Republicans

Anniversary Of The Obama Presidency: Something To Celebrate? YES!

Ronald Leave a comment

One year ago today, I nearly froze to death as an observer in Washington, D. C. at the inauguration of the Obama Presidency! I was proud to be a witness to history, and everyone of the two million people at the inauguration had great hopes for the future with this new, young President who was extremely articulate and charismatic.

Now, a year later, the halo is off, and reality has set in: It is easier to be elected as President, as hard as that is, than it is to govern and accomplish one’s goals and programs.

A fair appraisal of the Obama Presidency after one year would have to say that he has accomplished a great deal, but has also been disappointing in many ways. But then again, could one really have expected anything else? When one looks at any President while he is in office, as well after he has left the White House, there is always a record of what one might call “a mixed bag”. Running a government is difficult, and there are always many critics and opponents who are out to undermine success and promote defeat.

Much has been said by the author about the various challenges and actions by President Obama during the past year, and assessments have been made in some detail throughout the year.

I will summarize that I believe Barack Obama has accomplished a grade of B at this point, with the possibility of improvement to a higher grade over time. Certainly, the shocking election of Scott Brown as the successor to Ted Kennedy’s seat last night dims the celebration of the anniversary of Obama’s taking the oath of office, but it is also a wake up call for both Obama and the Democrats. One cannot assume that one election is a trend for November, but the one way for the Democrats to gain traction is to fight for what they believe in, rather than cave in and give up the fight for health care reform and other domestic changes.

The President has his heart in the right place, and his foreign policy direction is promising and inspiring. His view on civil liberties is to be applauded. I think as long as the Democrats and Barack Obama focus on the creation of economic recovery and the job situation shows improvement, then he and his party will see their losses in November be smaller than one might think based on the euphoria in Republican circles over the Scott Brown victory.

So overall, Mr. President, congratulations on a good job, but become more aggressive and determined in your commitment to change, and show the American people that ultimately you and your party are the true party of change and the middle class, and that the Republicans only wish to promote fear and division, and have no real plans for economic recovery or domestic reform. Carry your head high and keep the commitment to what you believe in, and ultimately, it will lead to triumph!

Too Much Hysteria Over Democratic Senate Fortunes In 2010 Elections

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The fact that Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd and North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan are retiring in 2010 has become to many observers the beginning of a Senate debacle for the Democrats in 2010. That is totally preposterous when one looks at the facts.

Dodd was facing a tough reelection and decided to leave, but state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is expected to sail to an easy victory, taking away a major GOP hope for another seat in the Senate.

Byron Dorgan might have had trouble in North Dakota, although that seems doubtful, but while Republican Governor John Hoeven may have an edge now, if talk show host Ed Schultz of MSNBC decides to run, it is very possible he could win that seat.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a major challenge in Nevada, but it is far from clear which of several Republicans could defeat him, and the question will arise whether his home state will want to give up the seniority, prestige, and leadership role that Reid has gained.

Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln also faces a difficult race, but Arkansas has been the only Southern state to elect Democrats consistently to the Senate in recent years, so it is far from certain that she will lose her seat.

Some think Senator Barbara Boxer of California may have some difficulties, but that state has tended Democratic for a long time, and again, whether California will want to give up the seniority and leadership role that Boxer has, seems doubtful.

Illinois, Colorado, Delaware and New York all have appointed senators, but the odds will still favor Democrats in all but possibly Colorado. Also, Senator Arlen Specter, having switched parties, will have to fight for his seat, but after 30 years, don’t bet against this feisty, outspoken senator!

Meanwhile, six Republican senators are retiring: Judd Gregg in New Hampshire, Jim Bunning in Kentucky, George LeMieux in Florida (who replaced Mel Martinez as an appointment), Kit Bond in Missouri, Sam Brownback in Kansas, and George Voinovich in Ohio.

The possibility exists that all those states could elect Democrats, except possibly Kentucky and Kansas. Florida certainly could elect Kendrick Meek over either Charlie Crist or Marco Rubio, due to the internal fighting in the GOP in that state’s upcoming primary battle in August.

So the Democrats could lose their 60 vote filibuster proof Senate (although Joe Lieberman as an independent is very unreliable, anyway), but is still likely to have a total in the mid to high 50s, including Lieberman and Bernie Sanders. Don’t start to think of the Republicans coming anywhere near control of the Senate!

The Lost Decade For The American Work Force: The “00”s

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Now that the “00s” have ended, the sad reality is that it was a lost decade for the American work force.

Statistics show that there was ABSOLUTELY no job growth at all for the entire decade, and that it was the worst decade for the economy since the 1930s, and this is not just from the Great Recession that started in 2008, but over the whole ten year period!

Along with zero net job creation, and middle income households making less in 2008 than in 1999, when inflation is factored into the equation, the net worth of American households also declined, with inflation figures considered.

Mismanagement of the economy reigned in the decade, and indebtedness became a major crisis for many Americans, as too many Americans lived on borrowed money. Therefore, that is a good explanation for the highest unemployment rate in numbers since the 1930s, and the tremendous collapse of the housing market in the past few years.

This decade now ended could also be called the “bubble” decade, since it began with a stock market bubble and ended with a housing and credit bubble, with the present recession far worse than the mild one in the early part of the decade.

The challenge for President Obama’s administration will be how to turn the economy around and bring real job growth sooner, rather than later, not just for the economic health of the nation, but also for the political future of the Democratic Party in Congress and in the state houses.

One thing seems clear: The Republican party cannot blame the economic mess on the Democrats, as they controlled the White House for eight years and the Congress for six years during this tragic decade. The Democrats need to remind voters of this fact, and the reality that the GOP has no solutions on the economy as we enter 2010, except to criticize and downgrade everything Obama promotes or suggests.

No Profiles In Courage Among Senate Republicans :(

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The Republican party was the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, but that time has long passed. 🙁

Knowing full well that the American health care system needed reform, not one Republican in the Senate could overcome party loyalty and do the right thing: vote for health care reform.

The fact that this legislation forces insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions; creates an exchange that allows for competition as up to 31 million additional Americans have an opportunity to choose coverage; guarantees that no one will ever lose coverage because they get sick or injured; protects Americans from outrageous out of pocket expenses by establishing lifetime and annual limits; allows young people to stay on their parents’ coverage until age 26; prevents exorbitant premiums based on age, gender or health; lowers premiums for families through offering struggling people the possibility of subsidies; and helps small businesses to provide health care coverage to their employees through tax credits was totally ignored even by those Republicans thought to be open minded and possessing courage and principle.

I am talking about Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and George Voinovich of Ohio. These nine senators have shown signs of independence and courage in the past, and are seen as highly admired senators in the sense of having principles, but not one could find it in their hearts to forget partisanship and make the legislation bipartisan.

These senators over time will come to regret their failure to cross party lines, come across the aisle, and do what was right: support the legislation that is the most significant social change to occur since the mid 1960s!

Support From American Medical Association And Public Opinion Poll For Health Care Legislation

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Good news for the Obama Administration comes from the head of the American Medical Association, who calls the Senate bill good for America.

This is an important moment for that support, and a poll also indicates that as more people follow the health care debate, the public support is growing, as it becomes obvious that the GOP is promoting fear tactics and misleading information to try to defeat the bill.

It seems assured that a year from now, the American people will understand what the Democrats have done is for the good of the nation, and the Republicans will suffer electorally for their total opposition to dealing with this most important issue!

This does not mean that the Republicans will fail to gain seats in Congress, as that is a normal result in the midterm election for the party out of power. But those who think there will be major gains will be very surprised next November!

Pathbreaking Moment: Senate Overcomes GOP Filibuster On Health Care Reform!

Ronald 1 Comment

After a long, drawn out, highly partisan debate that has gone on for months, the Senate this morning passed a necessary step toward cloture to overcome a filibuster, and move toward later this week agreeing to a landmark health care reform bill.

Of course, even after a final vote expected to be held on Christmas Eve, the hardest job of all will be early next year to promote a conference committee report of both houses of Congress, reconciling different aspects of the bill that will be very difficult to gain compromise on, including the issue of abortion, the public option in the House bill, and funding and taxing health care in a way that will not add to the burgeoning national debt.

In many ways, the concept of victory seems elusive, as one has to wonder how the two houses will come up with a common bill. It will require statesmanship and moderation to accomplish what has been an elusive goal for nearly a century: health care reform, which even if this resolves itself, is still only a beginning step toward total reform at some point down the road in future time.

While this issue has become highly partisan, it seems to me that even this imperfect bill passed in both houses of Congress will ultimately be a plus for the Democrats, as much as Social Security and Medicare were in previous generations. The unwillingness of Republicans to work on a common goal for health care will not make them look good in the future and in historical perspective!

Congressman David Obey, Afghanistan And Domestic Reform

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Long time Wisconsin Democratic Congressman David Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has called upon the President to ask for a war surtax if he intends to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

His argument is that the Afghan War will cost $40 billion more per year if we send 40,000 more troops there, which is the proposal of General Stanley McChrystal being considered by President Obama. Obey says we cannot afford that cost, and that it will destroy the entire domestic reform agenda of the President, as we cannot sustain escalating the war and also pursue domestic change.

So Obey suggests that it is time for us to pay for an escalation of the war by taxing the American people, instead of just the troops sacrificing their lives, and taxpayers not having the responsibility as in past wars to pay taxes as their sacrifice for the war.

I think David Obey is absolutely correct in his statements. If we as a people are for this war, then let’s pay the taxes for it, instead of just waving the flag but otherwise making no sacrifice for the war we supposedly believe in.

Of course, a better answer is get out of this war and promote the domestic agenda. Isn’t it interesting how Republicans have no issue with spending for the war, but tell us we cannot afford a domestic reform agenda? However, is this really new, or just the old GOP hypocrisy about government spending?

Let’s remember that most of our national debt is due to militarism and war, not domestic reform, and that most of the national debt occurred under Presidents Reagan and Bush II. And yet the GOP has the gall to claim that the Democrats are the big spenders!

A Different Way Of Analyzing Tuesday’s Election Results

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While the Republicans are celebrating their gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday, if one looks at special elections in House districts since the election of 2008, things look quite differently.

Not only did the Democrats win NY 23 for the first time since the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant in the 1870s, but also they have won a vacancy in a California seat, and also earlier in Louisiana, Mississippi and Illinois, since Barack Obama became President.

The fact that they won open seats in New York and California on Tuesday allowed their margin of victory on the health care legislation last night to be 220-215, rather than 218-217, the absolutely bare margin needed for passage.

In the long run, winning the House vacancies is more significant for national politics than the losing of governorships in states that have recently demonstrated that they have gone for the party out of the White House a year after the presidential election for 20 straight years in both states, and actually 32 straight years in Virginia.

The difficult economy is bound to affect governors of both parties, as higher unemployment and greater numbers of foreclosures, leading to budget cuts in public services, naturally creates a political nightmare for governors, who bear the brunt of the blame for the downturn.

So while the Republicans celebrate their triumphs, the Democrats also have a lot to celebrate–five Democratic wins in the past year in special House elections!

The Oddity Of Virginia And New Jersey: No Significant Meaning

Ronald Leave a comment

An odd tradition has occurred in both Virginia and New Jersey since 1989, and in Virginia actually going back to 1977.

The party in the White House every time has lost the gubernatorial race in these two states the following year. No one knows why, but since it has happened on a regular basis, it cannot be seen as a bellwether for the future.

There is no way that an election with only two states holding major races can be seen as meaning anything, other than local factors predominating. So the Republicans should be happy, but not get their hopes up for 2010.

It still comes down to this ultimately: As Bill Clinton promoted in his 1992 campaign: It is the economy, stupid!   This is what will decide the fortunes of the Republicans and Democrats in the midterm congressional elections next year!

The Meaning Of Virginia And New Jersey And NYC Races

Ronald 2 Comments

The Republican victories in the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and the close reelection victory of Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City are testaments to the fact that all politics is local, except in a Presidential election year.

The reality is that, with the economy continuing to worsen regarding unemployment and foreclosures, and with the corruption problems in New Jersey, it was inevitable that the independent voters would rebel against the party in power in both states, and make for a closer margin for NYC Mayor than was expected.

Last year, the Democrats benefited from the poor economy. This time, the Republicans were the ones to gain from the worsening economy.

It is very obvious that what happens in the 2010 midterm elections will be based more on the economy than anything else, so this puts the burden on President Obama to bring about substantial improvement in economic statistics in the next year, and to accomplish passage of major health care reform legislation, with the belief that once it is accomplished, it will be an asset for the Democrats.

While this is not a good day for Democrats, to interpret two state governorship races as a mandate for the GOP and a slap in the face to Barack Obama is a tremendous exaggeration. But no one can debate that the 2010 midterm congressional election will be a judgment on the Obama Presidency halfway to the Presidential election.