Obama Winning The War That Bush Kept Losing, But We Must Consider The Ethical Issues

September 30, 2011 — Ron Chusid

The killing of American born al Qudda leader Anwar al-Awlaki is both reason to celebrate the success of  U.S. policy against terrorism and question under Obama as opposed to Bush and to consider the need for new legal mechanisms to apply to the modern world. Old concepts of war, as well as due justice, do not apply well in this age of terrorism.  Principles of due process do not easily apply to an American citizen providing operational leadership to a terrorist organization operating out of a foreign country.

This does not mean that the objections raised by Glenn Greenwald are not without merit.  In this case it is difficult to argue that killing al-Awlaki was not a proper move, but we also do run the risk of going down a slippery slope when Americans can be killed without due process. The response to Greenwald from much of the right, such as at Jawa Report, ignores the actual arguments raised. Contrary to the claim made, Greenwald has said nothing which justifies the claim that Greenwald and the left would be lamenting the death of Hitler. The key distinction here is that al-Awlaki was an American citizen and Hitler was not.

However, what if Hitler had been an American citizen who moved to Germany and led a war against the United States? I doubt very many people would object to killing Hitler in such a situation, but if killing an American-born Hitler would be justified, doesn’t the same principle apply to al-Awlaki. My view on this killing is somewhere between the view of those on the right who fail to see that any ethical and legal questions are raised and the view of those who have  immediately condemn this action as unjustifiable.  I fall closer to the view expressed by BooMan who both sees the pluses of killing al-Awalaki and the problems this raises. The answer is not simply a debate as to whether this was right or wrong but to use this to stimulate the development of new law to account for situations of this nature . Some form of due process should be established when an American citizen is involved, recognizing the difference between a common criminal and an American citizen who is waging war against the United States and cannot be brought in to be tried in an American court.

Looking past the ethical issues, this action demonstrates the tremendous difference between the failed policies of George Bush and the much more effective policies of Barack Obama. Andrew Sullivan writes:

 This administration actually is what the Bush administration claimed to be: a relentless executor of the war in terror, armed with real intelligence and lethally accurate execution. Sure, Yemen’s al Qaeda is not the core al Qaeda of Pakistan/Afghanistan – it’s less global in scope and capacities. But to remove one important propaganda source of that movement has made all of us safer. And those Americans who have lived under one of Awlaki’s murderous fatwas can breathe more easily today.

The same goes for al Qaeda more generally. Obama has done in two years what Bush failed to do in eight. He has skilfully done all he can to reset relations with the broader Muslim world (despite the machinations of the Israeli government) while ruthlessly wiping out swathes of Jihadist planners, operatives and foot-soldiers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has thereby strengthened us immeasurably both in terms of soft and hard power.

Compare the two presidents. One unleashed a war in Afghanistan he then left to languish, and sparked an unjustified war in Iraq, that became a catastrophe of mass death and chaos. He both maximally antagonized the Arab and Muslim world and didn’t even score a major victory against the enemy. In many ways, Bush gave al Qaeda an opening in Iraq where it never had one before, and allowed its key leadership to escape at Tora Bora. The torture program, meanwhile, fouled up our intelligence while destroying our moral standing in the world.

Obama has ended torture and pursued a real war, not an ideological spectacle. He has destroyed almost all of al Qaeda of 9/11 (if Zawahiri is taken out, no one is left), obliterated its ranks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, found and killed bin Laden, in a daring raid pushed relentlessly by the president alone, capturing alongside a trove of intelligence, procured as a consequence of courage and tenacity rather than cowardice and torture.

I know the next election will be about the economy. But what it should also be about is the revelation of the Republicans as fundmentally weak on national security. Caught up in their own ideology, they proved for eight years they’d rather posture and preen than do the intelligent, relentless, ethical intelligence work that is only now leading to victory.

Obama, in other words, is winning the war Bush kept losing.

 

Posted in Barack Obama, Blogs & Social Media, George Bush, Terrorism. Tags: , , . 7 Comments »

David Letterman: Top Ten Ways The Country Would Be Different If Chris Christie Were President

September 29, 2011 — Ron Chusid

David Letterman: Top Ten Ways The Country Would Be Different If Chris Christie Were President

10. Al-Qaida taunts America with ‘Your president’s so fat’ jokes
9. Goodbye White House vegetable garden
8. Cabinet will now have a Secretary of Cake
7. New state: Fatbuttachusetts
6. Congress does whatever he wants, because fat guys are, like, super-strong when they freak out
5. Presidential retreat moved from Camp David to Hershey Park
4. Taxpayers would have to pay for the president’s second seat on Air Force One
3. New national anthem: the ‘Chili’s baby back ribs’ song
2. Instead of Iraq, we’d invade IHOP
1. Scandal when president is caught in Oval Office with Betty Crocker and Sara Lee

Posted in Chris Christie, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , . 3 Comments »

Economists Predict Obama Plan Will Prevent 2012 Recession

September 28, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Even before taking office Barack Obama was dominating economic policy due to the inability of either George Bush or John McCain to function when confronted by a crisis where the facts contradicted the Voodoo economics popular in the Republican Party. While liberal economists might very well have been correct that Obama’s stimulus was smaller than was needed, it was probably as large as was politically possible, and did keep the country out of a depression. Since then the Republicans have done everything possible to prevent an economic recovery under Obama for political gain, leaving us with a very slow and jobless recovery.

Obama’s latest job program has primarily been discussed in the press and blogosphere with regards to the political implications. Bloomberg has surveyed economists as to its expected affect upon the economy, with economists predicting it will help prevent a 2012 recession:

President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan would help avoid a return to recession by maintaining growth and pushing down the unemployment rate next year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The legislation, submitted to Congress this month, would increase gross domestic product by 0.6 percent next year and add or keep 275,000 workers on payrolls, the median estimates in the survey of 34 economists showed. The program would also lower the jobless rate by 0.2 percentage point in 2012, economists said.

Economists in the survey are less optimistic than Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who has cited estimates for a 1.5 percent boost to gross domestic product. Even so, the program may bolster Obama’s re-election prospects by lowering a jobless rate that has stayed near 9 percent or more since April 2009.

The plan “prevents a contraction of the economy in the first quarter” of next year, said John Herrmann, a senior fixed-income strategist at State Street Global Markets LLC in Boston, who participated in the survey. “It leads to more retention of workers than net new hires.”

Some 13,000 jobs would be created in 2013, bringing the total to 288,000 over two years, according to the survey. Employers in the U.S. added 1.26 million workers in the past 12 months, Labor Department data show.

Regardless of the exact numbers seen next year, there is no doubt that the country will be better off with a continuation of Obama’s economic policies as opposed to returning to Republican policies which destroy the middle class and primarily transfer wealth to the ultra-wealthy. From a political standpoint, Obama will have difficulty with reelection if the economy is doing badly, but those who suggest putting a Republican in the White House are as absurd as the Russians who advocate a return to Stalinism.

 

Posted in Barack Obama, Economy, George Bush, In The News, John McCain, Republicans. Tags: . 4 Comments »

The Perils Of The Mandate Issue

September 27, 2011 — Ron Chusid

The Democrats are facing a new political land mine next fall, and it appears that many Obama supporters fail to appreciate the danger. The Obama administration has decided to fast track the individual mandate  so that its Constitutionality will be decided by the Supreme Court next year. Looking at the arguments in favor of this strategy in the linked article,it would certainly be better for supporters of the mandate to have the case argued by the Obama administration as opposed to a Republican administration should Obama be defeated, but the prominence of this issue can be harmful to Obama’s reelection chances.

Election Law Blog has another argument which has been widely repeated today, seeing it as favorable for Obama whether or not they rule that the individual mandate is constitutional.

If the Court strikes down the law, Obama makes more of an issue of a Court out of control (think FDR) during the 2012 campaign (something I suggested in this Slate piece).  If the Court upholds the law, this takes some of the wind out of the argument likely to come from the Republican presidential nominee that the health care law is unconstitutional.  No lose before the election.  Sometimes, you can win by losing before the Roberts Court.

The problem is that mandates will now be a major issue for Republicans to talk about going into the 2012 election, and it is possible that their consideration of the issue could be postponed until next fall. Obama needs to sell Americans on the benefits which they will receive in the future from the Affordable Care Act, but arguments over the mandate will dominate the discussion. Win or lose, this will fire up the conservatives and also impact moderates who backed Obama in 2008. If the court rules in Obama’s favor, those who object to the mandate will still object. If the court rules against him, this only strengthens the ridiculous claims from the right that Obama is pushing far left ideas. Only those who already support the Democrats will be swayed by the argument that the Roberts court is out of control if they rule against the mandate.

Unfortunately many liberals fail to understand the visceral opposition which Americans have to being told what to do. Obama realized this during his primary battle with Hillary Clinton when he opposed the mandate. Unfortunately, while actual legislation was being written Obama appears to have forgotten the political problems with the mandate. Health care reform is necessary, and the mandate might be the easiest way to get around the free-rider problem, but there are other ways. We could have open enrollment periods like the voluntary Medicare Part D program, with those who purchasing outside of such open enrollment periods being subject to the old insurance company rules. There could be higher premiums for those who sign up later, as is also done with Medicare Part D, to make up for the premiums not paid into the system when the individual was younger and healthier. There could be financial penalties, possibly enforced by the IRS, upon those who cost the government money by seeking health care coverage after failing to purchase insurance to compensate for this cost to society. Bankruptcy laws could be changed so that people who declined insurance when available cannot easily eliminate debts for health care.

The end result would be the same–most but not all would obtain health insurance. The difference politically would be tremendous. Republicans understand this and, as is generally the case, will come out ahead politically even when they are generally wrong on health care policy. The irony is that mandates are an old Republican idea which they only recently abandoned in order to use the issue against Obama. The Democrats should have known better than to adopt this old Republican idea.

Posted in Barack Obama, Courts, Health Care, Hillary Clinton. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Obama and Reality Versus The Republicans

September 26, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Now that Barack Obama has decided that there is no point in negotiating with terrorists, we are seeing a more effective advocate for the reality-based community.  After all, you cannot negotiate with Republicans whose primary goal is to prevent Obama from having any successes, regardless of how badly this hurts the country. As for the erroneously-named Tea Party movement,  you certainly cannot reason with a group which lacks the basic background knowledge or ability to think rationally about the issues and which sees ignorance as a virtue. Obama directly took on the Republicans in a trip to the west coast:

At a fundraiser in San Jose, Calif., Obama said that some in the audience might be former Republicans “but are puzzled by what’s happening to that party,” and voters should back him if they believe in a “fact-based” America.

“I mean has anybody been watching the debates lately?” Obama said. “You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change.

“It’s true. You’ve got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don’t have healthcare. And booing a service member in Iraq because they’re gay.”

The remarks represent some of the most direct and combative for Obama so far as he has struck out on the campaign trail in earnest following the July debt-ceiling debate and the August break.

Obama continued his critique of Republicans, saying of the boos in the audience at recent GOP debates: “That’s not reflective of who we are.”

“This is a choice about the fundamental direction of our country,” the president said. “2008 was an important direction. 2012 is a more important election.

It is important that over the next year Obama provides a clear message as to what his actual policies are as opposed to continuing to allow Republicans to define him and spread misinformation as to what Democrats believe. Today we say another in a long string of people calling for a third party due to the failure of the Democrats or Republicans to solve our problems. Matt Miller called for a third party, but as many bloggers have already pointed out today, Miller’s proposed solutions come very close to what the Democrats support. Miller does have a point that the Democrats are somewhat limited by the need to please the groups which support them, but this would be true of any party which raises the money needed to campaign nationally.

Miller spreads the false impression that the two parties are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, sort of mirror images of each other. In reality, we have one centrist party, the Democrats, and one far right extremist party. The best way to advance  center-left, pragmatic solutions to our problems at this point in time is to vote Democratic next year.  The other alternatives, the far-right Republicans or  the imaginary solution of a third party, will lead to failure.

Posted in Barack Obama, Independents, Republicans, Rick Perry. Tags: , , , , . 3 Comments »

SciFi Weekend: Doctor Who– Petrichor, For The Girl Who’s Tired of Waiting; The Wedding of River Song; Upstairs Downstairs; Community; Inspector Spacetime; Fringe; Terra Nova

September 25, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Petrichor, while not used as frequently as Bad Wolf in a previous season, has become the word of the season on Doctor Who. Before its use in Closing Time,  Petrichor was mentioned in The Doctor’s Wife, first by Idris, and later Amy Pond used it as a telepathic password to enter one of the TARDIS’s old control rooms.

Idris: It means “the smell of dust after rain.”
Rory: What does?
Idris: Petrichor.
Rory: But I didn’t ask.
Idris: Not yet. But you will.

Closing Time was primarily, but not exclusively, a light show in which the Doctor visited his old friend Craig from The Lodger. Craig is played by James Corben, who co-wrote and acted in the fantastic BBC sit-com Gavin and Stacey. The episode also included Cybermen along with a view of Amy Pond’s perfume for the girl who’s tired of waiting (video above). Ultimately the story really didn’t matter. Corben’s role wasn’t as good as in The Lodger, but I’m always happy to see Craig/Smithy.

Near the end of the episode, the Doctor, wearing a stetson, was preparing to meet his fate. He spoke to some children before entering the TARDIS, and then the scene shifted to River Song reviewing interviews with the children about what they saw. The final moments (major spoilers ahead) confirmed what most suspected ever since Flesh and Stone. River Song kills the greatest man she ever knew, and this could only be the Doctor. The episode ended with an adult Dr. Song/Melody Pond being forced into the astronaut suit and is next seen under water, presumably at Lake Silencio.Here is the final scene and commentary from Steven Moffat:

Next week, The Wedding of River Song. The BBC has released this above prequel scene:

The BBC reports that Alex Kingston is also joining the cast of Upstairs Downstairs.

There was a second type of connection between Doctor Who and the Upstairs Downstairs genre of British television shows. On Community, it was claimed that Cougar Town was based upon the British television show Cougarton Abbey. This was intended to distract Abed until Cougar Town returns but Cougarton Abbey, like many British shows, wrapped up in a very short time. This led to Britta showing Abed another British show, Inspector Spacetime, seen in the video above. Who knew that there was a British time travel show a year before Doctor Who began?

Community managed to beat out the other Thursday night genre comedy, The Big Bang Theory, at least in terms of genre references. Besides including references to Cougar Town, Downton Abbey, and Doctor Who, the episode also had an  homage to the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Last week Fringe returned. Not only don’t we know where Peter Bishop is, everything else we knew could be changed in this timeline where adult Peter never existed. We already saw that Walter is somewhat different, never leaving his lab. There could be even bigger differences, such as perhaps characters who died in past seasons such as alt-Broyles still being alive.

Steven Spielberg’s latest television genre show, Terra Nova, starts tomorrow. The New York Times has a review. I’m glad that the show takes place in a different timeline, denying Sarah Palin the opportunity to use this as evidence that humans and dinosaurs co-existed.

Posted in Sarah Palin, Science Fiction, Television. Tags: , , , , , . 7 Comments »

SNL On The Republican Debates

September 25, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Saturday Night Live has a pretty accurate depiction of a Republican debate.

Posted in Humor and Satire, Republicans, Television. Tags: , . 5 Comments »

Right Wing Health Care Lie Of The Day: Ban On Asthma Inhalers

September 24, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Many conservative sites are spreading a false claim today that the Obama administration is banning over-the-counter asthma inhaler over environmental concerns. In actuality, the ban on chlorofluorocarbon in inhalers was passed in 2008 when George Bush was president. Since that time the manufacturers of virtually all inhalers have switched to the more environmentally-friendly hydrofluoroalkane as the propellant. Epinephrine inhalers using chlorofluorocarbon have been an exception.

On the one hand, these ephedrine inhalers are less expensive than prescription inhalers. On the other hand, these over-the-counter inhalers are universally considered to be extremely poor choices for asthma treatment, being both less effective than prescription medications and having far more side effects. While the safer and more effective prescription bronchodilators are more expensive, their use should be minimized by asthma patients with the use of prophylactic medications such as inhaled steroids.  Regardless of their legal status, I had strongly advised my asthma patients not to use these products even well before the ban (which, once again, was passed under George Bush).

Update: The real problem is that many asthmatics have resorted to this type of treatment because of lack of health care coverage. Obama does deserve credit for addressing this problem.

Posted in Barack Obama, George Bush, Health Care. Tags: , , , . 12 Comments »

British Scientists Opposing Teaching Of Creationism In Public Schools

September 23, 2011 — Ron Chusid

While much of Europe has become  more secular than the United States, they still face the problem we have here of creationists trying to use the public schools to promote their religious beliefs. The Guardian reports on a group of prominent scientists who are trying to prevent the teaching of creationism in publicly funded schools:

Prominent scientists, including Sir David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins, have called on the government to toughen its guidance on the promotion of creationism in classrooms, accusing “religious fundamentalists” of portraying it as scientific theory in publicly funded schools.

A group of 30 scientists have signed a statement saying it is “unacceptable” to teach creationism and intelligent design, whether it happens in science lessons or not. The statement claims two organisations, Truth in Science and Creation Ministries International are “touring the UK and presenting themselves as scientists and their creationist views as science”.

“Creationism and intelligent design are not scientific theories, but they are portrayed as scientific theories by some religious fundamentalists who attempt to have their views promoted in publicly funded schools,” the scientists say.

“There should be enforceable statutory guidance that they may not be presented as scientific theories in any publicly funded school of whatever type.”

The scientists claim organisations such as Truth in Science are encouraging teachers to incorporate intelligent design into their science teaching.

“Truth in Science has sent free resources to all secondary heads of science and to school librarians around the country that seek to undermine the theory of evolution and have intelligent design ideas portrayed as credible scientific viewpoints. Speakers from Creation Ministries International are touring the UK, presenting themselves as scientists and their creationist views as science at a number of schools.”

Posted in Evolution, International, Religion. Tags: . 2 Comments »

ObamaCare Is Working: Fewer Young Americans Uninsured

September 22, 2011 — Ron Chusid

An unfortunate fact about the health care reform package passed earlier in Barack Obama’s term is that the vast majority of the benefits will not be seen until after the 2012 election. If people could see the actual benefits of the Affordable Care Act, as opposed to listening to Republican lies that it is a “government takeover of healthcare,” I bet that Obama’s standing in the polls would be far better today. While the Democrats handled the politics of health care reform (as opposed to the policy aspects) terribly, there are some benefits which can be seen today. Three separate sets of data have been released recently demonstrating that a higher percentage of young people now have health care coverage.

A Gallup Poll shows that significantly fewer 18 to 25 year-olds now lack health insurance:

Fewer young adults in the U.S. reported lacking health insurance coverage in each of the three quarters since the new healthcare law in September 2010 began allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ plans up to age 26. About one in four (24.2%) 18- to 25-year-olds reported being uninsured in the second quarter of this year, down from 28% in the third quarter of 2010, and nearly the lowest Gallup has measured at any point since it began tracking health insurance coverage rates in 2008.

The declining number of uninsured young adults is slowly reversing the trend that Gallup and Healthways documented starting in the fall of 2008. At that time, the uninsured rate for this age group — and all age groups — began to increase as the economy was collapsing and unemployment rising…

The provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows children up to the age of 26 to remain on their parents’ plans appears to be having an immediate effect on the number of Americans who report they have health insurance. Since it went into effect in September 2010, the percentage of 18- to 25-year-olds who report being uninsured has significantly declined by four percentage points.

There were similar findings in data from the Census Bureau and from the National Health Interview Survey:

New results released today by the National Center for Health Statistics show that this policy has had a significant impact on improving insurance coverage among young adults. Data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) show that in the first quarter of 2011, the percentage of adults between the ages of 19 and 25 with health insurance increased to 69.6%, from 66.1% in 2010. This 3.5 percentage-point increase represents approximately one million additional young adults with insurance. During this time period, the rate of being insured for all other age groups was essentially unchanged, from 85.9% in 2010 to 86.3% in 2011, which makes clear that the gains in coverage were specific to 19-25 year-olds and can be directly attributed to the Affordable Care Act’s new dependent-coverage provision.

These results are consistent with reports from other data sources as well.  A newly-released Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index Survey shows a similar significant increase in rates of insured adults ages 18-25, from 71.0% in the first quarter of 2010 to 75.2% in the first quarter of 2011 and 75.1% in the second quarter. This 4.1 percentage-point increase is consistent with the findings from the National Health Interview Survey.  Earlier this month, the Census Bureau released its results from the Current Population Survey, describing insurance coverage for calendar year 2010.  The Census Bureau found a significant increase in coverage for young adults, with roughly 400,000 additional adults ages 19-25 insured during 2010 compared to 2009.  The Census results only capture the effect of the new policy during the latter portion of 2010 and do not yet reflect coverage from 2011; therefore, the measured effect is smaller than in the more recent results from Gallup and NHIS.  Overall, these three national surveys show a consistent pattern of expanded health coverage among young adults due to the Affordable Care Act.

The number who lack insurance should become significantly lower once the health exchanges are set up, making it easier to purchase health insurance.

 

Posted in Barack Obama, Health Care, Polls. Tags: , . 4 Comments »

David Letterman: “Top Ten Highlights Of Barack Obama’s Deficit Plan”

September 21, 2011 — Ron Chusid

David Letterman: “Top Ten Highlights Of Barack Obama’s Deficit Plan”

10. Pay everything off with a giant bake sale on the White House lawn
9. New 10,000 percent tax on waffles — no way people are giving up their waffles!
8. Congressional Super Committee now reports to even more powerful Super Duper Committee
7. Medicare no longer covers butt X-rays
6. From now on, quarters are worth 26 cents
5. Change the definition of the word ‘deficit’
4. Seniors must wait until they’re 112 before they can collect Social Security
3. Open more post offices — those places are money machines!
2. Congressmen must pay hookers in cash
1. Jets giving three and a half in Cincy — it’s like found money

Posted in Barack Obama, Economy, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Quote Of The Day

September 21, 2011 — Ron Chusid

“Between Ron Paul and Rick Perry, I think the lesson is don’t get sick in Texas.” –Bill Maher

Posted in Humor and Satire, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Television. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Republicans Continue To Sabotage Economic Recovery For Political Gain

September 21, 2011 — Ron Chusid

There are basically two important distinctions between today’s Republican Party and any conventional political party, including the GOP of the past: Today’s Republican Party is dominated by extremists who would have been ostracized by past Republicans, and today’s Republican Party is willing to do anything, no matter how much damage it does to the country, to increase its power. Republican economic policy has been to do everything they can possibly do to prolonged the recession created under George Bush so that Barack Obama would be blamed. Restoring Republicans to power because of a bad economy makes no more sense than Russians who wish to return to Stalinism, but recent polls show that this strategy is working. Former Bush speech writer David Frum is shocked by their latest attempt to block economic recovery for political gain:

I’m not shocked by much any more, but I am shocked by this: the leaders of one of the great parties in Congress calling on the Federal Reserve to tighten money in the throes of the most prolonged downturn since the Great Depression.

One line in the letter caught my eye as summing up the unreality of the Republican leaders’ position:

“We have serious concerns that further intervention by the Federal Reserve could exacerbate current problems or further harm the U.S. economy. Such steps may erode the already weakened U.S. dollar or promote more borrowing by overleveraged consumers.”

Are they serious? We are living through the most rapid deleveraging of the American consumer since the 1930s. Much of that deleveraging is occurring tragically, through the process of bankruptcy and foreclosure. Some is happening more happily, through the increase in the savings rate from the 0 of the housing boom to about 6% now.

After further discussion, Frum returned to the political implications:

I know what the detractors will say: to the end of defeating President Obama and replacing him with a Republican president. And if you’ve convinced yourself that Obama is the Second Coming of Malcolm X, Trotsky, and the all-conquering Caliph Omar all in one, then perhaps capsizing the US economy and plunging your fellow-citizens deeper into misery will seem a price worth paying to rid the country of him.

But on any realistic assessment of the problems faced by Americans – and not just would-be Republican office-holders – it’s the recession, not the presidency, that is National Problem #1 and demands the most urgent action. It won’t be enough to save Obama if he does not deserve saving – but it may be enough to save your neighbor’s house, job, and family. Or even … your own. Republicans after all have been victims of this crisis too. It’s an hour of national emergency even more urgent and overwhelming than the aftermath of 9/11. And things may soon get worse, if the Eurozone begins to crack up, as it seems it may. This is the hour for united action against the economic crisis, not partisan maneuvering.

Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, who also broke with the extremists in control of the GOP long ago, is thinking along similar lines:

Every time you think the ultras in the current GOP won’t go there, they do. They’ll sabotage economic growth for short term political advantage. They’ll sabotage their own president in negotiating with allies. They’re happy for the US to default if it means they can damage Obama. Their own plan for immediate, drastic austerity would be catastrophic for the global economy. Their pre-Arab Spring belligerence would shut America out of a critical opportunity to ease tensions with the growing and burgeoning Muslim world. And they have no problem treating the world economy as a partisan plaything.

If they claw their way back to power this way, our system really will be broken for a long time. And the great possibility of an adult conversation on pragmatic grounds to help the economy will be lost. And this is emphatically not Obama’s fault. He tried. They threw it back in his face again and again. Which means, I believe, that we should double down in backing him, instead of the ear-splitting whine coming from the left.

Sullivan is right both about the efforts of the GOP to sabotage economic recovery for political gain along with his assessment of the response from portions of the left. (Although it is not stated here, I’ll give Sullivan the benefit of the doubt in assuming he realizes that this “ear-splitting whine” represents the view of only a portion of the left, and many others of us also have no use for the left’s equivalent of the Tea Party movement.)

Before discussing how the GOP is trying to stall recovery, Sullivan did have one comment on Obama’s drop in the polls: “I think the explanation is simple enough: Obama gave the impression that the recovery was happening – and then it stalled.”

This raises an interesting question as to Obama’s response upon taking office. He did a tremendous job when, for all practical purposes, he began exercising control over economic policy even before taking office Bush and McCain were clueless as to what to do, preventing a probable depression. In retrospect Obama did hurt himself politically by downplaying the severity of the economy he inherited, possibly overly optimistic that the economy would recover by 2012. As we did not yet have all the numbers showing how bad the Bush recession really was, that might have been a reasonable prediction at the time. In addition, we did not predict how much damage the Republicans would still be able to do to the economy. I also wonder if there wasn’t another motivation on Obama’s part. There is a strong psychological component to business recoveries and to predict another four years of a weak economy could have easily turned into a self-fulling prediction. This looks like a case of Obama doing what was best for the country, despite taking a political risk, in contrast to the strategy of the Republicans.

Posted in Barack Obama, Economy, Republicans. Tags: , . 3 Comments »

Quote of the Day

September 20, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Bill Maher’s advice to Glenn Rice after the book by Joe McGinnis alleged that Sarah Palin had sex with him: “Next time you f**k someone’s brains out, put them back in.”

Posted in Humor and Satire, Sarah Palin, Television. Tags: , . No Comments »

Barack Obama Has Finally Stopped Negotiating With Terrorists

September 20, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Let’s say you had a plan based upon noble ideals but after a while, due to reasons beyond your control, this noble plan just was not working out as you thought it would. Would you stick to the plan, or change to something which looks more likely to succeed? The answer should be pretty simple to most people, not counting a self-described sap such as David Brooks. Brooks is all upset because Obama is now taking on the Republicans as opposed to concentrating on finding a compromise with them:

Yes, I’m a sap. I believed Obama when he said he wanted to move beyond the stale ideological debates that have paralyzed this country. I always believe that Obama is on the verge of breaking out of the conventional categories and embracing one of the many bipartisan reform packages that are floating around.

But remember, I’m a sap. The White House has clearly decided that in a town of intransigent Republicans and mean ideologues, it has to be mean and intransigent too. The president was stung by the liberal charge that he was outmaneuvered during the debt-ceiling fight. So the White House has moved away from the Reasonable Man approach or the centrist Clinton approach.

Obama campaigned on a post-partisanship which was noble. It contributed to the decision of many of us to support him. Over the last few years it became clear that it isn’t working.  Republican leaders have made it clear that their primary goal has been to  prevent  Obama from succeeding. They have done this, even if it meant extending the recession and harming the country. You cannot  negotiate with terrorists who are willing to shut down the government before making a reasonable compromise.  From time to time Brooks has recognized the craziness of the Republican leadership in his columns, but now appears to be suffering from a selective amnesia. Obama has repeatedly attempted to promote bipartisan compromises but the Republicans have refused to consider any compromise if it might give Obama a political victory. Republican are far more concerned over whether passing a compromise will help Obama politically than they are concerned with how Obama’s proposals might help the country.

At least Brooks is more realistic than some on the left who say they prefer candidate Obama to President Obama. This attempt at moving beyond the old political and ideological battles, even if unsuccessful, is exactly what candidate Obama said he would do. Brooks is correct in seeing that President Obama has now broken with candidate Obama as well as his previous strategy. Brooks is just wrong in failing to understanding that the extremists dominating the GOP have given him no choice.

For a while I accepted the fact that Obama would have little, if any, success in negotiating with Republican leaders. After eight years of seeing George Bush govern from the extremes, I saw some benefit in a more centrist approach, even if it meant policies I have not always agreed with.  I  saw the real benefit of Obama’s efforts to compromise being to win over more support from independents and Republicans who might not agree with GOP’s move to the extreme right. This hasn’t worked either. Polls show that independents support policies far closer to Obama’s than those of the Republicans but the Republicans have been successful in distorting Obama’s record and demonizing him. Absurd right wing claims that Obama is a socialist have had more effect than Obama promoting centrist policies, including many which in the past were supported by Republicans. Negotiating with right wing terrorists during the debt crisis made Obama look weak and lose support, despite simultaneous public opposition to the Tea Party for precipitating the crisis and causing the downgrading of the nation’s credit rating.

Falling poll numbers and the losses in the special Congressional elections have convinced Obama that it is time to change course politically. This might not be what Obama wants, but this had been forced upon him by the realities in Washington. There has already been a tremendous amount of hype  talk that Obama’s deficit reduction plans were proposed to improve Obama’s support from the Democratic base. While true, Obama is also going after the independents.  Numerous polls have shown that most Americans support higher taxes on the wealthy to help balance the budget in poll after poll.

Obama might still turn things around, and receive some benefit for his past efforts. His past attempts place him in a far better position to attack the Republican leadership for their extremism and unwillingness to consider the type of compromise which is needed to govern effectively. Obama now needs to make it clear why policies to improve the economy have been blocked by the Republicans and campaign against Republican obstructionism. I’m sure we will see that when Republicans block Obama’s current proposals.

There are additional factors which may help Obama and the Democrats turn things around over the next year. Disapproval of Obama is exceeded by disapproval of Republicans and their policies. Pressure from the Tea Party extremists could force Republicans into taking positions which are even more insane and which will foster  greater public opposition.

Democrats should wind up with upper hand in campaigning against a party which opposes both Medicare and Social Security, but they failed to take advantage of this in the recent special elections. They should be able to benefit from campaigning against a party which wants to restore the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and drop people’s coverage when they get sick, but so far have also done a poor job in campaigning on this issue.   It will be an uphill battle, but if they spend the next year promoting a consistent message it might not be too late to win back voters by explaining how Republican policies caused this recession, and how the actions of Congressional Republicans have prolonged it. While it might not pick up votes in many areas of the country, I would love to see the Democrats directly campaign against Republicans for their opposition to science.

Democrats have done a poorer job than the Republicans in the spin wars since well before Obama took office. Republicans have advantages in dominating the cable and broadcast news media and in not being tied to reality in their claims. Obama showed he was an effective communicator while running for president. His change in attitude  towards negotiating with the Republican and Tea Party terrorists provides hope that he might be able to come back.

Posted in Barack Obama, Economy, Op-eds, Politics, Republicans. Tags: , , , . 3 Comments »
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