Tag Archives: Obama

Krugman on the Obama Win

Politics, ,

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman offers another apt summation of how many of us feel at this moment.

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.

And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

Race in America

Politics, ,

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting piece on the complexities and blind spots of race in America. “Frank Talk of Obama and Race in Virginia” details get-out-the-vote efforts in rural parts of the state and how they collide with voter prejudices and misconceptions. It’s a sad read; I can only hope the attitudes expressed in parts aren’t widespread enough to cost Obama the Presidency.

When Cecil E. Roberts, president of the coal miners union that shapes politics in much of this mountain region, talks to voters, he tells them that their choice is to have “a black friend in the White House or a white enemy.” When Charlie Cox, an Obama supporter, hears friends fretting about Obama’s race, he reminds them that they pull for the nearby University of Tennessee football team, “and they’re black.”

Union organizer Jerry Stallard asks fellow coal workers what’s more important: improving their work conditions or holding onto their skepticism of Obama’s race, culture or religion. “We’re all black in the mines,” he tells them.

…
Ben and Beth Bailey sat in the back and clapped politely, but they remained unpersuaded. They said they were likely to break from their tradition of voting Democratic and might well not vote at all.

Obama “just doesn’t seem like he’s from America,” said Beth Bailey, 25. Ben Bailey, 32, noted that Obama’s middle name is Hussein, “and we know what that means.”

Opposing a Blank Check for the Financial Industry

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My letter to my Congressmen

Dear Senators Durbin and Obama and Representative Emanuel:

I’m writing to ask you to oppose Secretary Paulson’s proposal for a blank check to bail out the financial industry. While some form of government intervention may be essential to safeguard the economy, it doesn’t make sense to funnel taxpayer funds, without restrictions, to the very people that got us into this mess.

Privatizing profit and socializing risk is no way to run our economy. It’s disconcerting that the very people who have enshrined personal responsibility and the perfect utility of the free market are being rescued by the public from their own mismanagement.

I support the conditions given by Robert Reich as preconditions for any bailout, namely:

1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.

2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish their current stock options and this year’s other forms of compensation, and agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm profitability. Why should taxpayers feather their already amply-feathered nests?

3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next, all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers. Why should taxpayers finance Wall Street’s outsized political power – especially when that power is being exercised to get favorable terms from taxpayers?

4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure, capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be convened immediately. After all, inadequate regulation and lack of oversight got us into this mess.

5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their homes. Why should distressed homeowners lose their homes when Wall Streeters receive taxpayer money that helps them keep their fancy ones?

Please oppose any unrestrained bailout.

Sincerely,

James Seidler

It’s shouting into a tornado, sure, but what else are you going to do?

AP: McCain More Conservative Than His Image

Politics, , ,

In discussing the November 2008 Presidential election, I’ve had a number of people who lean liberal but are uncertain about either Obama or Clinton (generally the latter) tell me that they would be ok with a McCain victory because he’s “not like other Republicans.”

I always disagree, arguing that a McCain victory would effectively be an extension of the Bush administration. As it turns out, the Associated Press agrees with me in a new article, “McCain: More Conservative Than His Image,” where they state:

The likely Republican presidential nominee is much more conservative than voters appear to realize. McCain leans to the right on issue after issue, not just on the Iraq war but also on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other issues that matter to his party’s social conservatives.

The article offers a detailed examination of McCain’s positions on abortion, gay rights and gun control, leaving aside his support for the status quo in Iraq, regressive economic policies and belligerent talk toward Iran.

It’s a mistake to think of him as a moderate. His centrist positions are typically abandoned or reversed, a move that would be “flip-flopping” if a Democrat were doing it. Unfortunately, McCain seems to be held to a different standard.