Dec 17, 2010

Wanted: A President and a Congress That Walks on Two Legs Instead of One (Not The 111th)


Now I know what I want for Christmas, it is a Congress and President that work together, not one or the other that simply attempts to score points - for them.

America needs a Congress that works, so that unemployed Americans can get back to work! In fact, the last minute 'hail Mary' pass by the 2010 Lame Duck Congress and President Obama contrary to the opinion of some is nothing to cheer about as far as I am concerned.
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Part I

I listened to a KGO radio talk show into the wee hours of the morning as well as just before sunrise. According to the talk show hosts and the majority of the calling public, the year 2010 ended on a high note for President Obama and the lame-duck Congress.

Many of the callers were singing praises to President Obama in deference to his recent mid-term election upset. Was I missing something I thought, or was it time for someone to do some critical thinking? So I volunteered myself to do some critical thinking and here is what I concluded!

If you were to believe the press, similar to what frequently occurs on the gridiron between two vying teams, President Obama and the 111th lame-duck Congress pulled out a last minute upset, especially President Obama. And after sealing their victories, along with the President each one of them flew home to celebrate each of their respective victories with family, friends and constituents.

Well, I ask you: Were either the press or callers in to KGO's radio talk shows throughout the night and early morning, correct? Did the 111th lame duck Congress and President Obama score a comeback? Was there really anything to cheer about?

Frankly, I cannot see how the year ended in a way that favored the majority of American people, and the latter is what really mattered. Or on the other hand perhaps I missed something, or have some of the American people, like our representatives have done forgotten what a representative government is supposed to be all about? The way that it is suppose to work is that representatives in Congress are voted into office in order to represent the interests and the will of the people of the United States of America.

I couldn't help but wonder what the 50-plus Democratic Representatives, who were sent home for supporting President Obama's policies in addition to the unemployed, underemployed, homeless American (outdoor citizens) ..., would have to say about the purported great finish by Congress and the President.

If anything, they might agree that Mr. Obama and his new friends in Congress (the Republican majority in the House) did well for themselves, however, I seriously doubt whether any of them were singing praises to Obama. And along with the newly retired Congress people, I seriously doubt whether the voting public that was responsible for Mr. Obama's election to office two years ago), were impressed with him or Congress as a result of the just passed legislation.

The Democrats who remain in the House, the President's de facto party are lambasting him given their feelings of having been betrayed 'or ransomed' as one of them put it given the recent Quid Pro Quo taxation surrender with Republicans. They feel the same as their counterparts that they are leaving behind do. Why? Because they supported the President and policies that they didn't agree with (some of them), and as result lost their seats in the House while watching the President play footsie with and seemingly switching over to the other camp).

Sadly, most of them were not paying close enough attention when candidate Obama, explained during the run up to the election, that one of his true heroes was the late,’ let some crumbs fall from the rich man’s table Ronald Reagan ...’. The latter's policies, having often been referred to as 'Trickle-Down' or what President George Bush Sr., when competing against Ronald Reagan referred to Reagan's economics as, 'voodoo economics'. Or, did he say 'deep doo'? Hee hee hee! Actually, he was referring to another issue when he invoked the phrase, deep doo doo!

The Republicans and their newly co-opted 'Republican undercover brother leader, President Obama', have proven one thing for sure, and that is that deficits don’t matter to them in the scheme of things after all. What matters and mattered to them, in spite of what they said before, and have been saying recently (that resulted in their getting the House back) was and is that they got an extension on their tax breaks.

So I ask you, who in America ought to have been happy with the year end events given the scope of the legislation that was passed (since the mid-term election changed the face of Washington DC)?

Well, members of the gay community are happy and they should be, given that the federal government only did what it should have done a long time ago, and that was to eliminate the discriminatory practices that it sanctioned for years against same-sex tax paying American citizens.

The fact that the federal government discriminated against a subset of Americans for so long is nothing new. If you don't believe it, just ask any American, well with the exception of white American males. The latter have always believed, and many still believe that ‘this land is their land …"!

Should the American people be enthralled given that Congress ratified yet another nuclear proliferation agreement with Russia, the harbinger of the former Soviet arsenal? Well, if you believe that Russia poses a threat to the United States or, the Republican Party for which America currently stands, okay. On the other hand, weren’t we told that Middle-Eastern …terrorists posed the current serious threat to America? Er herm, and what has been done about that for that matter by the lame-duck President and the 'greatest lame-duck Congress in American history?

And isn’t the ratification of the treaty by Congress desirable, given that the war with Iraq is also over, well that is (unless you include the approximately one-hundred thousand paid mercenaries and professional soldiers that are still a part of America's war effort in Iraq, along with roughly 50,000 American troops).

And let's pretend that what we were told before
, things are going to be better this time around for all Americans, will come true. However, given the resurrected 'social contract with America', that has been resurrected in President Obama and a democratic majority (that was recently flipped over to a republican majority in the Senate), one has to wonder where exactly is America headed now?

Frankly, I am neither hopeful nor convinced that we will see any improvement for the majority of Americans anytime soon (as a result of 'the ransom', or, given the legislation that just passed. Why? The latter promises 2 years of extended tax breaks for the rich (both democrat and republican), out-of-control spending, taxation without true representation for the majority of Americans and an additional year of extended unemployment benefits for Americans. The questions that come to mind are 'then what'? And, will millions of jobs have been created over the course of 2011 for displaced, downsized and repositioned American workers?
The fact of the matter is that the wealthy will have enjoyed 10 years of tax breaks under 2 administrations at the end of 2011, while too many Americans have had to and will have to depend on unemployment checks instead of employment checks, in order to survive. Is that something to pop the corks on champagne bottles over as some will be doing on New Year's Day.

As a result of the actions of the 111th Congress an American minority will continue to suffer, even though it was the taxpayer’s money that bailed out banks, corporations ... and therefore the wealthy via TARP and the Reinvestment Act. And what of the taxpayers, they have been left it would seem to fend for themselves while the wealthy (including politicians) lavish in their new found and inherited wealth.

Until I listened to the morning callers, I could not help but wonder whether all of my detractors and critics who felt that they knew more about politics than I did during the run up to the general election, despite my experience and years spent in Washington DC and political circles, learned anything? After listening to some of the individuals who called in to praise the President and the lame-duck Congress, then I understood better how obtuse the American electorate really was and is, when it comes to selecting or voting for a political candidate.

Clearly, the call in audience for the most part still could not see the forest for the trees either! In fact, I tried to educate my challengers before by explaining that the overly confident wannabe kid-President who lacked experience at the Federal level was not quite ready for prime-time. He was never prepared to govern given the enormous complexities that America and the world was facing at the time, not many were.

His ego coupled with being cheered on by the naive, got the best of him! To say that he pulled it out at year's end, ignores the serious issues that still ipso facto face the American people.

In my learned opinion, a wonderful opportunity was lost in terms of changing America and the world for the better given the naïveté of the President and the voting public at the time. It would appear that our young President is for now, firmly in the grips of the Republican Right. Fortunately he is a flip-flopper, and perhaps in time he will flip back to the will of the non-Republican majority of American people before he leaves office.

The questions that linger are these, have Americans learned anything about placing their trust or destiny into the hands of politicians? Will the hurting American electorate make similar mistakes in future elections. How are the American people going to extricate themselves from the current economic and political mess? Has Mr. Obama learned, of late, a thing or two about the gentleman's game in Washington DC really works, or just it really takes to lead a nation? More and more I am beginning to wonder, just who in fact is ‘this mixed man’, Mr. Obama?

The issues that confront America and the world in a post Ronald Reagan Great Society Reformation can be traced back to the candidacy of ‘get tough, we will show them, destroy the unions and there is nothing wrong with greed presidency of Ronald Reagan'. Mister deer caught-in-the-headlights President Obama, it would appear, is the heir-apparent of the diminutive Ronald Reagan New Deal legacy.

It was Ronald Reagan who provided and bequeathed America with the ongoing second version of a New Deal, which was the same old Rich Man v. Poor Man deal. And the legacy of the current 'Obama New Deal' means this: A whole lot of Americans, America’s allies and other 3rd world nations and people are ostensibly, in trouble.

For similar to former president and puppet George H. Bush Jr., Mr. Obama is the most recent puppet being jangled and dangled by puppeteers on the Right in a Republican marionette show.

Is it any wonder then that Republicans and others in the wealthier economic class groups fight so hard to maintain control of the government and to prevent a redistribution of income and wealth (including men like televangelist Pat Robertson)?

In order to help you to understand what I mean, consider how you would be feeling if you came into 5B for example, as a result of successfully playing the derivatives game,indirectly receiving TARP funds ... as many of the wealthy did some years ago.

And, as a result of your new found wealth the government taxed you in accordance with the existing tax code? You would likely seek to hide your wealth as they have done and are doing. Hey, here's a thought Republicans, share the wealth and then all Americans would want what you do: JUST READ MY LIPS!

Peace & Grace


Please read Part II

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