Getting the Ball Rolling

Without question the biggest challenge facing the new president is somehow trying to fix the economy. President Barack Obama (that sounds a little weird doesn't it?) and his Treasury team have recently laid out an $825 billion stimulus package. While most liberals and those with common sense have praised it or at least agreed to the idea, Republican leaders have raised numerous objections. Linking it to socialism or just too costly, GOP leaders in both houses of Congress have refused to support it and have spoken out against. I could go into an economic lesson as to why they are wrong, but Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman gives a much better lesson than I could (click here to read it).

Anyways, if the Republicans think they are doing there jobs by working tirelessly to stop this proposal, this belief deserves to be looked into. GOP members in Congress may represent conservative districts, but a member of Congress is not purely a delegate from wherever they were elected. The actions of those in Congress affect everyone in the country and therefore, it is important that those in Congress don't just vote purely based on their constituency. In the last election the voters declared that they were not only upset over how the country was being run, but that the party out of power for eight years deserved a shot at running things. Now that they have this chance, the Republicans should not go against the will not only its people, but what the party that isn't responsible for a laundry list of mistakes and mishandlings to have a shot.

The Democrats and President Obama should hardly pay attention to their Republican colleagues if all the GOP seeks to do is stop the Democrats whenever possible. The fact is the Democrats have nearly 60 Senators, a big majority in the House and a President who got nearly twice as much electoral votes as his opponent. The Republican time of rule is over, for now at least, and the Republican members of Congress owe it to their constituents, themselves and the entire country to give the Democrats their day. And that's the truth.

What Happened and What's Next

So yesterday America has elected its first minority president, and while much of the media has been focusing on that, Obama has wasted in no time in getting to work. He has already formed his transition team and named his chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel. Today he received his first CIA briefing and the Treasury Department has said that it would welcome members of Obama's staff to start working as soon as possible to help with the financial crisis. (I'll be honest, I am quite surprised in such a display of bi-partisanship and cooperation from the Bush administration). The fact that Obama is not wasting anytime shows that he appreciates how much needs to be done in the next four years. The American people were longing for change and they found their man for change in Obama, and could not be more thrilled with last nights victory. It would be far to naive to expect that Obama will be able to suddenly restore America to its standing eight years ago with a flip of a switch and it will take a lot of work to begin rebuilding America. Sen. McCain's graceful concession shows us how much we need to unite and get back to work. Obama has promised the American people a lot and it will take much work and some time before we get there, but in no means is it impossible.

Many say the Republicans have not suffered such a defeat since post-Watergate and the party is in shambles. (As a Democrat, I am partially hoping that it stays this way). But what did the Republicans do after Watergate? They transformed themselves. Enter the Reagan Revolution, which was just pronounced dead last night. The Republicans ought to start focusing on the issues that really appeal to Americans. Stop talking about how much God means to you and how positive you are the Earth is six thousand years old and start talking about what your economic platform will do for Americans and why it will work. The public discourse was changed last night and my hope is that it becomes more civil with each cycle. The mud-slinging era of campaigning is continuing to be ushered out. The Democrats were seen as the party of hope and for change and that ultimately spelled the Republican's doom. I hope that in 2012, sensible Republicans won't have to proclaim how religious they are in order to secure the nomination and the debate will be more about issues that really matter when you're president. If the Republicans don't learn this lesson now, they eventually will. And that's the truth.

Something's Gotta Spend

This post is a follow-up to "A Little bit of Socialism Never Hurt Anyone." In wake of the financial crisis and the economic downturn that has plagued this country and the world, it has been reported that spending is down to its lowest level since 1980. As you may or may not recall in 1980 the state of our economy was the closest thing this nation has experience since the Great Depression. It would take a while and Reagan to do many un-Reagan things to get out of it.

Not only are we spending less, but our economy is shrinking. The GDP has actually shrunk by .3% and is expected to shrink as much as 2% before things start to get better. Now, I don't think we are headed for something analogous to the Great Depression, but it certainly will be similar to the recession of 1980. Now how do we make the best of this situation?

Well first we have to look at history and who and what this nation is. The fact is we are a consumer based nation and with spending in a downturn like this, it seems hard to imagine things getting better anytime soon, but if we are to shorten this recession, someone has to spend. During the initial years of the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover placed this responsibility on us, the consumer. How did that work out? Not well at all (depression got much worse).

Franklin Roosevelt decided that the government would start to spend more and by doing this things began to get better. Granted, the production that came with the war would be the silver bullet, but had it not been for the New Deal, our capacity to prepare for war would have been significantly smaller. So now we need some spending, and we aren't doing this. The next president must surely recognize this otherwise it will be tough. Not only should the government invest in our economy, but at least some of this funding should be through higher taxes for the wealthy. This may sound like a little bit like socialism, but when the country has been governed with far-right policies, the much more left policies would help to balance.

These policies at some point should return to a more centrist once the economy is stabilized. A more centrist policy will encourage more consumer spending and with a little bit better regulation, our markets won't take such downturn for a while. And that's the truth.

Corruption Isn't Partisan

I am sure many of you are all now familiar with Sen. Ted Stevens' conviction on seven counts of corruption. While this may ring with the likes of Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff and the rest of the Republican "cronies," we should remember that Democrats alike, even the most liberal, are not immune from this. In my home state of Massachusetts, the FBI arrested one of the most liberal state senators, Dianne Wilkerson. She was also the only black senator and for the most part did a lot of good for her community (some would argue so did Stevens for his state). When working on Patrick's campaign for governor, I remember her at rallies and her ability to mobilize disenchanted minority voters. Wilkerson did a lot of good for the commonwealth and her community, but she appears to be just as corrupt as the "cronies" we had sworn off. It's a sobering truth that maybe hard to swallow, especially if you follow this state's politics. But it's a reminder to us all that corruption isn't partisan and can affect even the most seemingly noble leaders. At this point I can only hope that voters are not put off by any of the corruption scandals and are still willing to participate and believe their are good people. While the pill maybe hard to swallow if you're a fan of Stevens or Wilkerson, Republican or Democrat, it's a reminder that your side isn't necessarily more noble than the other. And that's the truth.

McCain's Biggest Mistake and his Last Hope

As I sit here wondering why an election that was once deemed so close seems to have been wrapped up with still a week to go, the whiskey in me seems to have provided an answer. Some will say that the economy and George Bush's failed presidency led to this, and indeed it certainly had something to do with it. McCain had long dreamed of choosing Democrat defect Sen. Joe Lieberman, but the religious right that has propelled the Republican party to victories implicitly said no. Instead McCain was forced to pick someone that would enable him to rally the support of this side of the party and with the two obvious choices Gov. Pawlenty (MN) and Romney not good enough, enter Sarah Palin. She satisfied the requirements and intrigued McCain seeing as she might be able to garner the support of disgruntled Clinton supporters. McCain's buckling to the base of the GOP is a clear reflection as any, and shows us the McCain is not the McCain of yesterday.

McCain couldn't stand up to the party when he needed to more than any time before. If McCain had chosen Lieberman or even one of the governors this election would be different. His gamble has backfired horribly, with Palin becoming the butt of more jokes than Bush. This is a sad reflection of the party and has causes many prominent conservatives to either not vote or support Obama. Christopher Buckley, the son of one of the forefathers of the conservative movement (William Buckley), has endorsed Obama. So has Colin Powell, and that was not about race it was about the fact that he in all his wisdom could not help Palin become a heartbeat away from the office.

To tell you the truth, I think the party base still would have stuck with McCain and at the very least he'd still be leading in all the states he still is now. Had he put Lieberman on his ticket this would have been a reassurance to voters that he still is willing to stand up to his party. He wasn't. A McCain-Lieberman ticket would have certainly better numbers in the swing states, and Obama would not be making his "closing argument."

The stage has been set now and McCain can't do anything about it. The major issues have been established. There are no more debates. There are no more real game-changers. There is just now six days until history is made. McCain is facing an uphill battle. However, before Obama pops the champaign, it is not all over. McCain has one hope.

McCain's hope is that he has been very successful in what campaing strategists label "microtargeting." Microtargeting is a way of identifying voters based on a number of traits and then targeting them to get them to vote. If McCain can find the voters who are registered (registering deadlines have long since passed in most states) and would probably support him, then he must get them to vote. He has to mobilize them in a way that would impress Karl Rove himself. I doubt his ability to do this as he hasn't shown much capacity on any issue except for Iraq, which is probably doing more damage than good, but its a shot. Otherwise the first black president will be elected. And that's the truth.

A Little Bit of Socialism Never Hurt Anyone

As you may or may not have heard, General Motors is asking for $10 billion in government aid to help with its merger with Chrysler. If you thought that banks defaulting was bad, this is really bad. The car industry has been the core of the US economy and the fact that two of the big three car companies are seeking to merge is a telling sign. While I feel that a lot of why the car industry is struggling is through mismanagement and poor decision making, we cannot ignore the fact that GM alone provides jobs for 350,000 directly and another 4.5 million in related fields. Moody's credit rating has lowered both car companies ratings into "junk-level" and is considering to lower the other big US car company, Ford. Not only that GM's market value has dropped below what it was in 1929!! This is not good. The main problem I see is that since we are a consumption based economy and recently our economic standing has caused a lot of people to stop spending. Without them spending, we need someone to fill that void. Enter government. Now this will require some of us (the rich 1%) to pay a little more in taxes, so we can afford to not cut costs and invest in major US companies. While one presidential candidate has claimed that we need not raise taxes, and instead we should cut spending, this is exactly what we can't afford. That would be banking on the average consumer to spend, which as we can clearly see, he is not. Therefore, a little bit of socialism (as the conservatives have now labeled big government) wouldn't be so bad.

McCain and Syria

I don't know if you have heard about this in the news, but recently there was a US Specials Forces attack in Syrian territory, which has caused a lot of controversy. While both the White House and Obama declined to comment until more information was available, McCain decided to use this as an opportunity to score some political points. This is exactly what I was talking about before. Rather than trying to gain a full perspective, McCain decided to instead denounce Obama. This reflects the rash temperament that plagues many of our leaders and especially McCain. He then criticized Obama for willing to talk with the Syrians and went on to say a President Obama wouldn't have been able to carry out this mission. This is totally ridiculous because McCain had criticized Obama for willing to send missions into threatening regions in the Afghan-Pakistan border. Finally, Colin Powell and James Baker both support talks with Syria and McCain continues to refuses any dialogue. Dialogue with our enemies is exactly what we need right now and yet McCain seems to be sticking to this policy of overly aggressive action (when are more overstretched than ever before). And that be the truth.