The Best Laid Plans

Political analyst, Greg Sargent, is coming out with a new book, titled, 40 More Years: How Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.

There will be some re-hashing of the 2008 campaign in it, but I understand the bulk of the book will address electoral trends, and how the rise of the youth vote and the decline of the white vote will favor Democrats.

I’m looking forward to reading it, but to my Democratic friends, I say, “Let’s not get too excited.” I had lunch in the early days of the Reagan Administration with a friend who had recently gone over to the other side. He invited me to join him, because, he said, “The country is turning conservative and if you want to enjoy the ride, you better join us.”

“In fact,” he said, “It is clear from recent trends that the Republicans will dominate American politics and occupy the White House, uninterrupted, for at least another generation.” The year was 1981. The restaurant was The Monocle on Capitol Hill. My friend went on to serve in the Reagan White House, the Bush 41 State Department, and the Bush 43 Defense Department.

In the 27 year period between 1981 and 2008, Republican Presidents controlled the agenda for all but the eight years of the Clinton Administration. Now you know why they hate Clinton so. Not only was he an effective President, he spoiled their plans for total domination of an entire generation. Boy, do they hate Clinton.

But I digress. My point is this: the best laid plans often go astray, especially when the fickle winds of political discourse are blowing across the land. In my view there should be no talk of “how Democrats will rule the next generation.” It is not likely to happen, and certainly not if they follow the Republican example. Obama seems to have learned the lesson of the past 27 years well and is reaching across the aisle with an eagerness to clasp the hand of anyone who wants to work to make America better.

And what has he found? He is finding the loyal opposition dusting off the strategic playbook of Newt Gingrich, written more than two decades ago. Old Newt had three themes: “Unite against Democrats’ economic policy, block and counter health care reform, and tar them with spending scandals." This is indeed what you do if you are a party with no ideas. Remember that day in early 1995 when, after taking control of the House of Representatives, Republicans gathered on the West steps of the Capitol and Newt told them, “This is our Contract with America….and on these provisions we will not compromise.” Those words stuck in my head because they were so wrong. Politics is nothing if not the art of compromise. It is how our country moves forward. It is how both parties governed until the era of Newt.

Obama understands the lessons of the past 27 years and is offering a sincere bipartisan hand to the other side but so far, with few exceptions in the Senate, his hand has been slapped away. Hopefully, that will change. America deserves better.

Miracle of America

This photo was made by my daughter, Katherine, during a tour of the Miracle of America American Museum in Polson, Montana (sort of a "Smithsonian Museum West").



If there was ever a time for this sign to be posted everywhere, it is TODAY.

Winner of Political Conventions?

One of my Ohio Republican friends asked me this morning which of the two political conventions was the most successful.

Obama's supporters were already united in support of their candidate. The result was an unprecedented crowd of 84,000+ in the stadium to show him and us that they are ready for a change in leadership in America. No politician in American history had ever gathered that many people in one spot to hear a political speech!

The Democratic convention must be considered a great success.

McCain's supporters, on the other hand, gathered as a disjointed amalgamation of individuals seeking a leader for THEIR causes. McCain was not their guy but they were there, nonetheless, to go through the motions. What happens? McCain picks Sarah Palin to be his running mate, someone totally unknown to the American people and barely known among Republicans. However, because she is a believer in all things the Republican base holds dear, she is able to energize the crowd, unite them, and send them stampeding out the doors ready to vote McCain/Palin into office. Indeed, some of them thought the order of the ticket ought to be reversed!

The Republican convention must be considered the more successful because it accomplished a miracle.

In Alaska, people are still decompressing. One of her Republican competitors said today, "She is not ready to be governor; she is certainly not ready to be Vice President." While some people in Alaska are quite proud of her selection, others are stunned, in disbelief that the national party would pick such an unqualified person.

Conservative Jim Wooten, writing in the Atlanta papers, said she is "one of us." Again, as I have written before, we should not be looking for someone who is "one of us." The job is complex and difficult. It calls for an extraordinary person possessed of uncommon judgment and leadership abilities, broad knowledge of the world today, an even broader and deeper understanding of world history. She barely graduated from the sixth college she attended (I'm counting the one she attended twice).

If you witnessed how the Rs salivated over her, someone they had not met before last week, someone they knew nothing about, someone who simply told them what they wanted to hear....you begin to understand how easily dictators gain control of their countries.

The Rs will tell you quickly they are in favor of "less government in their lives" even as they demand government enforce their view on a few parochial issues that are important to them but which pale in comparison to the overriding issues on which all the people need true leadership -- fiscal responsibility, energy independence, health care, rebuilding US infrastructure, global warming, national security, including threats of nuclear, chemical and biological terrorism.

For the moment, the national political playing field has been leveled. The two candidates are nearly tied in the polls. As we go forward I pray the American people will not succumb to McCain's transparent pandering. He is using Ms. Palin as he has nearly every attractive woman who has crossed his path -- for his own selfish purposes. If he should get elected, he will forget about her entirely until he needs her. She can live in Alaska, as far as he is concerned (or in one of his seven houses), until he needs her.

Why would you pick someone who is under a cloud of suspicion in her own state, the subject of an ethics investigation, someone who billed the taxpayers of her own state for 312 nights she spent in her own home (WPost-9/9/08), someone who says her daughter had a choice of whether or not to keep the baby and yet stands ready to tell the rest of America's women they won't have such a choice if she is elected.

Why would you pick someone who is so totally out of step with mainstream America -- favors teaching creationism, favors earmarks (even though McCain opposes them), hired lobbyists to obtain $27 million in earmarks for her small town (the same lobbyists whose influence McCain says he wants to expel from corridors of power). She is anathema to all that McCain has been saying through his "Straight Talk" political philosophy, except that she is attractive, can read well from a teleprompter and has the right stance on all of the extreme right wing issues the base of his party holds dear.

If this is not political expediency at its core, I've never seen it. Karl Rove hit it on the head when someone asked him whether or not Obama should pick Tim Kaine, former mayor of Richmond and now governor of Virginia as his running mate: "If you pick Governor Kaine, you make an intensely political choice which says, you know, that ‘I’m not really first and foremost concerned with – is this person capable of being President of the United States.” Last time I check Richmond was larger than Wasilla, AK (200,000 compared to 7,000) and Virginia has 7.6 million citizens compared to Alaska's 700,000. Why shouldn’t the Rove rationale apply to Ms. Palin?

What I see is a base that doesn't care about governing, only about winning and making sure their issues are taken care of. Is that what we're about? I hope not. I have been watching the HBO series on John Adams (via Netflix) and it is terrific...but I wondered how sad it would make Adams and the other founders if they could see the sorry state into which we have devolved as a nation.

If the McCain/Palin ticket wins, I fear there is little chance America will arrest its current steep decline in power and influence on the world stage!

Republicans Wanted Hillary -- BAD!

All this talk about unrest and unhappiness and division in the ranks over Hillary not being on the ticket is just that – talk. Sure, there are hurt feelings among the Clinton supporters because their candidate didn’t win the nomination. But Clinton supporters know, in the end, they – and we – must be united in our effort to take back America from the POP party (Political Opportunist Party).

But Republicans are ticked! They wanted to run against Hillary. They have been salivating for years over the prospect of running in 2008 against Hillary. During the primaries, Republican strategists kept saying, “Hillary is tough; she would be the toughest candidate we could face.” Don’t you believe it! They wanted her! The McCain campaign is running an ad right now saying, “She got 18 million votes and isn’t even on the ticket!” In essence, they are saying, “We’re really upset with Obama for not giving us Hillary to bash.”

Here's what Republican strategist will never admit: If she had been on the ticket, the McCain campaign would have ignored Obama and run against Hillary Clinton. They would have re-run all the old stories about the Clintons. They had more negative Hillary material in the can and ready to go than they could possibly use over the course of the next 72 days. Yes, they wanted to run against Hillary --- BAD!

So, ignore the television pundits…and remember they are only repeating what the Republicans tell them about the “simmering division among Democrats.” Yes, some of the Hillary folks continue to be disappointed that their candidate is not carrying the banner for the party, but they know – we all know – as Joe Biden said last Saturday, “We LITERALLY cannot afford another four years of the Bush-Cheney-McCain” form of government. America CANNOT AFFORD it!

As you watch the Convention in Denver this week, no matter what you see or hear, here's one thing you can take to the bank: Democrats WILL be united in November and will be joined by many REAL Republicans and THINKING Independents in rejecting four more years of Bush-Cheney-McCain.