Tag Archives: America

Obama’s Second Inauguration: A Great Time To Not Be Republican

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On a brisk Monday in our nation’s governmental node, a vast crowd of people gathered on the damp mall, waving flags and cheering the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. After an extremely hard-fought, expensive, and divisive campaign, the result was finally made official as President Obama swore the oath of office. Considering his level of success on advancing social causes like healthcare and equal rights, the nation can look forward to four more years of expert stewardship. There has never been a better time to root for the left. 

president obama sworn in for second term

Hope is back

While the tone was much more subdued than the fervor that surrounded his first inauguration, Obama did not disappoint. For the first time in history in an inaugural speech, the President mentioned gay rights, and likened their path to that of other civil rights movements. He heavily pushed the cause of collective good. And, most importantly, he affronted the conservatives.

Baffled at their own demise, Republicans have been grasping at anything that even resembles an opportunity to make it seem like they are still doing anything at a national level. Obama’s speech rebuked the conservatives and particularly the puddle of the agitated far right from where the likes of Paul Ryan spawn. John McCain hypocritically whined that Obama didn’t talk enough about working together. However, no one in the nation believed the Senator, because no one heard him.

TO THE LEFT

The noise of the right was drowned out by the hopes of the left. Obama, who stayed too far to the center for the preferences of many a liberal, might buck the trend of past Presidents going into their second terms. History states that a President tends to gravitate towards the center the second time a nation elects him. With the Senate set (today) to vote on changing the rules of the filibuster, Obama might take the opportunity to move to the left instead and push through reforms on gun control and immigration.

If he succeeds at pushing through major legislation on these points (which seems probable considering the attention some in the Republican rank are getting by promoting reform), by the end of his second term and eight years in office he will have reformed healthcare, gun control, and immigration. But perhaps the most exciting part of his inaugural speech was his frank mention of climate change, and what the US must do to counteract it. This was a breath of fresh air (pun intended). It could mark the beginning of a substantial national shift in energy policy towards renewables for which many have been waiting decades.

Whatever your viewpoint, it is clear that despite the contrary claims, hope is alive and well.

Governor Cuomo Advances Gun Control

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The national sentiment after the Newtown tragedy is currently being harnessed by the left to push through measures to increase gun control. As we wrote earlier, it is a surprise opportunity for President Obama and the left to modernize the archaic system guaranteed under the Second Amendment. Now Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo has just completed the first step in curbing the effects of gun violence. 

cuomo makes progress on guns

Let’s make this country safer

Though the measures are rather small, including better monitoring those with a history of mental illness and reducing the number of bullets carried in a cartridge, it is the first action of what will become a national trend. President Obama has already stated that he favors using executive action to limit the places where guns can go, who can buy them, and to tighten the process of purchasing a firearm. The nation supports him.

Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done under current law. Most courts nationally support the Second Amendment to the letter (except for the “well-regulated” part which we will get to below), meaning that limiting the places where guns can be carried is nearly impossible. Some around the nation even advocate for everyone to bring a gun everywhere, though these people should probably be included on Cuomo’s mental health monitoring list. The hypocrisy is enormous, especially when looking at the Republican National Convention in Tampa last year where speakers and attendees proudly defended the second amendment while being forced to leave their guns outside of a no-weapon zone. The entire country should be a no-weapon zone.

Action from President Obama should come swiftly, and should focus on the acquisition of guns, one of the few areas where the government has any control. Considering that there are already nearly the same amount of guns as people in the US, it’s not hard to get your hands on a gun. But if you’re not trained to use a gun, it should be hard to get one. The Second Amendment clearly states a “well-regulated militia.” While the rest of the Second Amendment gets pointed to in defense every time a psycho wants to re-enact Grand Theft Auto, the well-regulated militia part is purposefully discarded. It is simple: trained soldiers can have guns to protect themselves from a tyrannical government. The Second Amendment does not guarantee the rights of crazy people to kill as many schoolchildren as they can.

Finally, for the first time since the Revolutionary War, we are seeing progress.

The State of the Gun Control Debate

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The tragic events at Newtown at the end of 2012 were a horrendous reminder that we, as a civilized nation, have made no single stride towards curbing the rampant violence of having an armed population. No matter the arguments for gun ownership or control, the culture and national environment have never come close to shifting towards a more responsible, modern, and sustainable society. That is, until now.

restricting gun access

Will we finally see progress?

When schoolchildren get massacred, tempers flare higher than usual. Not many shed tears when an armed drug dealer is gunned down in the streets (we do). But when helpless and innocent children become the target of a sick shooting spree, the nation naturally looks to find a way of preventing another such tragedy. It’s how we evolved. We adapt to situations to continue the pace of time and ensure our own survival.

The pressure for change is on. Gun control groups are finding unprecedented national support for pressing the government to do something. Obama, who was hoping to wind down Afghanistan and make his mark on immigration reform in his second presidential term, has an unexpected challenge and opportunity. The left has been begging for tougher restrictions on gun access and the places where people can legally carry them. Many on the left viewed Obama’s first term as too centrist and not progressive enough. Nothing was said about gun control during the 2012 election. But now Obama — and particularly Joe Biden — are pushing for at least a symbolic move to stem the free flow of guns through our population.

Change will not come easily. The NRA wants its members to keep selling guns, and its other members to keep buying them. In response to the Newtown tragedy, they famously recommended putting armed guards at every elementary school. Completely ignoring the fact that an assailant could arm himself with assault rifles, snipe the guard from a distance, and then manage to kill as many children as his bullets will allow, the underlying motive was clear: the answer to guns are more guns. Why the nation still pays any attention to the NRA is itself a big discussion point now after so many sensible people realize that the NRA only cares about themselves, even at the expense of the lives of our children.

The marginalization of the NRA has been happening naturally but their insensitivity and clear greed have accelerated it. The people want to be safe, safe from guns, and one does not feel safe when everyone around them has a gun. Life is too tenuous to allow people to carry devices that could effortlessly extinguish it. The current possibilities toward increasing gun control might be merely symbolic, but like the Affordable Care Act, it is a step in the right direction, and must come before the steps after it. If Obama and Biden can leverage the national outrage into action, it might be the beginning of the end for the second amendment’s ridiculous application.

Republicans Bring Down Susan Rice

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The onslaught was immediate. After jihadists attacked the American embassy in Benghazi Lybia, the Republicans followed in their tracks and continued the offensive. Presidential candidate-at-the-time Mitt Romney’s criticism came immediately. Since Obama had no major foreign policy gaffes or missteps throughout his first term, the Republicans needed to find something to draw attention to as a fault. At the center of the controversy, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, Obama’s top choice as the next Secretary of State.

republicans stop susan rice because of benghazi attack controversy

It’s not right

It was the comments around what happened in the attack in Lybia that lit the fuse. Confusion over whether the attack was a protest gone awry or an organized strike by a terrorist group caused a period of time when information went back and forth. The real problem was completely ignored: the question of the safety of America’s officials who work overseas. The issue that came up was how the State Department talked about a rapidly unfolding event with little outside information.

While it is the duty of officials to present accurate information to the people who elect them, in the world of counter-terrorism information is very hard to come by. When a few individuals act with the complete element of surprise, it is natural that it takes some time to get any sort of bigger picture. Under normal circumstance, the nation would unite against the attackers. Susan Rice is a target only because the controversy managed to stick.

Republicans are desperate for some sort of victory, and Susan Rice just handed them one when she formally withdrew her candidacy for Secretary of State. It is a shame, since Rice is a highly educated and experienced diplomat who spent many years outside of the United States. She is in every way qualified and deserving to go through the application process to be Secretary of State. Instead, Republicans, who dislike the UN anyway, wanted to show that they could still impact national politics. Since nearly every opinion poll shows the Republicans on the wrong side of the table on almost every issue, it was really their only option. It is unfortunate for the nation as a whole, but if predictions come true and Senator John Kerry is tapped, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

The End Of The Majority

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It is predicted that in 2042, the White Non-Hispanic majority will no longer be an actual majority, but rather merely the largest minority. Hispanics will nearly triple their numbers by 2050, meaning that nearly one in three people will be hispanic. Texas, a Republican bastion, could turn blue if Republicans don’t adjust their stance on immigration. Losing Texas would effectively eliminate any chance of a Republican winning the presidency.

Here are some quick projections:

Demographics December

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The Republican party is scattered like seeds in the wind, blowing aimlessly in different directions by contrasting convections. Within the right of the political spectrum are the extreme conservatives, the fiscal conservatives, and some moderates. The cross section changes by the day, and while different elements may contrast with each other, there is one overlying fact that cannot be ignored: demographics.

Shifting demographics have already made an impact on national political campaigns, and white people are no longer an absolute majority. All of the centuries of treating those with different skin colors as lesser individuals has finally caught up to Republicans, and they are getting rebuked at the polls by pretty much every demographic that’s not purely white.

There are many other major causes for the permanent decline in the Republican party and their influence. The waning sway of the church, the liberalization of young people thanks to access to information, the increasing amount of wealth in our nation, and the loss of a key voting bloc: the elderly.

For this politiblog, it is worth exploring all of these points in extended detail, to outline exactly how the forces of progress will always prove too much for all of the energy spent trying to keep things the same.

It is fitting after Obama thumped Romney that we take some time to explore why the Republican party today is crippled, and why they must change their platform to better reflect America. If they dont, they will go the way of the Whigs.

Look for articles this month on The Wrong Wing that focus on why the decline of the Republican party is not temporary, and how the nation’s political future will be determined.

Budget Negotiations Underway in Washington

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Negotiations are underway to find a solution to America’s public finance problems. Cuts and tax raises are necessary. Not having to face the nation’s vote again, Barack Obama can afford to lead the charge for tax reform and a return to the tax environment pre W Bush. The pressure is on. 

balanced budget impossible

Compromise is the only way forward

With congress basically crippled, Obama needs to act. The loss of moderate politicians who were central to deal making has meant that no bill stands a chance, unless it is something obvious and cross party. The budget is neither. It requires compromise from both sides to even the books. Some of the cuts must be painful, and some of the taxes will have negative effects on the economy. But politicians have to take responsibility and pass a budget.

There is a divide between the two sides on how to approach the balancing. Republicans, ever mindful and beholden to their rich donors, dont want to see tax cuts expire. They also are unwilling to cut from defense. They have proposed closing loopholes as the answer, which would only hurt middle and lower class families who cant afford to pay financial advisors to find loopholes for them. In this strategy, nothing changes for the rich.

The Democrats, for their part, are unwilling to cut from Medicare and social security, two staples of their base. They want to see a return to the tax structure of the 90s, and refocus spending from the defense department.

OPPORTUNITY

There is opportunity here to find a balanced solution that gets us back on track. However, the politicians in congress are playing their own strategy games, and no one wants to have been on the wrong side of a budget deal when re-election comes up. But there are two sides: and in fact they are not down party lines. There is passing a budget, or not passing a budget. Let’s hope they get it done.

 

The Paul Ryan Problem

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The United States faces an uncertain financial future. The recovering economy has not yet seen the kind of boost necessary to pick up the slack and prevent the nation from sinking in the event of a shock. This is a problem because a shock might be coming. In the eyes of many political pundits, we are headed towards a precipitous fiscal cliff.

usa debt crisis

It only drops a few feet

The fiscal cliff invites violent images of falling to one’s death. Yet it is much less dramatic than that. The automatic raises in taxes and cuts in spending were put in place to appease creditors and to show that if the government cant get its act together, there would be something that could save America’s financial books from our own gridlock and polarized ideologies.

The term automatic is really meaningless in this case. Lawmakers can always get around things, nothing is written in stone and with the primary focus of the country resting firmly on increasing jobs, not eliminating the debt, there will always be something that can be done. The idea of a fiscal cliff is only real if the Democrats use it to affront the Republican agenda, the same way Republicans toyed with the idea of default to rattle the Democrats.

There is most certainly a debt problem in America. And at the core of the negotiations to find a solution is former vice presidential candidate and extreme conservative Paul Ryan, who arguably cost Mitt Romney Florida and couldn’t even carry his own state of Wisconsin. Ryan is known around the nation as the debt guy, who presented radical plans to level the budget. He is not very well known and not every widely liked, but at least he presented a plan. He is one of the few that have.

UNCERTAINTY ON THE HILL

Ryan might be known as the debt guy but — as we have written about countless times before — he has voted for nearly every single measure put in place by W Bush that created the debt problem that we face today. This glaring hypocrisy aside, he is a wild card. Being young, he is promising for the Tea Party movement. However, the Tea Party is probably dead as we know it. Whatever form their resurrection will take will probably mean meandering towards the center of the political spectrum, or else face losing again and again in coming elections.

The biggest question is how Ryan will play to the far right of America. He needs to balance his conservative credentials (based on his voting record, this is only in regards to social issues) and the practical needs of the country. Some of the Tea Party candidates, like Mourdock in Indiana, were able to unseat long-time Washington Insiders thanks to an anti-government agenda. But when they ran against Democrats, they lost. Could Ryan actually fall victim to a movement like this? He has been in Washington as an elected official since 1998. With the growing unease and unpopularity of Congress, Ryan might become a target of the very same movement that brought him almost to the Vice Presidency.

So Ryan must progress the budget talks while retaining a near-impossible level of  conservative zeal, which normally means not compromising. If the nation hits the fiscal cliff, it will be his fault in the eyes of the entire country. If he softens his stance on the budget to accommodate a plausible solution, he will lose his luster among the far right, which could cost him his political future. The nation waits to see if pragmatism can right the nation’s finances and push Ryan towards a more sympathetic centrist position. If he does this correctly, he might be able to rely on socially-conservative centrist Republicans to keep his place in the GOP ranks. If not, he might not be re-elected come 2014.

All Out: Petraeus Steps Down

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The presidential election ended last week and the nation has finally turned its attention elsewhere. Unfortunately, surfacing at the end of last week, came the resignation of CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, the man who led coalition forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Once considered a possible outside presidential contender, he left office officially on Friday.

The reason: an affair he had been carrying on with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Having an affair is grounds for automatic dismissal from a major post such as his thanks to the sensitivity of the information he had access to. There were — and remain — questions about how much access his biographer had to the “most informed man on earth.” The FBI began tracking Petraeus’s emails to see if she had access. The investigation had been ongoing and finally, after the election was over, Petraeus pulled the escape hatch.

A resignation does raise some more uncomfortable questions that will have to be answered before the whole thing dies down. If Petraeus couldn’t keep a personal affair secret, how would he have been able to hide information that other states would be actively seeking? How could he expect his agency to be free on leaks when he couldn’t control his desires himself? In the military structure, behavior such as this can even be grounds for a court-martial. You may have all the faith in the world in Petraeus and the fidelity he has to America, but his wife thought the same thing. Everyone is capable of surprises.

Finally, the event begs the questions, when Broadwell titled Petraeus’s biography “All In” what precisely was she referring to?

Math Republicans Do To Make Themselves Feel Better

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Reality, we have seen — time and time again — does not include everyone. Throughout the entire election campaign, we have argued that Republican visions for America were not in line with what the nation was actually facing. All of the Republican heads were wrong leading up to Tuesday’s election. The race wasn’t even close, Obama cruised to a decisive victory. How could they all have got it so wrong, when Nate Silver predicted everything with perfect accuracy?

math republicans do to make themselves feel better

It’s not just Tuesday, you have been wrong for a long, long time

On Tuesday night, we got confirmation that what Republicans try to make themselves believe, and what is really happening in America are in fact two different things, solely because the reality of America depresses some Republicans. When the belief came face to face with reality, it exploded.

Karl Rove, one of the top Republican operates, was on Fox when the media called Ohio for Obama. It was the finishing move of the campaign, the beheading and de-intestining of Romney’s bid, and Rove couldn’t accept it. He doubted the claims, tried to bring in false information until he was called out by one of the anchors, who asked Rove pointedly, “is this just math republicans do to make themselves feel better?”

Jon Stewart sums it up better than we ever could on the Daily Show from November 7th. Watch the whole episode to hear from Nate Silver, who might’ve just completely changed the way that elections work: