Monday, November 2, 2009
The Silent Successes
The Wall Street Journal discusses unheralded accomplishments of the Obama Administration. They mean it to be a wake up call or a warning shot. I call it the will of the people.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
New York State of ?
Quick Recap
NY-23 is New York Congressional District that has been Republican and should be Republican for as long as it last.
There is an election on Tuesday with a New York Democrat and New York Republican (Read: Moderate) and a New York Conservative (read Wing Nut)
Along the Way to the Republican winning like usual the Tea Partiers (baggers, you choose) decided a New York Republican wasn't good enouth. Sarah Palin et al gets behind the Conservative candidate. The Republican Candidate drops out. The Democrat is gracious the Conservative Candidate is a dick. Now the the Republican Candidate is endorsing the Democrat.
Read for a local's perspective.
"What happened in NY-23 is that a bunch of confederate pukes came in and told a perfectly nice, socially moderate, Republican Albany hack (and I mean that affectionately) to go get bent.
As you can imagine there is great speculation on how this will play out on Tuesday. The above quote sums up what I think and hope will be the general reaction in New York.
NY-23 is New York Congressional District that has been Republican and should be Republican for as long as it last.
There is an election on Tuesday with a New York Democrat and New York Republican (Read: Moderate) and a New York Conservative (read Wing Nut)
Along the Way to the Republican winning like usual the Tea Partiers (baggers, you choose) decided a New York Republican wasn't good enouth. Sarah Palin et al gets behind the Conservative candidate. The Republican Candidate drops out. The Democrat is gracious the Conservative Candidate is a dick. Now the the Republican Candidate is endorsing the Democrat.
Read for a local's perspective.
"What happened in NY-23 is that a bunch of confederate pukes came in and told a perfectly nice, socially moderate, Republican Albany hack (and I mean that affectionately) to go get bent.
And, and as a New Yorker, that pisses me off."
As you can imagine there is great speculation on how this will play out on Tuesday. The above quote sums up what I think and hope will be the general reaction in New York.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Fox v. Obama
Ok, I tried and tired and I could not get the embed to work. So take the time to jump over to the Daily Show and get a run down on What The Fox is going on between Fox and the White House.
Quick take
1) Fox Reporters - Report on Asinine story
2) Fox Analyst - Get outrage make hysterical comments
3) Fox Reporters - Report "Some" are outraged and saying ...
Take a moment and take a look
Quick take
1) Fox Reporters - Report on Asinine story
2) Fox Analyst - Get outrage make hysterical comments
3) Fox Reporters - Report "Some" are outraged and saying ...
Take a moment and take a look
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Respect Dignity
The first time since 2001 when the war in Afghanistan started a US President receives the fallen soldiers at Dover Air Force Base. Remember up until this year no photo's were allowed to be taken of this ceremony.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Lieberman's a What?
Last Friday I wrote that Lieberman was going to be the "real Wild card".
Reports are coming out that he has stated he will vote to fillibuster the Health Care Reform Bill as it currently stands. Referencing that he wants no publicloption what so ever.
It appears this may have been the fight the White House wanted to avoid if the reports are to be believed. This is my guess on how this plays out. If Lieberman votes for the fillibuster he may well have two or three conservative Democrats follow suit, if he falls in line so will they. The concern I have re: Lieberman is the Democrats have limited leverage on him. It appears to limited to his commitee chairmanship. The other Democrats are still beholden to the party in some fashion. Lieberman lost the parties nomination and had to run as an Independant.
This is but one more wrinkle to watch.
Here are my comments regarding Lieberman last November read them and judge for yourself.
Reports are coming out that he has stated he will vote to fillibuster the Health Care Reform Bill as it currently stands. Referencing that he wants no publicloption what so ever.
It appears this may have been the fight the White House wanted to avoid if the reports are to be believed. This is my guess on how this plays out. If Lieberman votes for the fillibuster he may well have two or three conservative Democrats follow suit, if he falls in line so will they. The concern I have re: Lieberman is the Democrats have limited leverage on him. It appears to limited to his commitee chairmanship. The other Democrats are still beholden to the party in some fashion. Lieberman lost the parties nomination and had to run as an Independant.
This is but one more wrinkle to watch.
Here are my comments regarding Lieberman last November read them and judge for yourself.
Speaking of Triggers, I think it is time for Obama to pull it
I have tried to maintain an even keel in following and participating in the Health Care Debate. Never trying to get too excited or too disappointed. That has served me well as this has been a long drawn out debate. It has had it's ups back in June, it's downs in August, and a slow steady rise through September and October.
There has been a lot of pressure on behalf of progressive Health Care Reform. Many of my freinds on the left of me have been dis-spirited by the lack of Obama's taking the debate by the throat. I have continued to cut him some slack, preferring to look at the outcome as much as the process. As we get closer and closer to voting on the floors of Congress, reform is inching it's way along in an acceptable position.
A mere two weeks ago discussing this issue I shared my opinion with a number of fellow Obama volunteers that it was too early to be disappointed by his side line approach. After all it was his speech to Congress in September that put a floor under the falling polls and sparked the resurrection of the debate in a more progressive fashion.
I was pleased to hear that the pressure on Reid to include a Public Option in the Senate bill was successfull. Once it is in it will be almost impossible to strip it out. In the end what whatever finally comes out of the Senate will be the closest proximity to what the final bill will look like. I have always believed that Obama would wait till Democrats got the ball down to the Red Zone and then would join in the battle to help push the ball across the end zone. He has was successful in staying sufficiently above the fray to not allow himself to be overly identified with any specific piece of legislation. This would allow him to take possession of whatever the final product was and run it into the end zone.
That is why the reporting that at first the "White House" pushed back against Reid including the Opt-out Public Option instead of the Triggered Option is so very disappointing. TPM has a report discussing the relationship between Reid and the "White House" in getting the bill passed.
Now in my wildest dreams,
I suspected that Obama was allowing Reid to get to left of the White House as Reid was losing support from the Liberals and is going to need their help in his election next year. This would allow Obama then to stand in the middle and say this is the bill that Congress has come up with and now that we are here we need to get it passed.
You can imagine the disappointment when Chuck Todd of NBC reports a quote such as
White House Tells Reid 'Don't Come Crying to Us When You Need That Last Vote'
I'll continue to maintain my even keel going into the home stretch of this debate as it is far from over. Constantly reminding myself that the final product is much more important than the process. That being said President Obama could be find himself having to do some searious making up to all of us who jumped into the fray last fall.
Coming full circle Chuck Todd has issued statements walking back from the quote about don't come crying to me. It appears this was supposed to have been his own clarification and not a direct quote. That makes a large difference. This eipisode is just a reminder of the importance of taking this whole debate in stride.
There has been a lot of pressure on behalf of progressive Health Care Reform. Many of my freinds on the left of me have been dis-spirited by the lack of Obama's taking the debate by the throat. I have continued to cut him some slack, preferring to look at the outcome as much as the process. As we get closer and closer to voting on the floors of Congress, reform is inching it's way along in an acceptable position.
A mere two weeks ago discussing this issue I shared my opinion with a number of fellow Obama volunteers that it was too early to be disappointed by his side line approach. After all it was his speech to Congress in September that put a floor under the falling polls and sparked the resurrection of the debate in a more progressive fashion.
I was pleased to hear that the pressure on Reid to include a Public Option in the Senate bill was successfull. Once it is in it will be almost impossible to strip it out. In the end what whatever finally comes out of the Senate will be the closest proximity to what the final bill will look like. I have always believed that Obama would wait till Democrats got the ball down to the Red Zone and then would join in the battle to help push the ball across the end zone. He has was successful in staying sufficiently above the fray to not allow himself to be overly identified with any specific piece of legislation. This would allow him to take possession of whatever the final product was and run it into the end zone.
That is why the reporting that at first the "White House" pushed back against Reid including the Opt-out Public Option instead of the Triggered Option is so very disappointing. TPM has a report discussing the relationship between Reid and the "White House" in getting the bill passed.
Now in my wildest dreams,
I suspected that Obama was allowing Reid to get to left of the White House as Reid was losing support from the Liberals and is going to need their help in his election next year. This would allow Obama then to stand in the middle and say this is the bill that Congress has come up with and now that we are here we need to get it passed.
You can imagine the disappointment when Chuck Todd of NBC reports a quote such as
White House Tells Reid 'Don't Come Crying to Us When You Need That Last Vote'
I'll continue to maintain my even keel going into the home stretch of this debate as it is far from over. Constantly reminding myself that the final product is much more important than the process. That being said President Obama could be find himself having to do some searious making up to all of us who jumped into the fray last fall.
Coming full circle Chuck Todd has issued statements walking back from the quote about don't come crying to me. It appears this was supposed to have been his own clarification and not a direct quote. That makes a large difference. This eipisode is just a reminder of the importance of taking this whole debate in stride.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Superfreak contd.
Two more post from Brad Delong on the Superfreakonomics controversy. One is an interview with one of the scientist that the authors interviewed extensively and applied a few of his quotes out of context and the second is a general scolding of their reaction to all the criticism. Again I think they may have gotten too cute for their own good. I have no idea what their true beliefs are. What I have sensed from this debate is they or their publisher was hoping to stir up some sales by playing with the Climate Change deniers.
One doesn't have to be in the publishing business to realize how well conservative books sell. Glen Beck, Bill O' Reilly, Michelle Malkin. This may have been an attempt to flirt with this book buying crowd while still appealing to the crowd that bought all those Freakonomics books, which there is a good chance wasn't the same crowd. They are now getting called out for getting too close to the line. My first hint was the Title / Subtitle
SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (Hardcover)
Shocking isn't, well that is what is supposed to do Sex, Politics, Murder.
Health Care in a Nut Shell
The Reader's Digest version.
Harry Reid is leaning toward including the Public Option with an Opt Out provision. He doesn't necessarily have 60 votes in hand but thinks he might be close. Yesterday's leak is a trial balloon to see what kind of pushback he gets from his own party. Snowe (a Republican) bit and said she could not vote for this. No other Democrats have come out so strong. The real wild card will be Joe Lieberman of Conneticut. He is an independant who plays with the Democrats. Remember Joe was John McCain's big guy last election. President Obama came in and saved his skin after the election and let him stay on as Chairman of his Committee. Could this be the payback time?
Remember a couple of days I linked a post to Fivethirtyeight.com that was suggesting the Opt Out will be the final version. Yesterday's news looks to give that assessment some weight.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
