Just some musings about a few things which made the news lately.
Detroit Three Bailout:
Did you happen to see the comments made by GM CEO Waggoner last week? He was expressing disappointment about the reception he and his fellow tin-cup holding auto execs got in Washington and noted that Congress' thinking on the auto industry "was a little stale". I wonder how he would characterize his thinking about flying into D.C. on private jets while pleading poverty?
How about "a little arrogant"?
Albany Special Leg. Session:
While almost everyone would agree that our State Legislature is particularly dysfunctional, the failed special session called by Governor Paterson was especially so. There was so little chance that anything would be accomplished that one wonders why they spent the money to hold the session.
I don't think any of the "three men in the room" distinguished themselves, but I don't get the particular criticism of GOP Senate leader Skelos. It is clear that he and his GOP fellows have no stomach for taking steps to help the Democrats fix the budget, but it wasn't as though the Senate GOP stopped everything. Sheldon Silver did not speak a word in public about getting his caucus to support the Governor. Skelos could have pulled off a real coup by actually agreeing to cuts and forcing Silver to put up or shut up.
Instead we will all wait another couple months while the Albany deficit grows larger.
Obama's Cabinet:
Its really looking like Clinton redux given the majority of Obama's picks being Clintonistas. The left is chagrined. Its hard to believe that Hillary could have picked many more former Clinton aides if she had been elected. Who knows. Maybe Obama really wants to govern closer to the middle than we thought. Or, maybe, this is a feint since he knows that the liberal Pelosi-Reid Congress is going to serve up a left-wing agenda that will warm the hearts of the Kos crowd. then, if things go badly, he might have plausible deniability.
Palin's Turkey Shoot:
The left is so afraid of Sarah Palin, its amazing. The stir caused by her interview at the turkey farm was beyond belief. She did the pardon thing for one lucky bird, but as she was giving an interview, other less fortunate Toms were being readied for Thanksgiving (in the background as she spoke).
From the reaction by liberals, you'd have thought that she was a serial killer. A PowerLine reader opined that Palin should have indicated that she was sorry about the slaughter of those innocent birds and, so as to assuage the left's feelings, she'd do her next interview from an abortion clinic.
GOP "Uncivil War":
There have been a number of stories in the news about the fight for the soul of the GOP. Who will win, the moderates, the conservatives, the evangelicals? I have found it particularly funny that many people claim that the GOP was 'hijacked" by the "Christian Right".
I'm not sure how they reached that conclusion. It seems to me that in all of the years since Ronald Reagan was elected, all the evangelicals got from the GOP was a ban on federal funding for stem cell research, the "defense of marriage act", and a failed attempt at keeping a brain dead woman alive.
I guess those Christian fundamentalists need some lessons on hijacking. Maybe they could get some from Islamic fundamentalists.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The More Things Change.....
The more they stay the same. Or so the saying goes.
Obama was the candidate of "change" but so far, the people he is talking to regarding administration posts are all Democrat stalwarts. Rahm Emannuel and John Podesta held important posts in the Clinton Administration. Obama dusted off Warren Christopher to help him with staffing the State Deprtment.
The people being discussed for Secretary of State are not new faces, either. John Kerry apparently wants the job. The current speculation centers on Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson. I wonder how quickly the bloom will be off Obama's rose with his young, left-wing supporters, if conventional picks prove to be the rule, rather than the exception.
Meanwhile, there is the planned meeting between Obama and John McCain. My initial reaction was "what's this all about". I know McCain wants to be "Mr. Bi-Partisan" and, certainly, all Americans of goodwill should keep an open mind and be supportive of our new President.
Still, McCain should tread carefully. Surely, he is not in line for any Obama administration post. But he should also refrain from offering to be Obama's "spokesman" or liaison to the GOP caucus in the Senate. He needs to wait to see whether or not Obama really intends to be everyone's President or the leader of the Kossacks and the MoveOn crowd.
McCain got the GOP nomination, but he never won the party's heart. He is not the leader of the GOP and he should not purport to represent anyone but himself and his Arizona constituents with regard to "working with Obama".
Obama was the candidate of "change" but so far, the people he is talking to regarding administration posts are all Democrat stalwarts. Rahm Emannuel and John Podesta held important posts in the Clinton Administration. Obama dusted off Warren Christopher to help him with staffing the State Deprtment.
The people being discussed for Secretary of State are not new faces, either. John Kerry apparently wants the job. The current speculation centers on Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson. I wonder how quickly the bloom will be off Obama's rose with his young, left-wing supporters, if conventional picks prove to be the rule, rather than the exception.
Meanwhile, there is the planned meeting between Obama and John McCain. My initial reaction was "what's this all about". I know McCain wants to be "Mr. Bi-Partisan" and, certainly, all Americans of goodwill should keep an open mind and be supportive of our new President.
Still, McCain should tread carefully. Surely, he is not in line for any Obama administration post. But he should also refrain from offering to be Obama's "spokesman" or liaison to the GOP caucus in the Senate. He needs to wait to see whether or not Obama really intends to be everyone's President or the leader of the Kossacks and the MoveOn crowd.
McCain got the GOP nomination, but he never won the party's heart. He is not the leader of the GOP and he should not purport to represent anyone but himself and his Arizona constituents with regard to "working with Obama".
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Obama: Post-Racial After All?
Barak Obama was often touted as a "post-racial" candidate by the media. this despite the fact that he actually often implicitly or explicitly attributed racist motives to critics and criticism. Right up to Election Day, I would not have said that anything had changed.
Obama's election has caused me to rethink that view. First the overwhelming joy and pride his election has instilled in African-Americans, is a phenomenon that I had not anticipated. The single "step" of electing a black man as President may well have created the opportunity for "a giant leap" forward in race relations in America.
For one thing, the "race card" ought to receive a quick burial. The fact is that a black man was elected President. 52% voted for Obama. It is certainly an understatement to assume that at least half of the 47% who voted for McCain did not do so on race grounds. Thus, its no exaggeration to say that for at least 75% of the American electorate, race is not a factor affecting their vote. America can not fairly be called a racist country.
As such, politicians and pundits who try to dismiss critics as racists should be rebuked. There will be many things done by an Obama Administration that I won't like. I intend to express my criticism when appropriate. In the past, as I noted here, I might have done so with some trepidation. That should no longer be true. The Jesse Jackson-Al Sharpton-David Gantt, race-card mentality should not be allowed to persist.
Of similar (and perhaps, greater) importance is the example that has been created by the election of the President Obama and the elevation of the Obama's as the First Family. On election night, the Obama family stood on the stage. You had a husband and wife, mother and father, and their children. Lets not kid ourselves, the black family, once one of the strongest institutions in our country, has fallen on hard times. It is much more common today that a black child lives in a single parent home or with a relative other than his/her mother or father.
The Obama family can be an example to African-Americans across the country. The Obama family may be the Huxtables on steroids, as far as example and inspiration go. The D&C's Jim Lawrence pointed this out in his editorial entitled Mentor in Chief. Hopefully young blacks will understand the value of education, marriage, and work. They will see the fact that being well educated, well-spoken, well-dressed, well-mannered, etc., leads to success. They will have reason to believe that the American Dream can apply to them if they act responsibly to attain it.
I have great doubts about the likelihood that President Obama's policies will be successful. He was and remains an extreme liberal. Nonetheless, if his election does have the salutary effects noted above, his election will indeed have been "historic".
Obama's election has caused me to rethink that view. First the overwhelming joy and pride his election has instilled in African-Americans, is a phenomenon that I had not anticipated. The single "step" of electing a black man as President may well have created the opportunity for "a giant leap" forward in race relations in America.
For one thing, the "race card" ought to receive a quick burial. The fact is that a black man was elected President. 52% voted for Obama. It is certainly an understatement to assume that at least half of the 47% who voted for McCain did not do so on race grounds. Thus, its no exaggeration to say that for at least 75% of the American electorate, race is not a factor affecting their vote. America can not fairly be called a racist country.
As such, politicians and pundits who try to dismiss critics as racists should be rebuked. There will be many things done by an Obama Administration that I won't like. I intend to express my criticism when appropriate. In the past, as I noted here, I might have done so with some trepidation. That should no longer be true. The Jesse Jackson-Al Sharpton-David Gantt, race-card mentality should not be allowed to persist.
Of similar (and perhaps, greater) importance is the example that has been created by the election of the President Obama and the elevation of the Obama's as the First Family. On election night, the Obama family stood on the stage. You had a husband and wife, mother and father, and their children. Lets not kid ourselves, the black family, once one of the strongest institutions in our country, has fallen on hard times. It is much more common today that a black child lives in a single parent home or with a relative other than his/her mother or father.
The Obama family can be an example to African-Americans across the country. The Obama family may be the Huxtables on steroids, as far as example and inspiration go. The D&C's Jim Lawrence pointed this out in his editorial entitled Mentor in Chief. Hopefully young blacks will understand the value of education, marriage, and work. They will see the fact that being well educated, well-spoken, well-dressed, well-mannered, etc., leads to success. They will have reason to believe that the American Dream can apply to them if they act responsibly to attain it.
I have great doubts about the likelihood that President Obama's policies will be successful. He was and remains an extreme liberal. Nonetheless, if his election does have the salutary effects noted above, his election will indeed have been "historic".
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