Conventional Wisdom

15 thoughts on “Conventional Wisdom”

1. If you’re not ready for the world stage, try to change it. Dumb it down to Harvard law school pranks or something.

   The basic flaw in Obama’s campaign is the assumption the country wants to change the system, as if there really is a system.

   Remember, the Islamofascists attacked us. We didn’t attack them. Putin wants to return Russia to dictatorship, China wants the world’s raw materials and Africa and Latin America are as screwed up as they were eight years ago and no president can save them.

   Obama’s appealing to the hate-America crowd that thinks it’s all our fault. That won’t play in Peoria.

   Maybe it’s just that Obama is so new to Washington and hasn’t spent much time there because he’s been out on the campaign trail the last year or more and he over estimates the power of the presidency.

   Reminds me of Jimmy Carter.

   Log in to Reply

   1. I know it ranks up high in conserva-bot 1337-speak, but I can’t come up with a single Islamic terrorist group that I would consider “fascist”.

      Now let’s talk about the rest.  Putin wants to return Russia to a dictatorship – and we no longer have any standing in the world community to persuade him not to go there.  China wants the world’s raw materials – and is buying up our debt to remove our leverage against them, and when they listen to us, it’s Bill Richardson or Al Gore they listen to instead of this Administration.  We might have helped some in Africa, but we’re tied up in the wrong war because Commander Codpiece had a hard-on for Saddam.  We might have had some influence in Latin America, too, except Bush is such an incompetent that he’s pretty much scared the entirety of South America into the arms of Hugo Chavez.

      Does that sound like the hate-America slogan?  If it does, maybe you have an alternate suggestion as to why we’ve been kicked off of almost every leadership position we held at the UN since Bush arrived at the White House.  I love America; I love it enough to come out and say “Our current President is doing a lousy job, and his Party is behind him 120% if their votes and their rhetoric mean anything.”

      Log in to Reply

   2. There is a profound tendency toward stagnation with our two-party system.  History shows that one of two things eventually happens to upset that stagnation: change within one of the parties, or change from an upstart party.  Obama seems to want to be the former – a kind of political outlook counterpart to the organizational renewal that has come into the Democratic Party.

      If I were to go with Obama’s framing, I would have to agree that I want some changes.  I’d like for the political hatchet-jobs to die down – they’re counter-productive to the best governance of the country.  I’d like to do away political grandstanding moves – e.g. two recent GOP tactics: obstruction just to deny credit to Democrats, and the slightly older blatant mis-naming of bills to mis-lead voters on candidate positions…  Wouldn’t it be nice if Congress actually spent most of its time ensuring that government ran effectively instead of being bogged down in political maneuvering?

      Finally, if Obama reminds you of Jimmy Carter, he’s just moved up a rung on my ladder.  Carter understood the oil crisis for the long-term problem it was, was able to negotiate the only lasting peace treaties Israel and Islamic nations have ever signed, and has done more for peace negotations since leaving office than all of the Republican Presidents following him to-date.

      Log in to Reply

      1. Another Skeptic is completely afraid of what an Obama Presidency could accomplish. A succesful Obama Presidency restore our democracy as the shining example of the city upon the hill, where the government is for the people, instead of against them.

         It seems some conservatives fear a working government, since they have been arguing against it since before Reagan.

         Log in to Reply

         1. I am a life long democrat, but Obama has never done anything that suggests he is the least bit capable of governing anything.  He hasn’t done anything in his two years in the senate and he misses more votes than any other candidate.  He is all talk if you ask me.

            Log in to Reply

            1. You are repeating false information. Would you please present facts to the dialogue rather than misinformation?

               This “inexperience” rant against Senator Obama is nothing more than a distraction of the other candidates records, their failed leadership (or lack there of), and DC political entrenchment.

               If an extensive political resume is what qualifies you to be President, Dick Cheney had the perfect one. And as John F. Kennedy said, there are no colleges for Presidents.

               Barack sees his real world experience as his strength: 

               “Actually, I think my experience is my greatest strength. I don’t have some of the traditional experience of folks in Washington, although I would put my record here in Washington next to my competitors’. But I think my work as a community organizer, as a civil rights attorney, as somebody who taught constitutional law for 10 years, and as a state legislator provides me with insights into solving problems at the federal level and at the local level and at the neighborhood level that I think is what’s needed right now.”

               Log in to Reply

               1. How many republican’s has Obama beat?  Obama has never faced a real competitive challenge and his first try shouldn’t be for the leader of the free world.  The stakes are to high to gamble on him.  The clintons have been whooping republican ass for decades.

                  Log in to Reply

                  1. someone who could see Iraq was a bad idea ahead of time

                     someone who is willing to fight for universal healthcare ( instead of rolling over and taking money from the healthcare industry after a single setback)

                     What’s the point of winning if all you are getting is Bush lite in a smarter package.

                     Log in to Reply

                  2. Which one of Hillary’s senatorial competitors was a serious challenge again?

                     Log in to Reply

   3. It’s not an assumption that the American people want change, it’s a fact.

      A Perfect Storm

      We can see in hindsight how incumbent parties get blamed and creamed in federal elections, as Republicans did in 1932 during the Depression and Democrats did in 1994 after the failure of health care. We rarely see disaster in advance. But with 13 months to go, current trend lines indicate that a perfect storm is gathering force and will likely decimate Republican strength in federal and state races in November 2008.

      Not one but four separate seismic events together will – short of another terrorist attack or a new war against Iran – alter the electoral terrain of America.

      Iraq: Consider the numbers: Opinion polls show that consistent majorities of 70% want the war to end soon and 60% believe Bush misled us into this conflict. When asked which party can best handle Iraq, it was Democrats by 49% to 34% in the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. This is undeniably the Republicans’ war.

      What exactly can GOP candidates say next fall in the face of no WMD, no link between Saddam and 9/11, no flowers for “liberators,” nearly 5million Iraqis displaced, tens of thousands of American dead or wounded as well as some 100,000 Iraqis killed – not to mention an increase in terrorism worldwide? “Give us more time” for a war that’s lasted longer than World War II?

      The Economy: Most economic forecasters are predicting a one-in-two chance of a recession due to the foreclosure crisis leading to a credit crisis. Even if there’s no recession but merely a slowdown, incumbent parties historically lose seats and the White House when economic growth falls below 3% in the election year.

      At the same time, the Bush administration’s record on spending and deficits – turning a projected $5.6 trillion surplus into huge deficits – is dividing the GOP’s own business base, according to the Wall Street Journal last week. When asked which party would better maintain prosperity, it’s now Democrats by 54%-34%, according to Gallup.

      Intolerance: The GOP claiming to be the “party of Lincoln” is a pretense long beyond its expiration date. Bush’s small gain in the black vote from 8% in 2000 to 11% in 2004 helped achieve his narrow victory. But the recent refusal of leading Republican presidential candidates to attend key black, Latino and gay debates prodded former vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp to complain, “We sound like we don’t want immigration; we sound like we don’t want black people to vote for us.”

      It won’t suffice any longer for 2008 convention organizers to put minority delegates on the stage, hoping pictures will substitute for policy.

      Children: President Bush made good on his threat to veto the expansion of the S-CHIP program to extend health insurance to another 4 million children, notwithstanding the support of 43 governors and overwhelming public approval. He complains that such a move would socialize health care. But will he now end Medicare and Medicaid? It approaches political suicide to elevate the rhetoric of free market fundamentalism over the reality of millions of children lacking health insurance.

      Pro-war, anti-growth, anti-minority, anti-child. Not a formula for success. Then several other realities combine to dig Republicans into an even deeper hole. Democrats are now more trusted on nearly every domestic and foreign policy issue. The number of Americans who self-identify as Republican is at a seven-year low. And then there’s the fact that Republicans are defending 22 Senate seats in 2008 compared to 12 for the Democrats.

      Adding it all up: Look for Democrats to end up with a near filibuster-proof 58 Senate seats (up from 51) and 260 House seats (up from 213 in 2005).

      For when there’s a tidal wave of sentiment, it doesn’t tip some close contests but nearly all close contests. What John Kenneth Galbraith said of Black Monday 1932 is true for the GOP today: “The end had come, but it was not yet in sight.”

      Green, former New York City public advocate, is president of Air America Radio and author of the coming paperback “Losing Our Democracy.”

      The denial of the facts reminds me of why we were led to war and have occupied Iraq ever since without an exit strategy.

      Log in to Reply

      1. Appeasement leads to war.

         Tax increases impoverish children by sending us into recessions.

         You’ve gotta love Obama. He wants change. He wants to end the greatest economic boom in history. He wants to get us sucked into wars that will bring back the draft. He wants a depression that he can “save” us from.

         What a guy.

         Log in to Reply

         1. “Greatest economic boom in history”?  You mean this debt-financed, just go shopping (even if it racks up your credit card to the point that you can’t pay it off) mess is supposed to be an economic boom?  It has the lowest job growth of any post-recession recovery in our recorded economic history, has one of the most anemic GDP growth rates of any recovery…

            What you call appeasement, most people in the past have called diplomacy.  Perhaps you don’t recognize it because it’s been out of use for 7 years now.  Last time I checked, diplomacy prevented wars, it didn’t cause them.

            Statistically speaking, tax rates have little correlation to economic growth – and we’ve discussed this in the not-too-distant past, so you’re just parroting talking points by bringing it up…

            Any more brilliant insights?

            Log in to Reply

            1. Phoenix, thought you were smarter than that.

               Log in to Reply

               1. Since I’ve looked at the BLS numbers within the past 6 months just to verify my liberal-minded brethren’s facts, I leave it to you to provide counters to them.

                  Log in to Reply

               2. What “facts” were in your comment? Your claims are baseless. It’s as if we are not in total agreement with you, we hate america. What if the opposite were true? You seem to blame Americans first, from what I’ve read each day.

                  Log in to Reply