressive and liberal ideas be permitted to bring about necessary reforms and fulfill the American dream of equal opportunity and a sense of fairness and justice, all of which has been lacking over the past generation!

And understand, this is not an issue of race, as there are millions of middle class and poor whites who have been exploited by the corporate world with impunity; millions of elderly and retired people who have seen their nest eggs irreparably stripped from them; millions of young people who have a sense of hopelessness about the future!

The Democrats must use the tactics of the Republicans to fight them, including exposing the truth of their records, their connections, their associations, and their heartlessness! It is very evident that the GOP does not care about the damage done to millions upon millions of American citizens by the economic crisis, the oil spill, and overwhelming power of the special interests! 🙁

The Democrats are far from perfect, but their history, their connections and associations, and the accomplishments that have occurred under President Obama offers greater promise for a brighter future than the negativism and chants of repeal and oppose, which has been the GOP message in the first year and a half of the Obama Presidency!