29 posts tagged “barack obama”
My first real job was for Senator Feinstein (D-CA). Like many recent college grads and recent arrivals in Washington, DC, I got an internship on Capitol Hill that led to a full time job. I lived in a group house on Capitol Hill with five other people. It was fantastic.
One thing I learned pretty early on was how much more in common I had with staffers across the aisle than I expected. Sure, we disagreed on just about every public policy issue in the world but our lives were pretty similar otherwise. We worked in the same building and went out to the same restaurants and bars. Being a Hill staffer is a lot like going back to college. Especially at that point in a career. Moreover, although we had our differences I always felt that we were united by a central theme: the desire to make the world a better place. We just disagreed on the best way to reach that goal.
I cling to that world view – that Democrats & Republicans, liberals & conservatives are all working in politics because we want to make a difference. That’s the whole basis behind the saying, “Politics is the art of the possible.” Yes, it is. My problem is that it seems the people across the aisle from me don’t necessarily feel the same way about me. That saddens me.
When George W. Bush got into the White House I had every reason to be upset. I had spent almost two years on the road doing advance for President Clinton and Vice President Gore. I exiled myself for almost six months because I was just too bitter to be around people. No, I did not believe (at least not then) that the 2000 election had been stolen. I actually found it more comforting to think we just lost because when you work on campaigns that is always a possibility. I was just tired, sad and depressed. The combination made me awful to be around.
Never did I think that George W. Bush was like Hitler. Nor did I come up with elaborate theories to discredit him and his election. Even when, about a year and a half into his presidency, I started to think the 2000 election had been stolen, I didn’t think his presidency was illegitimate. Moreover, it seemed pointless to argue the point because it was a fait accompli. As opposed to some of his policies as I was, I even gave him credit when he stuck by his campaign promises such as drilling in ANWR. I don’t support that policy and am glad Congress said no but during his campaign he said he would support it so when he did, well, that’s the point of campaigns. As Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) put it so eloquently, “Elections have consequences.”
In poll after poll and from anecdotal Facebook and Twitter evidence, I see that many on the right aren’t just upset that we have President Obama they are rabidly upset. It’s no longer enough to say you oppose someone’s positions, their entire character needs to be destroyed as well. It’s not enough to say “liberal policies are bad for America” you have to say “Liberals hate America and the Constitution. They have ended America as we know and we now live in a tri-state nation called the ’North American Union.” And/or “Obama cannot be president because he a, was born in Kenya b, lied about being a Muslim c, his health care plan will force you to kill or be killed and d, he eats puppies for breakfast.” The scariest part of that last sentence? Only choice d has not been uttered by at least five conservatives I know. Polls show that conservatives hate Obama more than liberals hated Bush II and that only 22 percent of Republicans think he was born in the US.
Oh, well. We Democrats will go back to making the world better. The right wing can go back to watching Glenn Beck.
Well, if this week has shown us anything it is that we live on a very dangerous planet.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced that not only was the election totally legitimate but that the protesters are responsible for any unrest or violence. He also vowed to prosecute them. The idea that Iran is a democracy ended the minute they stopped letting the situation be covered by the press. It comes as no surprise that the pro-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rally crowd changed “Death to America! Death to Israel! Death to Britain!” Ahmadinejad has said these things before and Khamenei already blamed the west for stirring up trouble there. So while protests will continue and the Guardian Council will still look into the more than 600 complaints about the election, it looks like Ahmadinejad will keep the presidency and given how much he wants to get nuclear weapons, that’s a bad thing for everyone. I know, his rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi , also favors continuing their nuclear program but he is not bat shit crazy. He’s not perfect but he would be a step in the right direction. This situation remains dicey for the US, given our past with Iran but I applaud Congress for voting on a resolution supporting free elections there. The White House needs to be more careful. I suspect some people here will hammer me for this but it is in times like this that I am glad Barack Obama won the White House and even more that George W. Bush is gone. That’s not a partisan thing, if George H.W. Bush was there I would feel the same way. He knew his way around the Middle East.
As all of our attention has been on Iran, another crazy dictator has been feeling a little ignored. Kim Jung Il behaves
like a spoiled child. When another country’s bad deeds capture the world, he has a temper tantrum. Unfortunately for his neighbors and us, his version of a hissy fit is a threat to nuke somebody. This week he announced his plan to shoot a missile at Hawaii. If you missed it, South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak , met with President Obama this week. He said that South Korea would ‘not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea’ but I think the genie has left that bottle, too.
The rationale these countries use for obtaining nuclear weapons is simple: Other countries have them so they should, too. It’s a matter of ‘national pride’ they say. I have an idea for both countries – and this could go for any nation – how about you work on feeding, clothing and housing your people? Take that money you want to use on missiles and buy some food. The national disgrace for you is not your weak militaries, it’s your piss poor records on human rights and horrible economies.
Seriously, of all the President Obama stuff you can get around Washington, DC, ours is way, way better.
From the news the past few weeks, 2009 looks a lot like 2008. That will suck if it continues.
· Polls = “lies, damned lies and statistics.” One added benefit to Barack Obama’s election would be the cessation of the endless polling the news networks did during the campaign cycle. Wow, was I wrong about that. The polls have shifted from which candidate people support for the 2008 campaign to which GOP candidate is most favored (it’s Sarah Palin right now) to beat Obama and/or how much confidence the public – including the same Republicans who are already lining up to support Palin – has in Obama. WTF? Can’t the guy take office before the snarkiness starts? Apparently not.
· Petty, partisan politics are over. Uh, not in the US. Just as Minnesota says Al Franken won, Norm Coleman and his pals in the Senate vow to fight on. Granted, with an election so close, it’s hard to blame them. It’s how they got the White House in 2000. The other split seems to be in how the GOP machine will respond to President Obama. So far they have released obnoxious and racist videos. When called on the blatant racism of “Barak the magic negro” their response was “it was a joke.” Yeah, so were your response to Katrina, our participation in the ICC or adherence to the Geneva Conventions the economy and your general ability to govern. See, none of us are laughing at those either.
· No, really – everything I do it totally legal. One might think that if one governor is in the newspaper every day over a ‘pay for play’ scandal that if you maybe did the same thing, you might not want to subject yourself to anything that requires Senate confirmation. Poor, silly Bill Richardson. Of course, the adage that ‘those in glass houses should not throw stones’ never did mean much to politicians. Nice.
· Just because I am about to be impeached does mean I lose my rights to govern. Speaking of Governor Blogojevich, he hasn’t actually been indicted on anything. I understand that the ‘appearance of impropriety is worse than the impropriety itself.’ I do but legally he has the right to appoint anyone, who meets the requirements to be a Senator, to the Senate. He could make things easier on Harry Reid, but why should he? He should because anyone he appoints will be tainted and that may make it harder to them to keep the seat in 2010 when they have to run again. A veto proof Senate would be, well, I can’t say how strongly I feel about it because then I would have to list this post as ‘offensive’ but it would be awesome.
· Winter is cold and there is still plenty of war to go around. After 10 days in Florida and too many hours of CNN/the Weather Channel, I can tell you that in the winter most of the US is cold and people still try to kill each other all over the world. Israel is pounding Gaza (and I do blame Hamas for this), conflicts continue in the DR Congo & Darfur and pirates are taking ships off the horn of Africa. Good times.
I know I sound glib here and promise that is not my goal. It’s hard for me not to not be cynical about the state of the world. The US made great progress by electing Barack Obama but we have a long way to go in terms of the rest of the planet, our role in it and what we do within our borders. Democracy does not equal stability and peace. The US is not the only country on earth and political corruption runs rampant. We get the government that we settle for.
Newt Gingrich to the rescue! Newt Gingrich to the rescue! Newt Gingrich to the rescue!
Go, Newt Gingrich! Go, Newt Gingrich! (Sung to the song Jim Dandy to the rescue)
Being a liberal Democrat, few things put a smile on my face like watching the GOP so stupid things that show people their true colors. Their recent attempts to link President-elect Obama to Governor Rod Blagojevich really smack of both of their normal smear tactics mixed in with a fair amount of whining. You can watch their new video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2M1zMaZPmI. The announcement on their page is here: http://www.gop.com/News/NewsRead.aspx?Guid=be000046-39ad-4992-8e7e-05bdcbb80189. I would have thought that Obama’s landslide victory last month coupled with the fact that even most Republicans polled want to see him succeed – not because they like him so much but because the country needs it so badly – would make them reconsider this path. It has been the path you are on and maybe they are just following the old adage that when things get tough, just keep doing what you’re doing. A policy that clearly helped them this past election.
The one GOP name that keeps popping up again and again is Newt Gingrich. He knows a thing or two about revenge. He might agree with the saying that holding a grudge is like taking poison and hoping you enemy gets sick. He is very familiar with that one because after he swore he would get Bill Clinton out of office, the first casualties of the impeachment fight were Newt Gingrich the then-Speaker of the House and his designated replacement Bob Livingston. Both resigned when their own infidelities were brought to light. Additionally, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, at the time, Henry Hyde – also an R, had to admit he had also had affairs but they were ‘youthful indiscretions’ (he was 52 years old, which means I have loads of time to make the same claim should I do something stupid but I digress). The last force behind the ridiculousness was Tom Delay, who probably inhaled too many chemicals as an exterminator, also had to resign a while later for other ethical failings. In fact, the one person who remains pretty much intact after all of that is President Bill Clinton. He’s a total rock star. Love him.
Now that all this happened and Newt is back in favor – he did orchestrate the Contract on America. Oopsie, I meant with. That PR ploy – and 40 years of Democratic arrogance – got him the House of Representatives in 1994. Not only did they win but they managed to oust the then-Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-WA), which was the first time a Speaker lost since 1860 (side note: in a poll of Foley’s Congressional district I think about 60 to 70 percent of the voters assumed anyone they elected would be Speaker, yeah, our education is system is the best in the world). So it’s natural to look to him, he is a very smart guy.
This week he proved himself to be even more valuable when he announced he was unhappy with the way the GOP is behaving, and you know that will always get news. According to the Post :
Gingrich boils it down to a single sentence: "Republicans should be eager to work with [Obama] when he is right, and, when he is wrong, offer a better solution, instead of just opposing him." http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/12/more_republicans_revolt_on_oba.html?nav=rss_blog
Gingrich has also called the video a ‘destructive distraction.’ He is absolutely correct but I hope the RNC sticks to its guns. What’s been good for them has not been good for the country.
· Dick Cheney meets our expectations. Apparently he admitted to supporting waterboarding. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cheney16-2008dec16,0,5456856.story Looks like he may not be the warm and fuzzy VPOTUS we have all grown to know and love. And just as he leaves office, maybe the indictments won’t come through until after he and Dubya have left town. Can a POTUS pardon people in advance?
· Obama fatigue – catch it! Sorry. I love the fact that Barak Obama will be our president soon. He is a great person and will be a fantastic leader. It was an amazing night here in DC – election night was like Mardi Gras, the Superbowl, all tennis grand slams, every sporting event championship and New Year’s Eve rolled into one. For weeks people walked around being nice to each other, like the local government had removed the chlorine from our water and replaced it with Prozac or Xanax. It has been great but the scale has tipped. No, thank you, I do not need a toilet seat cover with a picture of the new first family on it. There are more stalls here with Obama memorabilia than Washington Post stands (maybe the newspapers should think about that as they all file for chapter 11.)
· The holiday season is upon us but so is the apocalypse. No, I am not talking about the economy, the auto industry or the Illinois governor. I went to my second movie of 2008 – yes I need to get out more often – and heard some crazy music playing. It was the Chipmunks. It was a cover of an old Journey song. It was every bit as bad as you can imagine.
· Speaking of hell, if I am not there now I think I am headed there. Or at least that’s what every random religious door-to-door congregation in the city thinks because they come to my house five times a week. I am starting to think there is a big “Satan lives here” sign on my door. I thought I scared the Mormons away when I gave them a copy of “Under the Banner of Heaven” but they keep coming back. And if the two overly friendly women with the Watchtower come calling again I am just going to answer the door naked and see if that keeps them away.
· Christian Bale may be about to jump the shark, he make take the phrase with him. One of the previews I saw was of a new Terminator movie. Bale’s big line in the preview was “You tried to kill my mother, you tried to kill me, I am not gonna let you.” Then let them kill me. Death sounds better than this. Didn’t the writers’ strike end last year?
· Keanu Reeves found his ideal role: disaffected alien. Don’t get me wrong, I love Keanu. I loved him as Neo (even despite that line “You can’t die, I love you too damn much.”) and who didn’t love him in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”? He uttered my favorite line in any movie EVER. In “River’s Edge” he says, “You just come around here to eat our food and fuck our mother. You motherfucker. You food eater.” If you cannot appreciate that line, well, I can’t help that.
· And because it’s there: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/swear-words
Their legal educations will come in handy for this one
As a layperson, I can only imagine the difficulties facing the Supreme Court right now. They will have to rule on a case that is coming before them, this week I think, to determine – and please sit down for this – on a case that questions whether or not Barack Obama’s presidency will be constitutional. Be patient, this really does get amazing.
This case stipulates that Mr. Obama was not born in the US and therefore cannot be president. Unless you are a fan of ‘Arnold’s Amendment’ (Senator Orrin Hatch, R-UT, sponsored a change to the Constitution to allow people born outside the US to become president) you may think this is a good requirement. I do. I wish we could have given Texas back to Mexico to prevent Dubya from getting into the White House but this is different.
These allegations are not new. Clearly they aren’t because it takes time for cases to make their way to the Supreme Court. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I believe in Occam’s Razor (all things being equal, the simplest explanation is probably accurate). The anti-Obama people claim that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. He took a trip there to see where his father was from and while there he broke into the hospital where he was born and stole his birth certificate. Oh, it gets better. He then had a fake one made, which is the one that has been circulated to the media and apparently is a very good copy, having fooled the US government, when they issued his passport, and everyone else. He then took the real one and hid it in under the second drawer of his grandmother’s desk. The real reason for his trip to Hawaii was to recover it, it had not been destroyed because he thought he might have needed it at some point.
Yes, that is the story. So you can only hope the Supremes are a lot smarter than me because that looks like crap to me. What do I know? I never went to law school.
According to CNN, this happened:
Yesterday, when Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican congresswoman from Florida, received a telephone call from Barack Obama, she hung up, thinking it was a prank call. When he called back, she hung up again. Then, when Rahm Emanuel, with whom she had served in Congress, called to tell her that it was, in fact, the real Barack Obama, she hung up on him too. Eventually, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman convinced her that it was actually Obama, but only after he told her a story that only the two of them would know.
I stand by my comment that Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving.
Is anyone else excited that this Iron Man of presidential campaigns might actually be over in two days? I am so tired of political ads. Living in DC we get them from DC, Maryland and Virginia and I cannot wait for thinking the most annoying ads are the ones for Cialis.
