So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Donald Trump, who initiated his political career by questioning the legitimacy of America’s first black president, now gets the chance to undo eight years of progress under Barack Obama, who created America’s first truly progressive, compassionate government after years of conservative dogma, all while pulling the country out of its worst economic crisis since the great depression.

Here is a partial roll call of policy and legislation on the chopping block:

• The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): Trump has said he would repeal it and replace it with…oh right, nobody knows, because he failed to provide details. But certainly, 22 million previously uninsured will once again be on their own. Trump has also said that he will turn Medicaid into a block grant program, which will leave millions more uninsured.
• The EPA’s Clean Power Plan and Obama’s legacy of fighting climate change: Trump has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.
• The Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. Big Corporations will be free to run roughshod over the middle class and make policy that only benefits the financial overlords.
• Trump has promised huge personal and corporate tax cuts for the rich, which will have to be paid for by cuts to social programs.
• Immigration Policy : Trump’s signature stump speech featured a call and response about the Mexican wall. He also famously spoke of deporting 11 million immigrants and sealing the border to all Muslims.
• Most distressingly, He will now get to pick at least one and up to three Supreme Court Justices. It is possible that by the end of his term, there will be 7 conservatives on SCOTUS, putting Roe v Wade at risk and perpetuating the iniquities of the Citizens United decision.
• NATO and other international commitments: Trump has said he will “renegotiate” international treaties, including the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate accords. The world will have to learn how to deal with a capricious, unstable, incoherent president whose word is not worth the breath he expended in uttering it.
• The First Amendment : he is openly hostile to journalists and has mused about making it easier to sue them (his weapon of choice – he is involved in about 3500 lawsuits)
• Nuclear Treaties : Japan gets a nuke!  South Korea gets a nuke!  Saudi Arabia gets a nuke! Everybody gets a nuke!

Keep in mind that he is unfettered by a divided congress, since the Republicans retained both the house and senate. For the first time since 1928, Republicans control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. If they retain their majorities into 2020, they will get to continue their gerrymandering to safeguard Republican districts in perpetuity. To see what happens in a State that has a Republican governor and house with no Democrat opposition, look no further than Sam Brownback’s Kansas.

Trump will enter the White House as the most powerful president in recent history. Together with his penchant for authoritarianism, his thin skin and his obsession with payback for slights no matter how venial, that also makes him the most dangerous individual to ever hold this office. His self esteem is both high and extremely fragile. Did we really want a big baby who asked why we shouldn’t use preemptive nuclear strikes in charge of the nuclear codes? Apparently yes.

Trump is more than a disaster for America. He is an existential danger for the entire planet. I guess there’s just one more thing to say.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Yes we can

On this day, before the most important election day of this and many a year, perhaps we can reflect on why we look to our leaders. When times are good, we can get by with a manager and all that we ask is that he or she not f***  things up.  Even when times are tough, we’re not looking for a magic bullet for all our problems, we’re looking for the gunsmith who can make the bullet. This year, any of the candidates may have made a good president, but what we need at this precarious time in our history is a great president, one who can look beyond what divides us to rediscover that what makes us good also makes us great.

The elder Bush once complained that he did not have “the vision thing” and he still managed to get by as a caretaker.  But after 8 years of the younger Bush, in a world that is hostile and uncertain, mostly as a result of his policies,  we need more than a caretaker president.  We need a visionary. We need inspiration. We need a reason to feel good about our choice.

Ladies and Gentlemen,  in his own words – Barack Obama.

(From his speech in New Hampshire January 8, 2008 after he had lost to HIllary Clinton in that primary.)

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. (We want change.)         We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics…they will only grow louder and more dissonant. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea:

Yes We Can.

Election Shorts

– The McCain campaign paid Sarah Palin’s stylist twice as much as McCain’s foreign policy adviser – talk about lipstick on a pig. It seems that McCain’s economic stimulus package consists of sending the RNC out shopping for Sarah Palin. The real problem is not the fact that the RNC spent $150 000 on Palin’s wardrobe, but the disconnect between the aw shucks Wasilla hockey mom persona she loves to project and the reality behind that facade, particularly when one of McCain’s main attacks  on Obama is that he is elitist.

– Joe Biden is an experienced, eminently qualified, politician, but there is a reason that he never came close to the Democratic party nomination for president – he hasn’t learned that not every thought that crosses his mind needs to be expressed out loud. His verbal gaffes, while not a danger to the Obama campaign, provide fodder for Republicans and late night talk show hosts alike, which is either an embarrasment to Obama, or else a brilliant strategy to provide a convenient scapegoat for those waiting for an Obama backlash, without actually damaging Obama.

– How do the Republicans reconcile their tactic of falsely claiming Obama is a Muslim while simultaneously excoriating him for his long membership in a Christian church whose pastor gave incendiary sermons damning America?

– McCain disparagingly, although correctly says  that Obama wants to redistribute the wealth, using “socialism” as a perjorative, only because he can’t just call Obama a communist (but his conservative base certainly knows what he means, nudge-nudge, wink-wink).  The problem here is that socialism, in its truest meaning,  is a philanthropical philosophy that is encouraged by Christian teachings and the Bible, that Republicans proudly wear on their sleeves, but not apparently in their hearts.

– The Republicans are the only ones who do not realize that this is a new world order, one in which American preeminence cannot be taken for granted, that Democracy means  more than having elections, that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.  So they have resorted to resurrecting tactical ghosts which have served them so well in the past – trying to assign Obama guilt by association with William Ayres, a hot headed radical student in the sixties linked to bombings when Obama was eight years old; indulging in race baiting by saying he is not like us; calling him a socialist for daring to suggest that those who have benefited the most from America’s opportunities give back to the system that made their success possible; accusing Obama of being an elitist when it is McCain with his heiress wife, thirteen houses and twelve cars who is out of touch with the people he claims to represent; disparaging Obama’s willingness to engage with America’s enemies, when it is their own two term president who has been responsible for damaging America’s standing in the world with his unilateral, preemptive “I’m America and you’re not” policies.

– We stand on the precipice of history, and those of us privileged to be able to vote this November have a responsibility to turn away from anger and hate and greed and to send a message to Bush, Cheney and their henchmen, in jail, out of jail, on their way to jail, and their sponsors, the robber barons of Wall street and the CEO’s and bankers who constructed the pyramid schemes that got us into this mess, that we are ready to embrace our better natures and live up to the principles that were promised by the constitution.

A Republican Palin-drome

Who knew that if you spell Mike Huckabee backwards, it comes out as Sarah Palin.

Its as if the McCain team decided to reverse engineer the perfect VP, went into the lab, fed data into their computer, crunched some numbers and came up with the a single name.

Requirements –

1. Must be conservative, to balance dodgy McCain stance on social issues.  Check.

2. Must be a bit of a maverick, to enhance McCain rebel with a cause posture.  Check.

3. Must be young, since McCain is vulnerable to old codger comparisons.  Check.

4. Must be female, to snag disenchanted Hillary voters.  Check.

5. Must appeal to evangelicals and the NRA.  Double Check.

6. Must be Anti-abortion, pro ANWR drilling, and a Creationist.  Check, check, check.

7. Should be ready to step into the Presidency on day 2, with all the requisite experience and the wisdom of age.  Uh, maybe its not that important.

And the answer is …. Sarah Palin!

The only problem is that for all those people – and there were a lot of them – who shuddered at the thought of a religious kook like Huckabee in the White House, their worst nightmare could be realized -a female Huckabee without the experience.

Evangelical conservatives around the US are praising the lord for answering their prayers and delivering unto John McCain the perfect antidote to his bipartisan ways.  In the days that followed the announcement of her anointment, the McCain campaign received over $8 million in contributions, mostly from small and medium donors.

Elsewhere, godless liberals are on their knees, praying that Obama can pull it out in November.  Its true – there are no atheists in foxholes.

How Hillary Got Her Groove Back

Against expectations, Hillary Clinton has broken Barack Obama’s winning streak at eleven, taking Rhode Island and the key states of Ohio and surprisingly, Texas, with its confusing primary-caucus combination, where polls had Obama with a slim lead going into March 4. She confounded critics like Jonathan Alter of Newsweek who had called on her to withdraw gracefully, although he has a valid point when he says that the delegate math is against her. Even if she wins every primary between now and August, because of the rule of proportionality, she will not make up enough ground to overtake Obama in the pledged delegate count before the convention, because of his landslide wins on Super Tuesday.

The fact that she is still around is due to a confluence of events, starting with, of all things, Saturday Night Live. In a skit they did last week, the media was pilloried for giving Obama a free pass, while hammering Clinton for every little misstep. As if SNL set the media agenda, the press then started taking a hard look at issues that could trip Obama up – his stance on NAFTA, his ties with fund raiser Tony Rezko, and his qualifications to be commander in chief. The scales have apparently fallen from their eyes and the spell Obama cast over the media has been broken!

Clinton’s camp can now argue that Obama cannot win the big states – California, New York, New Jersey and now Ohio and Texas. To which Obama supporters can counter that she cannot win swing states – Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin. The truth is, during the primary season, it is a zero sum game, so the same rules will not necessarily apply in the general election. However, having said that, I believe that democrats in the big, delegate rich states will coalesce around Obama if he is the nominee, but the same may not hold true for the swing states if Clinton wins.

The democratic race has become muddy again and it looks increasingly as if superdelegates will be playing a key role. (Uh-oh.) The long race has the benefit of energizing the party and keeping the democrats on the front page, but a drawn out fight may also leave the victor bruised and exhausted for the final round, where a spry and rested John McCain awaits.

The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

Obama’s refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin, along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem has led conservatives on the Internet and in the media to question his patriotism. CNN.com even ran a reader poll discussing this issue, adding to the smear as if it were a real issue.

Obama, when asked about the lapel pin’s absence, said

“You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Obama said. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest. Instead, I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.”

Europeans find the ostentatious public displays of patriotism gauche and would rather find an outlet for their expressions of nationalism in soccer games, which are the last accepted forms of jingoism. In the U.S., however, many consider the flag and anthem to be more than symbols, and so invest them with meaning beyond expressions of pride. Conservatives in particular consider outward displays of love for country, or the lack of such displays, a litmus test for loyalty. They equate manifestations of patriotism with real sentiment, turning flag waving and specific rituals into forced confessions of orthodoxy.

I hope Obama holds firm and resists the temptation to appease the mobs who demand grand but superficial political gestures so that he can continue to debate what true patriotism means.

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” – Samuel Johnson

“I beg to submit that it is the first.” – Ambrose Bierce

Its a New Day in America

I acquired US citizenship in 1998, but I became an American in 2001 in the days following 9/11. That was when I finally shed my world weary cynicism and bought into the spirit that seems to define this country. It is a combination of pugnacious defiance (Think Winston Churchill’s most famous speech*) and sunny optimism (Think Annie! The Musical). In the worst of times, this can-do character manifests itself as brashness and smug superiority which the rest of the world knows as Ugly Americanism. This is particularly true in international sporting events, when crowds of supercharged fans chant USA! USA! USA! It speaks of an in your face attitude that is reflected in American foreign policy.

But in the best of times, when faced with disasters such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, ordinary Americans (as opposed to the government, which can be as cumbersome and incompetent as any in the world) come together with a unity of purpose and a refusal to be defeated. There is a sense that no problem is too large or intractable that it cannot be fixed. This stands in marked contrast to the nihilism and anomie that is characteristic of Europe and the Old World. Not for nothing is the Happiest Place on Earth located in the U.S.

So when the American Zeitgeist takes a hit, and world events and domestic travails intrude upon the constitutionally bestowed right to pursue happiness, citizens look to their leaders to take them back to the promised land. Americans tend to elect presidents who most reflect their personal view of the world, which doesn’t say much for Americans in the last 7 years. Under the watch of George W. Bush, boosters have been forced into distinguishing between a love for America (bad!)and a love for Americans(good!). Candidates who are successful either speak to America’s best hopes or to its worst fears. Bill Clinton’s focus on the economy, at a time when it was in the doldrums, gave him an edge over George Bush senior who although winning a war, famously lacked “the vision thing“. George Bush junior, who was heading towards obscurity before 9/11, beat the drums of terrorism to defeat John Kerry. The most memorable and beloved presidents, though, are those who appeal to Americans innate optimism, like FDR with his new deal, JFK’s Camelot and Ronald Reagan’s shining city upon a hill.

Newsweek contributor Sharon Begley writes that in voting, when its the head versus the heart, the heart wins. According to political scientist Richard Lau of Rutgers University, coauthor of the 2006 book “How Voters Decide”, science shows that when we are deciding which candidate to support, anxiety, enthusiasm and whom we identify with count more than reason or logic.

In the 2008 election, Americans are faced with a long grocery list of difficult problems – the deadly and costly war in Iraq, a sputtering economy, the potential re-emergence of the cold war with Russia, the competition from the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, China and India), as well as internal issues such as illegal immigration and the struggle for the high ground on social issues such as gay marriages and abortion. Faced with this litany of troubles, will the electorate circle the wagons and bunker down till the storm blows over? Or will it look for a way to find the sun again? Given the nature of America, I believe it will be the latter, which is why the Democrats will win this year. And the Democratic candidate who best embodies this spirit of renewal and change is Barack Obama. After 8 years of Bush-Cheney doom and gloom, people will be looking for hope and inspiration and damn the nit-picking over qualifications and experience. Americans want to feel good about themselves again and Obama can deliver.

*  “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

(Winston Churchill – Speech in the House Of Commons – June 4, 1940)