November 22, 2008 by Dave.

Still on my political junkie fix, I’ve been watching a lot of what’s going on with the Obama transition and naming of cabinet members. Personally I’m not a big fan of all the names being named. If I really wanted to see another Clinton administration, I would have voted for Hillary (and I only voted for her husband once in 1992). However I said in an earlier blog that Obama is, in fact, a centrist, not a progressive. As a matter of fact, if he is as shrewd as he seems, he’s getting a lot of other veteran left-centrist politicians who can get things done so that he can get things done. So really this shouldn’t be too surprising.

What is surprising is possibly some of the motives behind two of the big stories this week: Clinton as Secretary of State and Joe Lieberman keeping his chairmanship. No one expected either to happen and the intense debate has flared up possible schisms within and among the Democratic Party and/or progressive democrats. Those who are for and against Hillary as SoS and for and against Lieberman as chair of Homeland Security are burning up the blogosphere, radio and airwaves. There are valid reasons on either side of both issues and plenty of room for debate. However everyone seems to refer back to one source: Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book “Team of Rivals” about Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and his political cabinet, who were mostly made up of political rivals and those of contrary views to Lincoln. Obama has said to be inspired by the book and is re-reading that book again as he picks his cabinet (”Team of Rivals” is now number 12 on Amazon.com best-seller list; both of Obama’s books are in the top ten). However, I think there is a different source of inspiration for these two big news items.

Over the weekend, AMC was running a Godfather marathon on its heavy rotation schedule. It was part way through Godfather II, specifically during the scene where Michael Corleone talks to Pantangeli in his father’s old house. That scene contains the most prescient nugget of wisdom from those movies—aside from “Leave the gun, take the canoli”— which is “Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.” Keith Olbermann touched upon this first on Countdown late last week, and others are now repeating it, but this is what I think Obama is doing.

Senator Clinton still has presidential aspirations and the senate is still her best place to make her play as and consolidate her power base— either helping Obama or challenging him. Some of her worst attacks against him in the primaries had to do with his lack of foreign policy experience. And, of course, then there’s Bill. To quote Stephen Colbert, Bill Clinton still can’t compliment Obama without “looking like he’s passing a stone.” Making her Secretary of State, while putting in her in a position to show off her foreign policy acumen, keeps her in line with Obama’s policies and makes her a follower not a leader. She has to follow his lead, otherwise she threatens American national and international security by trying to speak in her own voice (which could eventually backlash on her if she does run for president again). And Bill has been bending over backwards to help her get the position. Strategically, it’s a smart move. Lieberman wanted (nee demanded) to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee or bolt to the Republicans. This from a Senator who spoke at the RNC, towed the Palin Republican party line during the campaign to bad mouth Obama, then backpedaled like crazy when it looked like McCain was going to lose. Any other time, the Dems would have said bye-bye Leiberman and punished his actions. But when Obama said publicly that he wanted Lieberman to continue to caucus with the Democrats, that one statement saved his ass and his chairmanship. In a country that has taken a huge shift to the left and a state where he faces a potentially tough reelection, the only hope Lieberman has is to help Obama realize his agenda. As much as we want Lieberman to hang by the scrotum, Obama’s move puts him on a leash (we’re not sure how short or long it is until Liberman starts spouting off that neo-con babble again). Again, strategically it’s a smart move.

I admit being more cynical than most, but it seems as much as Obama wants to emulate Lincoln in formulating his cabinet, he also knows enough pop culture to know the Godfather reference and smart enough to have read the line’s original source material (Machiavelli and/or Sun Tzu). He’s smart enough to be successful in politics and it’s possible to pull this off. Granted we’ve just seen what happens to the last group of people who practice those kind of power politics. Also granted, the guy hasn’t even taken office yet. We have yet to see, and we’ll just keep playing Monday morning quarterback until they do.

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November 18, 2008 by Dave.

On her MSNBC show, Rachel Maddow suggested a “honey do” list for President-elect Barack Obama dealing with things that should be of the highest priority when he takes office on January 20, 2009. This is a bit of that, with some actual suggestions on how to go about it (not that I am ANY kind of expert on governmental budgets or appropriations). My mom referred to my get out the vote email as my “manifesto.” Actually in some ways, this is closer to an actual manifesto. In addition to sending this to friends and such, I’ve already sent a copy to Rachel Maddow and and President-elect Obama (or at least to the transition team). If I am picked up by the CIA, make sure people know this is why.

NAG LIST

Defense Department Reprioritizing: There are ways to efficiently cut the budgets in order to accomplish better goals. First of all, by the Pentagon’s own admission, the DoD is generally 15% over budget, meaning they can cut 15% of their current budget without hurting any of their current operations—though this doesn’t include operations in Iraq. Trim 10% off the DoD budget—until all troops are taken out of Iraq and the financial crisis looks closer to over, then you can extend to the full 15%— to, one, increase the budget to the Veteran’s Administration; and two, give a pay raise for noncom soldiers. Second, responsibly get us out of Iraq.

Health Care Reform: While universal health care is a goal of this administration (although not sure if they actually mean single-payer or not), the extent of the fiscal crisis and the subsequent bailout ensures that this goal is attainable but still a ways off. Until we stop hemorrhaging money, we should at least try to fix existing systems as a stop-gap/on-ramp (the bridge comes later). Extend SCHIP to insure all children in the US. And empower the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for the drug coverage under the Medicaid Part-D, as well as fill in the “donut hole” in the plan, so the elderly and other vulnerable segments of the society is covered. Small steps are better than no steps. (note: also fix the existing laws so that either Viagra is not covered by insurance or that birth control methods are covered—got to go one way or the other). (I know I’m going against two people I respect with this one: my mom and Dr. Paul Krugman. My mom is an activist for universal single-payer health care in America, and pretty much wants it to happen NOW. Krugman is advocating that Obama go big with his new agenda in order to stabilize things in America, including going to universal single-payer health care. Granted it’s not wise to go against the advice of a Nobel Prize winning economist and my mom, but if this is what we can afford, let’s do this and keep the main goal in sight)

Close Corporate Tax Loopholes: If anything is going to happen to the Tax Codes in the first year, this is it. There are too many loopholes that corporations are taking advantage of to pay less taxes or no taxes. I have no problem with deducting whatever you can; I do have a problem when corporations pay less in taxes than the janitors they hire. The most egregious loopholes should be closed up, including the ones that allow jobs to be outsourced overseas, the offshore banking loopholes, and “Made in USA” label loopholes. This will produce the fair share of revenues that America needs to start getting things back on track.

Adjust the AMT and create a Corporate AMT: The Alternative Minimum Tax was created to keep the rich from avoiding paying taxes all together. However since it hasn’t been adjusted for inflation for quite some time, many middle class families are getting caught in it; and the rationale for not adjusting it is the loss of many hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Now is the time to finally adjust the AMT, and then institute an AMT for corporations (again, corporations paying less taxes than their lowest paid wage workers is wrong). The Corporate AMT can (and should) be graduated— rather than the flat corporate tax— to give smaller corporations a break.

Use Capital Gains Tax as a Reward: This goes back to the Paul Tsongas’ economics model— give a capital gains tax cut to companies that do the right thing. For example, a $5,000 capital gains tax cut for each job created (which Obama has already proposed during the campaign); a $25,000 capital gains tax cut for each factory built (which creates jobs and gets you the $5,000 capital gains tax cut for each job for each job to fill the factory). You can also give capital gains tax cuts to companies that partner with schools or local food pantries, who have 100% union employees, and other such measures for the public good.

Infrastructure Investment: Actually this should be named “re-investment” since we’ve let it go for so long. This is pretty much a no-brainer. Unemployment is up; the state of our roads, bridges, electrical grids are down. Invest in rebuilding the infrastructure, fix the state of our roads, bridges, and electrical grids, and get people to work. If it worked in the ’30s, it’ll work now. Expect to see a program for this early in the administration— first six months to a year.

Emergency Auto Industry Loan: I didn’t like the bailout idea, especially when it was finally loaded with pork and had little oversight. If one truly believes in the free market, the financial companies should be left to fail. The auto industry is a bit different in that if one of the auto companies fails, it has a bigger ripple effect; in this case if that industry fails (which it might) at least 2.5 million people are out of work. That’s too extensive to have happen now. We should save the industry with some MAJOR caveats:

1. This is a LOAN, not a giveaway: Chrysler paid back its 1979 bailout loan in four years. These people should do the same as soon as possible.

2. No opposition to raising CAFE standards: The industry has been fighting this for years (it’s one of the bills that McCain was right on). If they want taxpayer help, the CAFE standards go up to 35 miles per gallon, no arguments.

3. More production of green cars: Like infrastructure investment, this will be key. The engine that will drive this industry (and the economy) for the next generation will be environmentally conscious transportation. The rest of the world has a jump on us concerning green cars and we need to catch up. Creating more hybrid cars is a start; creating next generation non-gasoline cars and other new innovations will carry it even further faster.

4. Fire current executive board: Self-explanatory. This board got into this mess, they deserve to lose their jobs.

Green Industry Investment: Being far behind in the green movement and in an economic mess, at least gives us a chance to catch up. Environmentally conscious industries will be the engine that drives the economy— at least says George Soros, billionaire hedge fund manager (who am I to argue with that guy?). It seems like a large expenditure up front, but it pays for itself in the back end, in this case with more revenues streams from a stronger economy and more tax revenue streams due to the increase in employment.

Congressional Accountability: Congress has voted itself a pay raise 18 times in the last 25 years, while in the same time period of time, the minimum wage has been raised only five times—including the most recent in 2008, and the last time before that in 1997. While the minimum wage will increase to $7.25 this summer, Congress needs to resist the temptation to raise its own pay until they get some stuff done for the rest of America. It’s pretty annoying to hear congressmen and women complain about CEO salaries and golden parachutes when they themselves will never be working at below the poverty line— or even close to it. While they’re at it, they should divest themselves from the congressional pension plans, which also adjusts each year to the cost of living and inflation. Maybe then they’ll understand the problems of average workers.

Employee Free Choice Act: While government regulations is a way to keep businesses accountable. Another way to do so is the existence of unions. This act will encourage and allow workers to organize without fear of recrimination (check out Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price for some info). The bill is already working its way through Congress and needs to be passed by the end of next year.

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November 13, 2008 by Dave.

Obama has won a decisive victory to become the first African American president of the United States. Terrific! The Democrats have increased their majority in the Senate and Congress. Great! The great conservative philosophy of small government and even less taxes has been rejected by a large majority of Americans. Amazing! So everything’s cool. Not by a long shot. We have a lot of work to do.

The damage done to America and American politics by the neo-cons is severe. Our economy has finally tanked due to eight years of Republican rule and two decades of deregulation, and yet we the people are bailing out the financial industry to the tune of $1 trillion or more. We are involved in two wars in the Middle East, and even if we can finagle our way out of one of them it will only be to shore up the efforts in the other. While these election results have been a step to repair our international reputation, we will still be looked at with skepticism if we try to claim ourselves a superpower amongst a group of global citizens. Health insurance is still a privileged benefit in American society afforded to some but not all. All those outsourced jobs will not be coming back, with India being the 1-800 help center of the world. Until we stop putting gas in cars, oil companies will continue to mount huge profits and get tax benefits in the process. The effects of the last eight years of radical-right rule will still be felt for another two decades if not more— no matter whom got elected.

While this historic election result is a dramatic return to hope, it is not by any means a cure all. We voted for change and projected every hope (and some fears) we had onto Senator Obama. He was a blank slate to reflect whatever we wanted him to be— he said so himself in similar words. He is not the Messiah, nor anti-American, nor a progressive, nor a socialist, nor a radical, a terrorist, a jihadist, a tax-and-spend liberal, a reformist, or an extremist. He is a liberal-centrist politician—a smart, shrewd, talented liberal-leaning centrist. There’s no guarantee of a progressive agenda coming out of this administration. So far a lot of former Clinton staffers and appointees are showing up in Obama’s administration. While that is great news for getting us out of a recession, it is not necessarily the best news on other economic fronts. Keep in mind that Clinton gave us both NAFTA and the Telecommunications Act (which brought us the media conglomeration/take over of the early 2000s). And Lawrence Summers— Clinton era Treasury Secretary on the short list for the job again— is of the free-market deregulation fundamentalist ilk that got us into this economic clusterfuck. If anyone thought this election would change everything, you’re delusional.

What we now have is a better chance to get things done. I went into the voting booth without any misconceptions for whom I was voting for. After eight years of the tyranny of arrogance, I voted for someone who would most likely listen to the public they govern. All the millions of people who donated $250 or less over the last 21 months are official shareholders of the Obama presidency. This is the closest we’ve come to real accountability and transparency in respects to our government. This is not yet truly for the people and by the people, but it’s damn close. However the only way we can make that work and get results out of this incoming administration is if we the public are vigilant. Our democracy is only as strong as the publics’ will to hold their elected officials to account. Now is the time to speak up.

There will be a LOT of organizations to lobby the new president with their platforms. MoveOn.org and other such liberal watchdog groups exist because people have organized on the grassroots level to try and be heard by their representatives and others in government. Already articles and petitions are going up trying to sharpen the focus on a progressive agenda. Even though the Republicans are dealing with their own internal conflicts and schisms, there is obviously going to be a push on the conservative side to have things done their way. This includes efforts to delegitimize Obama’s presidency before it even starts. Some conservative pundits are saying that America is a “center-right” country; others are saying that Obama doesn’t have a mandate (as if losing the popular vote and winning by four electoral votes gives you authorization to shred the Bill of Rights); others are simply ready to pounce on Obama for any incident no matter how slight. We’re hearing a lot of backseat driving about where to steer this country from every critic, liberal or conservative, within ten feet of a camera. Whose voice gets lost in all this—the populace who elected the incoming administration. That is unless we speak out.

We cannot get lazy now. President-elect Obama said in his election night victory speech that his win is not change itself, but the chance for change. The only way to bring that change about is to be vigilant, alert and active. The historian, activist, and veteran Howard Zinn wrote, “historically, government, whether in the hands of Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, has failed its responsibilities, until forced to by direct action: sit-ins and Freedom Rides for the rights of black people, strikes and boycotts for the rights of workers, mutinies and desertions of soldiers in order to stop a war. Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.” We are now entering the thick of a democratic struggle—in terms of small-d democracy. With forces from either side trying to come to bear on this incoming administration, we need to be actively alert to what is happening and call our officials out on it when necessary. And it will be necessary. Every administration will make mistakes, but it will only get away with the most egregious of them if our elected officials fail to hold themselves accountable, and worse if we fail to hold them accountable.

To paraphrase Obama, “don’t believe for a second this election is over. We have to work like our future depends on it, because it does.” We can choose to let other people speak for us on issues we care about, or we can make our own voices heard loud and clear. We can choose to go back to being apathetic, or remain attentive political observers. We can choose to give our elected officials complete free reign over our society, or reinvest ourselves in our world and hold them to standards. We can choose to go back to sleep and dream of a better world, or we can wake up and try to make that world a reality. That’s what’s at stake and what we’re fighting for. If we keep watching the events of the day, pay attention to what those in power do, pay attention to what people do to obtain and/or retain power, speak to your own situations and your own truths, speak out against corruption and malfeasance, fight for your core issues, fight for your beliefs, fight for your rights and those of your neighbors, we will not only pull American society out of the abyss, but we will emerge a stronger country connected to each other and focused on a common good for all Americans and the global community.

So thanks for voting. NOW LET’S GET TO WORK!

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