Tag: Barak Obama

You Were Warned About Change (Redux)

Daily Agitator

I am sick of all the Lefties that go on air a bitch that Obama is NOT doing what he promised during the ’08 election process…..the change that he promised…

This is a repost of a piece I wrote on Daily Kos on 25 Feb 2008…..I was whacked on the pee-pee for NOT supporting Obama and now many of those from Kos are on air bitching about the lack of change from Obama….and of course, I thoroughly enjoy saying “I TOLD YOU SO!”

First, I have heard Clinton called a populist and a progressive.  All I can say to that is WTF?  By no stretch of the imagination can she call herself those titles.  Her positions are straight out of the playbook of the DLC and, to use Bill’s terms. if you believe that “I have some land I wanna sell ya”.  But I digress!  Obama has been called a progressive also.  Thinking…thinking…It is possible to use that label, but it will take a bit of an imagination to do so.  I will agree that change is just a word and not necessarily a progressive one.  The belief that one can actually bring about political change is definitely a progressive idea.

We have all heard the diatribes by the Clinton camp on Obama.  The inexperience, hollow promises and not much Congressional success, all are tried to be used against him.  These things are valid to question, but does not preclude failure.  The approach to change will be the indicator to watch.  Will Obama surround himself with people that actually want to change Washington?  Voters need to realize that the positions of Obama during the primary season, will be altered for the general election.  Politicians will be adding and subtracting from the positions until they get a platform they consider to be a winner.

OK, I realize that so far I have said nothing that has not been mentioned in the MSM.  Here is where I will look for the indication of real change. His acceptance speech, if he is nominated, will lay out what direction his administration will follow.  But, IMO, the most telling indicator will be who is chosen to be the vice-president.  Why?  If his Veep is pulled out of the DLC, then he has sold out to this “conservative” organization and any change will be solely symbolic.  Change will NOT occur only reform.  Reform is not what is needed.  Reform is easily overturned and will have little positive effect for the average working stiff.

If Obama is nominated, then watch the convention and watch it closely for there is where you will know if you have been duped.

Take that Nostradamus!

He Will Be Tested

That was the prediction of Biden in one of his speeches, so far looks like a fairly accurate prediction, at least from where I sit.  India, Economics, Israel and then there is Iraq, Afghanistan and finally Iran…..now if I had to guess I would say that is a full plate on day one.

Israel’s continuing attacks on Gaza serve as a reminder that President-elect Barack Obama and his nominee to be secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, will not get to choose the world they inherit Jan. 20.

The incoming administration had planned to focus on the economic crisis and recalibrating U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan in its early months — but the Israeli assault on Hamas may have instantly changed that calculus.

Obama’s views on the Israeli action remain opaque. Even as the attack continued into its third day Monday, with a Palestinian death toll topping 300 and Israel threatening a ground invasion, Obama had yet to say a word about the crisis, on the grounds that President George W. Bush (who has also been silent) must take the lead.

There were growing signs Monday that the air strikes — which came in response to increased rocket fire from Gaza, which is governed by Hamas — could be accompanied by a ground incursion. Israel’s leaders signaled that this could be an extended conflict, while emphatically denying any intention of reoccupying the independently governed territory.

Though both sides in the Middle East are intensely aware that this battle will establish facts on the ground in the region for the new administration, Obama’s advisers have sent only vague signals, with David Axelrod on “Face the Nation” Sunday calling Israel a “great ally” and citing America’s “special relationship” with the Jewish state.

A well-worn geopolitical cliché holds that every crisis contains an opportunity. But for Obama — a president-in-waiting who faces daunting dilemmas across the domestic and foreign policy spectrum — the Israeli crackdown on Hamas seems unlikely to do anything but complicate his approach to a region that he had clearly hoped to keep low on his to-do list for awhile.

Israeli leaders see the faint possibility that, on one hand, the attack could weaken and further isolate Hamas and its sponsor Iran, paving the way for a return of its more moderate rivals. But that was also one of the goals in the 2006 invasion of Lebanon — an action many believe only served to strengthen Hezbollah.

Some observers who are more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause think the conflict could clarify the depth of Hamas’ support and lead Obama or his allies to bring them to the negotiating table. But the early consequence of the attack has been the collapse of peace negotiations between Israel and both the Palestinian Authority and Syria, and analysts on both sides say the likeliest consequence is an increasingly bitter and intractable conflict.

The new President had better hit the ground running or events will pass him by and allow plenty of openings for the opposition to attack.

This Is Just Pathetic!

I heard of this and I tried to ignore it for as long as I could.  But thanks to the media and Conserv a/holes and their emails, I feel I must comment.

Among those filing lawsuits is Alan Keyes, who lost to Obama in the 2004 Illinois Senate race. Keyes’ lawsuit seeks to halt certification of votes in California. Another lawsuit by a Kentucky man aims to have a federal judge review Obama’s original birth certificate, which Hawaiian officials say is locked in a state vault.

Other lawsuits have been filed by Andy Martin, whose case was dismissed in Hawaii, and by an Ohio man whose case also was dismissed.

The most famous case questioning Obama’s citizenship was filed in Pennsylvania in August on behalf of Philip J Berg and sought to enjoin the Democratic National Committee from nominating Obama. The Supreme Court declined to accept the case. Earlier, a federal judge rejected it for “lack of standing”, ruling that Berg had no legal right to sue.

In cases like these, judges sometimes believe the matter is best left to political institutions, such as the Electoral College or Congress, said legal scholar Eugene Volokh of the University of California at Los Angeles.

The remaining case with the highest profile is Donofrio v Wells. Since it was distributed by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to other justices for conference, the case gained undue importance for people unschooled in how the court works, Volokh said.

Is it about time for these morons to return to their holes and go back to sleep….Enough is Enough!  This is wasting the time and money of the courts.  OKay let them continue and if it is not resolved in their favor they pay ALL court expenses.  And in return, they will be shown to be in error and subject to a hefty fine for wasting the time of the courts.  Sour grapes is one thing–moronic bullshit is another…may I suggest to those involved in these lawsuits….if your IQ ever reaches 100 I would sell and take the beating.

Please let the country and courts return to sanity and let them focus on “real” problems that the people are facing.

To Slash Or Not To Slash

In the last week I have heard the president-elect mention the budget and what he would do with it as soon as he is sworn in…not sounding too promising, IMO.

Obama said his economic team would go through the federal budget “page by page, line by line, eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.”

While he reiterated his earlier statement that “there is only one president at a time,” Obama made it clear that his increasingly frequent appearances before reporters in Chicago—a third press conference is set for Wednesday—is being driven by the deepening economic crisis gripping US and world capitalism and a desire to reassure the financial markets.

The immediate backdrop to the press conference was the announcement of fresh figures indicating that the US economy is continuing to spiral downwards. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that economic activity had declined at a rate of 0.5 percent during the three months ending in September, while the average American’s disposable income had plummeted during the same period at an annual rate of 9.2 percent, the steepest decline recorded since such figures were first kept in 1947.

Obama drew a sharp distinction between his proposal for an “immediate and temporary infusion that’s going to be required to kick-start our economy” and plans for cutting “the structural spending that’s been taking place in Washington that has created this huge mountain of debt.”

He reiterated that the temporary program he is advocating would “help save or create two-and-a-half million jobs.” While the price tag for the program has been estimated as high as $700 billion, the objectives are wholly inadequate given the depth of the crisis. Nearly half as many jobs as Obama claims would be saved or created over two years have already been wiped out in the past year alone, and new jobless claims have climbed to over half a million a week.

This rhetoric serves only to mask the economic and social realities of the unfolding crisis. Wall Street is being bailed out at the expense of “Main Street.” Average working people, who bear no responsibility for the financial meltdown, are being forced to pay the price for years of financial parasitism and speculation that enriched the top 1 percent, while the vast majority of the population saw its real income stagnate or decline. The inevitable response to the kind of economic austerity policies being prepared by the incoming Obama administration will not be a “banding together” of “Wall Street and Main Street,” but rather a resurgence of class struggle in America.

8 Reasons Why Obama Will Win

A follow-up to the Loss piece in the Chicago Trib by Eric Zorn.

1. Obama’s supporters are more energized.

Obama draws enormous crowds wherever he goes and has energized young and first-time voters in a way that will surprise pollsters relying on traditional turnout models. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll found 74 percent of Obama voters saying they are more enthusiastic about voting this time than in previous elections. Only 48 percent of McCain voters said the same.

These jazzed Obama supporters don’t see their vote as the weary, defensive choice of the lesser of two evils, but as an exciting chance to create a brighter future.

2. Obama has a superior ground game.

In part because Sen. Hillary Clinton challenged him deep into the primary season, Obama is better organized at the neighborhood level than any Democratic presidential candidate in history.

His campaign is also making landmark use of technology—using e-mail, text messages and social-networking sites to keep in touch with supporters and urge them to the polls.

3. Obama has a superior air game.

Obama is so flush with cash that he’s able to saturate TV and radio in key markets at the end of the campaign with ads that counter McCain’s criticisms of him and launch attacks on McCain.

It’s not just the money but the determination to respond rapidly and vehemently inside the space of a single news cycle.

4. McCain has lost his brand.

Yes, he’s a volatile man running in sensitive times under the banner of troubled party. But he started off with the image of a bipartisan straight-shooter with a clear, selfless sense of proportion.

Yet he’s campaigned like a crank. His scattershot, over-the-top assaults on Obama’s character (or, rather, the character of Obama’s associates) have seemed like an effort to change the subject from important issues. And now that McCain’s finally settled on conservative tax policy as his theme down the stretch, his campaign is so desperate for traction that it’s going schoolyard—channeling Joe McCarthy and calling Obama a socialist, a Marxist and even a communist.

5. Sarah Palin is turning out to be the disasta’ from Alaska.

I’m confident historians will rank McCain’s decision to choose a rookie governor from a low-population state to be his running mate as his biggest miscalculation. Palin’s youth, spunkiness and conservative bona fides fired up the Republican base, sure. But her ignorance, on display in early TV interviews, mortified the rest of us, and polls now show her as a distinct drag on the ticket.

McCain’s appalling judgment in selecting Palin has been cited by Colin Powell, several high-profile conservative intellectuals and scores of newspaper editorial boards as a reason to support Obama.

6. Obama hasn’t lost his cool.

Historians will also note the textbook discipline of the Obama campaign, which stuck to a set of fairly simple “change” messages while the McCain campaign kept trying out new themes. This steadiness has been mirrored by Obama’s own equanimity, particularly during the debates in which he looked and sounded far more presidential than the twitchy, simpering McCain.

The more people saw of Obama, the less he seemed like the frightening, radical, terrorist sympathizer in McCain’s cartoonish rhetoric.

7. McCain hasn’t been able to fight the Bush head winds.

No matter how many times McCain said “maverick,” he still couldn’t create enough distance from the deeply unpopular president to make the sale to voters hungering for new leadership.

8. Obama has been lucky.

Things have been relatively quiet all year on the terror and national security fronts—McCain’s strengths. And the major crisis of the campaign season—the economic meltdown—not only played into one of Obama’s perceived strong suits, it also caused McCain to appear impulsive and indecisive in the face of a sudden challenge.

Obama And Economics

This is a list compiled by Bussiness Week and is a lengthy piece, however if one wants to see where Obama stands on economic issues it is well worth the read.

Obama on Taxes

• Income Taxes: Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would hold most income tax rates steady, making permanent the Bush tax cuts for the vast majority of individual taxpayers. With those cuts scheduled to expire in 2011, he would allow rates for households making more than $250,000 (or individuals making more than roughly $200,000) to return to earlier levels. Earners who now pay today’s maximum 35% rate would see their top marginal rate go back to the 36.9% in effect in the Clinton years, for example.

• Estate Taxes: Obama proposes setting inheritance taxes permanently at 45% on estates over $3.5 million.

• Capital-Gains Taxes: Obama would again limit any increases in capital-gains rates, as well as taxes on dividends, to households making more than $250,000 or individuals bringing in more than $200,000. For those folks, he proposes increasing the maximum rate to somewhere between 20% and 25%.

• New Tax Cuts: Obama has proposed a handful of new tax credits and other adjustments aimed at helping struggling families, students, and others. He would institute a refundable tax credit of 6.2% of earnings, up to a maximum of $8,100, for example, along with a refundable mortgage credit equal to 10% of loan payments for homeowners who don’t itemize their deductions. Students would be eligible for a $4,000 annual credit to help defray college costs, while Obama would eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000.

• Economic Stimulus: Obama has proposed giving businesses a $3,000 tax credit this year and next for every net new job they create to help jump-start the stalled economy. He would also temporarily eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits and calls for legislation that would allow struggling individuals to take up to $10,000 from their IRA or 401(k) retirement accounts this year and next without paying the normal tax penalty for early withdrawals.

• Business Taxes: Obama has proposed eliminating all capital-gains taxes on investments in small business. He would also make permanent the R&D tax credit and credits for renewable energy production. But elsewhere, he would eke more revenue out of the corporate sector: He would like eliminate loopholes that he says favor oil and gas companies, for one. And he favors shifting the tax code to favor companies that create jobs in the U.S. and increase taxes on those that move jobs overseas.

Obama on Jobs

• Job Creation: Obama wants to steer $50 billion into an economic stimulus. He proposes that $25 billion go into a “Jobs and Growth Fund” to prevent cuts in road and bridge maintenance, and to fund school repair. He says this effort will save more than 1 million jobs.

• ‘Green’ Jobs: Obama wants to create 5 million new “green jobs” and invest $150 billion over 10 years in biofuels and fuel infrastructure, plug-in hybrids, commercial-scale renewable energy, low-emissions coal plants, and a new digital electricity grid. He also wants to expand federal transportation investments to the tune of $60 billion over 10 years, which he says will create 2 million jobs.

• Unemployment: Obama is calling for a temporary expansion of the unemployment insurance program for those who have exhausted their current benefits. He’d also extend unemployment insurance to a bigger pool of workers, including some part-time workers.

• Trade: Obama says he opposes new deals that lack labor and environmental safeguards. Obama wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico so it has more favorable terms for U.S. workers. He wants to expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which trains workers who lose their jobs because of offshoring.

• Labor Rights: Obama wants to strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions through what’s known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The bill allows workers to join a union if a simple majority sign authorization cards instead of holding an election. He has won the support of the two major U.S. labor federations, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, whose leaders say EFCA is their top legislative priority.

• Immigration: Obama supports strengthening border security with more personnel, technology, and infrastructure. He also wants to create tougher penalties against employers who hire undocumented immigrants. At the same time, he wants to increase the number of legal immigrants in order to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers say they can’t fill. Undocumented workers who clear background checks will have a path to citizenship.

• Work/Family Balance: Obama wants to double funding for after-school programs, provide low-income families with a refundable tax credit to help with child-care expenses, and encourage flexible work schedules. Obama wants to extend the Family Medical Leave Act—which allows workers three months of unpaid leave—to cover eldercare and cases of domestic violence.

• Minimum Wage: Obama wants to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011 (up from 2009’s rate of $7.25 an hour) and index it to inflation. He says these measures will help ensure that full-time workers earn a “living wage.”

Obama on Education

• Early Childhood Education: Obama proposes a $10 billion “Zero to Five” early childhood education plan that would expand access to Early Head Start, preschool, and child-care services. Would establish an early learning council to coordinate federal and state early childhood education programs.

• K-12 Education: Obama supports goals of No Child Left Behind but says law has significant flaws, including lack of adequate funding. Says he will improve assessments and accountability for NCLB. Proposes funding of intervention strategies to reduce dropouts.

• Teacher Pay and Training: Obama supports bonus pay for teachers and additional support and training for teachers and principals. Wants to make it easier to remove bad teachers from classrooms. Proposes that all teaching programs be accredited.

• Math and Science: Obama says math and science must be a national priority. Will step up recruiting of math and science teachers. Wants to enhance science instruction and enhance science assessments.

• School Choice: Obama wants to increase federal funding for charter schools from $200 million a year to $400 million, but wants to make it easier to close low-performing charter schools. Opposes school vouchers for private and parochial schools.

• School Funding: Obama’s early childhood and K-12 plans call for additional spending of $18 billion a year. Obama says cost of plan would be offset by spending cuts and reforming federal contracting procedures.

• Classroom Technology: Obama proposes a $500 million matching fund for technology in the classroom. Program will include more classroom technology and student performance data tracking. Will create a new technology-based curriculum.

• Higher Education: Obama wants to change the student loan program by eliminating the subsidies to private lenders and mandating that all federal student loans be provided through the federal direct loan program. Proposes a $4,000 refundable tax credit for college tuition; recipients of the credit will be required to perform 100 hours of community service.

Obama on Health Care

• His Approach: Obama would achieve universal coverage through an expansion of employer-based and government insurance programs, and create programs and incentives that will rein in health-care inflation.

• Coverage: Obama thinks all employers should be required to offer insurance or pay into a public fund, with subsidies available to small businesses. All children would be covered, Medicaid would be expanded, and a National Health Insurance Exchange created to offer policies to individuals not covered through their employers.

• Insurance Changes: Obama would prohibit the denial of coverage due to a preexisting condition.

• Malpractice Reform: Obama wants to reform malpractice while preserving patient rights by coming up with new forums for addressing physician errors.

• Drug Prices: Obama wants to allow re-importation of drugs and faster introduction of generics, and would repeal the ban against Medicare negotiating prices directly with drug companies.

• Technology: Obama wants to commit $50 billion to the adoption of electronic medical records and wider deployment of information technology.

• Quality of Care: Obama wants to support a national institute to monitor quality and set standards, and reward health-care providers for high-quality care.

Obama on the Financial Crisis

• Homeowners: Obama has proposed requiring financial institutions participating in the Treasury Dept.’s assistance programs to halt foreclosures for 90 days for homeowners living in their homes and making “good faith” efforts to pay. He has also backed efforts, including a law passed this summer, to encourage mortgage lenders and servicers to modify more loans voluntarily but requiring them to give up some of the loans’ value. As with McCain’s plan, and nascent Treasury loan-modification efforts, it is unclear how many such homeowner-relief programs would apply to mortgages that had been divvied up into tranches and sold to investors. Before the crisis worsened this fall, Obama proposed more scrutiny of the subprime mortgage industry, standardized disclosure of mortgage terms, and allowing judges to modify mortgage terms in bankruptcy, much as they can modify the terms of other loans.

• Unemployment: Obama also proposes temporarily eliminating taxes on unemployment benefits, and proposes to extend unemployment benefits.

• Jobs: Obama is calling for a temporary $3,000 tax credit for each net new full-time job companies create in the U.S. over the next two years. He also proposes a national, $50 billion program to improve roads and other infrastructure, and supports spending $150 billion on green-energy initiatives, both of which his campaign touts as fostering job growth.

• Other: Obama proposes short-term federal loans for cash-strapped state and municipal governments, which are facing dramatically lower tax receipts and gaping budget deficits amid the housing downturn and weakening economy.

Obama on Retirement

• Temporary Assistance: Obama proposes allowing working Americans to make withdrawals of up to 15% from IRAs and 401(k)s during 2008 and 2009, to a maximum of $10,000, without triggering the standard early-withdrawal penalty of 10%; the withdrawals would still be subject to income taxes. Like McCain, Obama supports temporarily suspending mandatory minimum withdrawal rules for retirees over 70½, but he also proposes to temporarily waive taxes on withdrawals for those who do withdraw up to those minimums.

• Retirement Plans: Obama proposes matching 50¢ on the dollar for the first $1,000 of retirement-plan contributions for families earning less than $75,000 a year, to encourage savings. He also has proposed requiring employers that don’t sponsor employee retirement plans to set up automatic contributions to IRAs for employees, with provisions allowing workers to opt out.

• Taxes: Obama proposes eliminating income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000, which the campaign estimates will save 7 million seniors an average of $1,400.

• Social Security: Obama supports increasing payroll taxes on annual income over $250,000, perhaps by 2% to 4%, to improve Social Security’s financial position; currently, only income under $250,000 is subject to the 12.4% withholding tax, which is split between employers and employees. He opposes increasing the age at which Social Security benefits may be collected, which is another commonly cited fix for the program, and also opposes privatizing benefits.

I sincerely hope that this was of help in your decision.  I want to be fair and will find what I can on McCain and economics.

Bill Offers To Help Obama

Recently, Bill Clinton made and offer to help Obama on the campaign trail, but it came through a surrogate and was at best a half-hearted announcement.

Is Bill still pouting that his wife lost to a black guy?  He is no longer the “Big Dog” in the DNC and he is trying to save his position and legacy.  He appears to be envious of the popularity of Obama.

Clinton could be of service to Obama in the small towns and cities where his popularity is still fairly strong.  He is an expert at playing a crowd.  But will he play it enthusiastically?

As the only two term Democratic president, he does have his pluses, but is his offer just a way to help his wife in any future endeavor or is he seriously wanting to help elect Obama as president?  The Clintons have always had an agenda for themselves, so what is it this time?