Tag Archives: Barack Obama

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No surprise: Paul wins CPAC straw poll

And the winner is …

Rand Paul, senator from Kentucky, and now a presumed Republican candidate for president of the United States.

What did the senator win? The straw poll taken at the Conservative Action Political Conference meeting in Maryland.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/03/08/rand_paul_wins_cpac_straw_poll_121856.html

He finished far ahead of the second-place candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Dr. Ben Carson, a noted neurosurgeon finished third, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie finishing fourth. Cruz pulled 11 percent of the vote, 20 percentage points behind Paul.

So, there you have it. Sen. Paul is now the presumptive frontrunner for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

I know what you’re thinking. This is a straw poll. It matters not one bit. It was taken among members of the most fervent wing of the Republican Party. What about the rest of the party faithful?

Well, allow me to let you in on what I believe is a reality in modern GOP politics: CPAC represents the party these days. The middle ground in the GOP is shrinking faster than Lake Meredith in the summer. The CPAC crowd is calling the shots, or so it appears.

I normally wouldn’t give Paul’s “victory” in this straw poll much credence, except that the political landscape is changing before our eyes. Paul’s form of libertarian-strain conservatism seems to play well with the CPAC wing of the party. Rest assured, when the time comes for Paul to make up his mind about running — and I’m betting he’ll do it — he will look back at the CPAC straw poll as some sort of vindication for the message he’s been delivering.

He’s in step with most Republicans in wanting to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. He’s opposing almost all of President Obama’s domestic and foreign policy agenda. He thinks the Benghazi and the IRS stories still have legs.

He fits right in with this version of modern Republicanism.

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Irony taints Obama critics

There’s a certain irony attached to the criticism that keeps pouring in from the right regarding President Obama’s handling of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

They gripe that the president is feckless and ineffective in his handling of the crisis that has seen Russian troops roll into Crimea after Ukraine ousted its pro-Russia president.

The irony? It is that the criticism itself undermines the president/commander in chief as he seeks to work out some kind of response in conjunction with our allies.

Putin dismisses warnings from Obama

Didn’t we hear similar concerns about the left’s continual carping during President Bush’s two terms? Russia sent troops into Georgia in the final full year of Bush’s presidency, which caused a lot of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing. The left was wrong to undermine President Bush’s efforts — and the right is wrong to do the very same thing to President Obama.

It was the great Republican U.S. senator from Michigan, Arthur Vandenberg, who coined the axiom about politics “ending at the water’s edge.” He meant that partisan critics of presidents ought to hold their fire when the president is acting in his role as head of state during an international crisis.

This is precisely what Barack Obama is trying to do now as he works with our allies to find some kind of diplomatic solution to Russia’s meddling in what should be a solely internal matter to be decided by Ukraine.

The carping from the right is emboldening Russian president/strongman Vladimir Putin and it isn’t helping end the crisis.

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Hey, didn’t Russia invade Georgia … in 2008?

The criticism of President Obama’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine crisis of 2014 ignores the Russia-Georgia crisis of 2008.

Six years ago, Russian dictator/president Vladimir Putin invaded Georgia, another one of those former Soviet satellite states. The U.S. president at the time, George W. Bush, let it happen. What could President Bush to stop Putin? Nothing. What should he have done? Go to war? That’s a tough call, given that the United States was already involved in two shooting wars at the time, Iraq and Afghanistan.

I’m left to wonder: Where was the criticism from the right back then? It was silent.

Move forward to the present day. Russian troops are sitting in Crimea, a region of Ukraine. There might be more military involvement from Russia, which is nervous over the ouster of pro-Russia president by insurgents in Ukraine.

What’s President Obama supposed to do? What can he do? Does he go to war with Russia? Well, of course not.

Yet the criticism is pouring in from the right, from the likes of Sen. John McCain, former defense boss Donald Rumsfeld, former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, every right-wing talking head this side of Sean Hannity. They’re all bemoaning the “invasion” of Russian troops of a sovereign country, Ukraine.

Oh, but wait. Didn’t this country invade a sovereign country, Iraq, in March 2003 because — we were told — the late dictator Saddam Hussein had this big cache of chemical weapons?

President Bush told us once that he peered into Putin’s “soul” and saw a man of commitment and integrity. Well, that soul also belongs to a former head of the KGB, the former Soviet spy agency.

I’m thinking another key Republican, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, has it right. He’s telling his fellow GOPers to tone down the criticism while the president tries — along with our allies — to manage a dangerous crisis.

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Clinton star power shows itself in Kentucky

Who’s the biggest political star in the Democratic Party?

Hint: It ain’t the guy who occupies the White House.

It’s the guy who served two presidencies prior to Barack Obama’s arrival in January 2009.

William Jefferson Clinton packed ’em in at a fundraiser this week in Louisville, Ky., on behalf of Allison Lundergan Grimes, who’s running for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Republican Mitch McConnell.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/199419-clinton-raises-700k-for-grimes

The 42nd president raised $700,000 for Grimes’s campaign. He bowled over the audience in a state that voted against Obama twice in 2008 and 2012, but which Clinton won in 1992 and 1996.

This shouldn’t be a big surprise. Bill Clinton brought his towering presence to an even more anti-Democrat region back in 2008.

He came to Amarillo that year to campaign for his wife, the then-U.S. senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was locked in a tough primary campaign against then-Sen. Obama.

How did Bill Clinton fare when he showed up at the Grand Plaza Ballroom at the Amarillo Civic Center? He filled the place. It was an overflow crowd that, interestingly, included a lot of leading local Republicans who showed up just to hear Clinton’s remarks on behalf of his wife.

Make no mistake about what that 2008 appearance said about the former president’s magnetism. It’s real and can become a decisive asset for whoever the Democrats nominate as their presidential candidate in 2016.

Any bets that Democrats are going to nominate someone other than Hillary?

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Bill Clinton’s rehab appears complete

It’s getting difficult to remember that the 42nd president of the United States was impeached by the House, tried in the Senate and then acquitted of the so-called “high crimes and misdemeanors” he was accused of committing.

The latest evidence of that is former President Clinton’s appearance in Kentucky of all places, where he is campaigning on behalf of a Democratic challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Allison Lundergan Grimes is seeking to unseat the veteran Republican senator, so she brought in the Big Dog to help her: William Jefferson Clinton.

Clinton is going where the current Democratic president, Barack Obama, dare not venture.

Let’s recall an important fact here. Clinton carried Kentucky twice in his two campaigns for the presidency. He won them both barely, but he won them. Yes, it can be argued that he had some help with the presence of Texas zillionaire H. Ross Perot on the ballot in 1992 and 1996, but I’ve never quite bought into the notion that Perot was responsible for Clinton’s two electoral victories, as national surveys indicated he took roughly equal numbers of votes from Republicans as well as Democrats.

The point, though, is that Clinton’s political rehabilitation now appears to be complete.

The man who was impeached for lying to a grand jury about a sexual affair with a White House intern has emerged as one of the more consequential ex-presidents in U.S. history. His Clinton Global Initiative targets crises around the world and lends support — and money — to nations and people in need. He remains politically active here at home. His wife, Hillary, is considering a run for the presidency again in 2016 and you can bet he’ll be hitting the stump for her as well.

It’s an amazing thing to see. A man who could have been kicked out of the presidency had he been convicted of those mostly partisan charges has come out burnished and all shiny on the other side.

Democrats with stars in their eyes want him to speak on their behalf.

So help me, they are going to write books on this incredible story of political redemption.

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Look out if GOP captures Senate majority

U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., thinks the Republicans will gain control of the Senate when the votes are counted in the 2014 mid-term election.

Of course he’d say that. He wants nothing more, except perhaps to be speaker of the House whenever John Boehner, R-Ohio, decides to call it a career.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/02/24/rep_cantor_republicans_will_take_the_senate.html

My own thought simply is that Republicans had better get ready for the fight of their lives if they govern both houses of Congress.

It’s been a knock-down, drag-out bloodbath during the first term-plus of Barack Obama’s presidency. The GOP-controlled House has managed to stymie the president’s agenda at almost every turn. Senate Republicans had done a good job of blocking appointments to key judicial posts until Democrats decided to change the rules to make it easier to circumvent filibusters.

The atmosphere in Washington has gotten quite toxic since President Obama took office.

If you think it’s been bad so far, then the final two years of the Obama presidency will require gas masks.

If Cantor’s prediction comes true, then the Senate will be able to block virtually every appointment the president hopes to make. The Supreme Court? None of the justices is going to leave the high court voluntarily.

The fights over budget issues only will intensify. The majority in the House will feel emboldened to throw up even more roadblocks. With the GOP in control in the Senate, if Cantor’s dream comes true, there will be no way for the upper chamber to act as a counterbalance.

What will the White House do? Look for the president to examine every possible legal action he can take through executive authority. He still has the power of his high office.

You know the saying about “being careful what you wish for.” Republicans want badly to control all of Capitol Hill, not just half of it.

If you thought the fighting was bitter to this point, well, just wait. It’s going to get downright bloody — and this is not how government is supposed to work.

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That was some ‘apology,’ Ted

Ted “The Motor City Madman” Nugent issued the kind of so-called “apology” a lot of us figured he would.

Which is to say he didn’t apologize to the target of some amazingly hateful remarks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/21/ted-nugent-apology_n_4832012.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013

Nugent had called President Obama a “subhuman mongrel.” Today he went on a radio talk show and said he was sorry for using that terminology on the president.

But he put it this way: “I do apologize — not necessarily to the president — but on behalf of much better men than myself,” Nugent said, calling the comments “streetfighter terminology.”

I’ve been spending a little bit of time trying to parse those remarks. It seems now that he’s saying “sorry” to others who have criticized the president, only using more dignified language than that which flies out Nugent’s mouth.

So, there you have it.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called on Nugent to apologize. Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, said he had “a problem” with Nugent’s remarks. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has enlisted Nugent to appear with him in his campaign for governor, so far hasn’t said anything about the remarks Nugent made a month ago.

And they get a non-apologetic apology.

This is the kind of fare we can expect, apparently, from The Madman.

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Memo to China: Butt out!

China has told President Obama that he should forgo a meeting today with the Dalai Lama, saying such a meeting with the spiritual leader would “impair” U.S.-China relations.

Hmmm. I think the president should ignore the Chinese.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/21/world/asia/china-us-dalai-lama/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

China has been subjugating the Tibetans for decades. The Dalai Lama represents Tibetans’ hopes for a free society. The People’s Republic believes the Dalai Lama is a “traitor” to the cause of whatever control the PRC wants to exert on the Tibetans.

Perhaps the president can remind the Chinese government that as the leader of the world’s most powerful nation, he is free to meet with whomever he wishes. And, perhaps, he can turn the tables on the Chinese despots by reminding them of their reaction to demands that they stop the repression Tibet and that they cease trying to bully Taiwan into coming back into the Chinese fold.

What do the Chinese say to these demands? These are internal matters and that the world should mind its own business. Never mind, of course, that Taiwan has flourished as an independent nation since its government were chased off the mainland by communists who fought with Nationalist forces in a bloody civil war.

Have your meeting with the Dalai Lama, Mr. President.

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President offers disappointing budget plan

The upcoming hassles over the next federal budget have taken an unfortunate turn.

President Obama has decided against proposing a new method of increasing Social Security benefits for retired Americans.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/198815-obama-abandons-cut-to-social-security

The headlines have suggested the president has “abandoned cuts” to the program. Actually, the term “cuts” is a bit of a misnomer. The idea had been to link increases in SSI to the cost of living index. Thus, Social Security recipients wouldn’t have their incomes reduced — as in getting less money than they were getting the previous year. The increases would be tied to the Consumer Price Index.

Why is this disappointing? I am one who believes serious budget reform has to include changes in discretionary spending. Social Security is one of those programs that has been seen as sacrosanct. You’ve heard it called the “third rail” of American politics: You touch it and you die, politically of course.

The CPI indexing linkage isn’t an unreasonable alternative.

Now it appears that the president has challenged congressional Republicans to battle him straight up in the next budget fight. There will be no pretense of negotiating.

At one level, I appreciate Barack Obama’s frustration with GOP negotiators, who have made it their mission — it seems to me — to stymie virtually every initiative put forth by the White House. Perhaps the president has had enough of it.

I wish he would have stood his ground on another issue. Social Security shouldn’t be treated as the Holy Grail.

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You must define ‘outrage,’ Mr. President

President Obama said today he is “outraged” over the violence in Ukraine.

He vows “consequences” will occur if the Ukrainian government refuses to stop killing its people who are mounting what were supposed to be peaceful protests.

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/europe/198803-obama-outraged-by-rising-ukraine-death-toll

Let’s understand, of course, that the president was “outraged” over the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons. He threatened a military strike, he sought permission from Congress — which it had demanded — to act and then, presto!, the Russians stepped in with a deal to rid the Syrian military of the chemicals it used on its citizens.

The Ukraine matter is different, to be sure.

The United States cannot launch a military strike against the former Soviet republic that sits right next to Russia. It can, and must, be firm in enacting economic sanctions — perhaps even imposing a trade embargo if the government doesn’t stop slaughtering its citizens.

Bear in mind that this is a big deal with huge implications around the world. Ukraine possesses a lot of the nuclear material used to build the Soviet arsenal during the Cold War. The Cold War ended a little more than two decades ago, but the material remains.

The Ukrainian government had announced a truce with those who were protesting, only to see the truce shattered overnight, prompting the rhetorical response from the White House.

And per normal these days, the usual suspects here at home are criticizing the White House and the president for perceived fecklessness in handling this crisis.

Let’s understand, the Russians aren’t about to let anyone — even the United States — get too involved singularly in this dispute.

There must be a concerted international effort involving the European Union, and the United States and Russia to bring huge pressure to bear on the Ukrainian government thugs.

Can our government play a role? Sure, but we need to make sure this remains a team game.

President Obama’s outrage must be tempered with reason and even a tad bit of patience.