Posts Tagged ‘Obama’
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
Here we go again. One more attempt at crafting a health care reform bill with the Republicans. The problem is that the GOP wants nothing to do with the main ideas the Democrats have put forth. Part of it is ideological–a reflexive rejection of anything but market-driven health care, (which has dismally failed either to provide for everyone or to control costs) and part is a reflexive desire to defeat Obama at all costs. The Republican idea of bipartisanship seems to be do it my way or not at all. We no longer have a legislative body in Washington capable of the compromises necessary to pass major legislation. This is a high-risk move on Obama’s part; if he fails to get anything, and the public blames him rather than the GOP (which has successfully outmaneuvered and out-communicated him so far), he can kiss his entire agenda goodbye, as well as the Congressional majority in November. If, on the other hand, he is able to show the Republicans for the obstructionists they are, or is able to persuade the members of his own party to develop backbones and pass something, he might yet have the last laugh.
Topics: bipartisanship, Congress, GOP, health care reform, health care summit, Obama, opinion, Republicans | 8 Comments »
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Hypocrisy is nothing new in politics, and neither side has a monopoly. That said, former vice president Dick Cheney is taking it to a whole new level with his constant attacks on the Obama administration’s conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the handling of terror cases. Wasn’t it just a few years ago that any criticism of the Bush/Cheney administration was undermining the morale of the troops, giving aid and comfort to then enemy and emboldening the terrorists. The word “treason” was even whispered in certain conservative circles. I won’t even go into the long-standing tradition of previous administrations not criticizing the current one, especially in wartime. That rule no longer applies, either. I’m left to conclude that the Republicans will do and say anything to undermine any Democratic administration, no matter what the cost to the nation.
Topics: Dick Cheney, national security, Obama, opinion, terrorism, War on Terror | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Here we go again. Obama is reaching out to Republicans one more time, convening a health care summit in hopes of crafting a bipartisan bill with a party that wants nothing to do with bipartisanship. If anything, Republicans, emboldened by Scott Brown’s surprise victory in Massachusetts, see obstructionism as the way to success at the polls. They’re going along, of course, because they have to at least pretend to want to work across the aisle. Their modest proposals for health care reform, which, if enacted, might extend coverage to about 5 percent of the nation’s uninsured, and which do nothing to contain costs, are so at odds with the president’s more sweeping proposals there is little chance that this summit will be anything but political theater.
Obama still seems reluctant to call the GOP out. The party that loudly demanded up and down votes on the Senate floor for Bush’s nominees now holds all of Obama’s hostage for months on the flimsiest of grounds–the latest being Richard Shelby’s hold on 70 nominees if he didn’t get an earmark for his state. It now takes 60 votes to accomplish anything in the Senate, thanks to the GOP’s filibuster of everything and anything. In the bizarre math of the current political paralysis, 41 votes defeats 59. And the inability of Democrats to accomplish anything in this environment appears to imperil their majority in November. President Obama, Mr. Cool, still refuses to raise his voice. The only people who seem to be genuinely angry, for all the wrong reasons, are the Tea Party loonies. Meanwhile, the country suffers.
Topics: bipartisanship, Congress, GOP, gridlock, Obama, opinion, partisanship, Republicans | 19 Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
I thought President Obama got it exactly right in his State of the Union address last night, chiding both Democrats and Republicans for their inability to solve any of the daunting problems facing the country. The Democrats are tied in knots, unwilling to wield the power the voters gave them a year ago, and the Republicans are living up to their reputation as the party of “no,” opposing anything before them now that they are in the minority. It remains to be seen if this is the emergence of a new, more aggressive Obama, who sat on the sidelines and failed to speak for his agenda for far too long while Congress dithered and the public burned.
Topics: agenda, Congress, Democrats, gridlock, Obama, opinion, Republicans, Washington | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
In a word, the state of the union is ANGRY! The question for the president and for both parties to figure out is, at what? Because we have a two-party system, the only choice people have if they don’t like what’s happening is to vote for the other guy, even if the other guy is largely responsible for what’s happening, and the guy that’s in there now is in there because of the other guy’s mistakes. People are angry at deficits, largely run up by the irresponsibility of the Bush administration, and topped off by Obama. They’re angry that the bankers who got us in this mess are making millions while we lose our shirts, thanks mainly to deregulation promoted primarily by Republicans (but signed off on by Clinton). They’re angry about jobs, but there’d be a lot more of them if the stimulus package had been larger, which would have increased the deficit, which they’re angry about. They’re angry that Washington seems wholly beholden to special interests, so they’re going to vote for the party that loves special interests at least as much as the party in power now. They’re angry at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were started by the party they just voted out a year ago. They’re angry that Obama has accomplished so little of his agenda, so they’re going to vote for the party that has unanimously opposed every single aspect of it.
I’m angry, too, and I get to draw cartoons about what I’m angry about, which doesn’t solve any of the problems, but makes me feel good. I’m a Tea Party of one.
Topics: 2010, Congress, Obama, opinion, politics, State of the Union | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
The Republicans are nothing if not united in their opposition to anything the Democrats try. In the case of health care reform, their stance from the beginning has been to kill it at all costs. It’s an outrage that it takes 60 votes in the Senate to accomplish anything when the minority party is unanimously hostile to the majority party. We can argue the merits of this particular health care bill forever, but that’s never really been the point of the opposition. If it were, the Republican party would have been trying to make the bill better rather than scuttle it. They argue that they’ve been shut out of the process, but that’s not even close to the truth. Little they’ve offered has been constructive, and nothing they’ve proposed even comes close to solving the problems our current non-system of health care presents to tens of millions of Americans. As the old saying goes, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Sadly, the GOP has indicated that it will fight granting more Americans access to affordable health care all the way.
Topics: death panel, GOP, health care reform, Obama, Republicans, Senate | 4 Comments »
Friday, December 11th, 2009
This is a bit of a departure for me–an all-digitally created cartoon, but I thought it had more impact this way than if I’d drawn it by hand. Obama’s speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize was both masterful and mystifying. I sincerely hope that he’s correct that the war he has chosen to take on as his own in Afghanistan is both justified and winnable. I have my doubts on both counts. While there is no question that the Taliban (unlike Saddam Hussein’s Iraq) represent a danger both to us and to the people of the region, the real question is whether continued engagement in Afghanistan will have any meaningful impact. If not, then we risk the lives of our soldiers, not to mention a considerable chunk of our treasury, on another Quixotic adventure, one that makes us no safer.
Topics: Afghanistan, Einstein, Nobel Peace Prize, Obama, peace, war | 9 Comments »
Monday, December 7th, 2009
With job creation at the top of the economic wish list as the nation slowly recovers from the deep recession, and with the Afghanistan decision made, Obama last week convened a jobs summit. The truth is, and everyone knows it, there’s little more that can be done to create the millions of jobs needed to offset those lost the last two years, unless the government is willing to spend billions more on additional stimulus. This puts Obama in a precarious place; does he risk adding to the already huge deficit, risking runaway inflation down the road, or does he stand pat and hope the economy creates more jobs than anticipated? Perhaps intervention from another agency will save the day. It can’t hurt to ask. “Tis the season.
Topics: Afghanistan, Christmas, climate change, economy, employment, health care, jobs, Obama, recession | 5 Comments »
Monday, November 30th, 2009
President Obama is expected to announce tomorrow night that he will be sending additional tens of thousands of troops to Afghanistan. If he buys into this conflict, like it or not, it will cease to be George W. Bush’s failure; it will become Obama’s war. Granted, the current occupant of the oval office was left with a seemingly impossible choice: abandon Afghanistan to the Taliban and risk it becoming an al Qaeda sanctuary once more, or hope that additional troops and a new strategy will stabilize a barely-governed country that appears to be hopelessly mired in sectarian violence and corruption. It appears that he chose the latter. Keep your fingers crossed.
Topics: Afghanistan, holiday shopping, Obama, War on Terror | 5 Comments »
