Posts Tagged ‘President Obama’

What Is To Be Done?

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

So Capitol Hill is sort of treading water right now. And by “sort of treading water”, I mean “drowning like a camel in the Atlantic Ocean”. And yes, Democrats are in power. Yes, they have a pretty sizable majority in the House. Yes, they have a nearly filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Yes, they have the presidency. This is the state of things in March 2010.

Also, Republicans are unified in lock-step opposition to EVERYTHING Obama does. Supreme Court Justice appointments, Secretary of Transportation appointments, DCCC appointments, dentist appointments. This is the state of things in March 2010.

Republicans make significant gains in the House and Senate. Obama now has to fight tooth and nail for even the most bipartisan of efforts. Republicans hold a tenuous majority in both the House and Senate, and he can no longer rely on the votes of conservative Democrats on any legislation. Republicans continue to filibuster again. And again. And again. Our country’s economy begins to spiral, more jobs are lost, more people die every day because of a lack of adequate health insurance. This is the state of things in November 2010.

A certain conservative candidate announces his candidacy for the office of President of the United States. MSNBC focuses exclusively on hypercritical analysis of his track record and history, Fox News focuses on extolling his virtues and merits and potential. CNN continues to cover the ongoing natural disasters in the world, while trying to appear centrist in their occasional remarks about said candidate. All MSM networks completely discard their coverage and analysis of the happenings and intricacies of what exactly is going on in Washington; the Tea Party assimilates into the Republican party in anticipation of election season. Nothing is done about the country’s dwindling state. The deficit remains unchecked. Infrastructural problems remain manifest. This is the state of things in February 2011.

The conservative candidate chooses Michael Steele as his Vice President in an effort to nullify the use of the race card in any matters pertaining to the GOP and their newly assimilated Tea Party base; even though many racist sentiments still run deep. Obama is forced to concentrate on the upcoming election cycle, and therefore happenings on Capitol Hill grind to a halt. America’s economy continues to implode, the unemployment rate is at 15% and climbing. This is the state of things in August 2012.

Barack Obama suffers a decisive loss at the hands of an outraged Republican base and a disillusioned Independent bloc wholly dissatisfied with Obama’s lack of success. Republicans center their entire campaign upon Obama’s failure to keep his campaign promises, despite their role as the impassable blockade which prevented him from passing any meaningful legislation. Preying upon the visceral reactions and short-term memories of the average American, Republicans cruise to victory and capture significant majorities in both the house and Senate. Stories circulate about the resurrection of the GOP and the imminent demise of the Democratic Party. This is the state of things in November 2012.

In the interim between Election Day and the presidential inauguration, President Obama apologizes to the American people for his failure to set our great country upon a more glorious path towards prosperity. He abstains from blaming the Republicans in Congress, and instead expands upon what he could have done better as a President. The economy is in dire straits, and a market crash appears to be on the horizon. Republicans implore Obama to sign legislation into action, but he refuses to do such; asking that they politely wait their turn to begin work on fixing our broken America. This is the state of things in January 2013.

(GOP winner) is inaugurated into office. Facing an enormous debt and an economic tailspin, (GOP winner) kicks his GOP Congressmen into gear so that a landmark piece of legislation may be enacted to save the economy. This legislation angers many on both sides – liberals decry it as being outlandishly hypocritical, and conservative pundits dismiss it as an overambitious government escapade. Meanwhile, Bank of America merges with AIG to form America, LLC; an act made possible by a 2011 Republican proposal by Joe Wilson to extend upon the financial deregulatory practices made possible by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. This is the state of things in February 2013.

The newly crowned 45th President of the United States then sets about passing this bill of unprecedented size through Congress. It clears easily through the House, despite vehement opposition from the left.

However, upon entering the Senate, the bill becomes deadlocked. Senators Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, Dick Durbin and Al Franken commit to filibustering this bill indefinitely, calling it “undemocratic” and “bullying”. The Republicans have a filibuster-proof majority of 60 Senators, however, so the public expects that this will be nothing more than a minor hiccup. Meanwhile, America LLC is aggressively buying up mortgages and the like; in a manner not at all dissimilar to their 2005 irresponsible financial undertakings.

Unfortunately for the Republicans, Senator Olympia Snowe votes on the side of the Democrats, stating that “it isn’t fair to ram such a huge bill down the American people’s throats on such short notice”.

Fox News lambasts Democrats for being “obstructionist” and labels them as the “Party of No”, accusing the Democrats of putting politics before country. A movement known as the Latte Party emerges from the extreme left, clamoring about the tyranny of the GOP and “taking their country back”. This is the state of things in August 2013.

In March 2014, the financial system collapses on the heels of America, LLC filing for another government bailout; as they have once again become victims of their own treacherous greed.Our country enters a Second Great Depression. Unemployment rates are at 33%. China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea have stopped loaning us money, consequently decimating our economic structure. Democrats blame Republicans for their idiocy during the Obama administration. Republicans blame Democrats for not supporting the President (in a completely hypocritical about-face from their previous position held under the Obama administration).

Meanwhile, our country has gone to hell.

Yes, my friends, karma is a cruel mistress.

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The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act… One Year Later

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

One year ago last week, the U.S. Congress passed, and President Obama signed, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Projections continue to show that the ARRA has softened the blow of the recession. Without it, the economy would be a lot worse. Don’t take my word on it. The New York Times printed analysis by three macroeconomic forecasting firms. But wait, there’s more. We’re now a year out from the stimulus bill. The data reveal that things are, in reality, getting better. Again, the New York Times published data showing that, immediately following passage, the economy began to turn around. The decreases in both GDP and employment stopped increasing.

The ARRA has had significant, positive effects on the economy. Without it, the job losses would likely be continuing to increases and GDP would still be falling.

With positive results like these – and more to come, because there are more stimulus funds yet to be spent – surely the bill must have passed through Congress with towering majorities.

Wrong. Dead Wrong. It passed the House with ZERO Republican votes. It passed the Senate with Three Republican votes- one of which is now a Democrat.

Despite the fact that House Republicans unanimously declined to help America out of the recession, there’s no shortage of House Republicans trying to take credit for its successes. Among them: Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Adam Putnam (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Geoff Davis (R-KY), Mike Castle (R-DE), Phil Gingrey (R-GA), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Chris Lee (R-NY), Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), Bill Shuster (R-PA), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Dave Reichart (R-WA), Sue Myrick (R-NC), and Jean Schmidt (R-OH). For a complete inventory of their hypocrisy, see here.

Republicans are comfortable fighting tooth and nail against legislation to help put America back on track and taking the credit for the benefits that they had no hand in securing. And they continue to rail against the Recovery Act.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) had this to say: “The Recovery Act has already worked to save or create as many as 2.4 million jobs, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.  In one year, the Recovery Act has provided $120 billion in tax cuts for 95% of working families as well as businesses across the country; loaned nearly $20 billion to small businesses to expand and create jobs; funded more than 12,500 transportation projects nationwide; kept teachers, police officers, and firefighters on the job; and accomplished much more….”

With results like these, and more to come in the coming months, I hope to see more of these signs across the country:

Mike Schillawski ‘10 is the President of the Cornell Democrats.

Update: A video produced by Organizing For America has been making its rounds on the Internet, laying out the impact the Recovery Act had.

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Hail to the – Nobel Laureate?

Friday, October 9th, 2009

President Barack Obama – a Nobel Peace Prize winner? I was as shocked as anyone when I flipped open my phone this morning to see a text from my father saying that our President had been given the award. It raises a lot of questions, the most important of them being: what exactly has he done to deserve it? Past winners have done everything from providing care to wounded soldiers (the International Committee of the Red Cross), signing peace agreements in the Mideast (Arafat, Perez, Rabin, etc.), and campaigning for human rights (Lech Walesa, among others). So far, Obama’s achievements in promoting peace are limited to delivering a number of (admittedly very good) speeches, stating that he will utilize diplomatic channels more extensively than his predecessor, and a general, long-term commitment to draw down American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Therefore, it would seem that his actions, while valuable and commendable, do not merit receiving the most prestigious tangible prize in international affairs and diplomacy. However, I think it’s quite possible that the Nobel Committee did not award the Peace Prize to President Obama for the traditional reasons – that is, he did not receive it for any problems he has solved or any diplomatic breakthroughs he has engineered. Rather, they gave him the award for entirely different reasons – ones which are rather less clear, and probably much more questionable. First, adding the Nobel Peace Prize to the President’s mantelpiece of awards, titles, and honours is quite significant. Nobel Prize winners are given more consideration in discussions of international affairs, and being a Prize recipient will add to his clout at the bargaining table.

More important than that, the Nobel Committee may be hoping that the award will actually make a difference to American foreign policy as long as President Obama is our head of state. He is not only the president of the United States, with all of the expectations and obligations that go along with that office, but he is now a globally-recognized beacon for pacifically-oriented diplomacy. As such, there will be an expectation that he will pursue diplomacy even more vigorously than before – especially on the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme. The President is a man who is well aware of his place in history, and how he will be viewed in ten or fifteen years’ time. Because of this, he would likely not want to risk damaging his own image – as well as that of Nobel Peace Prize recipients as a group – by engaging in a bellicose foreign policy.

It seems to me, then, that the Nobel Committee gave him this award in order to shape his foreign policy and to give him a bit more moral authority to help him along the way. In some respects, it can be argued that this will hurt the reputation of the Peace Prize and its future recipients. However, it seems entirely reasonable that the Prize itself be used to promote peace, and not just to recognize those who have already done so. Therefore, while it is a break with tradition, giving the Nobel Prize to President Obama may turn out to have thoroughly positive and far-reaching effects on world politics and American diplomacy.

Ben Schneider is a blogger for the Cornell Democrats.

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A Thank You to Joe Wilson

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

By now all of us have seen the President’s address to Congress from Wednesday (for those of you who haven’t, it’s on c-span.org) and heard the outburst of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), in which he called President Obama a liar after the President stated that the health care reform bill would not cover illegal immigrants.  My initial reaction to Rep. Wilson’s verbal assault was one of disgust – how dare this back-bencher interrupt our President as he was presenting his plan to deal with one of the foremost social and economic problems our country has faced in recent years.  It was a flagrant breach of Congressional etiquette and has resulted in calls by some on the Democratic side of the House for Wilson to be formally censured.

However, as I thought more about it, I realized that Rep. Wilson’s eruption had actually helped the President and the health care reform movement significantly.  For one, it provided the President a great opportunity to appear in control – his glare in Rep. Wilson’s direction is an image for the ages.  More than that though, it encapsulated the nature of the debate that has been occurring across the nation during the summer, in which otherwise constructive town hall meetings have been disrupted by hecklers and protesters shouting false and misinformed slogans, accusing pro-reform Congressmen of being Nazis, and so on.  As a result, it showed many Americans the absurdity of the Republicans’ claims – especially as Rep. Wilson’s assertion that the President was lying was widely and immediately refuted.  Moreover, the outburst served to underline an important point – that the Republicans will not listen to reason or even acknowledge clear facts in the health care debate.  As such, trying to win them over seems more and more to be a lost cause.  When elected officials like Rep. Wilson deny facts – because, remember, his shout at the President was not an assertion of opinion, which can be debated, but established fact – we can see clearly that they have no interest in anything aside from obstruction.  As an interesting side fact about the Representative from South Carolina, he has stated that he believes illegal immigrants should not be able to receive emergency room care – essentially, that if they are grievously injured they should die.  It speaks volumes about the radical opinions of the Republican base that despite such views he has been re-elected to his seat four times.

Of course, as in any such circumstance, conservative talk radio commentators and pundits have rallied to Wilson’s cause, which simply further strengthens my view that health care reform must be passed with or (preferably, because it will result in fewer bad compromises) without the Republicans.  Hopefully this incident will make all Democrats, progressives, socialists and liberals realize that although the current plan may not be perfect, in the face of such strong opposition, we need to pass the best plan that we can – but do it quickly as well, for every day we waste arguing over small details is one day that Americans do not have the protection they need from insurance companies and the health care safety net (the public option) that every human has the right to.  The Republican response to the President’s speech was borderline comical – Representative Boustany (R-LA) stuck to his talking points and repeated the same tired arguments about “government-run medicine” that we’ve heard for years. More importantly, he failed to propose any plans that would actually make a difference. The only real proposal he made – the creation of health care “co-ops” to allow large groups to purchase coverage at lower rates – is already in the bill. Objectively, the President won on Wednesday. However, unless we get behind reform, all his efforts – and Joe Wilson’s – will be for naught.

Ben Schneider ‘13 is a blogger for the Cornell Democrats.

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Posted in Health Care, National | 2 Comments »