Tag Archives: Barack Obama

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Lane-closing story going to get very ugly

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hoped he could have put down the story about the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge.

His marathon press conference this morning didn’t do the job. It only has fanned the flames.

The battle lines are being drawn. Republicans say the kerfuffle is a diversion from the Affordable Care Act debate. Democrats say the growing scandal speaks to a possible extreme abuse of power by the Republican governor.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/01/09/embarrassed_christie_fires_aide_in_bridge_scandal_121179.html

Christie fired a couple of key aides today. One of them, his former deputy chief of staff, reportedly is the author of an email that said it was “time for a traffic” jam on the bridge. The lanes were closed allegedly as payback for the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, N.J.’s refusal to endorse Christie’s re-election. Christie said he knew nothing about the email until just two days ago.

This is a big deal because Christie is considered a probable candidate for president in 2016. He’s sold himself as a hands-on, no-nonsense chief executive. Yet this situation seems to suggest the governor had his hands off the levers of power while his underlings went rogue right under his nose.

Let’s not dismiss this as much ado about nothing. This is the kind of story that gets the media worked up, kind of like it did over the Benghazi disaster in September 2012, the phony controversy over President Obama’s place of birth, and the IRS probe of political action groups’ tax-exempt status … to name just three recent examples.

This is how the game is played. Gov. Christie had better steel himself for a rough ride.

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What’s so new about Gates’s memoir?

Robert Gates is a great American patriot.

He served two presidents with honor and distinction as defense secretary. He’s an expert in national security issues. I honor his service and thank him for it.

His new book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War” has the political class all a flutter in Washington.

http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2014/01/08/bob_gates_scathing_indictment_of_obamas_white_house_107021.html

My question is this: Why is this such a huge deal?

Yes, he criticizes President Obama’s alleged lack of commitment to the Afghanistan War; he says Vice President Biden has been wrong on every decision the White House faced; he says the West Wing’s grasp on national security power is tighter than since the Nixon years.

Gates’s book is no different than many memoirs written after key government officials leave office. They have this habit of spilling the beans on their bosses once they’re clear of the place. Presidents of both political parties have fallen victim to this kind of remembrance.

Gates is no different.

What’s been interesting has been the emphasis certain media have placed on the book.

Conservative media, for instance, have devoted many hours and column inches to Gates’s criticism of President Obama and Vice President Biden. Other media outlets take note that Gates saved arguably his harshest criticism for Congress, half of which is controlled by Republicans, the other half by Democrats.

Gates has been pretty thorough in his trashing of the political establishment in Washington, now that he’s gone.

I’ll stipulate that I haven’t read the book. I plan to read it once I get through the other books I received as Christmas gifts.

I’m betting I won’t see anything I haven’t read before.

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New year brings old argument over jobless insurance

Dear U.S. Senators:

Good morning and happy new year. Welcome back to the same ol’ same ol’ fights among yourselves and with the White House. The issue today is unemployment insurance.

First, a question: Will you do the right thing and extend unemployment insurance for long-term unemployed Americans for another three months?

If you do, you will make about 1.3 million Americans quite happy as they continue to find work in an economy that is recovering, but is in a still-fragile state of recovery. If you do not, then you will incur their wrath at the next election.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/01/07/showdown_set_on_unemployment_bill_in_senate_121150.html

And that election, by the way, is coming up this year for about one-third of you. Every single seat in the House of Representatives is up for election, so your friends on the other end of the Capitol Building have their own concerns about this bill.

I hope some of you heard Gene Sperling, one of President Obama’s economic advisers, this weekend on “Meet the Press.” Sperling made a critical point about this extension, which was that during President Bush’s two terms in office immediately preceding Barack Obama’s time there, Congress approved the jobless insurance extension five times without adding “pay for” provisions to them.

The country’s debt load was heavy then as well, in case you don’t recall. Now, however, some of you — chiefly Republicans — say they would approve extending the benefits only if Congress can come up with spending cuts to pay for them. Why now? Why not when President Bush was asking for the extension? This kind of heartlessness reminds me of when, in 2011, some of your House colleagues said the same thing about providing emergency relief for victims of the killer tornado that tore Joplin, Mo., apart.

Let’s not play that game now, ladies and gentlemen. Americans out here are suffering. They need some assistance while they keep looking for work.

Are you on their side or aren’t you?

Get busy. Do the right thing.

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Obama takes necessary step on weapons checks

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President Obama knows that Congress will tie itself up in knots arguing over taking an action supported by most Americans.

So he’s taking executive action to do the right thing by tightening background check requirements on individuals seeking to purchase a firearm.

Wait for it. The shills on the right are going to start yammering any day now that the president is seeking to “disarm law-abiding Americans” by denying them their “constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

What utter horse dookey.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/03/obama-executive-action-guns_n_4537752.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037

One change clarifies the definition of someone who has been “involuntary” committed to outpatient or inpatient treatment for mental disease. Another change allows the submission of information about individuals seeking to purchase a firearm, but doesn’t prohibit someone from buying a firearm if he or she has undergone treatment.

None of this is ham-handed. Nor does it do a single thing to prohibit any reasonable individual from buying a firearm. It seeks to clarify some confusing language in existing federal law.

However, these kinds of actions usually produce a firestorm of criticism from those who believe any reasonable restriction or effort to keep guns out of the hands of individuals who shouldn’t own them as an infringement on everyone’s rights.

Those folks are in the minority in this country. Most Americans support stricter background checks that would not inhibit their rights under the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

If our elected representatives won’t do the right thing, then it falls on our elected head of state and government — the president of the United States — to step up.

Go for it, Mr. President.

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Obama most admired man in U.S. Who knew?

The Gallup Poll has just released a survey that is going to surprise more than a few folks. It surprised me, for example.

It says President Barack Obama is the most admired man in America — by a comfortable margin at that.

http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/obama-clinton-most-admired-gallup

The most admired woman happens to be former first lady/Sen./Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Why is this so surprising? I see a couple of interesting things here.

The first one is obvious. President Obama has had a rough year, particularly as it relates to the unveiling of the Affordable Care Act. The debut of the ACA was a disaster, technically speaking. The rollout came on top of a barrage of criticism of the ACA from Republicans who managed somehow to win the argument.

Despite all the bad press, the president continues to stand fairly tall in the minds of millions of Americans.

Much the same can be said of Hillary Clinton, who left public office at the beginning of the year as a controversy over her office’s handling of an uprising in Libya drew fire. The consulate in Benghazi was attacked, four Americans died in a ferocious fire fight and Clinton took lots of heat over the way her office handled the initial response.

Yet, for the 12th year in a row, she remains America’s most admired woman.

The second factor is interesting as well, in that Gallup isn’t exactly known for favoring so-called “liberals.” The poll long has been viewed by observers as tilting a tad to the right. Still, the poll is deemed reputable.

The lesson here might only be that we need not pay too much attention to the chattering class that so often seems to outshout the rest of the us.

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Can Sen. Ted Cruz make fun of himself? We’ll see

Ted Cruz has a pretty cool speaking gig on the horizon and it’s likely to test the man’s ability to make fun of himself.

The junior U.S. senator from Texas has been selected as the headline Republican speaker at the annual Gridiron Club dinner.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-on-the-potomac/2013/12/this-time-maybe-the-cat-in-the-hat/

It’s an annual event that draws media and political elites from Washington, D.C. together to poke a little fun at each other — and at themselves.

Cruz landed in Washington with a serious boom — not just a bang — this past January after winning the Senate seat in November 2012. He established himself immediately as the tea party wing of his party’s go-to guy on all manner of policy issues. He’s hogged TV time, made Senate floor speeches — including his infamous 21 1/2-hour faux filibuster over the Affordable Care Act — and managed to inflame feelings among his fellow Republicans, not to mention among Democrats.

I’ll hand it to Cruz, though. He’s an entertaining guy. As the blog post notes, he’ll follow in the steps of some recent folks who’ve brought the house down: Gov. Rick Perry in 2012 and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal this year.

The best part of all these speeches is when the speakers make fun of themselves, as Presidents Obama and George W. Bush have done over the years.

It’ll be interesting to see if Sen. Cruz has been given that self-deprecation gene that makes these events such fun to watch.

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Duck Dynasty guy’s remarks: All Obama’s fault

I lied.

I said I wouldn’t say any more about Phil Robertson, the Duck Dynasty dude who got suspended for his views on homosexuality, blacks and other issues that have nothing to do with his reality A&E TV show.

Then we hear from Mike Huckabee, the Fox News Channel commentator, Baptist preacher, former Arkansas governor, former presidential candidate and possible future candidate for president.

He did what I kind of figured would happen. He somehow linked Robertson’s remarks to President Obama and inferring, if only obliquely, that Barack Obama is somehow caught in the middle of this media maelstrom.

http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/22/3098711/mike-huckabee-drags-obama-duck-dynasty-controversey/

Here’s part of what Huckabee said today on Fox News Sunday:

“I think it has come to a point in our culture where political correctness has made it so if you want to take a point of view, it is traditional. It holds to steadfast old fashioned biblical principles, that you’re supposed to just shut up and keep that to yourself. There is a new level of bullying on the part of these militant activist groups, who if anyone says something that holds to the same position that Barack Obama held in 2008 when he was at the Saddleback Church with John McCain made it clear very clear that he opposed same sex marriage, and he said he did so because he was a Christian and because of his biblical views.”

Huckabee didn’t say Obama should be blamed for anything Robertson said. It’s just curious that he would introduce the president into an argument that has inflamed folks on both sides, as if Barack Obama needs any more bad press.

There. I sort of kept my vow of silence henceforth on Robertson’s remarks. I just thought it a bit strange for one leading Republican to tie this controversy to a president who’s spending some quality Christmas vacation time with his family.

There’s no escape, Mr. President.

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Podesta gets off to rocky White House start

Well, that was a bit of a stumble for the new guy in the White House.

John Podesta, former White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration, has taken on a new role as special adviser to President Obama. OK, so far.

Then we hear about an interview he did some time back in which he compared congressional Republicans to the Jonestown, Guyana cult led by the maniac Jim Jones, the one ended with the mass suicide of more than 900 men, women and children.

Podesta said this right about the time the president was ready to commence his second term: “They need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress,” Podesta told Politico Magazine.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/193524-podesta-apologizes-for-gop-jonestown-cult-comparison

Bad call, Mr. Podesta.

He has apologized to House Speaker John Boehner, someone Podesta said he has long “respected.”

Podesta is supposed to one of the grownups who work in the West Wing. I reckon he’ll get his big boy persona into gear soon as he provides special advice and counsel to the rest of the Obama White House team.

However, given the hard feelings that linger between the White House and congressional Republicans, I’m quite sure many in the GOP aren’t going to accept the apology and just move on.

Too bad.

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Rep. Ryan makes sense on Meet the Press

I thought my ears were playing tricks on me today when I listened to the “Meet the Press” interview with Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray, co-chairs of the congressional committee that hammered out the two-year budget deal that passed overwhelmingly in the House the other day.

There was Ryan, a stalwart tea party Republican — and the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee in 2012 — sounding reasonable and accommodating. He noted that compromise requires both sides to give a little. He said it was good to sit down with the Democrat Murray to understand what she believes and where she stands on budget matters.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/12/15/sen_patty_murray_rep_paul_ryan_tout_budget_deal_in_joint_mtp_interview.html

Ryan also noted that the 2012 presidential election, which he and Mitt Romney lost to President Obama and Vice President Biden, served as a wakeup call to Republicans. The other side won and we lost, Ryan said.

Therefore, it was time to start working with those on the other side, not against them.

Therein lies the key to the budget deal that has enraged the right-wingers of the GOP and made more than a few left-wing Democrats unhappy. The message from Ryan and Murray? Live with it and let’s back to governing.

It’s nice to realize I wasn’t hearing things after all.

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Mandela was no pork-barrel politician

They’re burying Nelson Mandela today in his hometown of Qunu, in a remote eastern region of South Africa.

Indeed, the remoteness of the great man’s home brings me to an interesting point. Listening to NPR on Friday, I heard something that caught me by surprise. A Qunu villager actually was critical of Mandela for — are you ready for this? — failing to bring more modernity and infrastructure to his hometown.

The news report detailed how much hassle it would be for Qunu to prepare for this event that is drawing worldwide attention. The village lacks many modern amenities. Roads are unpaved. There’s virtually no lodging available for visiting dignitaries. Qunu lacks much of the sewage and fresh water infrastructure that is needed to accommodate the visitors.

The individual being interviewed wondered why “Madiba,” as Mandela is called, would have neglected his hometown while basking in the glory of international acclaim and reverence.

Interesting, I thought.

I’ve tried to ponder the implications of that criticism.

Imagine, then, this scenario playing out. Suppose Barack Obama would steer road and bridge development to his south Chicago neighborhood, or perhaps to Hawaii, the state of birth. Imagine if you will George W. Bush directing federal money to Crawford, Texas, where he vacationed often while he was president and where he has a small ranch; Crawford could use some highway improvements, too. What if Bill Clinton had done the same for his hometown of Hope, Ark., or George H.W. Bush done so for Houston (which doesn’t need as much federal help as many small towns in America)? Hey, Ronald Reagan came from a small town in Illinois, Dixon. Couldn’t that town have used a little presidential push to build infrastructure? Same for Plains, Ga., Jimmy Carter’s hometown.

Any of those men would have been accused of promoting pork-barrel politics above the national interest.

Might that have been the case for Nelson Mandela, who presided for a single term — from 1994 to 1999 — over what’s been called a “developing country”? Its gross domestic product goes only so far and it well might have raised more than a few eyebrows if Qunu had received money that could have been spent in other struggling villages.

Mandela will be buried today. The town will erect a suitable monument to its iconic son.

My hunch is that Nelson Mandela eventually will bring much in the form of tourist money to Qunu now that he’s gone.

His greatness lives on.