Where do we go from here?

 

Mllions of Hillary Clinton supporters are asking themselves that question after the former First Lady and junior Senator from NY officially suspended her presidential campaign yesterday.  If you believe her numbers, there are now 18 million people scratching their heads and asking this today.  Even if you do not think this is an accurate number, record numbers of people have voted this year and everyone has a strong opinion.  Moreover, while Hillary’s decision may not have surprised anyone alive and actively following this election but her actions were very carefully choreographed.  Had she dropped out too early, all of her supporters would have been so disenfranchised that they would have either opted not to vote or to support a Republican.  Wait too long and she would have risked doing further damage to the Democrats’ frail sense of loyalty.  Either way, the last thing Hillary wanted was to be the spoiler for her party.  She wants to be able to run again. 

 

The next few months will be very telling for the Democratic party and the country.  Whereas the GOP has made more mistakes over the past seven  years,  the Democrats seem determined to rip defeat from the jaws of victory.  Despite a bad war, bad economy, bad environmental news, Senators McCain and Obama seem to be running virtually neck and neck in most areas.  What’s up with that?  John McCain has voted WITH Dubya nearly 100 per cent of the time and we all can see what his administration would look like.  Barack Obama needs to educate the country.  Sure, he needs to let people get to know him.  Obama’s personal history is very compelling.  He also needs to expose John McCain for the extreme conservative that he is.  Obama doesn’t even need to go negative.  McCain’s voting record will do him in well enough.  In a change election like this one, youth/energy/raw talent should be able to beat age/cronyism/more-of-the-same that is John McCain.  And for the people who really feel they have been left out or that Hillary did not get a fair shake, get over it.  Now.  And do it quickly because we don’t have time to deal with your grief.  It’s funny because so many people have complained that the primary ‘has been so ugly that everyone has been hurt’ but in reality it has been much more tame than the general election would be.

 

Where do we all go from here?  We bury the hatchet – not in each others’ backs – and get down to work to win the election in November.

 

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Why it matters

Why it matters

 

NBC has been running these more obnoxious than words can describe ads about why they cover the presidential campaign as much as they do.  The gist is that it matters therefore they cover it.  While I find the ads repugnant and reminiscent of a John Stewart joke where they showed CNN using real wildfires to promo an interview with an actress from the movie Things we lost in the fire, this year’s contest matters.  It matters for reasons that transcend what color, gender the candidates are.  Seven years ago we put someone into the White House whose experience was less than minimal.  He failed at the several businesses he ran, traded Sammy Sosa and seemed to do very little as governor of Texas.  People who know more than I about the Texas system have said that this position doesn’t have a lot of power.  One area in which they do have some authority is in reviewing death row cases and pardon or commute the sentence of anyone deemed worthy.  Texas executes more people than any other state.  Ok, they are a large state and a viable defense in a murder case is “he needed killin’” but Dubya’s one contribution to the state was to reduce the amount of time the governor spends reviewing such cases to 15 minutes.  It’s only a matter of life and death, whatever.

 

So we let this guy into 1600 PA Ave and gave him the proverbial keys to the kingdom and hoped for the best.  We didn’t get it.  Unbeknownst to me, and most of the US, Dubya and his dad don’t get along well.  That sucks because a, I thought that at the very least we may not like Dubya but he would lean on dad when things got rough (was not a supporter of Bush 1 but the man is intelligent and has a lot of foreign policy experience) and b, when we were about to invade Iraq the one person on Earth with experience doing that very thing was shut out.  One issue 43 had against 41 was the way he handled Iraq.  So, for reasons only he knows, he surrounded himself with very intelligent people, though most were stuck in a world that didn’t exist anymore – the Cold War days.  Look where we are today.  In a war we cannot end, the dollar and my cat’s poop are worth about the same and the economy is just going to get worse before it gets better.  We are stuck between a rock and hard place with China, who owns most of our country yet isn’t on great terms with human rights.  I can only imagine what will happen this summer when all the tourists and Tibet protesters descend on that country.  Bloodbath comes to mind but can they be that stupid?  Can they?

 

So back in the States we have a presidential election to deal with.  On the Democratic side we have two people who are basically the same when it comes to their positions on, well, everything.  .

 

On the other side of the aisle we have John McCain, a well respected veteran who is known for speaking his mind but while equally important, people seem to be ignoring the fact that he is insane.  I don’t like to think I am ageist but the joke about bombing our enemies (the now saintly Reagan said that while checking his microphone, his exact comments were something like “the bombing of Russia will commence in five minutes) was never funny.  McCain entered an event singing (to the tune of some Beach Boys’ song, I think) “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.”  Not funny.  It’s scary because I don’t think he was kidding.  Worse, the man who has made his experience on the international scene the cornerstone of his campaign got the Sunnis and Shia confused.  A BIG blunder for someone like him.  He claimed al Qaeda is getting training in Iran (from the government). They are not and any al Qaeda that is in Iraq went there AFTER we invaded.

 

So we have a lot to think about.  Oh and lest you really think this has been a good idea, 97 percent of the American military deaths in Iraq has happened after the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner incident.  Great.

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John Edwards ends his campaign where he started it

As you probably know, former NC Senator John Edwards officially abandoned his run for the White House today in New Orleans and followed his speech with an afternoon of working on a Habitat for Humanity house there.  Sometimes it is bad to be a white man (it's rare that this is true but when your two opponents are an African-American man and a woman, well they get all the press).

It does not matter what party you like or which candidate you support, John Edwards is a classy and decent man.  In my opinion, there are few people I have ever met in politics who are as nice and genuine as he is.  I can say the same thing about every member of his family that I have met.  I have spent time with Elizabeth, Cate (his eldest daughter) and parents.  They are all wonderful people and I would walk through fire for any of them. 

It was sad to see this campaign end today and as many in the media have already said, he may very well decide who the Democratic nominee will be as both Hillary and Obama made statements declaring how much more like Edwards each is. 

I wanted to be neutral here but was an Edwards supporter.  I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt last week that said "Edwards for President — even if he is the white guy."  The woman had made it because she liked him for his health plan.  It could be because he was nice or remembered that I worked for him and seemed to know me when he saw me or because he reminded me why I care about politics and why we all should.  He seems to bring that out in people and I applaud his decision to run and maybe to jump out.  I hope it was just a matter of number crunching and that Elizabeth is not sicker than they have said.  It's none of my business but as I said I like her and don't like it when bad things happen to good people.

The upside of all of this is maybe the others will do what they said they would do and talk and DO more about the issues that made up the core of his campaign.  He is right about our country.  We do not have poverty like some other countries such as India or Nepal but one in seven of us cannot get health care and it is criminal.  It's also threatens the people who do have it.  We all pay for health care for people who lack coverage.  We pay for it in higher premiums and drug prices.  While the pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable in the country, thousands — probably more, have to decide whether they will pay for medicine or food.  That's not a decision anyone should pay.  Drug companies will say they need to charge what they charge because it costs so much to bring a drug from the lab to the store and they are right.  The catch is they get a lot of help from us.  Our taxes pay for a lot of that process.  Moreover, a lot of the research and development can be written off and they get access to space and equipment thanks to the government.  They can use research done by governmental agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and get to charge whatever they like for 11 years after a drug gets approved before generics can be made.

John Edwards understands that.  We have been told that lawyers are bad.  They prey on the public and sue anyone for a profit but our founding fathers didn't share that view.  They seemed to like them a lot.  I see them and the press and guardians of our rights and most of the things that we cherish about our way of life.  The press is there to keep our government honest, they were not considered so bad by the people who wrote our Constitution either.  Lawyers protect us from an overbearing government that sometimes oversteps its bounds.  Edwards has always been one of the good guys.  The cases he took were for people who needed a voice but did't have one.  That's what he always did and would have done as president.

For the moment that option is off the table but there are still millions of people don't have someone to fight for their interests.  I hope Senators Clinton and Obama will remember that as their campaigns continue.  It is not enough to lay claim to Edwards' ideas and statements.  Those statements need to be followed by action.  We need to know how they plan to help those people who feel left out by our system.

Thank you, Senator and Mrs. Edwards for reminding me why participation in our crazy political process matters and for showing me it is possible to be bitter, jaded and still care.  I hope you will both remain active and in the public eye.  Your example makes it easier to show other people why they should vote.

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The best laid plans

I had this idea that I would research both the US Attorney firings under Clinton and Bush.  My initial thought — and I am in a bad mood right now so deal — was that anyone who actually knew anything about the way political appointments go would understand why firing ALL US proscutors at the beginning of a presidential term is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from scouring all of their political positions and firing a few for not being "loyal Bushies" (note: this is their term, not mine, and many reputable news organizations have said this.  Alas, time has not permitted me to do all the research I needed but I found an article on Salon that pretty much gives my opinion and lists some sources.

When a new president takes office all political appointees are fired.  That is not a partisan thing, when Reagan left I am pretty sure Bush Sr. brought in his new own crew.  That Dubya did not fire them is not necessarily bad, it just goes against precedent.

And for anyone who emails me some nonsense about anyone 'serving at the pleasure of the president' they had better find me some reasonable citation because it is not in the Constitution.  And, look it up if you do not believe me Congress has tried to impeach presidents for firing Cabinet level positions, Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing the Secretary of War after Congress passed a law forbidding the president from firing such people but the law was unconstitutional, not because the Secretary 'served his pleasure' — a phrase that dates back pretty far but seems utterly ridiculous but Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution says:

Section 2 – Civilian Power over Military, Cabinet, Pardon Power, Appointments

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

 

Anyway, I don't need a lot of research, though a number of organizations have, to say that the branches of the federal government exist to do their jobs and push the policies — not the partisan politics — of whatever administration we have.  Some will say there is no difference but there is.  When Karl Rove holds video conferences with the General Services Administration about how to win elections, neither is doing their job and it would be wrong if Clinton did it and is wrong today.

(PS.  if this has not been abundantly clear, Clinton fired all political appointees when he took office regarless of their party affiliation and as far as I know no Senator asked for any prosecutors to be fired because he did not approve of their actions, THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE).

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