Bob Herbert

Dear Friends,

Bob Herbert's column in The New York Times this morning (here) demonstrates why he gets paid for writing columns, and I write this blog out of frustration.  In any case, he eloquently says what I have been ineloquently saying about the problem that the Democrats have created for themselves. 

But voters do not feel that the administration and Congress have delivered the fundamental change they were seeking when they swept President Obama and huge Democratic majorities into office nearly two years ago. Forget about the crazies in the Tea Party for the moment. Forget about the ugly Republican obstructionism that is based on the idea that the failure not just of President Obama but of American society itself is the G.O.P.’s quickest ticket back to power.

The Democrats are in deep, deep trouble because they have not effectively addressed the overwhelming concern of working men and women: an economy that is too weak to provide the jobs they need to support themselves and their families. And that failure is rooted in the Democrats’ continued fascination with the self-serving conservative belief that the way to help ordinary people is to shower money on the rich and wait for the blessings to trickle down to the great unwashed below...

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, commenting on the president’s recent $50 billion transportation infrastructure proposal, said: “This is about long-term economic growth. This isn’t about the next 60 days or the next 90 days. This is about how do we get our economy fully back on track, how do we get the millions that want to work back to work, and how do we repair the economic damage that’s been going on not just over the past two years but over the past 10 years.”

Well, that’s the drum the Democrats should have been pounding in the earliest days of the Obama administration, and they should have backed it up with a dramatic rebuild America infrastructure campaign and every other job-creation measure they could think of, including public works projects for the young and the poor and the hard-core unemployed.

With the nation losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month in early-2009, the president and his allies in Congress could have rallied the citizenry to participate in the difficult work of nation-building here at home. He could have called on everyone to share in the sacrifices that needed to be made, and he could have demanded much more from the financial and corporate elites who were being bailed out with the people’s money.

Unfortunately, the President and the Democratic leaders in Congress did not do that.  Even though President Obama made a couple of great speeches a couple days ago, his follow through is as usual lacking.  Nothing again today.  A speech in Milwaukee and a speech in Cleveland and then silence once again.  It is hard for even me to believe that he truly cares about the economy.  What happened to his promise to fight every day, every hour, every minute.  The gap between the President's rhetoric and his actions is larger than the Grand Canyon.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

President Obama and transperancy

Dear Friends,

An article in the middle of the first section of The New York Times this morning caught my eye.  It was entitled "Pentagon Loosens Restrictions for Press in Guantanamo" by Jeremy Peters (here).   As you may remember back in May four journalists were expelled from Guantanamo for releasing the name of an Army interrogator who was to be a witness in a trial at Guantanamo.  The Army considered the interrogator's name to be privileged information even though it had been previously reported in the news media and was generally known in the public domain.  Penalizing those journalists at the time was an outrage.

What the headline refers to as a loosening of restrictions is simply the application of logic and common sense.  How could the Pentagon penalize reporters who report what is already generally available to the public?  Is it any wonder that some of us liberals challenge President Obama's claim to be transparent.  When you restrict the freedom of the press, you are truly doing damage to our democracy, and you have no right to claim that you are being transparent.

We need to hold President Obama accountable for his claims of transparency and for his claims of supporting open government. 

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

President Obama and his liberal base

Dear Friends,

It is a very sad day for America.  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a 6 to 5 decision upheld the Bush Administration's and now the Obama Administration's contention that the government can avoid any responsibility for criminal activity, in this case torture, by simply claiming that to defend the case would disclose state secrets.  Candidate Obama was outspoken in his criticism of President Bush's national security stances including President Bush's expanded claims with respect to the state secrets doctrine.  Unfortunately, President Obama is pushing to expand the use of that doctrine perhaps even further than President Bush was pushing it.  The New York Times article on the decision (here) reads in part:

Its counterterrorism programs have in some ways departed from the expectations of change fostered by President Obama’s campaign rhetoric, which was often sharply critical of former President George W. Bush’s approach.
Among other policies, the Obama national security team has also authorized the C.I.A. to try to kill a United States citizen suspected of terrorism ties, blocked efforts by detainees in Afghanistan to bring habeas corpus lawsuits challenging the basis for their imprisonment without trial, and continued the C.I.A.’s so-called extraordinary rendition program of prisoner transfers — though the administration has forbidden torture and says it seeks assurances from other countries that detainees will not be mistreated.

The New York Times editorial on the decision read in part,

But the merits of the case were never considered because the Bush administration argued that even discussing the matter in court would violate the state secrets privilege. Barack Obama told voters in 2008 that he opposed the government cult of secrecy, but once he became president, his Justice Department also argued that the case should be dismissed on secrecy grounds.
The Ninth Circuit was sharply divided, voting 6 to 5 to dismiss the case and overturn a decision to let it proceed that was made by a panel of three circuit judges last year. The majority said it reached its decision reluctantly and was not trying to send a signal that secrecy could be used regularly to dismiss lawsuits. But even though it is public knowledge that Jeppesen arranged the torture flights, the majority said any effort by the company to defend itself would pose “an unacceptable risk of disclosure of state secrets.”
That notion was demolished by the five-judge minority that dissented from the ruling, pointing out that the plaintiffs were never even given a chance to make their case in court using nonsecret evidence, including a sworn statement by a former Jeppesen employee about the company’s role in what he called “the torture flights.” The case should have been sent back to the district court to examine which evidence was truly secret; now it will have to be appealed to a Supreme Court that is unlikely to be sympathetic to the plaintiffs.

As President Obama seems to be starting to engage in the mid-term election process with his Labor Day speech in Milwaukee and his follow-up speech in Cleveland, he was also starting to appeal to his liberal base.  He has ignored us and disappointed us, but now that the elections are approaching he needs us so he gives a couple of speeches that contain language that would appeal to liberals.

There is no question that President Obama needs to get the liberal base enthusiastic again.  Here are some self-explanatory paragraphs from a recent article by Peter Grier in The Christian Science Monitor (here):

Remember when Barack Obama would stride onstage at big rallies during the 2008 campaign and shout, “I’m fired up and ready to go!” His supporters loved it. They’d often chant, “Ready to go, ready to go, ready to go,” right back.
The president’s party could use some of that old enthusiasm right now. Because when it comes to the 2010 midterms, Democrats are not fired up, and not ready to go. They are ready to stay home and not vote.
That’s a big reason why the Republicans are increasingly favored to take back the House and have a chance to regain majority status in the Senate. It is GOP voters that now are excited about their party’s electoral prospects.
You can see this enthusiasm gap in the latest polls. A Gallup survey released Sept. 7 found that 50 percent of Republicans are “very enthusiastic” about voting in the coming election. The corresponding figure for Democrats is 25 percent.

I looked again at President Obama's schedule.  For some reason the White House website simply says "No public schedule".  I am sure that the President has a schedule for all those days, but the White House is not disclosing what it is.  How's that for transparency?  And what happened to his promise, "I am going to keep fighting, every single day, every single hour, every single minute to turn this economy around"?

President Obama is not going to get his liberal base out to vote by staying in the White House and continuing the worst of the Bush Administration policies that deny justice to those whom we tortured.  He could really engage the liberal base if he would reverse all those policies of the Bush Administration that he railed against as Candidate Obama but then adopted as President Obama and at the same time traveled the country from coast to coast fighting for an infrastructure stimulus in the hundreds of billions of dollars that would actually do something.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

The President is in Cleveland

Dear Friends,

The President fulfilled his promise today to fight every day to turn the economy around.  He gave a speech in Cleveland this afternoon that was another campaign style speech.  In substance it was a well thought out and concise argument for why people should vote for Democrats this year instead of Republicans personified by Representative Boehner.  When I read it, it seemed to lack the enthusiasm and intensity of his labor day speech in Milwaukee and when I watched a video it seemed quite flat.  However, if any undecided voters listened with an open mind, they would have been persuaded to keep the Republicans out of power for as long as possible. 

President Obama seemed to quash any rumors that his administration would agree to some extension of all the Bush tax breaks as a compromise.  I hope he meant that.  He will need to be more forceful to be sure that the public knows that it is the Republicans that are blocking the continuation of the tax cuts for those with incomes under $250,000 because the tax cuts for the top 2% of earners are not being extended.  President Obama had a great paragraph about this subject:

With all the other budgetary pressures we have -– with all the Republicans’ talk about wanting to shrink the deficit -- they would have us borrow $700 billion over the next 10 years to give a tax cut of about $100,000 each to folks who are already millionaires.  And keep in mind wealthy Americans are just about the only folks who saw their incomes rise when Republicans were in charge.  And these are the folks who are less likely to spend the money -- which is why economists don’t think tax breaks for the wealthy would do much to boost the economy.

The President finished with what I suspect will be his theme - a great project of American renewal:

We are here today because in the worst of times, the people who came before us brought out the best in America.  Because our parents and our grandparents and our great-grandparents were willing to work and sacrifice for us.  They were willing to take great risks, and face great hardship, and reach for a future that would give us the chance at a better life.  They knew that this country is greater than the sum of its parts -– that America is not about the ambitions of any one individual, but the aspirations of an entire people, an entire nation.

That’s who we are.  That is our legacy.  And I’m convinced that if we’re willing to summon those values today, and if we’re willing to choose hope over fear, and choose the future over the past, and come together once more around the great project of national renewal, then we will restore our economy and rebuild our middle class and reclaim the American Dream for the next generation.

Unfortunately, I am still not convinced that the President understands that he needs to make these speeches on a sustained basis for the next two months.  On Thursday, the President is having meetings with his staff in the White House all day, and there is no public schedule for through the weekend.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal 

The President's Schedule

Dear Friends,

Yesterday the President promised:

I am going to keep fighting, every single day, every single hour, every single minute to turn this economy around; to put people back to work; and renew the American Dream not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations.

Here is the President's schedule for today:

10:00 am	The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press
10:30 am	The President and the Vice President receive the Economic Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press
11:10 am	The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary Clinton Oval Office Closed Press
11:50 am	The President welcomes NATO Secretary General Rasmussen Oval Office Pool Spray at the Top Gather Time 11:40AM – Brady Press Briefing Room
12:45 pm	The President and the Vice President have lunch Private Dining Room Closed Press
1:15 pm	The President meets with senior advisors Oval Office Closed Press
4:30 pm	The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Defense Gates Oval Office Closed Press

I do not see anything on that agenda that would indicate that the President is fighting "every single day, every single hour, every single minute".  The President needs to get out of the White House and talk to the people.  He needs to do that everyday.  Otherwise, the people will figure out that he is not fighting for them every day and then they might look at his schedule which will confirm that he is in meetings all day long and not out fighting for them.  You cannot win the people over to your ideas by having meetings with the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense and your staff.

Please let the President know that you want him out talking to the people and fighting for them every day (here). 

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Candidate Obama

Dear Friends,

President Obama seems to finally have gone on the campaign trail.  He spoke today at LaborFest in Milwaukee.  I actually watched the whole speech online.  It was candidate Obama on the campaign trail, and it was really great.  He is a great speaker.  He can get a crowd enthused and on its feet.  He really seems to believe what he is saying, and he is saying what real Democrats have believed for years.  Here is a sample:

But on this Labor Day, there are two things I want you to know, Milwaukee. Number one: I am going to keep fighting, every single day, every single hour, every single minute to turn this economy around; to put people back to work; and renew the American Dream not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations.
Number two - and I believe this with every fiber of my being: America cannot have a strong, growing economy without a strong, growing middle class, and the chance for everybody, no matter how humble their beginnings, to join that middle class. A middle class built on the idea that if you work hard and if live up to your responsibilities, then you can get ahead, that you can enjoy some basic guarantees in life. A good job that pays a good wage. Health care that'll be there when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you're not rich. An education that'll give our kids a better life than we had. These are simple ideas.  These are American ideas.  These are union ideas.  That's what we are fighting for.

President Obama is right.  Those basic values that he outlined are worth fighting for, and we need to fight for them.  We need to help President Obama fight for them.  We need to hold him to his promise that he will fight "every single day, every single hour, every single minute".  We have not seen that so far but every time I hear President Obama speak like candidate Obama, I am willing to give him another chance.   He sounded like he really means to fight "every single day, every single hour, every single minute" so we need to do two things - hold him to his promise and stand beside him in the fight.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal