Ted Kennedy

Liberals, Progressives, And The Reality Of American Politics

Ronald 2 Comments

Liberals and progressives in large numbers are denouncing the agreement reached between President Obama and Congressional Republicans on the issue of the so called Bush tax cuts being continued for another two years.

The author is not happy with this agreement, which will raise the national debt by nearly a trillion dollars, take money away from the Social Security reserves by the fact of a lower collection of Social Security taxes, and allow the further stratification of America by making the rich richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class further exploited! 🙁

However, the restoration of the estate tax, the continuation of unemployment compensation for the millions out of work in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the retaining of other tax credits for the poor, and the two year limit on the extension of tax cuts, are all good points in an unpleasant but realistic compromise for the moment, so that taxes do not go up for everyone on January 1!

Barack Obama made clear yesterday at his news conference that he felt the GOP were “hostage takers”, but that the American people would be further victimized by the GOP, which he said only cares about the super rich, if he did not make a temporary deal!

Obama made clear that the battle over taxes was just delayed, not resolved, and that he would make it an issue in the 2012 campaign. So although he may be seen by many as “caving in” and “surrendering”, his contention is that the fight will be brought to the GOP in the next election, and it sounded as if he was prepared to be Harry Truman a la 1948, and “give them hell”!

Certainly, his rhetoric was aggressive and confrontational regarding the GOP. But it was also critical of the “purist” progressives and “pie in the sky idealists” who are criticizing his strategy!

Obama pointed out that he has either accomplished what his goals were, or has made progress on those that are not achievable in the short term. He is looking to the long term, and he feels that he has kept the promise of his campaign to bring change, or start to bring change in many areas where the politics make it impossible for now to accomplish success!

Obama said compromise is unavoidable in American politics, and that playing politics alone would not bring about desired results. We would not be the nation we are if not for compromise, Obama asserted. In that, he is absolutely right!

And when one looks at the history of the Democratic Party and the progressive and liberal crusade for a better America, one unfortunately MUST realize that this nation is fundamentally a conservative nation slow to react to the need for change! 🙁

Progressives, liberals, and the Democratic Party have accomplished great things since the 1930s, but the resistance and opposition to these changes has been fierce, and therefore, progress has been incremental, often delayed and often frustratingly slow! 🙁

But one thing is absolutely clear: When Democrats, progressives and liberals fight and divide amongst themselves, the right wingers of this country triumph! 🙁

When discontent leads to a decision to work against a Democratic President because everything is not ideal and perfect, the Republican Party wins! 🙁

It happened in 1980, when liberal opposition to President Jimmy Carter, as exemplified by Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown, helped to lead to Ronald Reagan in the White House!

It happened in 1968 when liberal opposition to Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey led to Richard Nixon in the White House!

It led to Al Gore losing Florida in 2000 when Ralph Nader, a true “pie in the sky idealist” took enough votes away to throw the state to George W. Bush!

So do we want Barack Obama to be damaged and cause his loss for 2012 and get a far less desirable Republican in the White House? 🙁

Certainly, a second term of Obama will bring more chance of change and reform than if a Republican is elected!

If nothing else, the Supreme Court and lower federal court judge appointments will be a lasting legacy, which would be better under the control of Obama than a Republican President from 2013-2017!

So the reality of American politics is that compromise is often essential, as only TWICE has a Democratic President had enough of a margin of his party to be able to accomplish most of his goals: Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s!

Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and now Barack Obama have had to work within the framework of a strong opposition blockading a lot of change!

This is the sad truth and reality of American politics, and progressives and liberals NEED to recognize this and work with President Obama and give the Republican Party “hell” over the next two years and in the Presidential Election of 2012!

Speculation About A Primary Challenge To Barack Obama: Would Such A Move Be Worthwhile?

Ronald 1 Comment

Discontent with President Obama has been growing among principled liberals and progressives who do not wish for the President to accept compromises with the opposition Republicans.

It is understandable that there can be outrage and upset, but when the question arises that someone might challenge Obama in the 2012 Democratic Presidential primaries, one has to wonder whether that would indeed be a smart move, and who would mount such a challenge!

It seems to the author of this blog that challenging Obama would be extremely unwise, as it would weaken the President and give the GOP extra ammunition after he won the nomination over his critic. History tells us that when a sitting President is challenged for renomination, he invariably wins the nomination, but is so weakened that he loses to the opposition party’s Presidential nominee in the Fall campaign! This happened to William Howard Taft after Theodore Roosevelt challenged him, and the same with Gerald Ford after Ronald Reagan opposed him, Jimmy Carter after Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown ran against him, and George HW Bush after Pat Buchanan competed against him!

As far as who would challenge Obama, there are not many choices, as there are fewer Democratic Senators and Governors, although a defeated office holder would have the freedom to run without a commitment to a political job!

It seems to the author that defeated Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin would probably be the strongest possible choice, as he is a great progressive voice, but his loss of his Senate seat would mark him as a loser in many people’s minds!

Trying to figure who else has the following and reputation to consider a serious challenge is a major undertaking, with no likelihood of a worthwhile, serious alternative!

Therefore, despite disillusionment with Barack Obama, the only real choice for Democrats, progressives and liberals is to fight to push Obama in their direction, but also to realize that a Republican victory in 2012 would be far worse than a “moderate, centrist” President that Barack Obama may represent by the time of the election in 2012!

Barack Obama And The Bush Tax Cuts: If Extended For The Rich, A Political Disaster For The Democratic Party! :(

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President Obama will meet next week with Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress after his return from his Asian trip, and he MUST stand strong against the GOP demand for continuation of tax cuts for the top two percent of Americans, who already have too much of the entire national income!

Just because the Democrats lost approximately 60 seats in the House of Representatives, the most since 1938, does not mean that we need a Democratic Party which acts as if it is the step sister of the Republican Party!

If Obama caves in on this matter, he will lose much of the base of his party, and endanger future economic recovery, and cause the likelihood of a challenge in the Democratic Presidential primaries in 2012!

If that happens, while Obama would almost certainly win the nomination–as William Howard Taft did in 1912 over Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford did in 1976 over Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter did in 1980 over Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown, and George HW Bush did in 1992 over Pat Buchanan–it would certainly weaken him for the election campaign, and likely cause his defeat, as it did for all four of the above Presidents challenged in the past century for the nomination of their party!

No one can seriously consider that Obama intends to do anything about the burgeoning national debt, if he permits an additional $700 billion to be added to the debt over the next ten years, just to keep “peace” with the Republican party, as that party has no interest in cooperation, and has made clear their major goal is to cause Obama to be a one term President!

So, Mr. President, show some guts and courage, and do NOT cave in to the GOP! Refuse to go along with tax cuts for the wealthy who do not need it! Show principle and conviction, and know that loyal Democrats will be there defending you, and know that the average middle class American, including many Independents, who are struggling to survive and keep his or her employment and housing, will regain their senses by 2012, and reward you and your party for being truly the party of the middle class, unwilling to continue the GOP plot to enrich the top two percent at the expense of the rest of the population!

Was The Scott Brown Senate Victory In January The Beginning Of A Trend In Massachusetts Politics? NO!

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When Scott Brown won the Senate seat of Ted Kennedy in January, it seemed to many that it was a sign of the growth of the Republican Party in Massachusetts!

Now, however, with all the results in, it turns out that Brown’s victory was a fluke, as EVERY House seat was won by Democrats, as well as the Governorship and other statewide executive positions! This is, of course, nothing new in Massachusetts, and Brown’s victory was an aberration!

So this should be a sign that Scott Brown, despite his celebrity status, faces a major fight to keep his seat in the 2012 election season, when he has to run for a full term!

Scott Brown cannot afford to rest on his laurels, as he is definitely an “endangered species” in Massachusetts politics!

The Kennedy Era Really Ends With Passing Of Theodore Sorensen! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

The Era of the Kennedy Presidency has finally ended with the death of the President’s “alter ego”, speech writer and counselor, Theodore Sorensen, at the age of 82!

Sorensen had an extremely significant role in many key events of the Kennedy Administration, including: the Inaugural Address; the Space Program commitment to land on the moon; the Cuban Missile Crisis communication with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev; the Civil Rights speech; and the Cold War speech which called for lessening of tensions with the Soviet Union after the resolution of the Missile Crisis.

With his death, and the earlier death of Senator Ted Kennedy and historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and with the earlier passing of all leading figures in the administration, John F. Kennedy truly passes into history totally, with no major survivors of the age of Camelot!

In many ways, this is a sad moment of recognition, just one week before the 50th anniversary of the election of John F. Kennedy on November 8, 1960!

Stephen Colbert And Undocumented Farm Labor: The Truth

Ronald 1 Comment

Stephen Colbert of Comedy Channel is famous for being humorous, but he was on Capitol Hill today, testifying on the work conditions and life circumstances of undocumented farm labor, which is responsible for our supplies of fruits and vegetables at cheap prices!

Colbert tried a day of this backbreaking work and came away with an understanding of why very few American citizens are willing to do that kind of work in the broiling sun, with the tremendous physical strain on human bodies as a result!

We all want to buy fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices, and yet we have people who rail against hard working immigrants who pay taxes and Social Security, work for very low wages, and yet complain far less than the average American worker about their work conditions!

If we did not have this immigrant labor, some of it undocumented, we would not have our food supply which is the most varied in the world!

Also, do most Americans want to cut their own lawns and clean their own houses and businesses? The answer is NO, and immigrants, including undocumented ones, do so without complaint!

Many immigrants also are involved in other tough jobs, including construction and taking care of young children, and millions of Americans count on them!

But yet, we have demagogues who keep on telling us that all undocumented immigrants are criminals, and should be deported!

Were we to turn against the reality that we are all immigrants or the descendants of immigrants, and deport millions of undocumented immigrants, we would soon discover how much we need them, and we just might show them respect and allow them to get on the line for future citizenship on the basis of the 2007 McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill backed by President Bush and future President Obama!

But sadly, even Senator McCain has become a demagogue on this issue to win the support of Arizona voters! 🙁

Instead, we allow politicians to exploit the issue and divide us, and give America an ugly image of being a nativist nation! 🙁

Jimmy Carter Diary Becomes Public: Center Of Controversy!

Ronald 1 Comment

Former President Jimmy Carter, now nearly 30 years out of office, only behind Herbert Hoover in years of retirement, has decided to reveal his diary entries from his years in the White House, rather than wait till his passing!

Carter was interviewed on Sixty Minutes on CBS last night and will do the book tour for the next few weeks, including on Larry King Live on CNN tonight.

Carter certainly is not avoiding controversy now, any more than he did while in office!

Often considered a “failed” President, despite many accomplishments, a lot of the reputation due to his defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980, Carter makes the assertion that he accomplished more of his agenda in four years than any other one term or two term President who followed him, and including Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon before him!

In other words, he had the highest rate of success in his agenda than anyone since Lyndon Johnson!

That assertion seems hard to prove, and actually very startling, and will require scholars to examine the Carter record in greater detail as to the validity of his assertion, which the author finds hard to believe!

Carter also shows an ugly streak of resentment and bitterness by attacking Senator Ted Kennedy, who died last year, accusing him of not wanting Carter to accomplish health care reform, which Carter claims could have been done thirty years ago!

Again, it is hard to imagine such a scenario as being possible in the late 1970s, with a growing conservative movement by 1978, which would have made such an accomplishment impossible!

Jimmy Carter has loved being controversial in his post Presidential years, and his newly published Diary only will add to that image he seems to pursue!

If nothing else, it will provoke historians and other scholars to focus on Carter, who has not been as much investigated as his successor, Ronald Reagan, and certainly deserves more analysis!

Carter’s longevity may have delayed much research, but it is likely much more will be published sooner, rather than later, due to this publication of his Diary!

Gerald Ford’s Pardon Of Richard Nixon, 36 Years Ago Today!

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On this day 36 years ago, probably the most controversial Presidential pardon in US history occurred, when President Gerald Ford, in office just one month, announced a full and unconditional pardon of former President Richard Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal!

The Ford pardon caused an uproar nationally, was bitterly condemned by Senator Ted Kennedy and most other Democrats, and is seen as having undermined Ford’s later bid for a full term as President in the 1976 election, leading to the victory of Jimmy Carter by a two point popular vote margin, with the belief that Ford lost at least five percent of the vote due to the controversial pardon!

It was disturbing to many that others involved in the Watergate scandal did not receive pardons and served time in prison, while the former President seemingly escaped punishment!

However, 25 years later, Senator Kennedy arranged for a special award from the John F. Kennedy Library for former President Ford, and Kennedy declared that upon reflection, what Ford did back in 1974 was the right thing to do under the circumstances!

It still remains an area of debate today however, but it must be said that President Ford’s reputation improved in the nearly 30 years that he lived beyond his Presidency, and he is seen now, a few years after his death, as having served the country in an honorable way, and was indeed a “Profile In Courage!”

Richard Nixon’s reputation has been revived somewhat due to his insightful domestic policies, but the Watergate Scandal and questionable success in foreign policy (once thought to be his great strength) have contributed a great deal to the reality that Nixon still is seen as primarily negative in his impact on American history!

The unbelievable reality though is that after the many failures of George W. Bush, and his abuses of power much greater in many ways than Nixon, all of a sudden Richard Nixon looks a lot less evil than he has been seen in the past! 🙁

What a sad commentary on the decline of faith and belief in the American Presidency! 🙁

Senator Scott Brown: “Most Valuable Senator” To Likely Retirement In 2012!

Ronald 1 Comment

Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts rocketed to stardom and attention by winning the special election to succeed Senator Ted Kennedy through the end of the unexpired term to 2012!

He has proceeded to become, at least in Democratic minds, the “Most Valuable Senator”, as he has now caused the Democrats to win a few victories on legislation by providing the crucial “60th vote” to overcome the filibuster of his Republican colleagues!

Brown has played the politics game very well, playing hard to get his vote, and gaining major concessions from the Obama Administration on his most recent vote allowing passage of the Financial Reform legislation!

So Brown is a celebrity and a center of attention, but does that mean that he has a “free ride” or even “easy sailing” for the full Senate term in 2012, less than three years after winning the seat?

NO WAY would have to be the answer, as the Democrats, who control all the Congressional seats in Massachusetts, and dominate the state legislature, are not about to cede the “Kennedy Seat” to Scott Brown!

It is likely that a Kennedy family member, now rumored to be the Senator’s son, Ted Kennedy, Jr, who looks and speaks like his dad–totally the opposite of brother and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy–will run for the seat! He had never shown interest in electoral politics before, but he made a great impression at the funeral of his dad, and with the name “Ted Kennedy”, how could he lose to Scott Brown?

So, Senator Scott Brown, enjoy your fame and attention, but don’t count on being around after the end of 2012! It would be a major miracle for you to overcome the Kennedy dynasty!

The Passing Of Senator Robert Byrd: A Mixed Legacy!

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Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the longest serving Senator in US history, and the longest serving Congressional member in American history, passed away this morning at the age of 92 years and seven months!

There is no question that Senator Byrd was a path breaking and historic Senator in the history of that chamber! He served nearly four years longer than Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who had set the longevity record! By serving 51 and a half years in the Senate and six in the House of Representatives, he broke the record late last year of Senator Carl Hayden of Arizona, who had served 56 years combined in both houses of Congress!

Senator Byrd also showed a tremendous amount of growth in his half century in Congress! He came in as a former Ku Klux Klansman in his youth and as an opponent of civil rights, and conducted a long filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964! 🙁 But he came to recognize the wrong of what he had done and believed, and changed his mind and his actions in later years, and even said he was wrong in 1964!

This was a man who came up from poverty and poor white heritage, went to law school later in life, and never forgot what it was to be poor, and he showed it toward his home state’s poor!

He was Senate Majority Leader for a period of time, and long time Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he diverted billions of dollars to his home state, one of the poorest in the nation, something that his home state deeply appreciated!

But of course, this was highly controversial, and Byrd became known as the Senator of “pork” or what is now called “earmarks”, which he saw as perfectly legitimate, but is now decried even by those who utilize it the most, and are showing their hypocrisy! 🙁

Byrd became infamous for inappropriate comments over the years, but he was also acknowledged as an expert on the US Constitution, and published four volumes on the history of the Senate! He revered the institution, and always made it clear that he served WITH eleven US Presidents, NOT UNDER them!

He believed that the Congress had to stand in the way of too much presidential power, and was bitterly opposed to Richard Nixon during Watergate, and George W. Bush during the buildup to the Iraq War!

Byrd was not afraid to speak his mind, and did not care how the media or his colleagues in either party reacted to his thoughts and ideas! He was truly a man of courage and principles, even though many might not agree with some of them!

He was, by his longevity, Senate President Pro Tempore, which meant he was technically third in line of Presidential succession under the Congressional law of 1947!

This is a man who had been against liberalism and everything it represented, but over time became close to the “Liberal Lion”, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts! Byrd wept when Kennedy was ill and when he passed away ten months ago! He became well respected and honored even by those who did not share his viewpoints and partisanship!

Senator Byrd was NOT a great Senator in the sense of creation of legislation or having a tremendous effect on the evolution of the Senate, but he added a lot to the chamber by his presence and his wisdom as the years went by!

He will be missed, despite his mixed legacy, and this is a time to honor him with a state funeral worthy of one of the leading figures in Senate leadership history!