We witnessed history yesterday as Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States of America. While everyone was very honorable in their demeanor yesterday, you and see once again the party lines being drawn.
Republicans, your shtick is getting old. I heard Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly saying last night that the Republican party is not yet done. Well, I would agree Bill, but it is on life support if you look at it objectively. Let's review: For the past four years, during one of the deepest recessions since the great depression, the Republican Congress has obstructed more proposals and passed the fewest bills of any of its modern day predecessors. Now they are trying a new strategy: The President is a bully...he won't work with us. He refuses to socialize with us.
Here is some advice to the Republicans. You need to treat the American citizen with a bit more intelligence than you have been treating them for the past five or so years. They remember what you say and what is reported in the press.
For example, when the Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell says that their number one priority is to make Barack Obama a one term president, people remember that. They also know that when their house is under water and they don't have a job, cannot make their house payment and have difficulty putting food on the table, Republican gamesmanship is the last thing they want to hear. When the debt ceiling has been raised unceremoniously for as long as anyone can remember and Republicans put the country's debt in jeopardy and threaten a government shutdown, people remember that. When the President is dogged by extremists who say he is a Muslim and not born in this country and the Republican party or leadership does not forcefully dismiss these unsubstantiated allegations, people remember that too.
It is also time to come back into the mainstream. Women's reproductive rights, for example, is already settled law. Supporting allowing companies to dictate the type of health care services they want to provide employees because it interferes with the employers' religious beliefs is not a way to win over the majority of the citizens of this country. Demanding that benefits we already have paid for need to be cut back because the government borrowed money from the account is also not the way to win over the electorate. Finally, taking a hard line stance against restricting weapons that are just designed to do the maximum amount of damage is not a way to win over most rational thinking people.
The Republicans have a built in contradiction to their party. They have always been for fiscal responsibility, smaller government and less regulation letting the private sector dictate the direction of the country. There is nothing wrong with this philosophy. But somewhere along the line the message got turned around. Under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush deficits skyrocketed. Government became much bigger. Under President G.W. Bush two wars were started without any way to pay them off. He put it on the country's credit card. On top of that he told everyone that they were getting a tax refund! Does this sound like the Republican party that is fiscally responsible and a strong advocate for smaller government?
Then from left field the party that believes in personal responsibility for business has told people how they expect to live their lives; women in particular. They want to limit a woman's right to choose, they want doctors doing ultrasounds for women who want to consider aborting their fetus'. Some of their party members proudly proclaimed that rape should be redefined calling it "legitmate rape." So while they are all for deregulating business, saying that environmental protection is too strict and letting the banks run wild again, socially they are willing to regulate woman's health care issues to those that existed 100 years ago. There is just a huge contradiction between their party ideology and their practice. This is what is holding the party back and the American people see it.
It is there for all to see. These are just some of the issues that the right has taken and for lack of a better term, perverted it. They are largely led by Fox News, their media arm or from lobbyists like Grover Norquist or the NRA. If the Republicans want to have a place on the national stage in years to come, they need to have a better vision and see where the country is going.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
What A Mess
Happy New Year. For most of us our taxes will not be going up as of yesterday. It would seem that the circus that is the House of Representatives in a brief moment of sanity passed the bill that now averts for a couple of months higher taxes for all and automatic spending cuts to defense and what are known as "entitlements" in the US will be put off for now.
But as of this morning some of the biggest blowhard Republicans are crying that they were sold out by John Boehner and the others that voted to raise taxes on just those making more than $400,000 individually and $450,000 as a couple. Newt Gingrich tweeted that the GOP has been engaged in a two month dance of defeat and surrender. Donald Trump called the Republicans the worst negotiators in history. Other prominent Republicans were equally disdainful of the bill but in the end the President signed it and America lives on. Even Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, reportedly hated the compromise deal so much he threw it in the fireplace and let it burn. One thing was clear: the Republican leadership was fractured by this vote with Boehner and former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan voting for the bill and Eric Cantor voting against.
With this latest drama played out on the world stage the biggest concern for the 98% of us is that the power concentrated in the remaining 2% should be of concern to the rest of us. How can the power and leverage be so strong that what should seem like an easy decision comes down to a nail biter between our elected representatives and the American people? Who best represents this concentration of power? The lobbyists. We know that Grover Norquist and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, has extracted pledges from most of the the conservatives on Capital Hill to never raise taxes and worked hard to protect the 2%. But there are undoubtedly many whose names we do not know how are also twisting arms behind the scenes. It is those that we need to be really concerned about.
Who was the real winner here: Compromise. This is something that has been missing in Washington since 2008. Without a filibuster proof majority this administration has had a very difficult time moving forward its agenda. An agenda at times aligned with what was at one time the Republican's own agenda. As John Boehner was appointed Majority Leader of the House of Representatives he proclaimed on CBS' 60 Minutes that he felt that he did not need to compromise. Two years later he made good on his pledge and the 112th Congress became the least productive since the 1940's passing just 383 bills while the Congress before it passed 463.
But will this be a new trend in Washington or just a momentary pause in the conservatives drive to destroy the recovery in America? The Congress is already gearing up for the next fight which will be over the sequester, automatic cuts to defense, social security and medicare, and their tying is to the tie it to the debt ceiling. That will take place in the next 6 - 8 weeks. The President has said that tying anything to the debt ceiling will be a non starter in any negotiations.
Another residual fallout from this so called mini deal is that victims from Hurricane Sandy will not receive additional aid. Influential Congressman like Republican Peter King from New York and Governor Chris Christie are outraged that members of their own party would betray them in their time of need. He squarely placed accountability with House Speaker John Boehner saying that he was responsible for continuing the pain and suffering of innocent victims of a natural disaster. Could John Boehner not only be the worst Speaker of the House in modern day history but also the laziest?
So where do we go from here? If you here it from the right wing pundits it was a crushing defeat for the Republican party and the Tea Party in particular. They say that this is nothing more than a tax increase without a spending decrease. But the news is not all bad. What is not being reported is that the deficit has been shrinking slow under the Obama presidency. What pundits and the media seem to be downplaying is if this latest deal has been a good one for the American people. The early answer seems to be yes, but we will know more in just a few more weeks. Stay tuned.
But as of this morning some of the biggest blowhard Republicans are crying that they were sold out by John Boehner and the others that voted to raise taxes on just those making more than $400,000 individually and $450,000 as a couple. Newt Gingrich tweeted that the GOP has been engaged in a two month dance of defeat and surrender. Donald Trump called the Republicans the worst negotiators in history. Other prominent Republicans were equally disdainful of the bill but in the end the President signed it and America lives on. Even Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, reportedly hated the compromise deal so much he threw it in the fireplace and let it burn. One thing was clear: the Republican leadership was fractured by this vote with Boehner and former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan voting for the bill and Eric Cantor voting against.
With this latest drama played out on the world stage the biggest concern for the 98% of us is that the power concentrated in the remaining 2% should be of concern to the rest of us. How can the power and leverage be so strong that what should seem like an easy decision comes down to a nail biter between our elected representatives and the American people? Who best represents this concentration of power? The lobbyists. We know that Grover Norquist and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, has extracted pledges from most of the the conservatives on Capital Hill to never raise taxes and worked hard to protect the 2%. But there are undoubtedly many whose names we do not know how are also twisting arms behind the scenes. It is those that we need to be really concerned about.
Who was the real winner here: Compromise. This is something that has been missing in Washington since 2008. Without a filibuster proof majority this administration has had a very difficult time moving forward its agenda. An agenda at times aligned with what was at one time the Republican's own agenda. As John Boehner was appointed Majority Leader of the House of Representatives he proclaimed on CBS' 60 Minutes that he felt that he did not need to compromise. Two years later he made good on his pledge and the 112th Congress became the least productive since the 1940's passing just 383 bills while the Congress before it passed 463.
But will this be a new trend in Washington or just a momentary pause in the conservatives drive to destroy the recovery in America? The Congress is already gearing up for the next fight which will be over the sequester, automatic cuts to defense, social security and medicare, and their tying is to the tie it to the debt ceiling. That will take place in the next 6 - 8 weeks. The President has said that tying anything to the debt ceiling will be a non starter in any negotiations.
Another residual fallout from this so called mini deal is that victims from Hurricane Sandy will not receive additional aid. Influential Congressman like Republican Peter King from New York and Governor Chris Christie are outraged that members of their own party would betray them in their time of need. He squarely placed accountability with House Speaker John Boehner saying that he was responsible for continuing the pain and suffering of innocent victims of a natural disaster. Could John Boehner not only be the worst Speaker of the House in modern day history but also the laziest?
So where do we go from here? If you here it from the right wing pundits it was a crushing defeat for the Republican party and the Tea Party in particular. They say that this is nothing more than a tax increase without a spending decrease. But the news is not all bad. What is not being reported is that the deficit has been shrinking slow under the Obama presidency. What pundits and the media seem to be downplaying is if this latest deal has been a good one for the American people. The early answer seems to be yes, but we will know more in just a few more weeks. Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)