[ Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 – 16:30 UTC ]
President Obama has recently announced a health reform summit, to take place across the street from the White House, with the C-SPAN cameras rolling. He's invited Democratic and Republican leaders from Congress to this summit. Many cynics have dismissed the effort already, either pronouncing it less than worthless, or calling it some form of political Kabuki theater which will do no good. I think these pronunciations (especially the latter one) are a bit premature, to say the least. Because either on a substantive level or a political level, I think there actually is a chance for some limited success for Obama in this exercise.
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[ Posted Friday, February 5th, 2010 – 17:23 UTC ]
Because Democrats need to realize that they still have the biggest majority in both houses of Congress that they are likely to see in their lifetimes -- and if they can't get things done with this overwhelming power, then they really should consider just folding up their tents and calling it a day as a political party.
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[ Posted Thursday, February 4th, 2010 – 18:26 UTC ]
But while gay marriage has not exactly gained majority support from voters (as evidenced by recent referenda in California and Maine), allowing gays to serve openly in the military has actually become a lot less contentious, and has garnered a lot more support from the general public.
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[ Posted Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 – 15:44 UTC ]
When taken as a whole, President Barack Obama's poll numbers last month moved the least amount of any month of his presidency so far. His approval rating continued its trend of moving downwards, but only by two-tenths of a percent. His disapproval rating continued upwards, but only by four-tenths of one percent. Meaning January was a pretty stable month for Obama.
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[ Posted Monday, February 1st, 2010 – 15:26 UTC ]
This doesn't (as a sop to the "overexposed" crowd) necessarily have to be a primetime event, either. It can be a little more informal than that, without the pomp of an evening press conference broadcast nationally on all channels. But it should be at least an hour long, and it should be held soon.
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[ Posted Friday, January 29th, 2010 – 16:59 UTC ]
Ahem. Where was I? Oh, right, last week. Last week, when conservative "journalists" weren't pulling fratboy pranks on federal property (and getting arrested for such -- here's a tip to conservative "gotcha journalism" types: if you're going to do something this risky, might I suggest not doing it in a federal building where the F.B.I. probably has an office on the next floor? I mean, you're making it too easy, guys, really.
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[ Posted Thursday, January 28th, 2010 – 16:36 UTC ]
The real term we should all be using is a "grocery shopping list," when you think about it. The president is going to the Congressional store with a list of what he would like on America's table. He reads the list, and then Congress attempts to put some of it in his shopping cart. This metaphor has a lot more going for it, is much more versatile, and everybody's used a shopping list at some point or another.
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[ Posted Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 – 15:03 UTC ]
I would like to hear President Obama outline a clear agenda, like the Populist Caucus' Blueprint for Recovery, to create good-paying jobs that can't be outsourced for America's middle class families. A "jobless recovery" isn't a recovery for middle class families and the President and his Administration need to understand that.
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[ Posted Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 – 17:31 UTC ]
Today we are turning the column over to a State Of The Union speech from the past, to get everyone in the spirit for President Obama's first official State Of The Union speech tomorrow night.
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[ Posted Monday, January 25th, 2010 – 18:54 UTC ]
There has been an interesting alignment which has slowly happened over the past year, between two groups not normally in agreement -- inside-the-Beltway mainstream media types, and the bloggy Left. This alignment has occurred not in favor of some issue or another, but rather against a certain movement: the Tea Parties. Both the Serious Persons in the media, and pretty much the entire Left, have agreed that the proper thing to do with the Tea Partiers is to mock them, in the hopes that they'll go away soon. This, I fear, is a mistake, and it could be a costly one indeed for the Democratic Party.
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