William Howard Taft

The Tea Party Nation, Religion, And America’s Presidents!

Ronald 1 Comment

Judson Phillips, the founder of the Tea Party Nation, a specific Tea Party group, has condemned the Methodist Church for supporting the DREAM Act for children of illegal immigrants, for backing Obama health care which he considers “socialism”, and he says the church is the “First Church of Karl Marx”!

Realize that Mr. Phillips used to be a member of the Methodist Church, but left the church because it is involved in what he considers interference with separation of church and state!

It is alright if a religious group of the right gets involved in taking political stands, apparently, but if a more open minded, liberal church takes leadership on political controversies, that somehow is a sin!

Going on that basis, it means a third of our Presidents must have been “socialists” or followers of “Marxism”, as they were involved in faiths NOT conservative in their doctrine, or not connected to organized religion at all!

Let’s go through the list of 15 Presidents who do not fit Judson Phillips’ satisfaction on religious beliefs!

Four Presidents were Methodists, including James K. Polk, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, and George W. Bush, plus Rutherford B. Hayes, who was unaffiliated and then Methodist later in life.

Three were unaffiliated throughout life, including Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, with Grant and Hayes unaffiliated at times, and also Barack Obama.

Four Presidents were Unitarian, very far from traditional Christian religion, including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.

Also, we have had two Quaker (Society of Friends) Presidents, also out of the mainstream of Christianity–Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon.

So apparently these 15 Presidents were heretics “in league with the devil”, because they had a more open mind on organized religion, and took a more compassionate, social justice view of what religion is all about!

This is exactly what we need, a President who believes in tolerance and concern for those less fortunate, as no one can be considered truly “religious” who has a narrow minded, intolerant view of those who are different than them, or less fortunate in economic circumstances!

Speculation About A Primary Challenge To Barack Obama: Would Such A Move Be Worthwhile?

Ronald 1 Comment

Discontent with President Obama has been growing among principled liberals and progressives who do not wish for the President to accept compromises with the opposition Republicans.

It is understandable that there can be outrage and upset, but when the question arises that someone might challenge Obama in the 2012 Democratic Presidential primaries, one has to wonder whether that would indeed be a smart move, and who would mount such a challenge!

It seems to the author of this blog that challenging Obama would be extremely unwise, as it would weaken the President and give the GOP extra ammunition after he won the nomination over his critic. History tells us that when a sitting President is challenged for renomination, he invariably wins the nomination, but is so weakened that he loses to the opposition party’s Presidential nominee in the Fall campaign! This happened to William Howard Taft after Theodore Roosevelt challenged him, and the same with Gerald Ford after Ronald Reagan opposed him, Jimmy Carter after Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown ran against him, and George HW Bush after Pat Buchanan competed against him!

As far as who would challenge Obama, there are not many choices, as there are fewer Democratic Senators and Governors, although a defeated office holder would have the freedom to run without a commitment to a political job!

It seems to the author that defeated Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin would probably be the strongest possible choice, as he is a great progressive voice, but his loss of his Senate seat would mark him as a loser in many people’s minds!

Trying to figure who else has the following and reputation to consider a serious challenge is a major undertaking, with no likelihood of a worthwhile, serious alternative!

Therefore, despite disillusionment with Barack Obama, the only real choice for Democrats, progressives and liberals is to fight to push Obama in their direction, but also to realize that a Republican victory in 2012 would be far worse than a “moderate, centrist” President that Barack Obama may represent by the time of the election in 2012!

Disillusionment About Barack Obama: Is He Destined To Be Jimmy Carter? :(

Ronald 2 Comments

The decision of President Obama to make a deal with the Republicans, keeping the tax cuts for all, including millionaires and billionaires for two years, but also gaining an extension of unemployment compensation for 13 months, and gaining a few other tax breaks for working Americans, has enraged many liberals and progressives. They are sorely disappointed that Obama appears to them to be weak, spineless, too willing to compromise and apologize, too wimpy, and too willing to cave in to opposition demands! 🙁

There is a growing belief that some progressive will challenge Obama for the 2012 Democratic Presidential nomination, an action which would weaken the President and his party. While the odds would be that he would win the nomination, the likelihood of defeat in the election would be enhanced, as that scenario led to defeat of Presidents William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George HW Bush! 🙁

There is great disillusionment developing, and many wonder if Obama is destined to be another Jimmy Carter, ineffective much of the time and weakened greatly by inter party opposition within the Democratic Party!

Time For Barack Obama To Stop Being A Nice Guy!

Ronald Leave a comment

President Barack Obama has proved to be a “nice guy” in office, and people across the nation tend to like him personally!

However, as the saying of the former baseball manager Leo Durocher was used, “nice guys finish last!”

It is time for Barack Obama to stop being a “nice guy”, and start being an aggressive leader, play “hardball” with the opposition, and appeal to the country in the manner that Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman utilized in their campaigns!

He needs to attack the Republican party over the next two years for their refusal to cooperate! He needs to give them hell, as Truman did in his 1948 election campaign! He needs to attack wealthy interests who have no concern for the American people, as FDR did in 1936!

Obama must show some “cajones”, and show the people of this nation that he has guts and courage as Truman and FDR had!

Obama made a major mistake in apologizing for failing to work with the Republicans the past two years! 🙁

There is NOTHING to apologize for, as he gained a mandate in his election, and should instead have condemned the GOP leadership and demanded an apology from THEM, which of course would NOT be forthcoming! 🙁

There is concern among liberals and progressives, and a lot of disappointment too, and Obama might very well be threatened with a challenge from the left, if he does not start to assert himself in a more aggressive fashion! Such a challenge would be tragic, and would certainly insure a re-election defeat, as for instance happened to William Howard Taft in 1912, Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and George H. W. Bush in 1992!

So, Mr. President, show guts, courage and conviction, fight for the American people and what is right and moral, give the GOP hell, and then the American people will come to your defense and “throw the rascals out!”

Barack Obama’s Strategy To Deal With The Opposition Republicans: Should He Compromise And Alienate His Liberal Base? NO! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

The midterm elections of 2010 have set up a difficult situation for President Obama, as he faces the next two years with a split Congress, only the eleventh and twelfth years since 1900 that this odd situation has occurred!

There are those who say he should follow the example of Bill Clinton who compromised with an opposition Congress on some issues, and yet was trashed by them in a very vicious way over the six years of their shared relationship!

Or he could fight with the opposition Congress, as Harry Truman did in 1947-1948, giving them “hell”!

Of course, both these Presidents had opposition in control of both houses, so really, comparing Obama to Clinton and Truman is not a precisely similar situation!

Rather, Obama’s situation is similar to William Howard Taft from 1911-1913; Herbert Hoover from 1931-1933; and Ronald Reagan from 1981-1987. But actually, there is no precise comparison to these Presidents either, as all three had a Democratic House of Representatives and a Republican Senate, the opposite of what Obama faces in 2011-2012!

History tells us that both Taft and Hoover had unhappy years under a split Congress, and both lost re-election in a landslide, so they are not good models!

The Ronald Reagan comparison is more relevant, and went on for six years. Reagan had his principles, and while not always able to gain his agenda, he never really wavered in promoting his goals, and this was seen as making him a man of honor and principle!

Whatever Obama does is a tough choice and will affect his rating in history, but it seems to the author that he came in wanting to be a “transformational” President, and the only way to do that is to stand up and fight, stop caving in to GOP opposition, recognize that they wish him failure and have said so, and unite his liberal base by insisting on doing whatever can be done to advocate political, social and economic reform, along the lines of his very productive first two years, the most accomplished since the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson!

We do not need another Jimmy Carter or even Bill Clinton; we need another Lyndon B. Johnson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or Woodrow Wilson who will fight his opponents and challenge the nation to greater goals!

Obama should use the powers of his office through executive orders, not give a damn about his conservative critics, and remember that he was elected by the American people to bring change, not just muddle through and waste his mandate of 2008!

If conservatives and Republicans wish to continue to be negative, so be it, and they will bring down on themselves the wrath of the American people in 2012 and beyond!

Their negativism, lack of care for the average American, and insistence on favoring the wealthy and the corporations will lead to a reaction in two years against them, and they will be repudiated, as they will be seen for what they are–obstructionists who do nothing to make the American economy improved!

Obama should wage a “war on the GOP”, and gain the nickname “Give them hell, Barack”, just as Harry Truman gained the nickname of “Give them hell, Harry”!

Barack Obama And The Bush Tax Cuts: If Extended For The Rich, A Political Disaster For The Democratic Party! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

President Obama will meet next week with Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress after his return from his Asian trip, and he MUST stand strong against the GOP demand for continuation of tax cuts for the top two percent of Americans, who already have too much of the entire national income!

Just because the Democrats lost approximately 60 seats in the House of Representatives, the most since 1938, does not mean that we need a Democratic Party which acts as if it is the step sister of the Republican Party!

If Obama caves in on this matter, he will lose much of the base of his party, and endanger future economic recovery, and cause the likelihood of a challenge in the Democratic Presidential primaries in 2012!

If that happens, while Obama would almost certainly win the nomination–as William Howard Taft did in 1912 over Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford did in 1976 over Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter did in 1980 over Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown, and George HW Bush did in 1992 over Pat Buchanan–it would certainly weaken him for the election campaign, and likely cause his defeat, as it did for all four of the above Presidents challenged in the past century for the nomination of their party!

No one can seriously consider that Obama intends to do anything about the burgeoning national debt, if he permits an additional $700 billion to be added to the debt over the next ten years, just to keep “peace” with the Republican party, as that party has no interest in cooperation, and has made clear their major goal is to cause Obama to be a one term President!

So, Mr. President, show some guts and courage, and do NOT cave in to the GOP! Refuse to go along with tax cuts for the wealthy who do not need it! Show principle and conviction, and know that loyal Democrats will be there defending you, and know that the average middle class American, including many Independents, who are struggling to survive and keep his or her employment and housing, will regain their senses by 2012, and reward you and your party for being truly the party of the middle class, unwilling to continue the GOP plot to enrich the top two percent at the expense of the rest of the population!