"I Pledge Allegiance"

So we have all but seven brave Congressional Republicans who have signed a pledge to someone named Grover Nordquist, who has appointed himself the new God of the conservatives. All of the Republican presidential candidates, except for Huntsman, have signed it as well.

First there was the pledge to not raise taxes (or indeed to do anything to raise revenue—an interesting position for someone in government since our Constitution was passed in order to be able to collect revenue). Wonder whether they would consider such a pledge in business? Or is the business of the government something holy to them?

Then this Tealiban group has people signing marriage pledges that originally claimed that black families had it better under slavery than today since there were more "intact" families then. We could feel sorry for them because they are so ignorant but in truth they are worse than ignorant. And stupidity is no excuse for what is going on.

The irony of course is the signing of any pledge by these Über right-wingers to not raise taxes on pain of being abandoned by the tea party; what could be more unpatriotic? There should be more respect for the pledge they took upon taking office to uphold the Constitution. That pledge should trump whatever any outside conservative serves up. What happened to governance? Congress should not be controlled by pledging anything to some outside group. Their first loyalty should be to the country--the entire country!

And yet their intransigence seems to reserve the biggest sneer of all for the Fourteenth Amendment, which maintains without equivocation that this country does not default. This is so firmly ingrained in our history that from the beginning our Founders made sure they would not default on the debts they carried into the founding of the country. This hypocrisy, along with the rest of the GOP’s dishonest stance, comes to light when we realize that the debt ceiling was raised seven times during Bush’s tenure, and it didn’t make a ripple. Methinks that if Obama said “day,” they would say “night.” Sad, isn’t it?

The real loser unfortunately is the country, and most of these Tealiban don’t give a damn.

Tea Party favorites like Ron Paul know how to make everything appear so very simple. For example, he somehow believes that taking the country back to a bygone era will improve things; never mind that he never lived in those pre-modern eras when we didn’t really have a middle class but only the very rich and the very poor. There was a great deal of suffering for those not part of that wealthy upper class. And don’t forget, we were not a super-power or a force to be reckoned with in the world.

If the Republicans get their way, we will never be a major force in the world again. It only takes going back to 1929, with no regulations, no safety nets, and another crash looming in our future, and we’ve had it. It is no exaggeration. After all, we now have a Congress full of people who have never served in any public office before coming to Washington and they claim to know all the answers. They are so intransigent, they can’t bend, so I imagine they will break. My fear is that they will break the country with their sharp edges.

My experience has been with those who know all the answers that in the end they usually know none of them.

The Republicans maintain it is all right to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and the most vulnerable in our society in order to preserve the wealth of the super-rich. Republicans appearing on various talk shows claim they are compromising if they sign a bill for the debt ceiling to be raised; this is the compromise.

It's a strange compromise they have in mind when they want every program created to help those in need gutted. As for the President, I think he can stand on his own just fine. The problem is that the Constitution says this is something Congress is supposed to take care of. And yes taxes have been collected since George Washington sent out troops to collect them from some citizens not overly eager to contribute to the running of their new government.

There seems to be a common misunderstanding about what raising the debt ceiling means. There is no room to fully explain it here, but rest assured it is not about spending a lot more money next week if they raise the debt ceiling tomorrow. What it really means is honoring our debts and obligations. Right-wingers claim that failing to raise the debt ceiling will not ruin our credit rating or our economy, or send the world markets into panic. What they base their claim on seems to be thin air.
The truth is the at present we are supposed to be the world's leader and when our credit goes, it could very well mean another 1929-like crash. That's why so many financial people (including Geithner, Bernanke, etc.) are getting increasingly panicked about the dangerously ignorant rhetoric. It isn't a game. It is the reputation and future of our country, and too many people like Paul et al. seem to live in an alternate universe where they happily imagine their simplistic nonsense as reality.

Obama's First Year

Everywhere you look online, polls are being taken on whether in his first year in office the president has been successful. This in place of the more burdensome task of looking at the hard facts of what has been accomplished. And make no mistake, this president, much as he has been maligned by pundits, press, congressmen on the other side of the aisle and even Saturday Night Live, has been effective. You might consider that the loud roar against him may be in direct response to his unprecedented success. Yes, I will repeat that, unprecedented success!

National Public Radio has reported that a Congressional Quarterly study has discovered President Obama to have done better than even legendary arm-twister Lyndon Johnson in winning congressional votes on issues where he took a position. In fact, the study gives him the highest mark of any president since it began tracking more than fifty years ago. And this in a year where the issues Obama tackled included how to deal with Afghanistan, Iraq, an expanding terrorist threat, the economic crisis and battles over health care.

In addition, the list of his accomplishments during his year in office are impressive, despite the press’s reluctance to list such boring stuff as the fact that he ordered all federal agencies to undertake a study and make recommendations for ways to cut spending; ordered a review of all federal operations to identify and cut wasteful spending and practices; instituted enforcement for equal pay for women; began the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq; made sure families of fallen soldiers have expenses covered to be on hand when the body arrives at Dover AFB; ended media blackout on war casualties; reporting full information as well as on covering the return of fallen soldiers to Dover AFB. He also has the executive branch of government now respecting the Freedom of Information Act; instructed all federal agencies to promote openness and transparency as much as possible; and has put limits on lobbyist's access to the White House as well as limits on White House aides working for lobbyists after their tenure in the administration.
The list goes on with such important actions as removing restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research and adding new federal funding for research project as well as science and research labs. The much neglected infrastructure in our country has been given funding dedicated to projects focused on infrastructure rebuilding and, in the process, putting people back to work. The list is incredibly long for one year and that list does go on.

Has he had missteps? Nothing even close to the list of accomplishments. There is no question but that we now have an intelligent, savvy president who is listening and paying attention and, most importantly, getting things done. He has given us back our Constitution and our pride in our country. Another of his important accomplishments has been to garner respect in the world community for our country and leadership, something that would seem a gargantuan task after the Bush years in the wilderness.

Before you take a poll on Obama’s “success” or “failure,” it would perhaps be more seemly to actually look at the record.

Obama and the Nobel

Like many others, I was stunned to read this morning that President Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. But after I read the Nobel Committee’s reasoning behind the award, I have to say that I saw this award in another light. As specifically stated, it is for what he has accomplished in the way he has reset the entire pattern of global relationships and aspirations. He has begun the process of making the United Nations live up to its name of inclusive rather than exclusive in trying to unite all nations and set positive goals, as for example, nuclear disarmament and reduction in global warming. He has brought the United States into a leadership role rather than shirking such responsibility and led the way in inspiring others to follow him in aspiring to the ambitious aims that could mean world prosperity and peace. Will he succeed in any of these goals that he so very gracefully began? None of us knows. But obviously many of us hope and more than that, wish to throw in our support. The Nobel Committee has done so in a most public way, using the weight of its lofty position to give its approval to his agenda. Thus I believe that the Award was given to him not just in recognition of his efforts (yes, his efforts) but to aid the realization of those goals.

What has been disheartening is that from the moment of the announcement, there were disparaging remarks about Obama not being worthy of the award. From people in countries whose agenda is in direct opposition to peace and disarmament, it was to be expected. But from those in our own country whose sole goal appears to be the usual game of partisan politics, it is nothing less than vulgar. Disparaging the president in these circumstances is nothing less than showing poor taste in not being a citizen proud of our country and its president. This is an international award that should make every citizen proud that we have once more been recognized for being the leader of the free world. His leadership qualities have been very much on display in every international forum he has attended. How he quietly comes onto the scene and becomes the focus is nothing short of amazing. Obama has used this advantage as a global bully pulpit to further goals of peace and prosperity on an international scale.

The Nobel Committee is throwing its weight behind Barack Obama to realize these worthy goals of bringing peace and his work in no less than taking the necessary efforts to save the planet; they are saying in essence that they are doing what they can to bring attention to his grand but necessary agenda and put its “seal of approval” on these worthy aims. Let’s all hope they succeed.