One more step...

As the days wind down for 2009, the question that is entering the political mind is "what has President Obama accomplished during his first year?"

Many will point to the Stimulus package, while others will point to the equal pay equal work act. Others will point to town halls, bigger government and bailouts.

He has done all of these. This is probably the most active President in years. He has built a reputation for being a President willing to tackle a large number of tasks, chew gum and walk to Air-force One at the same time. While President Bush spent nearly 30% of his term on vacation--our current President has not been that inactive.

The Health care bill will probably get through the Senate...though weakened by the opposition and moderate democrats and the President's next big task...a jobs bill. Next year a Jobs bill and Afghanistan will be his top priorities.

The Republican minority don't have the votes to stop him but they have moderate democratic allies who are willing to slow him down. This President will need to work fast and furious next year, a mid-term election year, to get some of his agenda accomplished. If the Senate picks up just one seat in the Senate...expect little to get done in 2011 thru 2012.

The opposition will have a filibuster minority and will embolden moderates to help. Harry Reid will probably be forced to change majority rule to 55, thus making it necessary for a filibuster to get 45 votes--rather than the current 40 votes.

I think Harry needs to even go further and change the rule to say that 51 votes can get legislation passed--thus making 49 the magic number for filibuster. Wow, majority rules...who would have "thunk it", the Senate actually working like a democracy.

So, has it been a good year for the President--I would say it has. His agenda has picked up steam though it has hit some bumps...but next year will be the watershed moment for his Presidency. Hopefully, he will unfurl the sails and hit minimal headwind as he heads towards the end of 2010. However, watch for the storm in November--it may just turn that sail boat into a dingy for 2011.

All or Nothing

Enough already! Progressives, this all or nothing mentality is injurious to our nation and the uninsured. There are those that say President Obama needs to take an LBJ stance and twist arms to get a progressive Health Care Reform bill out of the Senate. Then they go and talk about FDR and how made some tough decisions during a crises and changed the national culture by moving forward with the "New Deal". However, its time to look at today's political climate and realize that if FDR was in office today...getting Social Security passed would be much more difficult today.

Back in 1934, FDR had a democratically controlled Congress. Democrats were in line with him...no one, not even moderates, were against his agenda. However, he called Congress into special session and made them pass 15 pieces of legislation during three months of being holed up in Congress. Secondly, Republicans were willing to work and put their name on the legislation by voting for it. In today's partisan environment, Republicans won't vote or consider Health Care Reform and conservative democrats have reservations about voting for the bill, despite thousands of uninsured in their districts and states.

Obama's Congress is nothing like FDR's and getting legislators to work for the countries best interest is hard to find. Only one Republican in the House voted for the bill. Thirty-nine Senators in the Senate, all of them Republican have sworn to vote "no". One Republican is thinking about it and about a handful of conservative Democrats are wavering against it--one has even declared that he may block the Senate legislation from being voted on.

Give President Lyndon Johnson credit for knowing one thing: delaying legislation and just letting it sit on a desk allows opposition to organize against it. He pushed and twisted legislators to get to quickly on the floor for a vote. Obama was aware of this bit of history and tried to get it through by setting deadlines--but unfortunately Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid didn't learn this lesson or take the President's deadline seriously enough to push it through. Thus, we got the town hall meeting "shout downs', the death panel arguments and millions of dollars spent on opposing advertising. The opposition was allowed to organize.

Due to false arguments and opposition organization, the legislation is watered down...it's not progressive enough and now one House Democrat has thrown the legislation into jeopardy.

However the consensus for the legislation is that, while it is not bold enough, it is something that will still be historic.

Progressives need to continue the fight but don't make it a "all or nothing" proposition. Why? Because this may be the last time Health Care Reform will get this close to passing both Houses. If it fails again, it will take two or three generations before our politicians take it up again. If it fails again, you will see moderate democrats become an extinct species and the partisanship fever will continue to get hotter and hotter.

When does it make sense to stop.

As the President began to continue his speech, he turned his head to his left and then a shout from the Republican side of the well could be heard. "You lie!" The entire body of legislators stopped, some of them booed the catcall and others turned in disbelief. Never had anyone in history ever called the President of the United States a liar during a joint session of congress, while the President was speaking. The cat-caller was later identified as Representative Joe Wilson.

His heckle is significant because it demonstrates that the ugliness that the right wing is beginning to show. What is also beginning to show is why most Americans have tried to distance themselves from their type of governance. This didn't begin with Barak Obama's election, it has been festering since Bill Clinton was elected. The right wing including Republican leaders and others have been attacking any Democratic President since 1992. It all began after Bill Clinton became president.

When Clinton was in office, he was investigated time after time--each time nothing was discovered and the President was exonerated. It cost taxpayers millions of dollars of investigations. He was even impeached but even that failed.

The right wing began to trash talk the President...the most vocal was Rush Limbaugh. However, it was in check due to the Fairness Doctrine. When the Republicans took the House and the Senate, Clinton made the mistake of signing a bill to repeal the Fairness doctrine. That repeal gave birth to a slew of attacks from radio and television. The Hannities, O'rielly's, Savages and Fox News were given a life of their own.

It got so bad that Clinton even called into Rush Limbaughs show to complain about the vitriol being spewed. A right wing organization went as far as to charge the President with Murder, drug running and money laundering. They even produced a video called "The Clinton Chronicles". It fed the fears of the gullible...and those same gullible people are being targeted again. When George W Bush was in office, not a peep from the right...they kept silent because they had a Republican white President.

Now the Beast has been woken up...and they are at it again. Only this time, they are more virulent, violent and racist. They hide behind the issues but extol cries of Socialism, Marxism, Nazi-ism and some just cry "I want my country back".

Have we gone this far to be pushed backward? It looks like there are American's out there who want to go back to a time they were fond of...the days in the 50's when Jim Crow ruled the land. As Americans we can't let the right take control of he direction we are headed in. We can't let them steer us so far right that everything we have worked for will come crashing down. They want the status-quo. They want our health care to be status quo. They voted against stimulus for hard working American's. They voted against the Cash for Clunker program. They are planning to vote against energy legislation, wall street reform, bank reform.

They will vote against their own interests to keep the fat cats rich and richer. Those gullible 9-12-ers, birthers and tea baggers don't see that they are being had in the biggest scam by the rich in history. The only people to get rich from denying American's Health Care are the fat cats in the insurance offices who take home 12-30 million dollars a year.

They only people who get rich from quashing financial reform are the employees of wall street who average $700-thousand dollars a year. Yet middle and lower class gullible citizens who have no health care, don't have any stock and work in manufacturing or are retired are fighting for the the super rich at the expense of their own well being.

Why would they do this? Because they have a passion inside them that is so strong, it is dwarfing their security...the passion is built on their idea that an African American President is not worthy of being a first class citizen. The old southern racist ideas have risen to the top of the pot and we all see it. Why did Joe Wilson have the cajones to call the President a liar, in front of millions of people? Because Joe Wilson, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and voter to support the confederate flag on top of the South Carolina State Capitol, considers the President a 2nd class citizen. He was saying to the President "Hey Mr. Uppity President, you are lying and I don't care who hears me."

He is now being considered a "hero" to those on the right. It's time to call them out on this. If we don't, we will stop going forward and start heading backward. If the right isn't reminded of it's responsibilities, this type of activism will only lead to further polarize the electorate and diminish the Presidency for years to come.

Next: The Destroyer of Health Care Reform is Max Baucus

It was a game winner...

The President took to the lectern and gave a serious pep-talk to the progressives and moderates of his own party on Wednesday. He not only laid his plan but also told American's what his plan is not. He tried to dispel the myths and untruths, while the Republican party sat, disrupted and at one point heckled the President by calling him a liar.

While the hissing, sometimes the jeers is expected at these sort of events, the heckler who called him a liar did something that has never been done at an event where a President has spoken to Congress. This wasn't just a heckle, it was a disrespectful act against the President by a member of Congress who just happens to be a member of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans organization. This act alone will not only do damage to the congressman's effort to run for re-election but it will undoubtedly do irreparable harm to the Republican Party. The Party was seeing a surge as of late but now that millions of Americans saw what the party has become--on national TV--that surge is over.

The approval rating for the President's health care plan went from 49% to 63% and the approval for the Republicans went from 36% to 29%...all of this in one night, after one powerful speech and after one hideous display of childishness.

Representative Joe Wilson apologized later but admitted that he was forced to. He also never admitted he was wrong about what he was accusing the President of and in fact continued to perpetrate the untruth. Wilson claims that HR 3200, the Health Care Reform Bill approved in one of the house committees allows for illegal aliens to take part in some of the benefits of HRC when the truth is--there is a provision which specifically says Illegal aliens do not get to take advantage of the benefits. He, however, continues to deny that this is true.

While Wilson and his colleagues want to kill health care reform by promoting such vitriol and untruths, 18000 Americans will no longer have health care by end of the day tomorrow. By the end of the year, more than 8-thousand will die due to lack of quality coverage and more than 1-million will go bankrupt due to the cost of health care.

These are the facts that the President said make this a national imperative. Every day we delay the problem gets worse. So far this year, more than 300-thousand American's lost their health care.

While the Republicans were content to jeer, wear signs, stand and waive their Health Care Proposals, which are more about protecting the status quo--the situation over health care in America grows worse. The Republican response to the Presidents speech is to ask for a "do over". A "do over" is not a solution or a realistic proposal of any sort. It's a delay tactic they want to use to kill reform.

They complain about not being at the table of negotiations but they are the ones who entered 168 amendments to the House Bill and they are the ones that have been saying if the bill says "public option" we won't support it. They in essence took themselves away from negotiations.
It's too late to reset the debate or the bills. American's can't wait.

The President assured his base, moderates, Americans and conservative (if you want to call them that anymore) Republicans that he will not stop. He held his hand to the other side of the isle and they called him a "liar". You can't negotiate with people who won't hear or listen to you while they are crying to be heard.

The President's speech brought a lot of people together last night. Meanwhile, the Republican's and their supporters decided to isolate themselves and showed the world who they really are...the party who only party with themselves, no one else is invited.

The game has been changed and the President is winning, while the Republicans are content to just keep whining.

Tomorrow: When does it make sense to stop.

Obama: Time to Stand Up

While the President spoke to school kids today about taking responsibility, we notice that tomorrow night he may be saying to the same thing to congress. His message to them, I think will be is that it's time to take responsibility to pass health care reform and include a public option.

The Republicans and the extreme right have been pushing the President around since this debate began. They pushed hardest in August to the point of ridiculousness. Their arguments of socialism, communism and then indoctrination have now been found to be totally without any merit and nothing but demagoguery.

Tomorrow night the President will get on the podium and say that "enough is enough" its time to do the peoples business and pass health care reform. The people have been waiting for nearly 40 years and the time is now. Time to get rid of the ability of health insurance companies from denying coverage and canceling policies. It's time to stop the upward climb of medical costs and premiums that are hurting Americans and American businesses. It's time to provide affordable health care for everyone.

The President has to tell the Republicans to "run with the big dogs or get back on the porch". They either have to become part of history or let history remember them as the ones who opted out in the debate to provide health care for all Americans.

I propose that we on the left consider a little give and take to get a bi-partisan bill through congress. We will trade, tort reform and the selling of insurance policies across state lines for a public option. This would put the Republicans in a quandry. They are adamant about tort reform and interstate selling of insurance and if they vote against the bill they would be voting against their own interests. Deep down they know that there will be a public option, either now or later and they need to get over it.

If not public option, then they should expand medicare to cover the unisured, unemployed and anyone over 45. Why 45? Because the odds of getting a serious illnesses after 45 years of age goes up dramatically. Illnesses that are bankrupting America.

In a study released a couple of weeks ago, it was found that insurance companies deny coverage 30% of the time. That means that for every 3 claims you submit, they will turn down at least one of them.

Another reason for the public option is to encourage competition. Did you know that in Alabama one insurance company serves 93% of all citizens, in Minnesota another serves 94% of it's residents. They can raise rates, premiums, deny claims, deny payments to doctors and cancel anyone they want to because they control almost all insurance and medical activity in the state. This, my friends, is not what America is all about. Yet, there are those in Congress and on the right that want to protect insurance companies who conduct business like this.

If you oppose Health Care Reform then you oppose what this country stands for, fairness and the ability for us to take care of other Americans. I mean, after all isn't that why our soldiers died in WWII...not just to stop tyranny but to take care of others at home by fighting in battle. Health Care is an American issue and to reform it is an American initiative.

So, tomorrow President Obama will stand in front of Congress and he will need to take off his gloves. Then he needs to come out punching. With every swing he needs to pound the message into his opponents and blue dog democrats...that they are responsible for the well being of this country.

He has to lay down the law and tell them that it's time to stand up and get Health Care Reform done.

Tomorrow: Critique of the President's speech to Congress

Is The Freedom to speak fair?

There was a time when political speech on television required opposing views to be heard. If you have a political viewpoint, then the station had to provide an opposing viewpoint. The principle was called the fairness doctrine. This doctrine also held that local stations had to provide local access to citizens and limited ownership by the print media to own television stations in one market for fear that if a company owned both it would then control the ability of citizens to hear the truth.

Unfortunately, President Clinton, under pressure by the Republicans who had control of both houses of government signed a bill repealing the "fairness doctrine". This gave rise to control of the airwaves by the right wingnuts like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly. It also gave birth to FOX News, a so called news network with an obvious right leaning slant. This network can provide a strong right wing point of view without fear of having to provide an equal voice to the other side.

Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and the Bill O'Reilly's of the world can spew any myth, lie, hatred or inciteful message without fear of retribution or opposing view. Since the 1990's repeal of the "doctrine", the vitriol has gotten worse and I believe it is solely responsible for the polarization of the electorate.

For example, when Glenn Beck goes on his show he goes to a white board, writes words on a board--links them together and without any evidence, just decides that they all point to socialism and our current President. There's no evidence or supporting facts to backup his claims due to the fact that there is no fairness doctrine anymore and since he is not accountable to anyone he doesn't have to worry about providing the opposing view a platform.

Beck just recently tied Van Jones, FDR and other Democrats to communism--again no evidence just his unchecked opinion. Jones, who is well known for his work with people around the country-- helping the unemployed, the less powerful and communities in states all over. His pet project has been to help create green jobs.

Somehow, Beck decided that Van Jones work was not noble and his efforts to help get the green economy going was not to his liking. So, he smeared him. True, Van Jones signed onto a "truther" petition. Jones made a mistake in penning his name to it but it doesn't diminish his continuing work and dedication to help Americans.

Of course Beck and others like him don't much care--because their agenda is to destroy liberals--not just the good ones but even the great ones like President Obama. Maybe the Fairness Doctrine will not come back but if something isn't done to hold these right wing spouters of misinformation accountable...the result will not be something we want to witness. It's time to hold them responsible for their rantings.

Maybe we need to bring back fairness and accountability to the media again...before it is too late.

Tomorrow: It's time

The President speaks, the right tries to shout him down.

When Ronald Reagan wanted to speak to our school aged students, Americans told their kids to sit and listen.

When George Bush Sr spoke to our kids, parents welcomed him into the classroom.

When George Bush Jr read "My Pet Goat", on 9-eleven, the room was quiet and kids clung to his words.

However, when our first black President offers to speak to our kids about the value of education, the necessity of staying in school and not quitting. Parents who listen to talk radio and Fox News threaten to keep their kids at home. The take over of the GOP by extremists who are making up the "indoctrination" story are trying to strike fear in the hearts of every American.

It reminds me of Michelle Bachmann who said that the Obama administration had set up concentration indoctrination camps around the country under the name of Americorps. Americorps was started in 1993 and was refunded by George W Bush. More than 540,000 people have served in it. It was designed in the likeness of Peace-corps. The idea was to help communities in the United States in need. They help in areas like these:

• Tutor and mentor disadvantaged youth
• Fight illiteracy
• Improve health services
• Build affordable housing
• Teach computer skills
• Clean parks and streams
• Manage or operate after-school programs
• Help communities respond to disasters
• Build organizational capacity

There are about 75,000 openings for volunteers every year. Those who apply and are selected can earn up to $5000 in scholarships to pay for college.

However, Michelle calls it a socialist organization set up to indoctrinate members. She is against it, even though it is supported by both Republican's and Democrats. However, all extremists on the right are opposed to it. People like Bachmann, Michelle Malkin, Limbaugh, Savage and Hannity continue to use it as a tool to spread untruths and scare their viewers. Truth is, Bachmann's son is a member and is working to help communities--so how scary is it really?.

Now, the President wants to deliver a "pep talk" to school kids, hoping they will stay in school and work hard to succeed. Here is a President who knows the value of education and he wants to encourage others to succeed.

The right wing-nuts will have nothing of it. The say he is trying to indoctrinate kids and that this is just the beginning...they say the President plans to have other indoctrination sessions. So, they put their spokespersons, Fox News an right wing radio hosts on the airwaves and scream "indoctrination" in hopes of shouting down the President's message. They took the idea right out of the Town Hall playbook and are working to silence the President.

These right wing extremists are doing everything they can to bring down this President. The GOP is not stopping them nor are they saying anything against their agitation. By staying quiet they are validating this nonsense.

The President has a right to speak, the same right everyone in this country has. There used to be a time when the President spoke everyone listened. Now, in the country where the right wing has taken control of the airwaves, they have chosen to disrespect the office of the President and are now trying to suppress his message to the public.

The last time I heard of the freedom of speech being abridged by a political organization was back in the 60's, in Russia. The other night a man, at a town hall meeting, and others tried to shout down a woman in a wheel chair from speaking...when the man was asked why, he said he didn't go to the meeting to hear her opinion and felt that hearing her opinion violated his right to free speech.

I know, it doesn't make sense but nothing they are doing right now is making sense. If this keeps up, the right wing will be working hard to suppress everyone's right to speak because after all that is the America they are saying they want "back".

Tomorrow: Do we need the fairness doctrine?