Earlier this week the White House became embroiled in a little issue that started to boil over for no reason at all. The issue involved White House intervention in the Specter-Sestak race for the Senate in Pennsylvania. As reported by the New York Times today in an overview of the situation White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel requested former Pres. Bill Clinton to ask Sestak to “stand down” and allow Specter to win the primary without opposition. That should have been a non-story about two months ago. Instead it ended up becoming a distraction for the White House when more critical issues dominate the landscape. But why did it even turn into a fiasco? Read more…
Tuesday President Barack Obama will address school children across the nation in a speech about responsibility, education and the values of staying the course. I’ve read the remarks posted by the White House and find them to be pretty good and reasonable. There’s no political rhetoric like the garbage I’ve seen coming from both sides on health care reform. For example, after remarks about not having great advantages Pres. Obama tells kids that’s no excuse for not doing the right thing. “But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying,” according to the remarks. For some reason the conservative right has taken a good speech from a president and made it about evil indoctrination. Give me a BREAK! Read more…
Today was the last day of the largest political bloggers convention in the nation, Netroots Nation 2009. It started with a bang and ended with zzzzs for me. What made it even better was that I snuck a few learning sessions in on blogging and sausage making (aka the legislative process). Valerie Jarrett was our starting speaker and we had a panel on economics during lunch catered by the American Federation of Teachers. In the end exhaustion overtook me and I overslept and missed the closing session with Darcy Burner. Even without the closing session I can say this gathering was even better than last year’s. It accomplished the goal of recharging my blogging spirit, hopefully evidenced in the weeks to come. Read more…
Tonight will be Pres. Obama’s first speech before Congress since taking office. It’s not a State of the Union in the typical sense. Obama hasn’t been in office long enough for it to be considered that. It will serve to provide insight to the comprehensive plan Obama will initiate to help bring America out of one of the worst economic periods in living memory. Tonight will also serve as the national stage debut for Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Obama’s potential challenger in 2012. Jindal, a rising star in the Republican Party, will provide the Republican response to Obama’s speech and potentially indirectly launch his presidential candidacy. Read more…
A colleague of mine at work sent me a link to a Time article that provided an in depth look at the stimulus plan being proposed. I had mentioned to him several times it’s time for some Keynesian economics to kick into gear. It is very apparent the American public and business are not going to jump start the economy any time in the next 3-5 years. Keynes promoted that at times like this it’s critical to have government take the lead and provide “stimulus” to help fuel investment and spending. Read more…
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