One Great Mulligan

In this new century, let’s just say we got off to a bad start and start over.

George Bush made mistakes. He made so many that surely we are owed a barrel of mulligans, but maybe we could lump the entire eight years into a single bag, titled, “One Great Mulligan,” and start over.

To sum up the mulligan we seek: Bush weakened the American presidency with his ineptness, he weakened our economy with his profligate spending and his laissez-faire attitude toward financial markets, he undermined our Constitution with each step he took to trample our rights protected so carefully in the Constitution’s hallowed pages, and he threatened our future by creating new enemies abroad with his reckless and ill conceived foreign policies.

But I don’t want to talk about Bush 43 anymore.

I just want a mulligan.

I just want to start over.

Can’t we acknowledge that a new era does not always begin chronologically but sometimes begins metaphorically – at least as humans track time? If we are allowed “One Great Mulligan,” let’s gratefully take it, tell the world “Our long national nightmare is over,” and begin anew.

As our new President said yesterday, "The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

Ahhhhh… thank you for the mulligan. Let the new century begin.

Nothing changes...or does it?

New beginnings always have me thinking of old beginnings. I came to Washington as a 28 year old aide to a freshman US Senator in 1973. Swearing in was on January 5 that year. The freshman class had 13 members, including Joe Biden, who turned 30 in December and thus was eligible to be sworn in on January 5.

That first year, 1973, we were so busy; I don't recall seeing the sun shine at all!

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision, Roe v. Wade, the heat from which has not diminished since. January was also the month that Henry Kissinger signed the Paris Peace Agreement, effectively ending America's military involvement in Vietnam (although President Nixon continued to bomb Cambodia until September). January 1973 also brought the end of the draft and the beginning of the AVF, the All Volunteer Force. And if memory serves me correctly, that was also the month the Senate took up the War Powers Act, a new law aimed at limiting a future President's ability to commit American forces overseas for more than 90 days without the specific consent of the US Congress. (Yeah, well, that's what it was supposed to do.)

And that was just the first month.

Later in the year, the Vice President of the United States resigned his office rather than face federal charges for tax evasion. His name was Spiro Agnew. I remember telling the news to my boss on the steps of the US Capitol, and as I showed him the AP wire report, I remarked, "If we stay here another 30 years, we're not likely to witness again anything so dramatic in our national life." That was the voice and thinking of a young and innocent Senate aide who would never cease to have his eyes opened wider still with each new scandal. Scandals, as we all know, are as much a part of our government as its three branches. As long as we staff government with real people, there will be real scandal. To err is human, of course, but to steal while alleging to serve the public interest is...well, very special.

Oh yes, and in the same year, we experienced the first Arab oil embargo. Politicians filled the airwaves with speeches decrying America's sorry dependence on foreign oil. One after another, Representatives and Senators rose to declare "America must end its dependence on foreign sources of oil. America must become energy independent. We need a national energy policy."

Yep, nothing ever changes.

Until now.

Dare this innocent, now some 36 years older, dream that things can and will change? I don't know. Really, I don't know the answer...but I do know this one thing: 2009 presents the nation with the best chance for successfully addressing some of the most intractable of problems...and all of us must participate in finding and/or supporting the solutions.

A new class of Senators gets sworn in tomorrow, January 6, 2009. They and their aides will be just as busy as we were. The issues are more complex now -- or so they seem -- but the hours will be just as long for at least the first year. The only message I have for them is this: be assured the sun does shine while you toil and the day will come when you can rest...and be thanked for the service you have rendered.

Milestones...and miles to go

When we speak of our nation’s history, many of us often mark the passage of time in terms of universally shared milestones. Many citizens carry lasting psychological scars from The Great Depression, World War II, political assassinations, Vietnam War, the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 – to mention a few.

But not all milestones of our national life are wrapped in tragedy. In some, we discern hope for a better tomorrow. The election of our first African-American President is seen by many as an opportunity to peer over the horizon at a new America, a country hard at work rebuilding and renewing itself.

In every corner of our land, Americans are hurting. The global economic meltdown is crushing everything in its path – not just savings accounts and retirement funds but dreams of a college education or that first home, sometimes straining marital ties, and even breaking up families through foreclosure. The economic hardship is so severe for some that it has individuals choosing between food for the table and medicine to fight off disease. These are the essentials of which our lives are made. Nothing else matters when these are threatened.

Suddenly the voices that have prospered in political circles for years sowing the evils of oppressive big government are falling on deaf ears. Instead, people are straining to hear the voice of a new leader, someone who will use big government to lift us up – and unite us in the process.

On November 4, 2008, the nation began the process of renewal. Barack Obama said it was time to “turn the page,” and the people agreed.

Americans know their country has lost its way. Our country is not what it used to be. The various and essential systems that support our highways, carry our electricity, and deliver our water, are crumbling. Our educational institutions are turning out illiterates who know more about McDonald’s apple pie than “pi R squared.” Our leaders pander to us by delivering tax cuts we cannot afford. Energy prices dictated by dictators abroad control our economic destiny and no one shouts, “Enough!” – until now.

As 2009 opens its windows, who among us does not feel the excitement that is absolutely palpable. Why else would more than a million people willingly pledge to brave a January winter in Washington to hear a man repeat the same oath of office taken by 43 presidents before him? They could certainly hear it and see it better on television. Could it be they are drawn to an event so important that is the national equivalent of a collective turning of the page for this republic?

Tom Friedman wrote in his NY Times column a few days ago: “John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.”

Now that will be a milestone to remember….but we have miles to go before we claim it.

A steady hand for another "period of gloom"

“It was a period of gloom….when no man could foretell the happening of the morrow, when strong men trembled at the possibility of the destruction of our Government.”

So begins the 1909 tribute to Abraham Lincoln by Adlai E. Stevenson, Sr. on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of the birth of our 16^th President.

While I doubt there are many who believe our Government is at risk of destruction today, hardly anyone doubts we are in a “period of gloom.”

As we approach two milestones in the life of our nation – the swearing-in of the first African-American President and the 200^th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth – Stevenson’s tribute is particularly apropos to these times.

Stevenson, an Illinois native, who became a congressman, and still later, Vice President, knew Lincoln, and thus, was well suited to the task of paying tribute to the beloved President.

“He came from the common walks of life,” recalled Stevenson. “His early home was one of the humblest, where he was a stranger to the luxuries and to many of the ordinary comforts of life…“How inspiring to the youth of high aims every incident of the pathway from the frontier cabin to the Executive Mansion…”In no other country than ours could such attainment have been possible for the boy….whose only heritage was brain, integrity, lofty ambition, and indomitable purpose.

Are there any parallels to be drawn with the lanky young lawyer from Illinois now preparing to take the oath on January 20^th, 2009? For Barack Obama, born in 1961 to a struggling bi-racial couple, his beginnings were humble indeed. Certainly, it can be said his only heritage was “brain, integrity, lofty ambition, and indomitable purpose.”

As the 1909 tribute continued, Stevenson praised Lincoln’s judgment in handling the question of slavery, an issue, he acknowledged, that “had been the subject of repeated compromise by patriotic statesmen.” This “apple of discord,” as Stevenson described it, had “darkened our national pathway from the beginning. It was well that in such an hour, with such tremendous issues in the balance, a steady hand was at the helm.”

Stevenson concluded his centennial tribute by selecting one particular paragraph from the inaugural address to share with his audience. It was the closing paragraph:

“We are not enemies, but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot’s grave to every heart and hearthstone of the broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when touched as they will be by the better angels of our nature.”

In America’s most recent history, passion and stridency have divided us – on a distant war and on a broad range of social issues at home. Such divisions weaken the Union. In Barack Obama, Americans have discerned a leader who – like Lincoln – believes our Union is stronger when we subscribe to “the better angels of our nature.”

In his memorable Philadelphia speech of March 18, 2008, Obama sounded a lot like Lincoln:

“I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for our children and grandchildren.”

President-elect Obama is demonstrating already that he meant it—he really meant it – when he said he would reach across partisan lines, across ideology, across any social issue that would divide us, in order to keep us united and our collective eye steady on the goal of strengthening the republic before we hand it to the next generation.

President Lincoln is surely smiling today as Barack Obama prepares to become the next steady hand at the helm.

Not a stimulus but an investment package

The economic stimulus package under consideration should not be described as just another stimulus package. In truth, it is an investment package. It is an investment in rebuilding America, an investment to make America stronger. It is “nation building” in the finest sense because its dollars are dedicated to rebuilding this nation.

Look, our nation’s roads and bridges are crumbling. Many states are “making do,” some are even repairing their bridges with wooden braces – and all such bridges are living on borrowed time. Levees need repairs in California, water ducts are leaking one billion gallons daily in New York. Every state has a long list of urgent projects that need attention and funding. Public works projects in all 50 states soon could employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

President-elect Obama says he wants to bring high speed Internet access to all Americans, especially those who live in rural areas. Building out networks to rural and under-served urban areas will create hundreds of thousands of jobs doing everything from digging ditches to designing the networks that will serve us. This bill makes a down payment on that initiative.

There are tax cuts for the middle class included as well as extension of unemployment benefits…and many other initiatives. Not everything in the package will find universal support, but taken as a whole, it is the best package for our nation’s immediate and long term security.

I have always believed that disaster and opportunity are close relatives. So, while standing knee deep in the disaster of these sad economic times, what better time is there to look for opportunities to succeed before they become opportunities lost in the swirl of our present despair.

It is my hope that this difficult period will be known in history as The Great Transition. Yes, not a recession but a transition, a period when we closed the books at last on antiquated 20^th century industrial leadership and began the transition to a new period of economic growth and prosperity based on technological advances as revolutionary as the telephone, light bulb and automobile.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, “Often do the spirits of great events stride on before the events. And in today already walks tomorrow.”

The spirit of renewal is upon our land and a sense of tomorrow’s greatness already walks with us. With a new President about to take the oath of office, this is the hour for breaking with the past. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 shook this nation to its foundation – our national security was threatened; and now the economic system we rely upon has shaken to our core our sense of personal security. We continue to address the former threat, now it is time to address the latter.

I believe we are not at the end time for American leadership and influence; I believe our influence and leadership on the world stage has just begun. We must not shrink from our responsibility nor fail to seize the opportunity before us to build upon the heritage that has been entrusted to us.

Congress should pass the new stimulus package. Tomorrow already walks in this day.

If John McCain and Newt Gingrich get it, why not the RNC?

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sent a rather scathing letter to Mike Duncan today, accusing the RNC chairman of engaging in "a destructive distraction" by attempting to tie Barack Obama to Rod Blagojevich. In particular, Gingrich hit the RNC for putting out a web ad that made it seem as if the President-elect was hiding a nefarious chapter of his personal history with the embattled Illinois Governor.

"The RNC should pull the ad down immediately," Gingrich wrote.

The GOP is a party that, apparently, has learned nothing from its recent election defeats. Gingrich is trying to get RNC leadership to understand that Barack Obama is the real deal. You will gain nothing by attacking him on character issues.

Obama is a man of the highest integrity. If we didn't know it before, we know it now.

Several days ago, John McCain told David Letterman's audience the RNC should “lay off.”

Will someone please call Mike Duncan and tell him to turn the page? The opposition party is supposed to oppose when it has something to oppose. The current attempt to diminish the stature of Barack Obama just makes the RNC look foolish and amateurish.

By these words shall they be remembered...

“Just remember, if you break it, you own it.”

Colin Powell to Bush 43 when warning Bush of the consequences of invading Iraq.

The so called Pottery Barn rule was referenced by Bob Woodward in his book, The War Within, on page 48: “’'You are the one who is going to have to pick up the pieces and put it back together again. And it’s not going to be easy to do,” said Powell.

Powell added on another occasion, “You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people.” He told the president, “You will own all their hopes, aspirations, and problems. You'll own it all.”

“It’ll be a slam dunk.”

George Tenet in describing his certain view that Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, had weapons of mass destruction and the evidence soon would be obvious.

"I can't imagine anyone here wanting to spend another $30 billion to be there for another 12 years."

Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense testifying before House subcommittee on Iraq, February 28, 2003

“The cost of the Iraq war will be about $4 Billion, and most of it can be paid for by the Iraqi’s from their oil revenues.” (Later, Wolfowitz elaborated.) “There's a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money. We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."

Paul Wolfowitz in congressional testimony, March 27, 2003

“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”

Bush 43, standing on the deck of the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier with “Mission Accomplished” sign behind him, May 1, 2003.

“So?’

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

Comment from Cheney in ABC interview of March 2008 with Martha Raddatz. President Bush added, “So what?” when he was interviewed by Raddatz this week.

“So what?”

BUSH: One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand. This is where al Qaeda was hoping to take–

RADDATZ: But not until after the U.S. invaded.

BUSH: Yeah, that’s right. So what? The point is that al Qaeda said they’re going to take a stand. Well, first of all in the post-9/11 environment Saddam Hussein posed a threat. And then upon removal, al Qaeda decides to take a stand.

Comment from Bush 43, Dec. 15, 2008, in interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz:

That’s right, Bush said, “so what?” I wonder what the mothers of the young men and women who died in his “so what?” war are thinking today? I’m confident it is not, “So what?”

Finally, we shall never forget this one:

"Waterboarding was appropriate."

"It (waterboarding) was appropriate -- and I supported it. I think the results speak for themselves."

Comment of VP Cheney on ABC's Good Morning America, Dec. 16, 2008, ignoring historical precedence that waterboarding is a war crime.